How does a furnished Miami condo go from offer to recording?

The deed conveys the home; the furniture conveys separately, by a bill of sale, because furniture is personal property and a deed carries only real property. That one fact runs through the whole sequence. The purchase agreement needs a furniture exhibit, the walk-through needs an inventory, the closing statement may allocate part of the price to furnishings with a sales tax question attached, the lender may exclude the furniture from what it lends against, and the ownership file needs the inventory and its warranty. Three buildings on our file sell this way: ORA by Casa Tua, every home fully furnished and move-in ready; Cassia, 174 residences finished and furnished by RH; and the Ocean Terrace resort tower, about 24 residences furnished by RAMSA.

The brochure says furnished. The agreement says what that means, and the two can differ. Ask for the furniture exhibit, the list attached to the purchase agreement, and read it for:

Furniture and rugs, by room, with the maker where the developer names one. Cassia's developer names RH; Ocean Terrace's names RAMSA.

Fixtures and lighting that are not built in, which a later owner may assume stay.

Linens, tableware, art and electronics, which some packages include and most do not.

Substitutions. The clause that lets the developer replace an item with one of similar quality, and whether you may refuse the substitute.

The model. Whether the home will match the model residence you walked through, or only the exhibit.

At ORA, the developer publishes studios to four bedrooms, fully furnished and move-in ready, under the Casa Tua brand; ask whether the furniture is the same in every line or varies by floor. Read ORA's floor plans and unit mix and Cassia's floor plans and unit mix.

The allocation. Some agreements state one price for home and furniture together; some allocate a figure to the furnishings. The allocation matters twice: for the lender, which lends on real property and may not count the furniture, and for tax.

The tax question. Furniture is tangible personal property, and whether sales tax is charged on the furnished portion of a new home is a question the closing agent and counsel answer from the agreement and the allocation. Ask before signing whether any tax is charged, to whom it is paid and whether it appears on the closing statement. Read what a Miami closing costs.

The lender. A financed buyer should show the agreement to the lender early. Ask whether the appraisal values the home with or without the furnishings and whether the loan amount follows. Read cash or mortgage for a Miami pre-construction condo.

The deposit. Staged deposits follow the developer's schedule and are held as the agreement states, as in any purchase. Read where your deposit actually sits.

For an unfurnished home, the walk-through produces a punch list of the construction. For a furnished home, it produces two lists: the punch list and the inventory. Walk the home with the exhibit in hand, tick each item, note the condition, photograph what is scratched or missing, and send the inventory to the developer before closing. The agreement says whether a missing item delays the closing, is replaced after it, or is credited.

Ask, too, for the furniture warranty: who gives it, for how long, and whether it transfers to a later owner. The developer's statutory warranties on a new condominium cover the building; the furniture's cover is a separate paper. At Cassia, where the developer's sales team describes optional professional management and a minimum stay of three days, the inventory is also what a manager and a tenant will be held to. Read Cassia's short-term rental rules.

At closing. The closing statement, the deed for the home, the bill of sale for the furnishings, the owner's title policy, and your insurance, which on a furnished home should carry contents from the first day. Read documents before closing on a new Miami condo.

Recording. The deed is recorded with Miami-Dade County; the bill of sale is not recorded, so it lives in your file and nowhere else. Keep it with the inventory and the warranty.

After. The inventory goes into the ownership file beside the condominium documents, the budget and the brand terms. At ORA, add the Casa Tua licence with its termination clause; read the ORA ownership file and the ownership file for a Brickell condo. At Cassia, add the management agreement if you sign one and the parking assignment, which the developer includes; read the ownership file for a Coconut Grove or Coral Gables condo. At Ocean Terrace, add the hotel and club agreements; read the Ocean Terrace ownership file.

The buyer who wants to land and live: a second-home owner, a relocating household that has sold its furniture with its house, an investor who will let the home through a manager. They give up the home made their own, and they carry the furniture's condition and warranty as their own problem from closing day.

The buyer who should read the exhibit twice: anyone financing, because the allocation can move the loan; anyone planning to let the home, because the inventory is the tenant's baseline; and anyone whose taste differs from the developer's, because the furniture is in the price whether or not it stays.

The Brickell zone page, the Coral Gables zone page and the North Beach zone page place the three buildings. For the furnished buildings compared as homes, read pre-construction or nearly finished: which new Miami condo to buy. The desk reads the furniture exhibit and the allocation with you before the 15-day cancellation right runs.