Off-plan or finished? What works best when you invest in Miami from abroad
The two ways to buy in Miami compared plainly: how much you put in up front, when rental income starts and what risk you take on in each case.
Almost every investor who contacts me from outside the United States arrives with the same question: should I buy something already finished, or get into a project that is still being built? Both options work. What changes is when you put your money in and when it starts working for you.
Buying finished: rental income from month one
With a completed condo you see exactly what you are buying, you can rent it out right away and you know what the building fee is. In exchange, the full price is paid at closing. If you need financing, banks usually ask a foreign buyer for a larger down payment than a resident, so the money you tie up on day one is significant.
Buying off-plan: you pay in stages while it is built
In pre-construction you sign with a portion and pay the rest on fixed dates. A real example I am working on now: at One Twenty Brickell you pay 10% at signing, another 10% in October 2026 and another in June 2027. The remaining 70% comes at delivery, scheduled for June 2028. In other words, during construction you have only paid out 30% of the price.
On top of that, every One Twenty residence includes a private office inside the same building, deeded in your name. Extras like that are only available when you buy at this stage.
What weighs on each side
- **Liquidity**: off-plan needs far less money at the start; finished, all at once.
- **Income**: a finished unit earns from now; off-plan, once you get the keys.
- **Choice**: buying early lets you pick floor, view and layout before they sell out. At One Twenty, for instance, the studios are already gone.
- **Timeline**: off-plan means being comfortable waiting two or three years for delivery.
How we decide together
There is no single answer. Before recommending anything, I ask how much you want to put in today, when you need the investment to start producing and what you will do with the final payment. With those three answers, the choice almost always becomes clear. Write to me and we will look at the numbers.
