By Steve Traiman
As a condo owner at Three Palms Pointein St. Pete Beach the past 25 years after owning my New Jersey home for 31 years, I am well qualified to share my helpful thoughts over the next months for those considering a condo move. This month we’re covering how Florida’s safety guidelines now in effect are driving up costs and affecting buyers.
As the Tampa Bay Times noted last month, new safety guidelines in the wake of the 2021 deadly Surfside Champions Tower gave condo associations until last Dec. 31 to inspect aging buildings. They had to be sure reserves were fully funded to meet possible repair needs by year-end.
All 30-year-old condo buildings, three stories and up, had to submit two pieces of documents to their local building departments: a local inspection report and a study of how much anticipated repairs would cost over the next decade.
The real estate industry is responding: statewide condo listings shot up 43% in 2024 while median sales paid fell 4.5% and homes sold stayed flat. The trend continues this year with older condos-hardest hit.
The Florida Policy Committee commissioned a study of the nine metro areas with the densest condos and found sales listings for those 30 years-plus were up about 56%.
Tom Steck, president of the Pinellas Board of Realtors and owner of TomKat Realty, Madeira Beach, said: “If prospective condo buyers talk to anybody, they’ll find there may be more and more assessments going forward.”
Leading up to the year-end inspections deadline, condo owners hoped the legislature would act. Gov. DeSantis urged legislators to reconvene, but did not call a special session. Steck, who owns a condo, added that he never understood why the Legislature would require associations to have every aspect of building maintenance fully funded at the same time.
Former State Sen. Jeff Brandes, who runs the non-profit Florida Policy Project, studying the condo crisis, noted:
“The Legislature doesn’t have many good options to help struggling condo owners while prioritizing safety. Over the next months we’ll cover:
- Insurance
- Security
- Pets
- State-required inspections on foundations & roofs
- Fully funded reserve effects on condo fees
- Amenities (pools, shuffleboard, paddleboard courts, event space, boat docks)
- Length of rentals
- Mail service”
[Special thanks to the Tampa Bay Times, Tom Steck and former State Sen. Jeff Brandes for their excellent comments.]
[Senior writer Steve Traiman is president of Creative Copy by Steve Traiman, providing business writing services. Contact via email traimancreativecopy@gmail.com or phone 727-798-4746]