The letter that changed everything
If you own a unit in a Florida building that's three stories or taller, you either got the letter already or you're waiting on it. The post-Surfside laws hit full force in January 2026: every older building had to finish its structural inspection and fully fund reserves. Boards that kicked the can for twenty years sent out the bill all at once. Under the post-Surfside reserve rules, an assessment can land in the tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars, and on an older unit it can exceed what the unit is worth. If that's you, you're not behind and you're not alone. About 40% of Florida condo owners got some version of this letter in the last three years.
Why you can't just list it
Here's the trap nobody at the board meeting explains. Once an assessment is pending or the building has a flagged inspection, banks stop lending on units in your building. No loans means no retail buyers, which means the realtor who'd love to list your unit can't actually sell it. Units in Sunny Isles and Clearwater can sit on the MLS for a year, cutting price every month, while the assessment installments keep coming due. The listing wasn't wrong. The buyer pool was gone.
What the HOA can actually do to you
Miss the assessment installments and the association can lien your unit, and in Florida an HOA can foreclose on that lien, yes, your own building can take your home, even if the mortgage is paid off. An owner who owned free and clear for decades can be six months from losing everything over an assessment they never saw coming. The clock on this is real, but if you move before the lien turns into a case, you have far more options than the board letter makes it feel like.
What we actually do
We buy Florida condo units as-is, with the assessment pending, the milestone report unfinished, the lien filed, all of it. The numbers are honest about what the building is facing; the buyer is taking on the assessment, so it comes off the price. But unlike the listing route, the deal actually closes: cash, no lender, no building-approval financing games, usually 7 to 14 days. The title company pays off the association at closing and you walk away clean. Aventura, Hallandale, Pompano, Clearwater, Cape Coral, anywhere in the state, any building, any condition.
The honest math on a $285,000 unit
Say your unit would be worth $285,000 in a healthy building, with a $90,000 assessment pending. List it and you're waiting on a cash buyer anyway (no one can finance it), paying $1,000+ monthly HOA fees while it sits, plus the assessment installments, plus 6% commission if it ever sells. A year of that costs more than most people's savings. A cash offer prices in the assessment and the building's reality, then it closes in two weeks and the bleeding stops. For a lot of Florida condo owners right now, the fastest exit is the only exit that leaves anything behind. Better it stays in your pocket.
