The sales team is not your adversary. They are also not your adviser, and confusing the two costs buyers more than anything else in the process.
This page is about the conversation itself. The answers a specific project gives are worth going through with someone independent. Contact the desk at Miami Dossier for the current position on any building we cover.
A sales gallery is designed, staffed and scripted to produce a reservation. That is its function and there is nothing improper about it. The people in it are frequently knowledgeable and frequently helpful.
But they are compensated by the developer, they represent the developer, and in Florida the question of who represents whom in a transaction is a specific legal matter that should be established rather than assumed.
Every question below asks for a document or a verifiable fact. Opinions are free and they are worth what they cost.
Which entity is the developer, and what has it completed? Not the brand, the entity. Ask for the completed projects by name and date.
What is the full deposit schedule, and what triggers each instalment? In writing, with dates or milestones.
Where are deposits held, and under what arrangement? Florida law governs escrow for preconstruction condominium deposits. Ask how it works here and have counsel confirm it.
What is the contractual outside delivery date? Not the marketing date. The date in the purchase agreement.
What is the interior area and the terrace area, separately? With the measurement convention for each.
What is the estimated association budget, and what does it include? And what sits outside it.
What is the finish schedule as delivered? Against what the model residence shows.
How long does the developer control the association? And what happens at turnover.
If the building carries a brand, what are the ongoing obligations? Licence fees, standards, and what an owner must comply with.
What are the rental restrictions? Minimum term, frequency, and whether short term letting is permitted at all.
What is the assignment position before closing? Whether and on what terms a contract can be assigned.
What has changed since launch? Plans, finishes, amenity programme, delivery date. Something usually has.
Written or verbal. A project that puts answers in writing quickly is behaving like an organisation that expects to be held to them. One that keeps answers verbal, however warmly, is not.
Specific or general. "Roughly a year from now" and a contractual date are different answers to the same question. So are "premium appliances" and a named schedule.
Redirected or answered. Watch for questions that get met with availability pressure rather than an answer. That is a technique rather than a failure, but it tells you what the priority is.
None of these signals condemn a project. Sales galleries are busy and some questions genuinely need to go to the developer’s office. The pattern across twelve questions is more informative than any single response.
Florida has specific brokerage relationship categories, and the default arrangement is not what most buyers assume. Whether anyone in the room represents your interests, and in what capacity, is a question with a legal answer rather than a social one.
Ask it plainly, ask for the answer in writing, and have counsel confirm what it means for you before you sign anything.
For our part, we disclose our position on every page. We are a licensed Florida brokerage and we may be compensated by developers or by other licensed brokerages in connection with an introduction or a transaction. That is stated so it can be weighed, not buried.
Do not ask what the building will be worth. Nobody knows, any answer is a projection, and a projection offered by a party earning on the sale is worth less than nothing.
Do not ask whether it is a good investment. It is a question about your circumstances, your horizon, your tax position and your alternatives, none of which a sales gallery knows or is qualified to assess.
Ask what the building is, what the terms are, and what has changed. Those have answers.
Going through a set of answers with someone who is not compensated on your decision changes what you notice in them. Contact the desk at Miami Dossier and we will read them with you, including the ones that were given verbally.
The pattern across the answers is usually the most useful thing you take out of a sales gallery. Contact the desk at Miami Dossier and we will go through the current position on any building we cover, including the parts a sales gallery would rather skip. Where a question is legal, tax or structuring, we introduce you to advisers who handle that properly rather than answering it ourselves.