Selling a Home in Miami · What the Law Asks of a Seller
Every sale has a part that never appears in a listing: the papers you sign, the facts you disclose, the taxes the deed carries. This guide walks through each one, with the statute or the agency behind it and the day it was read.
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Quick Answer
A home sale in Miami-Dade County runs on Florida's statutes, two federal rules and the contract the parties sign: the disclosures before the contract, the documentary stamp tax on the deed at closing and, from the Internal Revenue Service, the exclusion of the gain on a main home and a withholding when the seller is a foreign person.
What does a buyer receive before the contract?
A home sale in Miami-Dade County runs on Florida's statutes, two federal rules and the contract the parties sign. At or before the signing of the contract, the buyer receives a flood disclosure the seller completes, a property tax disclosure summary and a radon notice; a homeowners' association, a condominium and most housing built before 1978 add their own. Since Johnson v. Davis (1985), a Florida home seller must also disclose known facts that materially affect the property's value, are not readily observable and are not known to the buyer.
What does the deed cost at closing?
At closing, the deed carries Florida's documentary stamp tax: in Miami-Dade County, 60 cents on each $100 of the price as of October 2026, according to the Florida Department of Revenue. The contract decides which party pays it. The State sets the title insurance premium by rule.
Which federal rules reach a seller?
Two federal rules reach a seller: the exclusion of up to $250,000 of the gain on a main home, or $500,000 on a joint return, and, when the seller is a foreign person, a withholding of 15% of the amount realized, both as the Internal Revenue Service stated them in 2026. Florida does not impose a personal income tax.
General information, not legal or tax advice.
Julian Acosta is a licensed real estate agent, not an attorney or an accountant. For your own sale, consult a licensed professional.
What must a seller disclose in Florida?
At or before the signing of the contract, a buyer of a home in Florida receives a flood disclosure that you, the seller, complete; a property tax summary; and a radon notice. Most housing built before 1978 adds a federal lead-based paint disclosure, and a 1985 decision of Florida's Supreme Court adds your duty to disclose the facts you know that materially affect the home's value, are not readily observable and are not known to the buyer (Florida Statutes §§ 689.302, 689.261 and 404.056, 2026 edition).
Florida's statutes name the disclosures below. Most are due at or before the signing of the contract.
- Nº 01
Flood.
"A seller must complete and provide a flood disclosure to a purchaser of residential real property at or before the time the sales contract is executed." The form asks whether the seller knows of flooding that damaged the property, has filed a flood claim, or has received flood assistance. Fla. Stat. § 689.302.
- Nº 02
Property taxes.
The buyer receives a summary that says the seller's current property taxes are not the amount the buyer may owe, because a change of ownership triggers a reassessment. Fla. Stat. § 689.261.
- Nº 03
Radon.
A notice about radon gas, in the statute's own words, goes on at least one document signed at or before the contract. Fla. Stat. § 404.056(5).
- Nº 04
10days
Lead-based paint.
A federal rule that "applies to most pre-1978 private housing": the seller shares what is known about lead-based paint in the home, and the buyer has a 10-day period to inspect, which the parties may change and the buyer may waive. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, "Real Estate Disclosures about Potential Lead Hazards", updated May 27, 2026.
- Nº 05
The coast.
For property that lies seaward of the coastal construction control line, the seller gives a written disclosure, and a survey or an affidavit that shows the line. Fla. Stat. § 161.57.
- Nº 06
Energy efficiency.
The buyer of a building is given information on "the option for an energy-efficiency rating on the building". Fla. Stat. § 553.996.
- Nº 07
Known defects.
The duty comes from the Supreme Court of Florida, in Johnson v. Davis, decided in 1985: "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 to the buyer."
What the statute says is not a material fact. That an occupant has or had HIV or AIDS, or that the property was the site of "a homicide, suicide, or death", "is not a material fact that must be disclosed in a real estate transaction". Fla. Stat. § 689.25.
Sources read October 4, 2026, and again October 12, 2026; the court's opinion, October 5, 2026.
Nº 01 Note
General information, not legal or tax advice. Julian Acosta is a licensed real estate agent, not an attorney or an accountant. For your own sale, consult a licensed professional.
What does a condominium or a homeowners' association add?
If your home is a condominium unit, you give the buyer the association's documents at your expense, and the buyer may cancel within 7 days, not counting Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays, after signing and receiving them. In a community with a mandatory homeowners' association, the buyer receives a disclosure summary before signing. The base fee of the association's estoppel certificate is capped at $299 as of October 2026 (Florida Statutes §§ 718.503, 720.401 and 718.116, 2026 edition; Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation).
A homeowners' association. Where membership is mandatory, the buyer "must be presented a disclosure summary before executing the contract for sale": that the buyer will be a member, that recorded covenants govern the property, and that assessments are owed and may change. A buyer who did not receive it before the contract may void the contract within 3 days of receiving it, or before closing, whichever comes first. Fla. Stat. § 720.401.
A condominium. A unit owner who sells gives the buyer, "at the seller's expense", the association's documents: the declaration, the articles and the bylaws and rules, the annual financial statement and budget, the summary of the milestone inspection where one applies, the most recent structural integrity reserve study, and the association's "Frequently Asked Questions and Answers". The contract tells the buyer of a right to cancel within 7 days, Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays excluded, after signing and receiving them. Fla. Stat. § 718.503(2).
The estoppel certificate. It is the association's statement of what a unit or a parcel owes. The association issues it within 10 business days of a request, and a statute caps what it may charge. The Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation publishes the cap in force: not more than $299 for the certificate, plus $119 when it is delivered within 3 business days and up to $179 more when the unit or the parcel is delinquent. The schedule's next update is due by July 1, 2027. Fla. Stat. § 718.116(8) and § 720.30851; Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation, "Estoppel Certificate Fees".
Sources read October 4, 2026, and again October 12, 2026.
How Julian Acosta reads these two chapters. Read the dates, not only the amounts. The flood disclosure, the property tax summary, the radon notice and the association's summary are all due at or before the contract. The two periods in which a buyer may cancel, 7 days and 3 days, start when the buyer receives documents. So of what these two chapters ask of a seller, most is due at the contract, not at the closing.
Nº 01 Note
General information, not legal or tax advice. Julian Acosta is a licensed real estate agent, not an attorney or an accountant. For your own sale, consult a licensed professional.
What taxes does the deed carry in Miami-Dade County?
In Miami-Dade County the deed that transfers your home carries Florida's documentary stamp tax at 60 cents on each $100 of the price, which is $6,000 on each $1,000,000, as of October 2026. The county's surtax of 45 cents on each $100 is not due on a deed that transfers only a single-family home or a condominium unit. Your contract decides which party pays (Florida Department of Revenue, read October 12, 2026).
Florida taxes the deed that transfers real property, on the consideration paid. It is the documentary stamp tax, and Miami-Dade's rate is not the rest of the State's. In the Florida Department of Revenue's words: "In all Florida counties except Miami-Dade, the tax rate imposed on documents subject to tax is 70 cents on each $100 or portion thereof of the total consideration." And: "The tax rate for Miami-Dade County is 60 cents on each $100, or portion thereof, of the total consideration."
Miami-Dade adds a surtax: "Miami-Dade County also has a surtax of 45 cents on each $100, or portion thereof, of the total consideration. The surtax is not due on a document that transfers only a single-family dwelling." By the statute, a condominium unit counts as a single-family residence.
Who pays is the contract's. The law itself does not choose: "All parties to the document are liable for the tax regardless of which party agrees to pay the tax."
Sources: Florida Department of Revenue, "Documentary Stamp Tax"; Florida Statutes § 201.02(1)(a) and § 201.031(1). Read October 4, 2026, and again October 12, 2026.
Nº 01 Note
General information, not legal or tax advice. Julian Acosta is a licensed real estate agent, not an attorney or an accountant. For your own sale, consult a licensed professional.
What does title insurance cost?
In Florida a rule of the State, not each insurer, sets the premium for title insurance: from $5.75 per $1,000 of coverage on the first $100,000 down to $2.00 per $1,000 above $10 million. Your contract says which party pays for the owner's policy (Florida Administrative Code, Rule 69O-186.003, read October 4, 2026).
In Florida the premium for title insurance is not set by each insurer. A rule of the State sets it, as a rate per thousand dollars of coverage that steps down as the amount rises: from $5.75 per thousand on the first $100,000 to $2.00 per thousand above $10 million. Which party pays for the owner's policy is the contract's to say.
Source: Florida Administrative Code R. 69O-186.003. Read October 4, 2026.
Nº 01 Note
General information, not legal or tax advice. Julian Acosta is a licensed real estate agent, not an attorney or an accountant. For your own sale, consult a licensed professional.
How are property taxes settled at closing?
Your property tax for a year is due on November 1 and becomes delinquent on April 1 of the next year, with a discount of up to 4 percent for paying in November. At a closing the year's tax is divided between you and the buyer as your contract provides (Florida Statutes §§ 197.333 and 197.162, 2026 edition).
Florida's property tax for a year is "due and payable on November 1 of each year", and becomes delinquent on April 1 of the next. Paying early is discounted, by as much as 4 percent in November. A sale earlier in the year closes before that year's tax is due; the contract says how it is divided between the seller and the buyer.
The buyer's tax will not be the seller's: after a change of ownership the property is "assessed at just value as of January 1 of the year following a change of ownership".
Sources: Florida Statutes § 197.333, § 197.162, § 193.155(3)(a). Read October 4, 2026.
Nº 01 Note
General information, not legal or tax advice. Julian Acosta is a licensed real estate agent, not an attorney or an accountant. For your own sale, consult a licensed professional.
What happens to a homestead benefit when the home is sold?
If you had a homestead exemption in any of the 3 preceding years and you establish a new homestead in Florida, the new home can be assessed below its just value, by up to $500,000. Florida calls it portability (Florida Statutes § 193.155(8), 2026 edition).
The yearly cap on a homestead's assessment can leave it assessed below its just value. That difference does not have to end with the sale: Florida calls it portability. A person who had a homestead exemption in any of the 3 preceding years and establishes a new homestead in Florida can have the new one assessed below its just value, by up to $500,000.
Source: Florida Statutes § 193.155(8). Read October 4, 2026.
Nº 01 Note
General information, not legal or tax advice. Julian Acosta is a licensed real estate agent, not an attorney or an accountant. For your own sale, consult a licensed professional.
What does the IRS ask of someone who sells a main home?
If the home you sell is your main home, you may qualify to exclude up to $250,000 of the gain from your federal income, or up to $500,000 on a joint return with your spouse. In general you must have owned the home, and lived in it, for at least two of the five years before the sale (Internal Revenue Service, Topic no. 701, reviewed September 24, 2026).
Part of the gain on the sale of a main home is excluded from federal income. In the Internal Revenue Service's words: "If you have a capital gain from the sale of your main home, you may qualify to exclude up to $250,000 of that gain from your income, or up to $500,000 of that gain if you file a joint return with your spouse." To qualify, the seller must generally have owned the home, and lived in it, for at least two of the five years before the sale.
A sale reported on Form 1099-S must be reported on the seller's return "even if the gain from the sale is excludable". The rules in full are in the Internal Revenue Service's Publication 523, Selling Your Home.
Source: Internal Revenue Service, Topic no. 701, "Sale of your home", reviewed September 24, 2026. Read October 4, 2026.
Nº 01 Note
General information, not legal or tax advice. Julian Acosta is a licensed real estate agent, not an attorney or an accountant. For your own sale, consult a licensed professional.
What changes when the seller is a foreign person?
If you are a foreign person under federal tax law, the buyer withholds 15% of the amount realized on your sale and sends it to the Internal Revenue Service. Nothing is withheld when the amount is $300,000 or less, and a reduced rate applies up to $1,000,000, in each case only where the buyer will use the home as a residence. Where you live is not the test: a resident alien is not a foreign person (Internal Revenue Service, pages reviewed June and July 2026).
When a foreign person sells real property in the United States, the buyer withholds part of the price and sends it to the Internal Revenue Service. The law is the Foreign Investment in Real Property Tax Act of 1980, FIRPTA. In the Internal Revenue Service's words, buyers "are required to withhold 15% … of the amount realized on the disposition". "In most cases, the buyer (transferee) is the withholding agent."
A foreign person, for this rule, is a nonresident alien or a foreign entity; in the agency's words, "It does not include a resident alien individual." A foreign seller can also ask the Internal Revenue Service for a withholding certificate, which lowers the amount withheld.
Sources: Internal Revenue Service, "FIRPTA withholding", reviewed July 21, 2026, and "Definitions of terms and procedures unique to FIRPTA", reviewed June 28, 2026; 26 U.S.C. § 1445. Read October 4 and October 12, 2026.
Nº 01 Note
General information, not legal or tax advice. Julian Acosta is a licensed real estate agent, not an attorney or an accountant. For your own sale, consult a licensed professional.
Does Florida tax the gain on a home sale?
No. Florida does not impose a personal income tax, so you file no state return on the gain from your sale. The federal rules still reach you: the exclusion on a main home, and the withholding when the seller is a foreign person (Florida Department of Revenue, frequently asked question 1466, read October 4, 2026).
The Florida Department of Revenue answers it in one line: "Florida does not impose a personal income tax, so there are no filing requirements." The federal rules of the two chapters above still apply.
Source: Florida Department of Revenue, frequently asked question 1466. Read October 4, 2026.
Nº 01 Note
General information, not legal or tax advice. Julian Acosta is a licensed real estate agent, not an attorney or an accountant. For your own sale, consult a licensed professional.
Can a seller close without being in Florida?
Florida law lets a notary located in the state notarize your signature online while you are somewhere else, inside Florida or outside it (Florida Statutes § 117.265(1), 2026 edition).
Florida law allows a notarization to be done online: a notary located in Florida may notarize "regardless of whether the principal or any witnesses are physically located in this state at the time of the online notarization".
Source: Florida Statutes § 117.265(1). Read October 4, 2026.
Nº 01 Note
General information, not legal or tax advice. Julian Acosta is a licensed real estate agent, not an attorney or an accountant. For your own sale, consult a licensed professional.
How to Price a Home in Miami
Price your home from what comparable homes near it closed at, not from what nearby homes are asking. Take Coral Gables as the example: of 396 single-family homes closed in the twelve months to September 30, 2026, those that closed at 97% or more of their first list price sold in a median of 7 days, and those that closed under 80% of it took a median of 160 (MIAMI REALTORS® MLS, read October 31, 2026). These are the market's sales, not Julian Acosta's own.
That is what the sales show, and it has a limit: a home that sits also gets cut more, so these figures do not prove the price alone caused the difference. In my reading it is the price that starts it.
- Nº 01
48median days, Coral Gables
What buyers compare.
A buyer compares your home with everything similar to it, and with other properties that, even if they are not similar, look like a better choice at that price. Their agent will show them what closed that compares with yours by age, condition and closeness to the most sought-after areas. Depending on how long you have been on the market, their offer may line up with those recent sales or come in below them. In Coral Gables 37.9% of those single-family sales, 150, took 30 days on the market or fewer, and 55.3%, 219, took 60 or fewer; the median was 48 days. In my reading, what weighs most on those days is the opening price: a price close to the range of recent sales tends to sell sooner, and one outside it takes much longer and often ends with the listing expiring. I also read listings that expired unsold as one more sign of what the market did not accept. The days are the MLS's count for the listing that sold.
- Nº 02
When a list price can start high.
I rarely advise it. It can make sense for a very atypical home with no close comparable: a new construction, or a designer home with something of value a buyer may pay more for. I would do it in the discovery stage, as a Compass Private Exclusive or Compass Coming Soon, only to read the market's response.
- Nº 03
160median days, furthest under the first price, Coral Gables
What a home that sits costs you.
While your home is for sale you keep paying its property tax, insurance, association dues if it has them, upkeep, and any mortgage. The longer it sits, the more of these you carry. Coral Gables' closings stood at a median of 92.0% of the first list price and 94.3% of the last one. Those are two readings of the same sales, and they say nothing about one house. Among those sales, the ones that closed under 80% of their first list price had spent a median of 160 days on the market.
- Nº 04
What buyers start to think.
There is a cost that appears on no bill, and in my reading it is the one that matters most: perception. When a home stays on the market, buyers start to ask what is wrong with it, and why nobody has bought it. The house is the same as on its first day. What changes is how it is seen, and that question starts to take value away from it. That is why I care so much about the opening price: it is the moment a home is new to the market.
- Nº 05
How a comparative market analysis gives you a reference.
A comparative market analysis reads the County's record of your home and the nearest closed sales, and shows their range. It is an estimate, not an appraisal, and it serves as a reference. If you need a sharper price, I step in and work it out with you.
What is my home worth? → · Talk to Julian Acosta →
| Closing price over first list price | Sales | Median days | Within 30 days | Within 60 days | Over 120 days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 97% or more | 90 | 7 | 81.1% | 93.3% | 4.4% |
| 90% to 97% | 148 | 39 | 41.2% | 67.6% | 10.8% |
| 80% to 90% | 109 | 101 | 12.8% | 24.8% | 37.6% |
| Under 80% | 49 | 160 | 4.1% | 16.3% | 63.3% |
Nº 01 Note
General information, not legal or tax advice. Julian Acosta is a licensed real estate agent, not an attorney or an accountant. For your own sale, consult a licensed professional.
How long does it take to sell a home in Miami-Dade?
It depends on your market and on the kind of home. In the twelve months to September 30, 2026, single-family homes in Coral Gables sold after a median of 48 days on the market, from 389 closed sales, and condominiums there after 69 days, from 223. Among the seven markets with at least 20 single-family sales, the median ran from 45 days in Coconut Grove to 102 in Miami Beach (closed sales the MIAMI REALTORS® MLS reported, read October 12, 2026).
The days are the MLS's count for the listing that sold, so a home taken off the market and listed again starts a new count. These are the market's sales, not Julian Acosta's own. A median says where half of the sales stood; it says nothing about one house.
The same reading for each market, for single-family homes and for condominiums, with what each closed at against its list price, is on the Sell page.
Common questions about selling a home in Florida
Who pays the documentary stamp tax on a deed in Florida?+
Is the tax on a deed different in Miami-Dade County?+
What must a seller disclose when selling a home in Florida?+
Does a seller have to disclose defects in Florida?+
Is a flood disclosure required to sell a home in Florida?+
What documents does a condominium seller give the buyer? 7 days for the buyer to cancel+
What is an estoppel certificate? 10 business days to issue it+
Does a seller have to disclose that someone died in the house?+
What is FIRPTA? 15% of the amount realized, withheld+
Is the gain on the sale of a main home taxed? $250,000 excluded, single filer+
Does Florida tax the gain on a home sale?+
Can I keep my homestead tax benefit when I sell and buy again? $500,000 most that can move+
Where every statement comes from
Every rule in this guide was read at the source named beside it, on October 4 or October 5, 2026; the figures the Sell page also states were read again on October 12, 2026.
Florida Statutes,
2026 edition, on the Legislature's site: §§ 117.265, 161.57, 193.155, 197.162, 197.333, 201.02, 201.031, 404.056, 553.996, 689.25, 689.261, 689.302, 718.116, 718.503, 720.30851 and 720.401.
Supreme Court of Florida:
, 480 So. 2d 625 (1985).
Florida Department of Revenue:
"Documentary Stamp Tax"; frequently asked question 1466.
Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation:
"Estoppel Certificate Fees".
Florida Administrative Code:
Rule 69O-186.003.
Internal Revenue Service:
Topic no. 701, "Sale of your home"; "FIRPTA withholding"; "Definitions of terms and procedures unique to FIRPTA".
MIAMI REALTORS® MLS:
closed sales with a closing date from October 1, 2025 to September 30, 2026, read from this site's copy on October 12, 2026 (chapter 14).
United States Code:
title 26, section 1445.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency:
"Real Estate Disclosures about Potential Lead Hazards".
Nº 01 Note
General information, not legal or tax advice. Julian Acosta is a licensed real estate agent, not an attorney or an accountant. For your own sale, consult a licensed professional.
Now, Your House
Everything above is the same for every seller in Miami-Dade. What changes is the house: what it would sell for, what its sale would leave you, and how to bring it to market. You can start on your own, with the comparable market analysis on this site. Then send me the address: I prepare each valuation myself, and I answer within one business day.
Julian Acosta, Compass.