For the New York, New Jersey or California owner buying a Miami pre-construction home who may make Florida their permanent base.
This page explains. Whether the building suits you is a separate conversation. Contact the desk at Miami Dossier for the current position on any building we cover.
No. Buying a Miami condo does not by itself make you a Florida resident. Florida domicile is where you live and intend to remain, shown by what you do: moving in, filing a Declaration of Domicile under section 222.17 of the Florida Statutes, switching your driver licence, vehicle and voter registration, and claiming the homestead exemption on the home. Florida sets no minimum number of days; the 183 day figure usually comes from the state you are leaving.
A pre-construction buyer adds one more fact to plan around: you cannot claim homestead until you own the finished home and live in it on January 1.
Domicile is your one permanent home, the place you return to. Florida looks at intent and at acts that show it. The common steps are:
Live in the home. A finished, occupied residence is the base of every other step.
File a Declaration of Domicile with the clerk of the circuit court in your county. It is a sworn statement that Florida is your permanent home.
Get a Florida driver licence; Florida law expects new residents to do this within 30 days of becoming residents. Register your vehicles and register to vote here.
Apply for the homestead exemption on the home you own and live in.
Move the life with you: doctors, accounts, memberships, the place your important belongings are kept.
No single step settles it. Together they build the record your former state will look at if it disagrees.
Not for domicile. Florida does not require a set number of days to become domiciled here. The 183 day figure comes from the tax rules of high-tax states. New York, for example, can treat you as a resident for tax if you keep a permanent place to live there and spend more than 183 days in the state, even if your domicile has moved. That is why buyers keep careful day counts after a move.
Our state guides cover how the old state looks at it: moving from New York to Miami, from California and from Chicago. Your tax adviser applies those rules to your facts.
Two reasons buyers ask. First, Florida has no state personal income tax; our page on Florida state income tax explains what that does and does not cover. Second, a permanent resident who owns their home can claim the homestead exemption, which lowers the taxable value of the home and brings the Save Our Homes cap: yearly increases in the assessed value of a homestead are limited to 3 percent or the change in the consumer price index, whichever is lower.
A second home does not qualify for homestead. Non-homestead residential property has its own cap of 10 percent a year, which does not apply to the school portion of the tax bill. Over years of ownership, the gap between the two caps can matter.
Homestead turns on two dates. You must own the home and make it your permanent residence on January 1, and you apply to the county property appraiser by March 1 of that year.
Take a concrete case. Cipriani Residences Miami in Brickell has delivery set for summer 2027, per the developer. A buyer who closes and moves in that summer could be living there on January 1, 2028 and file by March 1, 2028. A buyer whose closing slips past January 1 waits another year for the exemption. Delivery dates move; see our page on what happens if a developer delivers late and the Cipriani location note.
Until closing, a pre-construction contract gives you no home to live in, so it cannot support domicile on its own. Plan the move around the delivery date, not the contract date.
Homestead is tied to permanent residence, and eligibility for buyers who are not US citizens depends on their immigration status; counsel confirms it case by case. Buying a home does not grant a visa or any right to live in the United States; our page on whether buying gets you a US visa explains what does.
Decide which kind of owner you will be: second-home or permanent. It changes the building that fits, the closing date you want and how you take title, since the way you hold title can affect homestead; see LLC, trust or personal name. If the move is to Bal Harbour or Brickell full-time, our Brickell vs Bal Harbour page compares the two, and Miami vs Palm Beach covers the seasonal choice.
The desk matches the delivery date of each building you are considering against your move, so the closing lands on the right side of January 1. Tax and domicile advice comes from your own adviser.
Contact the desk at Miami Dossier for the current plans, pricing and availability as the developer releases them, discussed one to one.
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We hold no listings and we are not the developer. Contact the desk at Miami Dossier and we will tell you what applies to your situation, what does not, and where we would not proceed. Where a question is legal, tax or structuring, we introduce you to advisers who handle that properly rather than answering it ourselves.
The Miami Dossier team works for the buyer, not the developer. Every agent on Samuel Strauch’s team represents buyers in Miami pre-construction.
A person replies within 24 hours, usually much sooner. On weekends, back on Monday morning.
