We Buy Houses in Miami Gardens, As They Sit

Miami Gardens is a young city of older houses. It was incorporated on May 13, 2003, as the 33rd city in Miami-Dade County, covers about 20 square miles and is the county's third largest city. The City's comprehensive plan says most of its older neighborhoods, Norland, Scott Lake, Bunche Park and Lake Lucerne among them, are single-family homes from the 1960s and 1970s. The median home dates from 1970 and 72% predate 1980, so the house that reaches us usually still has the roof, windows or kitchen it was built with.

Owners stay. Nearly two of every three occupied homes (64.4%) are lived in by their owners, the typical owner has been in the house since 2006, and more than a third of owner households are headed by someone 65 or older. So the house often reaches us through an estate in probate at the Eleventh Judicial Circuit, a move that cannot wait, or payments that slipped. We work alongside the estate's attorney and pay that attorney at closing.

Selling here has a step of its own: the City requires a Certificate of Re-Occupancy when a property changes ownership, a $175 application and an inspection by its Housing Inspector, turned around in five to seven business days. Violations do not stop the sale if the buyer signs a stipulation agreement with the City to fix them, and we are that buyer. Code Enforcement's lien search covers open code violations, open building permits, liens and unsafe structure cases; permit records are searchable by folio in the City's Citizen Self Service portal. Code cases go before a Special Master, a guilty finding results in a lien, and the Lien Amnesty Program lets owners of homes in full compliance pay reduced fines. We read all of it before the offer, and any balance shows as a line before you sign.