BreakThru Realty

A South Florida Second Home for New York Buyers

Keep the apartment in the city and add a residence on the ocean, a short flight south and in the same time zone

You are not moving.

A terrace above a marina with the city skyline at sunset

BreakThru Realty · Founder and Broker of Record: Tyson E. Sam, Florida License 3565210

Published October 31, 2026 · Reviewed by Tyson E. Sam, Founder and Broker of Record

Create My Florida Winter Home Plan

Find My Florida Home

Find Your Florida Lifestyle

Tell us where in New York you are moving from, your budget, what matters most (beach access, walkability, a larger home, luxury living or retirement) and when you plan to move. The page recommends the communities and the homes for sale that fit, and the same answers start your plan.

Homes Matching Your Criteria

Live listings from the MLS for each community, by the kind of home: waterfront, condominiums, houses and new construction.

Your first step: BreakThru Florida Winter Home Plan

Before You Buy a Winter Home, Know Which Buildings Allow Your Plans and What the Months Away Will Cost

A winter home is judged by the months you are not in it. Can the association stop you renting it out? Who checks it after a storm? What does it cost to carry without a homestead exemption? The plan starts with how you want to use the home and how long you will be here each year, and ends with a short list of condos, villas or houses whose rules fit, what each would cost to own all year, and a way to see them without flying down for every showing.

What you receive

  • A consultation about how many months you will spend here, who will use the home and whether it will ever be rented
  • A comparison of the South Florida areas that suit a seasonal owner, with the cost and the convenience of each
  • A shortlist of homes whose association rules allow your plans: lease terms, guests, pets and approvals checked before you tour
  • A carrying cost review for the homes you like: tax without homestead, insurance, flood, association dues and the utilities that run while you are away
  • Introductions to home watch, storm preparation and management services for the months you are not here
  • A tour plan: live video tours now, and one visit scheduled so it covers the finalists

What happens next

  1. Tell us where you live now, how long you would stay each year, your budget and whether the home will be rented when you are away.
  2. A local agent replies within one business day to schedule your consultation.
  3. Your agent prepares the area comparison, the shortlist with each building's rules, and the carrying cost review.
  4. You tour by video or in person when you are ready, and decide what happens next.

Free and without obligation. Nothing you tell us is shared with a seller, and you sign a buyer agreement only when you are ready to tour.

Create My Florida Winter Home Plan · Find My Florida Home

What should a New York buyer know before buying a second home in South Florida? That New York stays your home and your tax address, so the Florida residence is taxed without a homestead exemption; that a Florida condominium is owned by deed and judged by its documents, budget and inspections rather than a cooperative board; that many oceanfront residences are sold before construction under Florida's deposit and cancellation rules; and that the association decides whether you may rent it.

You are not moving. You want a residence on the water you can reach after work on a Thursday, use through the winter and lock when you fly home, while New York stays your home and your tax address. That changes what to look for: a building that runs well without you, rules that fit the way you will use it, and a purchase, often in a tower still under construction, managed from Manhattan. This page covers those decisions in the order they come up.

New York Stays Your Home, and Your Tax Address

A Florida residence bought as a second home leaves your New York residency where it is. New York taxes you as a resident if the state is your domicile, and it can treat you as a statutory resident if you keep a permanent place to live there and spend more than 183 days in the state during the year; buying in Florida changes neither test. Florida, for its part, treats the purchase as a second home: no homestead exemption, which is reserved for a permanent Florida residence, and an assessed value that can still rise by up to 10% a year under the cap for non homestead property. If Florida may one day become home, that is a separate plan, and a New York tax adviser should map the evidence of a change in domicile before anyone starts counting days.

Same Time Zone, Short Flight

Florida's east coast keeps Eastern time, so the market opens, the calls start and the school day ends at the same hour as in Manhattan. Nonstop flights from LaGuardia, JFK and Newark reach Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach in about three hours, many times a day in winter. The airport you prefer shapes the search: Fort Lauderdale is closest to the Broward beaches and an easy drive to Sunny Isles Beach, Miami suits Brickell, Key Biscayne and Miami Beach, and West Palm Beach serves Palm Beach, Boca Raton and Jupiter. Test the drive at the hour you would land on a Thursday night, not at noon on a Sunday.

Condominium, Not Cooperative: What Changes When You Buy

Most Manhattan apartments are cooperatives: you buy shares, a board studies your finances, and it can decline you without giving a reason. Most South Florida buildings are condominiums: you own the residence by deed, and while some associations approve buyers and tenants, the review is usually narrower. What you read instead is the declaration, the rules, the budget and the reserves. Since Florida's 2022 condominium safety law, buildings of three stories or more face milestone structural inspections and structural integrity reserve studies, so in an older tower the inspection reports and any planned assessment matter as much as the view. In a new tower, the developer's offering documents take their place.

Oceanfront Tower, Branded Residence or a House on the Water

The choice is really about how much the building does for you. A full service oceanfront tower is the easiest to leave: valet, a front desk, security and beach service carry on while you are in New York. Sunny Isles Beach adds branded towers such as Porsche Design Tower, Residences by Armani/Casa and the Estates at Acqualina, with Bentley Residences under construction. Bal Harbour and Surfside are lower and quieter beside the shops, and Miami Beach offers every age of building. A house on a Fort Lauderdale canal gives you a dock and a garden, and it needs someone to manage it when you are in New York.

Buying a Residence That Is Still Being Built

Many of the oceanfront residences offered today are preconstruction. You sign the developer's contract, pay the deposit in stages as the tower rises and close on delivery, often years later. Florida law gives you 15 days after you receive the offering documents to cancel, and it sets how deposits are held in escrow and when a developer may put part of them toward construction. Read the delivery window, the finishes the contract actually promises, the estimated association budget and whether you may assign the contract before closing. At Bentley Residences, completion was reported in July 2026 for 2028; we obtain the developer's current price list and deposit schedule for you.

Leaving It Empty for Weeks at a Time

A New York owner tends to use a Florida home in bursts: long weekends, the holidays, a few weeks in February. Hurricane season runs from June through November, when you are most likely to be north. In a tower, the association insures the structure under its master policy and the staff secure the building; your own policy covers the interior, your contents and your liability. Ask how the building prepares for a storm, whether the windows are impact rated and who enters your residence to check it afterward. A house needs wind and flood coverage of its own and a home watch service on a schedule.

Renting It When You Are Not There, and When You Cannot

Whether the residence can earn rent depends first on the association: many oceanfront buildings set a minimum lease length, limit how often a unit may be leased and approve each tenant, and some allow no short stays at all. The city adds its own layer, and Miami Beach restricts short term rentals in most residential districts. Florida charges sales tax and the county tourist development tax on rentals of six months or less, which the owner or the manager collects. The rent is also income on your New York return, so a CPA who files in both states should see the plan before you count on it.

How We Represent You From New York

We begin with how you will use the home and what it has to do: the months, the guests, the car, the boat, the rules you can live with. Your agent sends a shortlist of buildings whose documents fit, with live video tours so the first trip is spent on finalists rather than on discovery. For a preconstruction tower we request the price list and the deposit schedule, compare the price per square foot with finished towers nearby, and read the offering documents with you inside the 15 day window. The title company and your attorney handle the closing, which can be signed in New York, and every wire is confirmed by telephone first.

Where New York Buyers Often Compare

  • Sunny Isles Beach: Oceanfront towers along Collins Avenue, several carrying the name of a car maker or a fashion house, with valet, beach service and staff on duty around the clock.
  • Bal Harbour: A short strip of oceanfront condominium towers beside an open air shopping center, with a small walkable village behind it and a beach path along the dunes.
  • Miami Beach: The widest range of buildings in one city: Art Deco blocks in South Beach, newer condo towers in Mid Beach and quieter oceanfront rows in North Beach.
  • Fort Lauderdale: Deep water canals east of the highway where a house keeps a boat at its own dock, plus beachfront towers on the barrier island close to the airport.
  • Highland Beach: A narrow town between the ocean and the Intracoastal in Palm Beach County, almost all condominiums and waterfront houses, with no commercial strip.

Each link opens that community’s page, with the homes for sale there now. Your agent adds the streets, the buildings and the trade-offs a listing does not show.

Before You Fall in Love With a Florida Home, Understand What It Costs to Own

The price is one number. The mortgage, property tax, homeowners insurance, flood insurance and association fees are the ones you pay every month. Put your own figures into the calculator, mark which ones are real quotes and which are still estimates, and compare the total with what you pay where you live now.

Estimate My Monthly Cost

Why Work With BreakThru Realty Instead of Searching for Homes Yourself?

Anyone with an internet connection can search Florida homes. When you are buying from another state, the information you do not have matters as much as the listings you can see: the insurance that costs more than you expected, the special assessment the condominium has pending, the street that does not fit your daily routine. Our role is to help you understand what you are buying before you commit.

  • Find Your Community. An area comparison built from your commute, budget, schools and the way you live, before any listing is sent, so you choose between real neighborhoods rather than reputations.
  • Explore Homes Remotely. Your agent tours each home live on video, walks the street and the building, and attends the inspection with you on the line, so distance stops being the reason you miss the right home.
  • Understand Ownership Costs. Property tax at the reset value, homeowners and flood insurance, association fees and reserves, set beside the price of every home you like, so the monthly number is real before you offer.
  • Negotiate With Confidence. Local market information, an offer strategy talked through with you, and the contract deadlines worked through to closing, with the Florida specifics explained before they cost you.
  • Close With Local Representation. A licensed Florida broker of record, a written buyer agreement before any tour, and a closing you can usually sign from where you live, with wiring instructions confirmed by phone.

You are not simply buying a home in Florida. You are making a decision about the life you want next. We will help you make an informed one.

Questions you may be asking

We only come down for three months.
Then the building matters more than the view. Some associations limit how often a unit may be leased or how long guests may stay, and a few restrict owners who are rarely there. The plan checks the documents of every finalist before you tour, so the rules fit the way you will use the home.
Can we rent it out while we are up north?
Often, within limits the association sets: a minimum lease length, a number of leases a year, an approval process and sometimes a waiting period after purchase. We read those rules with you and tell you plainly which homes on the list allow it and which do not. What the rent would be is a separate question we answer from closed leases nearby.
Who looks after it when we are gone?
A home watch service visits on a schedule, checks for leaks and power loss and prepares the home for a storm. We introduce providers who work in the building or the neighborhood, and we tell you what your insurer expects of an owner who is away for months.
We are from Canada.
Many seasonal owners are. The purchase itself works the same way; the differences are in financing, which a lender who handles foreign nationals can explain, in the tax when you sell, and in how many days you may spend in the United States each year. We work alongside your cross border tax adviser from the start.
Should we rent a season first?
If you have not spent a winter here, yes, and the plan can start with a seasonal rental in the area you are considering. A season tells you about the building, the beach and the drive to the airport in ways a tour cannot, and it costs far less than buying in the wrong place.

Create My Florida Winter Home Plan

Tell us where you live now, how long you would spend here each year and whether the home will be rented while you are away. A local BreakThru agent replies within one business day to schedule your consultation, then prepares the areas to compare, the homes whose rules fit and what each would cost to carry all year.

Call or email the brokerage directly: (786) 914-1017 · sales@breakthrurealty.com

Questions People Ask Before Moving

Does buying a Florida second home change my New York taxes?
No. New York residency depends on your domicile and on the statutory test of a permanent place to live in the state plus more than 183 days there, and a Florida second home changes neither. Rent from the Florida home is reported on your New York return. A New York tax adviser should review the details before you buy.
Can I get the homestead exemption on a Florida second home?
No. The exemption and the Save Our Homes cap apply only to a permanent Florida residence held on January 1. A second home is taxed on its full assessed value, and that value can rise by up to 10% a year under the cap for non homestead property. Ask for a tax estimate based on your price, not the seller's bill.
How is buying a Florida condo different from buying a New York cooperative?
You own a Florida condominium by deed rather than holding shares, and while some associations approve buyers, the review is usually narrower than a cooperative board's. Your reading list changes instead: the declaration, the budget, the reserves and, in buildings of three stories or more, the milestone inspection and reserve study reports.
What should a New York buyer know before buying a preconstruction condo in Miami?
That deposits are paid in stages and held in escrow under Florida law, that you have 15 days after receiving the offering documents to cancel, and that delivery is an estimate. Read the finishes the contract promises, the estimated budget and the assignment rules. We obtain the price list and compare it with finished towers nearby.
Can I rent out my South Florida second home while I am in New York?
Often, within the association's rules on lease length, frequency and approval, and within the city's own rules on short stays. Florida sales tax and the county tourist tax apply to rentals of six months or less, and the rent is reported on your New York return. We check each building's rules before you tour.
Which airport should I fly into for a second home in South Florida?
The one closest to the home you choose. Fort Lauderdale suits the Broward beaches and Sunny Isles Beach, Miami suits Brickell, Key Biscayne and Miami Beach, and West Palm Beach suits Palm Beach, Boca Raton and Jupiter. All three have nonstop flights from the New York airports throughout the winter.

Sources

Buying a Florida Home From Another State

Moving to Florida

Moving From Another State

Moving From Your City

Relocation By Situation

Corporate Relocation & Partners

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