Miami & South Florida Home Loans

The Miami condo reality (read this first)

Most of Miami is condos, and in 2026 financing a condo here is a specialty, not a formality. Florida's post-Surfside law (SB 4-D) now requires older condo buildings (three stories and up, past a certain age) to complete structural reserve studies and fully fund their reserves. Buildings that haven't, or that have pending litigation, heavy investor concentration, high commercial space, or short-term-rental (condotel) operations, are often “non-warrantable,” meaning conventional and FHA/VA financing is unavailable and buyers can face large special assessments. A lot of lenders simply pass on these.

This is where I come in. I regularly finance the condos other lenders reject, buildings with less than 50% owner-occupancy, pending HOA litigation, over 25% commercial space, condotels, and non-warrantable projects in Brickell, South Beach, Edgewater, and beyond, through portfolio and specialty lenders in my network. The essential first step is checking the building's warrantability and reserve status before you're deep into a deal, and I do that up front so you know exactly what financing a specific unit will take.

Brickell, South Beach & the investor market — DSCR (DSCR & investment)

Miami generates some of the highest short-term-rental rates in the country, in South Beach, Wynwood, the Design District, and Brickell, where over $4 billion in new construction has landed since 2020. The tool for investors is the DSCR loan, which qualifies on the property's rental income (actual or projected via AirDNA/Mashvisor) rather than your personal tax returns, ideal for self-employed investors, foreign nationals, and portfolio builders. Crucially, I do DSCR on non-warrantable condos, the investor-heavy Brickell and Edgewater towers traditional lenders reject, so investors can actually finance the units that make sense. Always verify a building's and the city's short-term-rental rules first, which I handle before you commit.

Hialeah, Kendall & Fort Lauderdale — value and Broward (FHA, conventional, jumbo & DSCR)

Hialeah is Miami-Dade's workforce heart, a strong FHA and conventional market where first-time buyers find relative value under the $667,000 FHA limit. Kendall is the established family-suburb side of the county, townhomes, low-rise condos, and single-family homes, primarily conventional and FHA. Fort Lauderdale, in Broward, brings its own waterfront, downtown high-rises, and beach condos, a jumbo and DSCR market with the same condo-warrantability considerations as Miami. All benefit from Florida's no state income tax, a major draw for the relocating and international buyers who fuel South Florida.