Relocating from London to Fisher Island or Downtown Miami: which building fits?

Two addresses answer, and they are opposites. Six Fisher Island is ~50 waterfront homes of 3 to 8 bedrooms on the last parcel of an island reached by ferry or boat, with no published entry price. Downtown Miami offers two supertalls by the same developer: Waldorf Astoria Residences Miami, ~360 residences across 100 stories, From $3,300,000, and Delano Residences & Hotel Miami, ~421 finished residences across ~90 stories, From $760,000. None of the three publishes a delivery date on our file. The London buyer's decision is half geography and half paperwork: the ferry or the street, then the pound, the lender, the title policy and the insurance the closing will ask for in an order London does not use. The paperwork is the same in both places. The life is not.

Five axes, from the developers' published material only.

Six Fisher Island. Price point: no published entry price; pricing is released on request. Delivery: no date in the material on our file. Unit mix: ~50 waterfront homes, 3 to 8 bedrooms, ~3,900 to over ~15,000 square feet, private elevator entry to each. Position: ~650 feet of shoreline in ~6.5 acres of gardens; no bridge, arrival by ferry, private boat, house car and tender, or the private marina. Operator or brand: Related Group with BH Group and Globe Invest; Kobi Karp and Tara Bernerd; three lobbies with full-time concierges, a residential butler and an on-site general manager; lifetime Fisher Island Club membership on closing, subject to Club approval, the developer paying the initiation fee only.

Waldorf Astoria Residences Miami. Price point: From $3,300,000. Delivery: no date in the material on our file. Unit mix: ~360 branded residences across a 100 story tower with hotel guestrooms and suites; furnished junior suites and 1 to 4 bedroom residences. Position: Downtown Miami, unobstructed views of downtown, Miami Beach and the Atlantic. Operator or brand: Hilton Worldwide under licence of the Waldorf Astoria name; Property Markets Group; a private residential pool deck and an owners lounge beside the resort pool, Peacock Alley, a signature spa and a kids club.

Delano Residences & Hotel Miami. Price point: From $760,000. Delivery: no date in the material on our file. Unit mix: ~421 fully finished residences across ~90 stories; studios through 3 bedrooms in the released collection, larger homes expected later; Meyer Davis interiors. Position: Fourth and Biscayne, views of downtown, Biscayne Bay, Miami Beach and the Atlantic. Operator or brand: Delano under licence with Ennismore and Accor, hotel below; Property Markets Group; two resort pools, The Source spa, a Members' Club, Beach Club access at Delano Miami Beach, and Accor ownership benefits subject to the annual fee.

Read Six Fisher Island's floor plans, Waldorf Astoria's, Delano's and Fisher Island or Downtown Miami: enclave or city.

Only if the household wants it to. Six Fisher Island publishes no bridge: arrival is by ferry, private boat, the house car and tender, or the private marina, and every school run, dinner and airport dash is timed against a crossing. The island gives back what it takes: ~55,000 square feet of amenity private to residents, a residents-only oceanfront restaurant, a padel court, a children's playground, and a Club membership with the deed subject to the Club's approval. The two Downtown towers give the street, and both run on a hotel, which means a lobby with other people in it. A family that needs a school on the mainland and a parent who flies on Mondays reads the ferry timetable before the brochure. Read is Fisher Island practical for a family with school-age children, living without a car at Six Fisher Island and high-floor living in Downtown Miami.

By wire, in dollars, from an account in the buyer's own name, with a paper trail. The deposits on a new building are paid in stages to the developer's escrow agent, and a UK bank sending six figures to a Florida title company will ask where the money came from; so will the escrow agent. The sequence is: open the US dollar account or the foreign exchange facility before reserving, convert on a schedule the buyer controls rather than on the deposit's due date, and keep the bank statements, the completion statement from the London home and the source of funds letter in one file. Read moving funds to a Florida escrow account, why international wires get held, source of funds documentation and buying from abroad at Six Fisher Island.

A US lender that writes foreign national loans can, usually at a larger down payment and a higher rate than a US borrower with a credit file. The loan is arranged near delivery, not at contract, so the staged deposits are cash. A London buyer with a UK private bank sometimes borrows against the London home and pays cash in Miami; that is the banker's call, not the building's. What the building decides is whether a lender will like it: a tower with a hotel inside it, as at Waldorf Astoria and Delano, is read differently from a condominium of ~50 homes, and the buyer asks a lender before reserving whether this building and this structure would qualify. Read a UK mortgage on a Miami condo, foreign national financing, buying without US credit history and lender approval at Waldorf Astoria.

Four things. An owner's title insurance policy, which a Florida closing carries where a London conveyance relies on the Land Registry. An insurance binder: the association's master policy covers the structure, the owner's own policy covers the interior, contents and loss assessment, and a lender wants it bound before funding. A closing statement with the developer's fees, the title premium, the recording and documentary stamp costs and the first months of association dues. And the property tax reassessment the January after closing, which a buyer used to council tax does not expect. The cash to hold back after the price is the sum of those lines plus the first year of dues, read line by line before the reservation. The treaty, the estate tax exposure of a non-resident owner and the name the home is held in go to UK and US counsel first, because the name on the contract is hard to change. Read the UK and US tax treaty and property, estate tax exposure for non-resident owners, owner's title insurance on a new Miami condo, Miami condo insurance, what a Miami closing costs and why property tax resets when you buy a Miami condo.

Six Fisher Island suits the London family that wants land, water and a house-sized home with a butler and a Club, and is content to live by a ferry. You give up the street and a published price. Read the Six Fisher Island dossier.

Waldorf Astoria suits the household that wants a Hilton-run house in the city with rooms the hotel does not share and four bedroom plans. You give up the quiet and take a 100 story tower's budget. Read the Waldorf Astoria dossier.

Delano suits the couple who wants a finished home at the lowest Downtown entry, From $760,000, with a beach club across the bay. You give up four bedrooms for now and share the tower with a hotel and a public deck. Read the Delano dossier.

The Fisher Island zone page and the Downtown Miami zone page map the three. The desk reads the ferry timetable, the plans by line and the closing statement with the London buyer before the reservation.