Miami pre-construction: 10/10/10/70 deposits and what each buys
A typical South Florida pre-construction schedule takes 30% in deposits before closing and 70% at closing. The deposits are usually tied to dates and contract events rather than to construction, which means a building running two years late does not delay a single one of your payments.
What the four payments usually are
Splits vary. Some developers take 20% at contract, some add a fourth deposit, and foreign buyers are occasionally asked for more. What is consistent is that most of the price falls at closing and the deposits come long before there is a building.
| Payment | Typically when | What it is tied to |
|---|---|---|
| 10% | At reservation or contract signing | The contract, not the building |
| 10% | A set period after signing | A date |
| 10% | Groundbreaking or a stated milestone | Sometimes construction, often a date |
| 70% | At closing | Completion and the certificate of occupancy |
The part worth reading twice
Whether each deposit is triggered by a date or by construction. Where it is a date, the money is due whether or not the unit has broken ground, and a two-year delay does not move it.
That is not unusual and it is not hidden. It is in the purchase agreement, and it is the clause buyers most often discover after the second deposit rather than before the first.
Where the deposits sit
Florida law provides for deposits on pre-construction condominium sales to be held in escrow, with defined circumstances in which a developer may draw on part of them. The detail differs by transaction and the agreement states it.
Read who holds the escrow, what portion may be released to the developer before closing, and what happens to your deposits if the unit does not complete. Those three answers are the whole of your exposure between contract and closing.
Before the second deposit
- 01Confirm what each remaining payment is triggered by, date or construction.
- 02Confirm what portion of your deposits is releasable to the developer, and when.
- 03Find the outside completion date and what your remedy is if it passes.
- 04Establish what is physically built, on a stated date, and keep the record.
- 05Take advice from a Florida attorney of your own, not one introduced by the sales office.
Questions on this
Can I get my deposits back if the building is late?
Only under the terms of your agreement, which normally allow a substantial delay before any remedy arises. The outside date is the one to find.
Are foreign buyers asked for larger deposits?
Frequently, and it is negotiable more often than it appears, particularly later in a sales cycle.
Does escrow mean the money is untouchable?
Not necessarily. Some portion is commonly releasable to the developer under stated conditions, and the agreement says which.
Read one before you buy one
The specimen shows the whole structure: status, what each payment was meant to buy, the forecast with its range, the photographic record and the limits of what was checked.