Buying a Miami Condo From Abroad: Deposits, Affidavits and FIRPTA

Yes, a buyer living outside the United States can buy a Miami condo, including a preconstruction unit, without ever visiting: reservations, contracts and even closing can be handled remotely. US citizenship or residency is not required to own a condo in Florida. What changes for a foreign buyer is a short list of rules: Florida's deposit protections, a 15-day right to cancel, a foreign-principal affidavit at closing, and a federal tax withholding when you later sell.

This guide is general information as of October 2026, not legal or tax advice. Confirm each point with a Florida real estate attorney and a tax advisor for your country.

Reserving and signing from abroad

Developers in Brickell, Edgewater and Downtown routinely sell to buyers who never visit the sales gallery. Units are reserved by email or online, and purchase contracts are usually signed electronically. Before you sign, ask for the full set of condominium documents (declaration, budget, rules, and the prospectus) because the clock on your cancellation right depends on receiving them.

Florida's 15-day cancellation right

On a purchase from the developer, Florida law (section 718.503 of the Florida Statutes) makes the contract voidable by the buyer by written notice within 15 days after the buyer signs and receives all the documents the developer must deliver. The right ends at closing. For a buyer reviewing documents in another language and time zone, those 15 days are the most valuable protection in the contract: use them for an attorney's review.

Where your deposit goes

Under section 718.202 of the Florida Statutes, a developer selling before construction is substantially complete must hold payments up to 10% of the price in escrow. Payments above 10% can be spent on construction once it has begun, but only if the contract allows it and says so in a bold legend on the first page above your signature: payments above 10% "MAY BE USED FOR CONSTRUCTION PURPOSES BY THE DEVELOPER." If your deposit schedule goes above 10% before completion, read that page closely.

Deposits are normally sent by international wire to the escrow agent named in the contract. Wire fraud targets exactly these payments: confirm the wiring instructions by phone with the escrow agent, using a number you found independently, before every transfer. Many foreign buyers also open a US bank account to pay later deposits, association fees and property taxes.

The foreign-principal affidavit at closing

Since Florida's 2023 law on foreign ownership (chapter 692, part III, of the Florida Statutes), title companies ask buyers at Florida closings to sign an affidavit, in the form adopted by the Florida Real Estate Commission, stating that they are not a "foreign principal" or that their purchase complies with the law. The rules target the governments, parties and persons domiciled in seven "foreign countries of concern": China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, Cuba, the Venezuelan regime of Nicolás Maduro, and Syria. Persons domiciled in China face the strictest limits, and residential purchases near military installations are restricted for covered buyers. Parts of the law have been challenged in federal court, so if any of these countries applies to you or your company, get legal advice before you reserve.

Taxes when you sell: FIRPTA

When a foreign owner sells US property, the Foreign Investment in Real Property Tax Act requires the buyer to withhold part of the price for the IRS. The standard rate is 15% of the sale price. It drops to 10% if the price is $1,000,000 or less and the buyer will live in the unit, and to zero at $300,000 or less with the same residence condition. Withholding is a prepayment, not the final tax: you file a US return and can apply for a withholding certificate to reduce it. Plan for it before you buy, especially if you might own through a company, because the structure affects both US and home-country tax.

Closing without traveling

A Florida title company or closing attorney runs the closing, checks title and records the deed. If you cannot travel, you can sign a power of attorney so a representative signs for you, or sign closing documents before a notary or US consulate abroad, as your title company directs. Ask early, because consular appointments and document apostilles can take weeks.

What the deed records show about new construction

Buying new is a big share of the Miami market. In the 12 months from October 2025 to September 2026, Own.Miami's analysis of Miami-Dade deeds counts 15,729 condo sales, of which 3,806 (24%) were first sales from a developer. By neighborhood, developer sales were concentrated in Downtown (1,615, median $475,900), Brickell (421, median $1,500,000), Midtown (273) and Edgewater (185, median $1,400,900).

Resale is the alternative, and in late 2026 it is a buyer's market in the core neighborhoods: Own.Miami's market reports count about 17 months of supply in Brickell, 13.7 in Edgewater and 30 in Downtown as of October 13, 2026. Comparing a preconstruction price with what finished units in the same neighborhood sell for is the simplest check a remote buyer can do.