How to Sell a House in Florida: the full Miami-Dade process, step by step

How do I price my home with real comparables?

A listing price is a claim about what a buyer will pay, and the buyer’s lender will test that claim with an appraisal. So the honest way to price is the way an appraiser prices: closed sales of similar homes nearby and recent, adjusted for size, condition, lot, view and age of the big systems, then checked against the active competition and the deals pending right now.

Three Miami-Dade specifics change the comparison. Flood zone and elevation can separate two otherwise identical homes on the insurance line. Roof age drives both insurability and the buyer’s four-point report. And in condo buildings, the association’s reserves, its milestone-inspection status and any pending special assessment matter as much as the finish level of the unit. Price against homes that match on those points, not only on bedroom count.

We put the closed comparables, the actives and the pendings in front of you before we talk about a number. Our home value page is the first step; the conversation is the second.

Should I get a pre-listing inspection and the two insurance reports?

Most Miami-Dade buyers will need two reports to bind homeowners insurance, and their lender will need the insurance to close. Ordering them before listing lets you fix small findings on your schedule instead of the buyer’s.

• Wind mitigation. Florida Statute 627.711 requires insurers to accept a uniform mitigation verification inspection form, signed by a qualified inspector, when pricing wind-insurance discounts, and to tell policyholders the discounts available for wind-resistant features. A current form with good roof-to-wall connections and opening protection is a selling point; a form that shows none is a price conversation.
• Four-point. Citizens Property Insurance, the state-backed insurer, requires a four-point inspection of the electrical, plumbing, heating and cooling, and roof systems for homes more than 20 years old. Its rules also require a separate roof inspection when a shingle-type roof is over 25 years old or a tile, metal or similar roof is over 50, with at least five years of remaining useful life. Private carriers set their own thresholds, but the four systems are the same ones every underwriter asks about.

A general pre-listing inspection on top of those two is optional. It is worth it on older homes, because the buyer’s inspection period is the moment your price is most exposed.

What does the open-permit search find, and why does it matter?

The buyer’s inspector or title company will pull the permit history on your address. Do it first.

• For unincorporated Miami-Dade and county-jurisdiction properties, the county’s Building department offers free online searches of permit history by address, permit or process number, plus certificates of occupancy and use, code-violation and unsafe-structure cases.
• For the City of Miami, permit history and open permits are searched through the iBuild portal by permit number, process number or folio. Other municipalities run their own building departments; check the one that issued your permits.

What you are looking for: permits that were pulled and never closed with a final inspection, and work that was done with no permit at all. An open permit does not stop a sale by itself, but it will appear in the buyer’s file, and lenders and title companies often require it be closed or addressed before closing. Closing a stale permit can take weeks, so start early.

What do I have to disclose as a Florida seller?

Florida is not a “buyer beware” state for homes. In Johnson v. Davis (1985) the Florida Supreme Court held that where the seller of a home knows of facts materially affecting the value of the property which are not readily observable and are not known to the buyer, the seller is under a duty to disclose them. Florida’s appellate courts have since rejected the argument that an “as is” clause creates an exception. The duty covers what you know and the buyer cannot see: past leaks, past flooding, an unpermitted addition, a foundation repair, an active association dispute.

Two written disclosures are also required by statute:

• Flood disclosure, Florida Statute 689.302. At or before the time the contract is executed, a residential seller must give the buyer a written form stating whether the seller knows of flooding that damaged the property during the seller’s ownership, whether the seller has filed a flood-damage insurance claim, including with the National Flood Insurance Program, and whether the seller has received assistance for flood damage. The knowledge-of-flooding and any-source-assistance language was added effective October 1, 2025. Florida Realtors publishes the form.
• Property tax disclosure summary, Florida Statute 689.261. At or before contract, the buyer must be told that a change of ownership or property improvements triggers reassessment and that the seller’s current tax bill is not a guide to the buyer’s.

Association properties add a third layer, covered next.

What are the estoppel and the buyer’s cancellation right in a condo or HOA?

The estoppel certificate

Before closing, the title company will request an estoppel certificate from your association. Under Florida Statutes 718.116(8) for condominiums and 720.30851 for homeowners’ associations, the association must deliver it within 10 business days of a written or electronic request from the owner, the owner’s designee or a mortgagee. It is effective for 30 days if delivered by hand or electronically and 35 days if mailed. If the association misses the 10-day deadline, it may not charge a fee for that certificate. The fee itself is capped by statute and adjusted periodically.

The buyer’s right to void

For a resale condominium, Florida Statute 718.503 requires you to deliver the declaration, articles, bylaws and rules, the most recent year-end financial statement and budget, the milestone-inspection summary and structural integrity reserve study where applicable, and the association’s FAQ sheet. The buyer may void the contract by written notice within 7 days, excluding Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays, after signing and receiving those documents. The right cannot be waived and ends at closing. Deliver the package the day you list, so that clock starts before the inspection period does.

For an HOA community, Florida Statute 720.401 requires the seller to give the buyer a disclosure summary before the contract is signed. If it was not provided, the buyer may void within 3 days after receiving it or before closing, whichever is first.

Why market in two languages?

A Miami-Dade listing that only speaks one language ignores a large share of its buyers. We publish the listing copy, the video walkthrough and the social placement in English and Spanish, written natively in each rather than translated, and we answer showing requests in whichever language the buyer’s agent uses. Photography is professional, the floor plan is included, and the flood-zone, roof-age and association facts are in the listing so the right buyers arrive and the wrong ones do not waste your Saturday.

How do I negotiate the inspection?

Under the Florida Realtors/Florida Bar AS IS contract, you have no obligation to repair, and the buyer has an inspection period in which to cancel for any reason and recover the deposit. Florida Realtors describes that cancellation right as a very strong one. So in practice the buyer’s inspection report becomes a second negotiation: a request for repairs, a credit, or a price reduction, backed by the option to walk.

How to handle it:

• Separate what the report found from what it means. A roof at the end of its life is a price item. A missing outlet cover is not.
• Prefer a credit at closing over doing the work yourself when the buyer’s lender allows it. You avoid managing contractors on a deadline and the buyer gets the fix they want.
• Watch the calendar. The buyer’s right to cancel ends when the inspection period ends, at 5:00 p.m. on the last day. Any repair agreement should be signed before then.
• If the buyer is financing, the appraisal is folded into the lender’s Loan Approval and the buyer can terminate within the Loan Approval Period if the appraisal will not support the loan. A price agreed under inspection pressure still has to appraise.

What is FIRPTA if I am a foreign seller?

The Foreign Investment in Real Property Tax Act applies when the seller is a foreign person. The IRS’s rules make the buyer the withholding agent: the buyer generally must withhold 15 percent of the amount realized and file Form 8288 with payment by the 20th day after the transfer. Two adjustments matter for residential sales:

• No withholding is required if the buyer acquires the home for use as a residence and the amount realized is $300,000 or less, provided the buyer meets the occupancy conditions.
• The rate is 10 percent where the buyer will use the home as a residence and the amount realized is more than $300,000 but not more than $1,000,000.

A seller can apply to the IRS on Form 8288-B for a withholding certificate that reduces or excuses withholding, but that takes time. If this may apply to you, involve a tax professional before you list, not the week of closing.

What closing costs does a Miami-Dade seller customarily pay?

Florida law fixes very little of this; custom and the contract do the rest. The usual seller lines:

Tax rates are from the Florida Department of Revenue; the owner's-policy custom is from South Florida real estate counsel. Your closing statement controls.

Use the closing cost estimator to see the lines with your numbers, and read the seller’s hub for how we run the process week by week.

How long does it take to sell a house in Miami-Dade?