How do siblings co-owning a Miami condo go from offer to recording?

Siblings buy a Miami condo the same way one buyer does, with four additions, and the additions are decided before the reservation, not at closing. First, every sibling who will own is named on the purchase agreement, because the deed can only convey to the buyers the contract names. Second, the siblings choose how Florida title is held, as tenants in common with shares that pass by will, or as joint tenants with right of survivorship where the last living sibling owns the whole, and the deed must say which. Third, they sign a co-ownership agreement between themselves, covering use, cost, sale and death, which no developer and no closing agent provides. Fourth, each sibling's money is traced separately into one escrow. The sequence then runs as it does for anyone: reservation, contract and the statutory review period, deposits to milestones, closing, recording in Miami-Dade.

Everyone who will own. A reservation in one sibling's name holds the home while the others decide, and most reservations are refundable until the purchase agreement; the purchase agreement itself names the buyers, and adding a sibling after signing is an assignment the developer must consent to, often with a fee. The agreement also asks each buyer for identification and, where an entity is involved, its papers. A sibling who will only lend money to the others is not a buyer and does not sign; a sibling who will own a share, however small, does. Read when a Miami preconstruction reservation becomes binding, can you assign a preconstruction contract and which dates in a Miami preconstruction contract can you not miss.

Florida gives unmarried co-owners two forms, and the deed's words choose. Tenants in common hold shares, equal or unequal, 50 and 50 or 60 and 40, and each share passes under its owner's will or by intestacy when that sibling dies; a sibling's spouse or children can inherit a share of the family condo. Joint tenants with right of survivorship hold the whole together, and when one dies the survivors own it without probate; the deed must say "with right of survivorship" in words, or Florida reads it as tenants in common. Tenancy by the entirety, the form married couples use, is not available to siblings. Which form suits a family depends on whether the siblings want the home to stay with the surviving siblings or to pass to each one's own children, and that is counsel's conversation, held before the contract names the buyers. Read LLC, trust or personal name and how a married couple takes a Miami condo from offer to recording.

The things families assume and later dispute. Who uses the home in which weeks, and how the high season is divided. Who pays what share of the assessment, the property tax, the insurance and a special assessment, and what happens when one sibling does not pay. Who may bring guests, who may let the home and who keeps the rent. How a sibling exits: a right of first refusal for the others, the price formula, the timing. What happens on a death, a divorce or a bankruptcy of one owner, which is where a creditor or a former spouse can otherwise force a sale of the whole. And who speaks for the owners to the association, since the declaration usually recognises one voting owner per home. Many families put the home in a limited liability company and write these terms into the operating agreement instead; the effect is the same and the deed then names the company. Read buying a Miami condo through an entity and buying a condo in Miami for a family.

Deposits go into one escrow account under the purchase agreement, but they can come from three bank accounts, and the closing agent traces each one to its sibling: statements, the source of the funds, and for a sibling abroad the same file any foreign buyer builds. A gift from one sibling to another toward the deposit is documented as a gift, because a lender and the closing agent will ask. A mortgage on a co-owned condo names the borrowers who qualify and puts every owner on the mortgage as a signer, since the lender's lien must bind the whole title; the lender also reviews the building itself, the condominium's budget, reserves and insurance, under the agency and bank rules that decide whether a project is eligible for a conventional loan at all, which is a question for the lender early. Read where your deposit actually sits, preconstruction deposit schedule explained, source of funds documentation and cash or mortgage for Miami preconstruction.

Only a sibling who lives in the home as a permanent residence can claim the Florida homestead exemption, and only on their own share; a seasonal home used by siblings who live elsewhere carries no homestead, and the property tax resets to the price in the first full year. At closing the siblings sign the settlement statement, the deed is delivered naming every owner and the form of title, and the deed is recorded in Miami-Dade County; the owner's title policy names them all. The co-ownership agreement is not recorded and sits in the family's file beside the deed, the declaration, the first budget and the deposit receipts. Read why property tax resets when you buy a Miami condo, owner's title insurance on a new Miami condo and how to read the closing statement on a new Miami condo. The desk reads the sequence with the siblings and sends the title form and the agreement to counsel; the building's part is whether its declaration allows the structure the family chooses.