Buying or selling in Doral?

How I approach a Doral transaction

Most of what decides a Florida transaction is not the house. It is insurance, the condition of the association if there is one, what the survey shows, and whether the closing timeline survives contact with a lender. Those are the things I spend my time on in Miami-Dade County, and they are what I would want to talk about first.

What I watch for on a Florida contract

Inspection findings are a negotiation with a deadline attached. The report is not a repair list and a seller is not obliged to accept it as one. What decides the outcome is how the request is framed, how quickly it goes back, and whether the important items have been separated from the cosmetic ones. Sending twelve items when three of them matter is the surest way to get nothing.

Florida practicalities

• Windstorm and flood are underwritten separately from the main policy across much of Florida. Price them on the specific address before you are under contract, not after.
• For condominium buildings of three storeys or more at the relevant age, Florida requires milestone structural inspections and a structural integrity reserve study. Both change assessments and financeability. Read them before waiving anything.
• The homestead exemption reduces taxable value on a Florida primary residence, and the Save Our Homes cap limits how fast the assessed value rises afterwards. Portability may carry a benefit from a prior Florida homestead. Your county property appraiser is the authority, not your agent.
• Title in Florida is customarily handled through a title company rather than an attorney as a matter of course, which changes who you call when a question arises mid-contract.

Other cities in Florida

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• Hialeah
• Tallahassee
• All of Florida