For the buyer who plans to finance a new home in Coconut Grove, and needs to know how much cash goes in before any lender does, and when the loan actually happens.
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.
On a new building, the mortgage comes last. You sign the purchase agreement and pay the deposits in cash during construction; at Four Seasons Private Residences Coconut Grove that is 20 percent at contract and 20 percent at groundbreaking, per the developer fact sheet. The loan is applied for months before completion, depends on the lender approving both you and the building, and funds only at closing. Then two documents are recorded: your deed and the lender's mortgage. Most developer contracts do not depend on your loan, so the risk of a refusal sits with you.
Get a written pre-approval before the reservation, and ask the lender two questions that matter more for new construction than for a resale. First, will it lend on a condominium that is not yet built, and on what terms for this building? Second, how far ahead can it hold a rate, given a delivery date that may be a year or more away?
Then read the purchase agreement for a financing contingency. In most developer contracts there is none: if the loan falls through at closing, you still owe the balance. Our page on cash or mortgage for Miami pre-construction explains how buyers plan around that.
When you buy from a developer, section 718.503 of the Florida Statutes gives you 15 days after signing and receiving the condominium documents to cancel. Put your lender's questions inside those 15 days.
Deposits are cash, whatever the final loan. At Four Seasons Coconut Grove, the developer fact sheet sets 20 percent at contract and 20 percent at groundbreaking, so 40 percent of the price is paid before the building rises, with the balance per the purchase agreement. Our note on the Four Seasons Coconut Grove deposit schedule sets it against the contract terms, and the pre-construction deposit schedule explained shows how schedules vary.
That changes the size of the loan. With 40 percent already paid, the mortgage at closing covers at most the remaining 60 percent, and many buyers borrow less.
Deposits up to 10 percent of the price stay in escrow under section 718.202; above that, the contract may let the developer use them for construction. Read what happens to your deposits if you cannot close: our page on deposit forfeiture if you walk away sets out the usual terms.
A lender approves the building as well as the borrower. For a new condominium, it looks at how many homes are sold, how many are owner-occupied, the association budget and reserves, and whether the developer still controls the board. A building that does not meet a lender's rules can still be financed, but often by fewer lenders and on different terms.
Ask early, not at completion. Our notes on lender approval for Four Seasons Coconut Grove and for Cassia in Coral Gables explain what to ask each building.
A few months before the building completes, you make the full loan application. The lender orders an appraisal of the finished home. If the appraisal comes in below the contract price, the lender lends on the lower figure and the difference is yours to pay in cash. Plan for that before you sign.
Once the appraisal and the building review are done, the lender issues a commitment and sets the closing conditions. Buyers whose income is from abroad, or who have no US credit history, follow a different route; our pages on buying without US credit history and on whether a foreign buyer can get a mortgage cover it.
Timing differs by building. Cassia's sales team estimates completion in the first quarter of 2027; Cipriani Residences Miami in Brickell gives summer 2027; Four Seasons Coconut Grove has no date on the fact sheet we hold. The later the date, the less a rate quoted today means.
For a consumer mortgage, you receive the closing disclosure at least three business days before closing. At closing, you wire the balance not covered by the loan, the lender funds, the developer signs the deed, and you sign the note and the mortgage. Florida charges documentary stamp tax and an intangible tax on a new mortgage, in addition to the costs on the deed; our page on what closing actually costs lists them.
The title agent then records two documents in the official records of Miami-Dade County: the deed that makes you the owner, and the mortgage that secures the lender. Both belong in your ownership file. Our cash buyer's version of this path shows what changes without a lender.
The desk walks a financed buyer through the building's schedule against the lender's, so the cash is ready when each step asks for it. See the Coconut Grove zone page and whether Four Seasons Coconut Grove is worth it.
Contact the desk at Miami Dossier for the current plans, pricing and availability as the developer releases them, discussed one to one.
A private report on the Miami market, sent when there is something worth knowing. No noise, no listings, no pressure.
Received. A note from the desk is on its way. If it has not arrived within a few minutes, please check your spam folder and mark it as not spam, so we can reach you.
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.
Samuel Strauch is the owner of Metrik Real Estate. His team of agents represents buyers in Miami pre-construction.
A person replies within 24 hours, usually much sooner. On weekends, back on Monday morning.
