Guides
The things that actually decide a deal down here.
Not market commentary. The specific questions that change what a home is worth, what you can borrow, and whether a contract closes.
You inherited a house. What happens now
Nobody can sign a deed until someone holds Letters of Administration, and a protected homestead may never have been the estate's to sell in the first place. What the court actually needs, which dates in a Florida probate are fixed and which are not, and where a sale realistically fits around them.
Read itBuying with FHA here: what passes, what does not
An FHA appraiser is judging the house as well as the price, and down here that means peeling paint, a missing handrail, the roof's remaining life and an unstrapped water heater. What HUD actually requires, how to check whether a condo is approved before you fall for it, and the 2026 county loan limit.
Read itWhat selling actually costs you here
A net sheet that knows where it is. Documentary stamp tax is 60 cents per hundred dollars in Miami-Dade rather than 70, and the buyer customarily pays for title insurance — so a national calculator overstates your costs by thousands. Every rate sourced.
Work out my netDown payment assistance, explained properly
The county lends first-time buyers up to 35,000 dollars interest free, and the state adds more on top. Which ones are gifts and which are second mortgages, the resale condition that decides who keeps your profit, and what an assistance offer does to your chances against cash.
Read itWhat your Save Our Homes benefit is worth on the next house
A long-held homestead down here can carry a very large gap between what the county says it is worth and what it assesses it at, and that gap moves with you. It is capped at 500,000 dollars, the formula changes if you buy a cheaper house, and it has to be applied for. Worked from your own tax bill.
Work it outWhat the tax will actually be, not what the seller pays
The figure on a listing is the seller's bill, and on a long-held house it can be less than half of yours. Work out your real number from three figures the county publishes free for every address — no millage table to go stale.
Work it outThe addition nobody pulled a permit for
The county's own records will tell you before you offer: compare the bedroom count the Property Appraiser holds against what the permit history shows was ever approved. What an open or missing permit does to a lender, a title company and a closing date, and who ends up paying to open the wall back up.
Check it firstBuying here as an investor: what the numbers say
At 25 percent down, almost nothing in this county cash-flows — operating costs run near 65 percent of gross rent here, not the 50 percent rule of thumb. The honest version, plus the four things that make a yield calculation confidently wrong.
Run the numbersWhat homes actually rent for down here
Live data, not an article. Median rent and rent per square foot from executed leases rather than asking prices, broken down by bedroom count and by year. Half of the sell-or-hold decision, in numbers.
See the numbersWhat nobody tells you before you move here
It is rarely the house. Quote insurance before you offer, read the hurricane deductible in dollars, and plan for the tax reset and association approval.
Read itYour flood zone is a line item, not a label
Flood is a separate policy, not part of homeowners. When your lender requires it, how an elevation certificate can cut the quote, what to ask the seller.
Read itBuying, selling and holding property in Kendall
What a purchase in the Kendall corridor actually costs once the tax reset, insurance and association buyer approval are counted. Written plainly, including where my own closed file history sits.
Read itBuying and selling in Palmetto Bay
The Village keeps permit records the county does not, septic capacity caps what you can add, and taxes reset at closing. Why price per square foot misleads.
Read itBuying and selling in Cutler Bay
I sell in south Miami-Dade and have never closed in Cutler Bay. What taxes and insurance do to a purchase here, and why permit searches miss Cutler Ridge.
Read itSelling a rental with tenants in it
The lease survives the sale, which narrows your buyers to investors. Showing notice, how the deposit transfers at closing, and whether vacant nets more.
Read itRoof age is the number that decides your insurance
Carriers price the roof before they price the house. How an older one can strip a buyer's financing, and what a wind mitigation inspection is really worth.
Read itThe seller's tax bill is not your tax bill
Save Our Homes caps the seller's assessment, not yours. Where yours resets at closing, the 10% non-homestead cap, and the portability movers forget.
Read itWhat property management actually costs here
Compare monthly percentages and you are comparing the smallest number. The leasing fee repeats at every turnover, and the add-on fees are where it adds up.
Read itHow long should your rental sit?
Divide the rent by thirty and that is what a vacant day costs. Why the first ten days decide the outcome, and the four things besides price that stall it.
Read itSelling and buying in Homestead
Homestead is the market I work. What insurance, the tax reset and HOA dues do to a purchase here, the four things that move a sale price, and sell-or-hold.
Read itRenting out your house, and whether you should
Decide whether you are holding it at all, then set rent off closed leases. Screening standards, the lease, and what Statute 83.49 requires of the deposit.
Read itRenting out your house without losing the homestead exemption
Section 196.061 only costs you the exemption after two straight years over 30 rental days. Why the Save Our Homes cap, not the exemption, is the real loss.
Read itRent it out, or sell it?
Rent is not return. What a Miami-Dade property nets after vacancy, turnover and upkeep, and the primary-residence tax exclusion that lapses if you wait.
Read itThe deposit rules most landlords get wrong
Florida permits only a few ways to hold the money. The notice deadline that forfeits an honest claim, what you can deduct, and why move-in photos settle it.
Read itScreening a tenant without breaking the law
A written standard applied to everyone is your defence. Questions that create liability, where Miami-Dade exceeds the federal list, and assistance animals.
Read itYou looked me up. Here is what you need
You looked me up. Here is the license, the brokerage, and the one useful next step for selling, buying, or an investment property in south Miami-Dade.
Read itMilestone inspections and reserve studies: does this reach your building?
Florida's milestone mandate reaches buildings of three habitable stories or more, so a two-story condo is exempt, and Miami-Dade recertification still reaches it.
Read itBuying and selling in Florida City
Florida City is the fastest-growing city in Miami-Dade, but the 11.4 percent roll rise is new construction, not appreciation. Why ZIP 33034 does not prove the city, and where my record is.
Read itSelling from out of state, and what Florida actually takes
Florida withholds nothing from a nonresident seller's proceeds, FIRPTA reaches foreign persons rather than out-of-state ones, and a Florida closing can be completed by courier and notary without flying down.
Read itWhat your Miami-Dade house is worth, and what sets the number
Why automated estimates miss here, which nearby sales Florida disqualifies as comparables, and what happens when the lender's appraisal lands under contract price.
Read itThe wind mitigation inspection, explained question by question
What a Florida wind mitigation inspection records, question by question, who may sign the OIR-B1-1802 form, how long it stays valid, and why a missing one stalls a closing.
Read itCash offer or list it: the arithmetic on a south Miami-Dade house
A worked comparison of cash offers at 70% and 80% of market against a listed sale, netted at $400,000 and $600,000 with Miami-Dade closing costs.
Read itSelling a house with a reverse mortgage in Florida
An heir's guide to a HECM on an inherited Florida house: the HUD clock, the 95 percent provision, non-recourse, and who to call before any agent.
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