How does a family office buy several Miami condos, from offer to recording?

Each home is a separate purchase, so run them as separate files on one calendar. Decide the holding structure for each home with counsel before reserving. Then prepare one set of authority papers per buying entity, sign each purchase agreement, and fund each deposit schedule into its own escrow. The buildings will finish at different times, so closings come one by one, and each deed is recorded with the county separately. After that, each home has its own insurance, tax bill and association.

The buyer named in the purchase agreement is the buyer. Pre-construction contracts usually limit assignment, so moving a signed contract into a company or trust later can need the developer's consent and sometimes a fee. Our page on whether you can assign a pre-construction contract explains the clause.

So the structure comes first. Some families hold each home in its own company, some in one company, some in a trust, some in personal names. The choice affects liability, tax, estate planning, financing and privacy, and it differs for a family abroad. It is a question for the family's tax adviser and a Florida attorney. Our pages on LLC, trust or personal name and buying a Miami condo through an entity list the questions to bring. For a family abroad, estate tax exposure for non-resident owners comes next.

A common shape is a city home and a beach home. On our file, that might be a Brickell tower such as Cipriani Residences Miami, with 397 residences and a summer 2027 date, and an oceanfront home at Rivage Bal Harbour, with about 56 homes of three to six bedrooms. Two buildings, two developers, two sets of documents and two calendars. The structure chosen for one does not have to match the other, and counsel may advise that it should not.

Each buying entity needs papers that show who may sign for it. A title company will typically ask for the formation documents, the operating agreement or trust instrument, a current certificate of good standing, and a resolution or consent naming the signer and approving the purchase. For a trust, a certification of trust usually stands in for the full trust document.

Prepare one set per entity and keep it current. A good standing certificate dated months ago will be asked for again at closing. If the family office signs through a manager or attorney-in-fact, file that authority too.

Each home has its own reservation, purchase agreement and deposit schedule. For a new condominium bought from the developer, Florida gives the buyer 15 days to cancel after signing or after receiving the required documents, whichever is later. Each contract has its own 15 days; track every one.

Deposits go to the escrow agent named in each agreement. Under Florida's condominium law, the first 10 percent of the price is held in escrow, and amounts above that may be released for construction where the contract allows it. Read where your deposit actually sits.

Wires should leave the buying entity's own account, with a record linking the funds to the family. Banks hold wires that arrive without an explanation, and title companies ask where the money came from. Read source of funds documentation and what to ask before you wire. Confirm wire instructions by phone with a known contact before every transfer.

New buildings finish on their own schedules. On our file, Cipriani Residences Miami gives summer 2027 and Cassia in Coral Gables an estimated first quarter of 2027, while Rivage Bal Harbour, 619 Brickell by Nobu and ORA by Casa Tua publish no date. A family buying one home in each will close more than once, months or years apart.

Plan the money for each closing on its own date: the balance of the price, closing costs, the first association payments and the reserve contributions. Our page on what closing actually costs lists the lines. Before each closing, refresh the authority papers, the insurance binder for the interior and the inspection with its punch list. The title company will say what federal and state reporting applies to a company or trust buying without a loan, and what it needs from the family.

At each closing the developer signs the deed to the buying entity. The title company records it with the county clerk and issues the owner's title policy in that entity's name. If any home is financed, the mortgage is recorded too.

Then the upkeep, multiplied. Each home has its own association budget and rules, insurance, property tax bill each November and, for each company, a state annual report. A family that holds homes in several companies keeps a calendar of every filing date. Our page on documents before closing on a new Miami condo sets out the file for each home, and family offices in Miami covers the wider picture.

The building notes carry the family office questions for each tower: Rivage, Cipriani and Nobu. The Rivage dossier and the Bal Harbour and Surfside zone page place the beach side; the Brickell zone page places the city side. For the questions to put at each gallery, read what to ask before reserving at a Brickell tower. The desk sets the contracts, deposit schedules and closing dates of each home on one calendar with the family's counsel, before the first reservation.