Buyers

Buying a Condo in Florida

Buying a condo in Florida asks you to check things a house never does. You are not just buying a unit, you are buying a share of a building, its obligations and its decisions, and the most expensive surprises come from the building rather than from the unit.

Below is what to verify, in what order, and why the two questions to settle first are whether the building is financeable and what its structural inspections found.

Buying a Condo in Florida? Start Here

Tell us the building and what you are considering. We will tell you what we can find out about its inspections, assessments and financing before you commit.

Buying a Condo in Florida: Two Questions First

Most condo purchases that go badly go badly for one of two reasons, and both are knowable early. The first is that the building turns out not to be financeable for the loan the buyer intended to use, which surfaces late and kills the deal or forces a worse loan. The second is that a structural obligation the building has not yet funded lands as an assessment shortly after closing.

Both questions can be asked in the first week. Neither usually is. The pattern is that a buyer falls for a unit, spends the inspection period on the unit itself, and only meets the building's problems when the lender or the first assessment notice raises them. Reverse that order. Clear the building first, then decide whether you love the unit enough to keep going.

None of this argues against buying a condo. Plenty of Florida buildings have faced their obligations, done the work and funded the reserves, and those are good purchases. The argument is only for finding out which kind you are looking at while you can still walk away. Our buyer's agent page covers why representation matters more here than on a house.

Financing When Buying a Condo in Florida

On a house, a lender underwrites you and the property. On a condo, it also underwrites the building, and a building can fail that review while the unit is perfectly nice and you are perfectly qualified. This surprises buyers more than anything else in the process.

What the review looks at is broadly consistent even though the specific thresholds differ by loan program and change over time: how well reserves are funded, what proportion of units are rented rather than owner occupied, whether any single owner controls a large share of the units, whether the association is in litigation, whether there is deferred maintenance or a structural finding outstanding, and whether the master insurance is adequate. A building that does not clear those tests gets described as non-warrantable.

Non-warrantable is a financing label, not a verdict on the building. It means ordinary conventional financing is harder, that the loans available may be more expensive, and that when you come to sell, your own buyer pool will be narrowed the same way yours was. That last part is worth weighing, because it affects resale rather than just purchase.

The practical instruction is one sentence: ask your lender to confirm the specific building is eligible for your specific loan program before your inspection period runs out. We deliberately do not publish program thresholds here, because they are investor guidelines rather than law, they move, and only your lender can answer for your building and your loan. Start with pre-approval and raise the building question in that first conversation.

Milestone Inspections and Reserve Studies

After the Surfside collapse, Florida introduced structural requirements that reshaped condo ownership in this state, and they are now the most important documents in a condo purchase. Two of them matter to you as a buyer.

The milestone inspection is a structural inspection required for residential condominium and cooperative buildings three or more habitable stories in height. It is due when the building reaches 30 years of age and every 10 years after that, and a local enforcement agency may require the first inspection at 25 years where it determines that local circumstances call for it. Phase one is a visual assessment of the structure. Phase two happens only if phase one finds substantial structural deterioration, and it may involve destructive testing.

The structural integrity reserve study, usually shortened to SIRS, is required for residential condominium associations with buildings three or more habitable stories in height, at least every ten years. It examines eight specified elements including the roof, the load bearing structure, fireproofing, plumbing, electrical, waterproofing and exterior windows and doors, along with any other item costing more than 25,000 dollars that affects structural integrity. Its output is what the association ought to be putting aside.

Here is why this matters to a buyer right now rather than in the abstract. The compliance deadlines for these have already passed for the buildings that were first in scope. So for a qualifying building, these documents should exist. If an association cannot produce them, that is not a paperwork delay, it is your finding. And if the study says one number while the reserve account says a much smaller one, the difference is not going to be absorbed by the association. It will be assessed to owners, and by then you will be one.

The state maintains this information directly. The Florida Division of Condominiums publishes the current inspection requirements, and the requirements have been amended more than once since 2022, so confirm the position that applies to your building rather than relying on an article, including this one.

What to Read Before Buying a Condo in Florida

Ask for all of these during your inspection period and actually read them. If a document is slow to arrive, treat the delay as information rather than as an inconvenience, and do not let your inspection period expire while you wait for it.

The milestone inspection report

For a building three or more habitable stories and old enough to require one, this should exist. If nobody can produce it, that absence is itself the finding.

The structural integrity reserve study

What the study identified, what it says should be reserved, and whether the association is actually reserving it.

The current budget and reserve balances

Reserves that are well below what the study calls for mean the money has to come from somewhere later, and later means from owners.

Board meeting minutes, at least a year

Assessments get discussed in minutes long before they get levied. This is the single most useful document nobody reads.

The declaration, bylaws and rules

Leasing restrictions, pet limits, approval processes, and what the association may charge you for. Read the leasing section twice.

The insurance certificate

What the association's policy covers and where your own HO-6 policy has to pick up. The gap between them is yours.

Any assessment levied, pending or discussed

Ask directly and in writing. A verbal no from a sales office is not an answer you can rely on.

Litigation the association is involved in

Pending litigation can affect both the building's finances and whether a lender will finance a unit in it.

Florida associations also provide an estoppel certificate in a sale, which states what is owed on the unit at closing. Florida statute (s. 718.116 for condos, s. 720.30851 for HOAs) caps the preparation fee at $250 when the account has no delinquency, allows an extra $100 for expedited delivery within 3 business days, and up to $150 more when the account is delinquent. Those printed caps adjust for inflation every 5 years under the same statute, so the permitted amount at your closing may run modestly higher. Ask your closing agent or the association for the current adjusted figure.

What Buying a Condo in Florida Costs Monthly

Build the real number before you offer. That is the mortgage, the property taxes at the assessment that will apply after your purchase rather than the seller's current one, your own HO-6 insurance policy, and the association dues.

Dues deserve particular attention on a condo, because they are both larger and less predictable than buyers expect. A building that has just completed structural work, or is about to, may be raising them. Ask what dues have done over the last three years rather than what they are today, because the trend tells you more than the number.

The tax reset catches condo buyers exactly as it catches house buyers. See how buying works in South Florida for that, and the calculators to model the payment.

Assessments and Who Pays

A special assessment is money charged to owners beyond regular dues, usually for work the reserves do not cover. In South Florida the structural requirements have made these far more common, and they can be large enough to change whether a purchase made sense.

The question that matters in a transaction is who pays one that is levied near your closing date. That is a contract term, not a default, and it is negotiable. Settle it in writing rather than discovering the two of you assumed different things. If an assessment has been discussed but not yet levied, that is exactly the situation to address explicitly.

Browse condos for sale or oceanfront condos when you are ready to look, and bring these questions to the first one you like.

Signs to Slow Down

None of these means walk away on its own. All of them mean ask another question before your inspection period expires.

•A qualifying building that cannot produce its milestone inspection report
•A reserve study that names a number the reserve account comes nowhere near
•Minutes that discuss a repair nobody has costed or funded
•Dues that have risen sharply three years running with no explanation offered
•An association slow to release documents while your inspection period runs
•A seller or sales office answering assessment questions verbally rather than in writing
•Any building where your lender will not confirm eligibility before you are committed

A good building answers all of this readily, because a well run association has the documents and knows where they are. The speed and clarity of the answers tell you almost as much as the answers themselves.

Questions About Buying a Condo in Florida

What should I check before buying a condo in Florida?

Whether the building is financeable for your loan, whether the milestone inspection and structural integrity reserve study have been done and what they found, whether a special assessment has been levied or discussed, how well reserves are funded, and what the association's rules say about leasing and pets. Do all of that inside your inspection period, because that is the window where you can still walk away.

What is a milestone inspection?

A structural inspection Florida requires for residential condominium and cooperative buildings that are three or more habitable stories in height. It is due when the building turns 30, then every 10 years after that, and a local enforcement agency can require the first one at 25 years where local circumstances call for it. Phase one is a visual assessment. Phase two only happens if phase one finds substantial structural deterioration, and it can involve destructive testing.

What is a SIRS?

A structural integrity reserve study. Florida requires residential condominium associations to have one for buildings three or more habitable stories in height, at least every ten years. It examines eight specified elements including the roof, the structure, fireproofing, plumbing, electrical, waterproofing and exterior windows and doors, plus any other item costing more than 25,000 dollars that affects structural integrity, and it sets what the association should be reserving.

Why does a condo need to be approved for my mortgage?

Because on a condo the lender is underwriting the building as well as you. Reserve funding, the share of units that are rented rather than owner occupied, pending litigation, how much of the property one owner controls and the insurance in place all feed into whether a loan can be made there. A building that fails those tests is often called non-warrantable, which does not mean it is a bad building, only that ordinary financing is harder and the pool of buyers who can buy it is smaller.

What is a special assessment?

A charge levied on unit owners on top of regular dues, usually to fund a repair or shortfall the reserves do not cover. In South Florida these have become significant, because structural work identified through inspections has to be paid for. An assessment can arrive as a large bill to an owner who bought weeks earlier, so who pays an assessment that is levied around your closing is something to settle in the contract rather than assume.

Can I rent out a Florida condo I buy?

Only if the association allows it, and many restrict it. Common restrictions include minimum lease terms, a cap on how many units may be leased at once, a waiting period after purchase before you may lease at all, and an approval process for your tenant. Short term letting is frequently prohibited outright and municipalities add their own rules. Read the declaration and get the answer in writing before you buy on the assumption of rental income.

Are older Florida condos a bad buy?

Not inherently, and the age is not really the question. What matters is whether the building has faced its structural obligations and funded them, or deferred them. An older building with a completed milestone inspection, a current reserve study and reserves actually funded can be a sounder purchase than a newer one that has done none of it. Ask what the documents say rather than what the year says.

General guidance only, current as of August 2026, and not legal advice. Florida condominium law has been amended repeatedly since 2022 and requirements differ by building age, height and local enforcement agency. Confirm the position for your specific building with the association, the Florida Division of Condominiums and, where it matters, a Florida attorney. Financing eligibility is a question for your lender. Reviewed by Onias Derilus, Florida Real Estate Broker, license BK3276618.

Buying a Condo in Florida? Ask Before You Commit

Tell us which building you are looking at and we will help you find out what its inspections found, whether assessments are in play, and whether it is likely to finance, before your inspection period is running.

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