Living in Sunny Isles Beach

Your building's milestone inspection and reserve study

Florida now requires condominium buildings of three or more stories to complete a milestone structural inspection once they reach a set age, with earlier deadlines in some coastal locations, and to fund reserves according to a structural integrity reserve study. On a barrier island where the whole city is mid- and high-rise, these rules apply to nearly every association.

Know where your building stands. Ask the association or manager for:

• Milestone inspection status, the report if completed, and any phase-two findings.
• The structural integrity reserve study and the funding plan adopted from it.
• The current budget, reserve balances and any pending or planned special assessment with amount and term.
• The master insurance summary: wind, flood and liability coverage and deductibles.
• Twelve months of board minutes.

Two insurance layers, and both matter

The association carries the master policy on the structure; you carry an HO-6 policy on your unit's interior, improvements and contents, and you should confirm whether it includes loss assessment coverage. Master policy premiums and deductibles on oceanfront towers have moved sharply in recent years and flow straight into monthly assessments.

Flood is a separate policy at both levels. A barrier-island address is generally in a mapped FEMA flood zone, and a buyer's lender will look at the master flood coverage.

Rules that shape resale: rentals, approvals and pets

Buildings here vary widely in their minimum rental term, approval process for buyers and tenants, and pet and renovation rules. These are written in the declaration and rules, and they define who can buy your unit and how they can use it. Read yours before you decide anything about selling or leasing.

Condominium figures, reported on their own

Sunny Isles Beach is reported as a condominium and townhouse market; the direct feed does not support a separate single-family figure here. The Sunny Isles Beach market data page shows active counts, closed sales for the reporting month and year to date, median days on market and median percent of list received, each with its sample size and retrieval date.

If you are considering selling, start with median days on market. In a high-rise market with many near-identical units, that number and the building's document file usually decide the outcome.

If your mortgage or assessment situation has changed

If you owe more than the unit would sell for, or a special assessment has changed the picture, a short sale is one of the routes owners consider. It requires lender approval and has legal and tax consequences that a licensed attorney and a tax professional should address for your situation. PBP does not give legal or tax advice.

What a real estate brokerage can do is explain the process, the documentation a lender typically requires and how the timeline usually runs. If that is where you are, say so when you contact us, and a PBP agent who works short sales will take it from there.

How PBP works in Sunny Isles Beach

PBP Real Estate is a Florida licensed brokerage (CQ1064615) with agents based in Miami-Dade as well as Palm Beach and Broward, under Gia Freer, Broker of Record. Tell us what you are weighing and a licensed PBP agent will respond directly. Your information stays with PBP.

This guide is general process information. It is not legal, tax or insurance advice, and it is not an opinion of value on any particular property. Market figures are drawn from BeachesMLS, listings permitted for internet display, with the reporting window and retrieval date shown.

Questions and answers

Tell us what you need in Sunny Isles Beach