Coconut Grove or Miami Beach: which suits a full-time owner?

Coconut Grove, if the building is the Four Seasons Private Residences: 70 homes over 20 storeys, every one with a water view, run by an appointed Director of Residence with a doorman, 24/7 security and valet and 24 hour on-call emergency repair, and no hotel in the building. That is the shape of a house with staff, which is what a full-time household is really buying. Miami Beach answers with three oceanfront buildings: the Perigon, From $12,500,000, with ~73 homes and no hotel; the Shoreclub Private Collection, From $4,850,000, with ~49 homes behind an Auberge hotel; and the Ritz-Carlton Residences South Beach, 30 homes beside the Sagamore, delivering in 2027. The beach gives the ocean and takes the season: the hotels bring guests, and the island fills from December to April. The Grove gives the bay and a quieter week.

Five axes, from the developers' published material only.

Four Seasons Private Residences Coconut Grove. Price point: no published entry price; released on request. Delivery: no date on our file; deposits of 20 percent at contract and 20 percent at groundbreaking. Unit mix: 70 residences over 20 storeys, typical homes of about 2,025 to 3,975 square feet, every one with a water view, dedicated elevators to private foyers, terraces at least 10 feet deep. Position: Coconut Grove. Operator or brand: the Four Seasons name under licence; CMC Group and Fort Partners; Revuelta Architecture; a Director of Residence, doorman and bellman, 24/7 security and valet, a signature restaurant with in-residence dining, a spa, a kids area; no hotel.

The Perigon. Price point: From $12,500,000. Delivery: no date on our file. Unit mix: ~73 homes, 2 to 4 bedrooms, private elevator entry. Position: 5333 Collins Avenue, Mid-Beach, ~200 linear feet of shoreline on both sides. Operator or brand: Starwood Capital Group and Mast Capital; OMA; a resident only oceanfront restaurant and speakeasy, a spa, a salon, a beachfront pool; no hotel.

The Shoreclub Private Collection. Price point: From $4,850,000. Delivery: no date on our file. Unit mix: ~49 homes across three forms, the Tower, the House and the Beach House, in 18 stories behind the landmarked Cromwell House facade. Position: 1901 Collins Avenue, ~3 oceanfront acres, South Beach. Operator or brand: Witkoff with Auberge Resorts Collection as hospitality partner; Robert A.M. Stern Architects; an Auberge spa, a private residential gym, a beach club, a private meeting suite, a driver's room.

The Ritz-Carlton Residences, South Beach. Price point: no published entry price; released on request. Delivery: planned 2027. Unit mix: 30 residences over 15 storeys, one to five bedrooms. Position: 1671 Collins Avenue, oceanfront, beside the Lincoln Road corridor. Operator or brand: the Ritz-Carlton name under licence; direct access to the Sagamore; a 24 hour doorman, a residents' beach club, Jose Andres restaurant programming, a la carte in residence dining, personal chef, trainer, childcare and pet care.

Read Coral Gables or Brickell: which better supports a full-time life and Brickell vs Bal Harbour for full-time living for the same question in other pairs.

In the Grove, like a house. Four Seasons publishes the staff a household uses on an ordinary day, a doorman, a bellman, valet, a Director of Residence who answers for the building, and the services it buys by the hour: housekeeping, grocery provisioning, a butler, dog grooming, a car wash. Seventy homes is a building where the staff know the children's names. On the beach, the Perigon publishes a similar private shape with ~73 homes, a restaurant only residents can book and a breakfast room, without a hotel to share any of it. The Shoreclub and the Ritz-Carlton publish hotels: Auberge's spa and beach club at one, the Sagamore's suites and Jose Andres's restaurant at the other, which on a Tuesday in August is a quiet lobby and on a Saturday in February is somebody else's holiday. Read which Miami Beach or Bal Harbour condo has the best service, Miami Beach condos with a hotel on site and concierge and services at Four Seasons Coconut Grove.

It changes who is in the building. A hotel residence has a high season because the hotel does, and the Shoreclub's beach club and the Ritz-Carlton's Sagamore are busiest exactly when a full-time owner is also home. The Perigon and the Four Seasons have no hotel, so their winter is their own owners' winter, and the question becomes how many of those owners are part-time; a building where most homes are empty in August runs differently from one where most are lived in. None of the four sheets publishes the share of full-time owners, which is the question to ask the gallery and the answer to read in the parking garage on a weekday. Read living part-time on the beach, hotel guests and resident spaces at Shoreclub and high season and event weeks at the Perigon.

The master policy prices the site, building by building, and an oceanfront address and a bayfront one are different sites. The three beach buildings publish oceanfront sites; the Four Seasons publishes a water view in the Grove, which is Biscayne Bay. Every one carries a flood zone set by its address, a master policy with a named storm deductible and a written hurricane procedure, and a full-time owner reads all three differently from a seasonal one: the full-time household is the one in the building when the procedure runs. The oceanfront buildings also carry the beach itself, which is public below the mean high water line and the association's above it. Read Miami condo insurance, Miami Beach flood maps and insurance and what to verify before buying oceanfront in Mid-Beach.

The homestead, and it is the one thing a full-time owner gets that a seasonal one does not. Florida's homestead exemption and its cap on assessed value apply to a primary residence the owner lives in on the first of January and files for by the county's deadline, so a full-time household at any of the four carries it from the first full year, while a second home pays full freight. The property tax base resets at the sale either way. The other paper is the declared use: a full-time owner answers "primary" to the lender, the insurer and the association and has to mean it in all three. Read does buying a Miami condo make you a Florida resident, why property tax resets when you buy a Miami condo and primary residence, second home or investment.

Four Seasons Coconut Grove suits the household that wants a house with staff on the bay, 70 neighbours and no hotel. You give up the ocean, a published price and a date. Read Four Seasons Coconut Grove: what to know before you buy and the Coconut Grove zone page.

The Perigon suits the household that wants the ocean every day without a hotel, From $12,500,000. You give up the Grove's week and you carry Mid-Beach's price. Read the Perigon dossier and the Mid-Beach zone page.

The Shoreclub suits the household that wants Auberge's hotel under the home, From $4,850,000, and accepts the season that comes with it. You give up a lobby of your own. Read the Shoreclub dossier and the South Beach zone page.

The Ritz-Carlton Residences South Beach suits the household that wants a date, 2027, and 30 neighbours beside the Sagamore. You give up quiet in February. Read the Ritz-Carlton South Beach guide.

The desk reads the management agreement, the share of full-time owners and the homestead calendar with the buyer before the reservation.