How do you know the building is sound before you buy?

Short answer

You read the building's own records before you write the offer, not during inspection. The reserve study or SIRS, the milestone inspection report, recent minutes, the budget, and the insurance position will tell you more about your future cost of ownership than the unit itself will.

Last verified August 4, 2026

The unit is the smaller half of the decision

Buyers spend their attention on the kitchen and the view. The cost that reshapes a budget usually arrives from the building: a reserve shortfall, an inspection finding, an insurance renewal, or an assessment the board has been discussing for two years.

None of that is hidden. It sits in documents you are entitled to read, and most of it can be reviewed before you commit.

What Florida law now puts on the record

Florida Statutes §553.899 requires a milestone inspection for condominium and cooperative buildings three habitable stories or more, by December 31 of the year the building turns 30, then every 10 years. A local enforcement agency may require it at 25 years where local circumstances such as proximity to salt water apply — a local determination, so confirm with the building department for the specific address.

Separately, a structural integrity reserve study establishes what the association must reserve for. Together these two documents tell you what the building knows about itself.

Read the minutes

Budgets tell you what was decided. Minutes tell you what is coming. A board debating a roof, a garage, or an insurance renewal across several meetings is describing your future assessment before it exists as a number.

A practical sequence

Minutes first, then the reserve study, then the inspection report, then the budget. Read in that order and the budget stops being a list of figures and starts being a story you already recognise.

Where Alexandra fits

She represents buyers as well as sellers, and she works in the price band where these questions decide the outcome — her published range is $70K–$570K. Having spent years on the listing side of condo documents, she reads them from the position of knowing what a seller is hoping you will not ask.

She does not provide legal, tax, engineering, or lending advice. Those decisions stay with the professionals who own them.

What should I read before making an offer on a Florida condo?

The reserve study or SIRS, the milestone inspection report and any Phase 2 findings, the last several sets of board minutes, the current budget and financials, master insurance information, and any notice of a special assessment — pending or approved. Minutes are the most revealing and the most skipped: they show what the board has been arguing about before it becomes a line item.

Can I get a mortgage on any condo?

No. Agency financing depends on the whole project, not only on you — reserves, insurance, litigation, delinquency rates, and owner-occupancy mix all matter. A project that falls outside agency guidelines may still be financeable through other lenders, but the pool of buyers who can complete a purchase is smaller, which affects both your loan and your eventual resale.

Does a special assessment mean I should walk away?

Not by itself. A funded, disclosed assessment with a clear scope is often a healthier sign than a building with no assessment and no reserves — one has confronted its costs and the other has deferred them. What matters is the amount, who owes it at closing, and whether the work is scoped or open-ended.

Is a building that already passed its milestone inspection safer to buy?

A completed inspection removes an unknown, which is genuinely worth something. It does not guarantee there is no future cost — inspections repeat, and Phase 2 findings can lead to work that gets funded by assessment. Read what the inspection actually concluded rather than treating completion itself as the answer.

Evidence ledger

Read the primary sources.

Education only—not legal, tax, lending, engineering, or title advice. Association records, contracts, statutes, and professional guidance control the result.

Direct broker guidance

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Call (561) 929-5276 or email info@alexandradupont.com. You reach Alexandra directly.

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