Buying a Treasure Coast Condo in 2026: What Should You Check?
What to check before buying a Treasure Coast condo: the milestone inspection, the structural integrity reserve study, why reserves can no longer be waived, how to spot a special assessment before it is announced, the insurance compliance rule most buyers have never heard of, and why some buildings cannot be financed at all.
Quick Answer: What Should You Check When Buying a Treasure Coast Condo?
Read four documents before you fall in love with the unit: the milestone inspection, the structural integrity reserve study, the current budget with its reserve schedule, and the last twelve months of board minutes. Together they tell you whether the building has been inspected, what it must fund, whether it is funding it, and what the board is arguing about. Since July 2025 an association generally cannot waive or reduce reserves for the mandatory structural components, which means underfunding now converts into special assessments rather than disappearing. You are buying the building’s finances as much as the unit.
Educational only. This is general real estate information, not legal, accounting, engineering, insurance, or lending advice. Florida condominium law has changed repeatedly since 2022 and continues to be amended. Requirements depend on the specific building, its height, its age, and its jurisdiction. Confirm everything with the association, a licensed Florida attorney, your lender, and your insurance professional before relying on it.
What This Guide Covers
- The Four Documents That Decide Everything
- The Milestone Inspection
- The Structural Integrity Reserve Study
- Why Reserves Can No Longer Be Waived
- Seeing a Special Assessment Coming
- Insurance and the Compliance Rule
- Why Some Buildings Cannot Be Financed
- The Document Request List
- How to Read the Budget and Minutes
- Treasure Coast Specifics
- Red Flags and Walk-Away Signals
- FAQ
Where this fits. For the wider purchase process see writing a strong offer and the Port St. Lucie buyer guide. If you are weighing coastal locations generally, the Treasure Coast relocation guide compares the areas themselves. This page is about the building.
The Four Documents That Decide Everything
Condo buyers spend their time on the unit and their money on the building. These four documents tell you what the building is going to cost you.
| Document | What it tells you | What its absence tells you |
|---|---|---|
| Milestone inspection | Whether a qualified professional has assessed the structure, and what they found | That the building may be out of compliance, with insurance and financing consequences |
| Structural integrity reserve study (SIRS) | What the major components will cost and when, and what must be reserved | That required reserve amounts have not been established |
| Current budget and reserve schedule | Whether the association is actually funding what the SIRS identified | Usually that the answer is uncomfortable |
| Twelve months of board minutes | What the board is discussing, deferring, and arguing about | That you are buying without knowing what is coming |
The minutes are the one nobody reads and the one that predicts the future. A special assessment does not appear from nowhere — it is discussed for months before it is voted. Engineering proposals, insurance renewal problems, litigation, and repair bids all show up in the minutes long before they show up in your maintenance fee.
You have a right to obtain association documents in connection with a purchase, and your contract should give you a period to review them. Ask for all four in your first request rather than discovering later that you needed something you did not ask for.
The Milestone Inspection
Florida requires a milestone inspection of condominium and cooperative buildings that are three or more habitable stories, under Florida Statute §553.899. The inspection is generally required at 30 years from the certificate of occupancy, or at 25 years where the local jurisdiction requires it, and then every 10 years after that.
It is performed by a licensed architect or engineer and comes in two phases. Phase One is a visual examination. If it finds signs of substantial structural deterioration, a Phase Two follows, which is more invasive and may involve testing.
What a buyer actually wants to know: has the milestone inspection been completed, what phase did it reach, what did it identify, what repairs were recommended, what has been done, what remains, and how is the remaining work being funded? A Phase Two report is not automatically bad news — but a Phase Two with unfunded recommendations is the single most expensive thing you can fail to ask about.
Because the requirement is tied to building height and age, many Treasure Coast properties are outside it entirely. Two-story garden-style buildings and villa-style condominium communities — common inland around Port St. Lucie and Stuart — generally are not subject to the milestone requirement. The older mid-rise and high-rise buildings along the coast are exactly the ones that are. Confirm which category a specific building falls into rather than assuming from its appearance.
The Structural Integrity Reserve Study
The SIRS is the financial companion to the milestone inspection. Under Florida Statute §718.112(2)(g), a residential condominium association must obtain a structural integrity reserve study for each building three or more habitable stories in height. It identifies the major components, their remaining useful life, and the reserve funding required.
The study addresses the structural components the statute specifies — including the roof, load-bearing structure, fireproofing and fire protection systems, plumbing, electrical systems, waterproofing and exterior painting, and windows and exterior doors — together with any other item whose deferred maintenance or replacement cost exceeds the statutory threshold.
That threshold moved. House Bill 913 raised the statutory base from $10,000 to $25,000 and required annual inflation adjustment beginning in 2026, with the Department of Business and Professional Regulation publishing the applicable figure. Because it now adjusts annually, confirm the current threshold rather than relying on a number from an article — including this one.
For a buyer the SIRS is the most informative document in the package, because it converts the building’s physical condition into a schedule of money. Read three things: what components are listed, what remaining life is assigned to each, and what annual funding the study says is required. Then compare that last figure against what the budget actually funds. The gap between them is your risk.
Why Reserves Can No Longer Be Waived
This is the change that reshaped Florida condominium economics, and many buyers still do not know about it.
For years, owners could vote to waive or reduce reserve funding. That kept monthly fees low and pushed the cost of the roof, the plumbing, and the concrete into the future. Under Florida Statute §718.112 as amended by House Bill 913, effective July 1, 2025, associations can no longer waive or reduce reserve funding for the mandatory structural components — regardless of how unit owners vote.
The practical consequence is simple and unsentimental. A building that deferred for twenty years now has to fund what it deferred. That money comes from somewhere, and there are only three places: higher monthly assessments, a special assessment, or borrowing.
HB 913 did add flexibility on how, not whether. Associations may fund SIRS reserves through loans, lines of credit, or special assessments with majority owner approval, and may delay the SIRS for up to two consecutive budget years following a milestone inspection while repairs are actually underway. Those are timing and mechanism options. None of them make the obligation go away, and a buyer should read a delay as a deferral they may inherit rather than as a reprieve.
So when you see an unusually low monthly fee on an older coastal building, treat it as a question rather than a bargain. Either the building is genuinely well funded and well maintained, or the fee has not yet caught up with what the law now requires. The SIRS and the budget together tell you which.
Seeing a Special Assessment Coming
A special assessment levied the month after you close feels like bad luck. It usually was not. The signals were in the documents.
- Reserve funding below what the SIRS requires. The gap is not theoretical — it has to be closed.
- A milestone report with recommended repairs and no funding plan. The repairs are still required.
- Minutes discussing engineering proposals or repair bids. Boards obtain bids before they assess.
- An insurance renewal problem or a large premium increase discussed at a meeting.
- Pending litigation involving the association, construction defects, or an insurer.
- A high delinquency rate. When owners are not paying, the remaining owners cover the shortfall.
- An assessment already voted but not yet levied, or one levied in instalments with payments continuing after your closing.
Ask the question directly and in writing: has any special assessment been approved, discussed, or contemplated, and is any portion outstanding? Then ask who is responsible for instalments due after closing — that is a contract term, not a default. Get it addressed in the contract rather than discovered at the closing table.
The estoppel certificate from the association will state amounts owed as of closing, and it is essential — but it reports current obligations, not future ones. The minutes and the SIRS are where the future lives.
Reviewing a Condo’s Documents This Week?
Send the association package and we can work through the milestone report, the SIRS, the reserve schedule, and the minutes together — while you are still inside your review period.
Insurance and the Compliance Rule Most Buyers Miss
Condo insurance runs on two levels. The association carries the master policy on the building and common elements. You carry a unit-owner policy — an HO-6 — covering your interior, contents, liability, and loss assessment coverage.
Ask about loss assessment coverage specifically. It is the part of a unit-owner policy that can respond when the association levies an assessment following a covered loss, and limits vary considerably. On a coastal building it is worth understanding before you buy, not after.
The rule almost no buyer has heard of. Under House Bill 913, Citizens Property Insurance Corporation is prohibited from issuing or renewing policies for condominium unit owners or associations unless the association complies with both the milestone inspection requirement under §553.899 and the SIRS requirement under §718.112(2)(g). In a market where Citizens is a significant option, a non-compliant association can therefore create an insurance problem for individual owners — not just for the board. That makes compliance a buyer question, not a governance detail.
Also ask what the master policy actually covers and where its deductible sits, particularly for wind. A high master deductible is effectively a future assessment waiting for a storm. And ask whether the association’s coverage has changed recently, since carriers have repriced coastal condominium risk substantially.
Get a unit-owner quote on the specific building early in your review period. Insurance availability and premiums vary by building, carrier, and time, and the answer can change what you are willing to pay.
Why Some Buildings Cannot Be Financed at All
This is the risk that catches buyers latest and hardest. A condominium unit can be perfectly nice and still be unfinanceable, because the lender is underwriting the project as well as you.
Fannie Mae maintains project eligibility standards and a project status in its Condo Project Manager system. Loans secured by units in a project whose status is “Unavailable” are ineligible for purchase by Fannie Mae. Freddie Mac operates a comparable framework. A project can land there without any owner being told.
What typically makes a project ineligible
- Unaddressed safety or structural issues. Generally ineligible until repairs are completed and verified.
- Significant deferred maintenance the association lacks the funds to address.
- A special assessment funding safety or structural repairs that are not yet remediated. The assessment alone does not cure it — completion and documentation are required.
- Delinquency above the permitted share of units past due on assessments.
- Litigation involving safety, structure, or habitability.
- Inadequate reserve allocation in the budget.
Condominium project requirements are tightening, not loosening. The agencies have been raising minimum reserve allocations and narrowing streamlined review paths for condominium projects. Because these requirements change on the agencies’ own schedule, have your loan officer confirm the current standards and the specific project’s status in writing before you remove financing contingencies. Do not rely on a published summary, including this one.
The practical sequence: identify the building, then ask your lender to check the project before you spend money on inspections and appraisals. A project problem is not something a strong borrower can overcome, and finding out early costs nothing.
Cash buyers are not exempt from the underlying issue. A building that cannot be financed has a smaller buyer pool when you sell, which is a resale consideration even if it is not a closing one. That is the same logic that governs how value gets established anywhere.
The Document Request List
Request all of this at once, at the start of your review period. Partial requests produce partial answers and burn your timeline.
Milestone inspection report
Phase One and, if applicable, Phase Two — plus any engineer’s repair recommendations and the status of each item.
Structural integrity reserve study
The full study, not a summary, including component list, remaining useful life, and required funding.
Current annual budget
With the reserve schedule broken out by component, so you can compare it against the SIRS.
Reserve account balances
What is actually in the accounts today, by component where the association tracks it that way.
Board and membership meeting minutes
At least twelve months. Twenty-four is better on an older building.
Financial statements
The most recent audited or reviewed statements, plus any management letter.
Declaration, bylaws, articles, and rules
Including leasing restrictions, pet rules, occupancy limits, and approval requirements.
Insurance certificates
Master policy coverage and deductibles, particularly wind, and any recent changes.
Special assessment history and status
Anything levied, approved, discussed, or contemplated — and the balance outstanding.
Litigation disclosure
Any pending or threatened litigation involving the association.
Delinquency rate
The share of units past due on assessments — relevant to both risk and financing.
The estoppel certificate
What is owed as of closing, plus transfer and application fees.
If documents are slow or incomplete, treat that as information. A well-run association produces this package readily because it produces it often. Persistent difficulty obtaining basic financial documents is itself a finding — and your review period is running while you wait.
How to Read the Budget and the Minutes
The budget
Three comparisons do most of the work. First, SIRS-required reserve funding versus budgeted reserve funding — any shortfall has to be made up. Second, reserve balances versus near-term component needs — a healthy total means little if the roof is due in two years and the roof line is empty. Third, this year’s budget versus the last three — the trend in assessments tells you where the fee is heading.
Also look at insurance as a line item. On coastal Florida condominium budgets it is frequently the largest single expense and the fastest-moving one.
The minutes
Read for recurring topics rather than dramatic ones. A repair discussed in three consecutive meetings is a repair that is going to happen. Watch for engineering firms being interviewed, bids being solicited, reserve studies being commissioned, insurance renewals being discussed with concern, attorneys being engaged, and owners raising the same complaint repeatedly.
A test that works. After reading twelve months of minutes, you should be able to name the three things the board is most worried about. If you cannot, read again — they are in there. If the minutes are so thin that nothing is discernible, that itself tells you something about how the association is run.
None of this requires financial expertise. It requires an afternoon and a willingness to read documents most buyers skim. From a buyer-representation standpoint, this is the single highest-return hour in a condominium purchase — a professional judgment rather than a published statistic, but a consistent one.
Treasure Coast Specifics
The statutory framework is statewide. How it lands depends a great deal on where the building is and what kind of building it is.
Hutchinson Island
Barrier-island buildings, many of them older mid-rise and high-rise. This is where milestone inspections, SIRS obligations, wind exposure, and insurance pricing concentrate most heavily. Also where the strongest ocean access is — the trade-off is explicit.
Stuart and Jensen Beach
Martin County. A mix of riverfront, near-beach, and inland condominium communities, ranging from older buildings to newer low-rise. County and municipal jurisdiction differs from St. Lucie County — confirm which applies.
Fort Pierce
Older inventory downtown and along the water, plus barrier-island buildings. Age and height make the inspection questions particularly relevant here.
Port St. Lucie and St. Lucie West
Predominantly inland, and heavily two-story garden-style and villa-style. Many of these buildings fall outside the three-story threshold entirely — which changes the analysis substantially.
The height threshold is the fork in the road. Three or more habitable stories brings the milestone and SIRS requirements into play. Below that, the association still has budgets, reserves, insurance, and assessments — the statutory structural regime simply is not the governing issue. Establish which side of that line a building sits on before you start reading everything else.
Coastal exposure matters beyond the statute too: salt air on structure and railings, wind deductibles, flood zone, elevation, and seawall or dune considerations for the association as a whole. Many of the same due-diligence instincts apply as on waterfront single-family property, with the difference that here you are relying on a board to have managed them.
If you are still choosing between areas rather than buildings, the Treasure Coast relocation guide compares the locations on their own terms.
Red Flags and Walk-Away Signals
Not every finding is disqualifying. These are the ones that warrant genuine caution.
- No milestone inspection where one is required. Compliance affects insurance eligibility and financing, not just paperwork.
- No SIRS, or a SIRS the budget plainly ignores. The obligation does not go away because it was not funded.
- A Phase Two report with unfunded recommended repairs. Ask what the engineer said and what the board has done about it.
- An unusually low fee on an older three-plus-story building. Ask why, and expect the answer to be in the reserve schedule.
- High delinquency. Paying owners absorb what non-paying owners do not.
- Litigation involving structure, safety, or construction defects.
- The project shows as ineligible or unavailable to your lender.
- Documents that arrive slowly, incomplete, or not at all.
- Minutes that reveal a repair discussed for a year with no funding decision.
What is not automatically a red flag: a special assessment that has been levied, funded, and completed with documentation — that building has dealt with its problem, which is better than one that has not started. Likewise a fee that rose sharply after a SIRS was completed often signals an association doing exactly what the law now requires. Read the direction of travel, not just the number.
Condominium ownership on the Treasure Coast is not a bad decision. It is a decision with a different risk profile from a single-family home, where much of your exposure sits with a board and a budget rather than with your own roof. Buyers who read the documents understand what they are taking on. Buyers who do not are simply hoping.
Not Sure Whether a Building’s Numbers Add Up?
Send the association package before your review period runs out. We can compare the SIRS against the budget, read the minutes for what is coming, and get your lender to check the project status early.
Flood research applies to condos too. See Port St. Lucie flood zones explained for FEMA mapping, Zone AE vs Zone X, and how association coverage interacts with your own flood policy.
FAQ: Buying a Treasure Coast Condo
A structural inspection required for condominium and cooperative buildings three or more habitable stories in height, under Florida Statute §553.899. It is generally required at 30 years from the certificate of occupancy, or at 25 years where the local jurisdiction requires it, and every 10 years thereafter. A licensed architect or engineer performs Phase One as a visual examination; if substantial structural deterioration is found, a more invasive Phase Two follows. Buyers should ask whether it is complete, what phase it reached, and what remains unrepaired.
A structural integrity reserve study, required under Florida Statute §718.112(2)(g) for each residential condominium building three or more habitable stories in height. It identifies the major components — including roof, load-bearing structure, fireproofing and fire protection, plumbing, electrical, waterproofing and exterior painting, and windows and exterior doors — with their remaining useful life and the reserve funding required. For a buyer it converts the building’s physical condition into a schedule of money, which is exactly what you are buying into.
Not for the mandatory structural components. Under Florida Statute §718.112 as amended by House Bill 913, effective July 1, 2025, associations can no longer waive or reduce reserve funding for those components regardless of how unit owners vote. HB 913 did add flexibility in how the funding is achieved — loans, lines of credit, or special assessments with majority owner approval, and a possible delay of up to two consecutive budget years following a milestone inspection while repairs are underway — but the obligation itself remains.
Read the SIRS against the budget, and read twelve months of board minutes. The signals are reserve funding below what the SIRS requires, a milestone report with recommended repairs and no funding plan, engineering proposals or repair bids discussed at meetings, insurance renewal problems, pending litigation, and a high delinquency rate. Ask in writing whether any assessment has been approved, discussed, or contemplated, and who is responsible for instalments falling due after closing — that last point is a contract term, not a default.
Because the lender underwrites the project as well as the borrower. Loans secured by units in a project whose status is “Unavailable” in Fannie Mae’s Condo Project Manager are ineligible for purchase, and Freddie Mac operates a comparable framework. Common causes include unaddressed safety or structural issues, significant deferred maintenance the association cannot fund, a special assessment for structural repairs that are not yet completed, excessive delinquency, litigation involving safety or habitability, and inadequate reserve allocation. Have your lender check the project early.
Not by itself. Where a special assessment funds safety or structural repairs, the project generally remains ineligible until the repairs are actually completed and documented. Levying the assessment demonstrates intent, not remediation. This is why a building midway through a major structural project can be difficult to finance even though the association is doing the right thing. Ask your lender what evidence of completion they require, and confirm the project status in writing before removing your financing contingency.
Request them all at once: the milestone inspection report including any Phase Two, the full structural integrity reserve study, the current budget with the reserve schedule broken out, reserve account balances, at least twelve months of board minutes, recent financial statements, the declaration, bylaws, articles and rules, insurance certificates showing coverage and deductibles, special assessment history and status, litigation disclosure, the delinquency rate, and the estoppel certificate. Slow or incomplete production is itself information about how the association is run.
No. Both requirements attach to buildings three or more habitable stories in height. Many inland Port St. Lucie and St. Lucie West condominium communities are two-story garden-style or villa-style and fall outside them entirely. The older mid-rise and high-rise buildings along Hutchinson Island, in Fort Pierce, and near the coast in Martin County are the ones most affected. Establish which side of the height threshold a building sits on before analysing anything else.
It is the part of a unit-owner policy — an HO-6 — that can respond when the association levies an assessment following a covered loss, subject to the policy’s terms and limits. Limits vary considerably between policies, and on a coastal building where the master policy carries a high wind deductible it can matter a great deal. Ask your insurance professional what limit is available and what it costs to increase, and do it during your review period rather than after closing.
It can determine whether certain coverage is available at all. Under House Bill 913, Citizens Property Insurance Corporation is prohibited from issuing or renewing policies for condominium unit owners or associations unless the association complies with both the milestone inspection requirement under §553.899 and the SIRS requirement under §718.112(2)(g). In a market where Citizens is a significant option, a non-compliant association therefore creates an insurance problem for individual owners — which makes compliance a buyer question rather than a governance detail.
On an older three-plus-story building, treat it as a question rather than a bargain. Either the association is genuinely well funded and well maintained, or the fee has not yet caught up with reserve funding the law now requires. Compare the SIRS-required funding against what the budget actually allocates. A fee that rose sharply after a SIRS was completed often signals an association doing what is required, which is a better position than an unchanged low fee on a building that has deferred.
House Bill 913 raised the statutory base threshold from $10,000 to $25,000 and required annual inflation adjustment beginning in 2026, with the Department of Business and Professional Regulation publishing the applicable amount. Because the figure now adjusts each year, confirm the current threshold with the association, a Florida attorney, or the department rather than relying on a number published in an article. Items at or above the threshold must be included in the study.
It can be a stronger position than the alternative. A building that assessed, funded, completed the work, and documented it has dealt with its problem — which is better than a comparable building that has not started. What matters is evidence: the engineer’s scope, proof of completion, and what the SIRS now says about remaining components. Ask whether any portion of the assessment is still outstanding and who pays instalments falling due after closing.
Your contract governs the review period and the associated rights, and the period is typically short. Request the full document package immediately upon execution rather than waiting, because production can take days and an incomplete package consumes your timeline. Deadlines, required notices, and cancellation rights are contract and statutory questions — have a licensed Florida attorney advise you on the specific agreement rather than relying on a general description.
It can be, provided you buy the building as deliberately as the unit. The statutory changes since 2022 have forced deferred costs into the open, which is uncomfortable in the short term and healthier in the long term — a fully funded, compliant, well-documented building carries far less hidden risk than the same building did five years ago. The buildings to be cautious about are the ones that have not yet confronted what the law now requires.
Buy the Building, Not Just the View
A Treasure Coast condominium is two purchases in one. The unit is the part you tour. The building is the part you pay for, and it arrives through a monthly assessment, a reserve schedule, and occasionally a special assessment you did not see coming.
Four documents make the difference between an informed purchase and a hopeful one: the milestone inspection, the structural integrity reserve study, the budget with its reserve schedule, and a year of board minutes. Read the SIRS against the budget and you know whether the association is funding what it must. Read the minutes and you know what the board is worried about. Those two comparisons take an afternoon and prevent most of the expensive surprises in this asset class.
The legal ground has shifted decisively since 2022, and the direction is consistent: deferred structural costs are being pulled into the present. Reserves for the mandatory components can no longer be waived. Insurance eligibility is now tied to compliance. Lenders are underwriting the project with as much attention as the borrower. None of that makes condominium ownership a bad choice — it makes an underfunded building a visible risk rather than a hidden one, which is better for a buyer paying attention.
Verify three things with a primary source rather than an article: the building’s compliance and repair status with the association and its documents, the project’s financing status with your lender in writing, and the insurance position on the specific building with a licensed Florida insurance professional. Contract and statutory questions belong with a licensed Florida attorney.
Jeannie Jacobson is a licensed Florida real estate sales associate with RE/MAX Gold, working with buyers in Port St. Lucie, St. Lucie West, Tradition, PGA Village, Fort Pierce, Hutchinson Island, and the Martin County communities of Stuart, Palm City, and Jensen Beach. If you are considering a specific building, reading its documents together before the review period runs out is the most useful hour we can spend.
Let’s Read the Building’s Documents Together
Send the association package for the building you are considering. We can compare the reserve study against the budget, read the minutes for what is coming, and get the project status confirmed by your lender early.
Serving Port St. Lucie, Tradition, St. Lucie West, PGA Village, Fort Pierce, Hutchinson Island, Stuart, Palm City, Jensen Beach, and the Treasure Coast · Jeannie Jacobson · Licensed Florida Real Estate Sales Associate · RE/MAX Gold
Sources and scope. Milestone inspection requirements, building height and age thresholds, and Phase One and Phase Two procedures: §553.899, Florida Statutes. Structural integrity reserve study requirements, covered components, and reserve funding: §718.112(2)(g), Florida Statutes. Amendments effective July 1, 2025 removing the ability to waive or reduce reserves for mandatory structural components, permitting funding via loans, lines of credit or special assessments with majority owner approval, allowing a delay of up to two consecutive budget years following a milestone inspection while repairs are underway, raising the deferred maintenance threshold from $10,000 to $25,000 with annual inflation adjustment beginning in 2026, and prohibiting Citizens Property Insurance Corporation from issuing or renewing policies for non-compliant associations: House Bill 913 (2025). Project eligibility, “Unavailable” status in Condo Project Manager, deferred maintenance, special assessment and delinquency criteria: Fannie Mae Selling Guide and project eligibility standards; Freddie Mac operates a comparable framework. Verified August 2026. Florida condominium law has been amended repeatedly since 2022 and continues to change; threshold amounts adjust annually; agency project requirements change on their own schedule. Confirm every figure and requirement with the association, a licensed Florida attorney, your lender, and your insurance professional before relying on it. This article is educational and is not legal, accounting, engineering, insurance, or lending advice, and is not an assessment of any specific building or association.