Summer Brings Heat, Humidity, Hurricane Warnings — And Condo Ratings Agency™

This week’s Miami Condo Market Intelligence Report™ newsletter announces the changes coming to the Miami Condo Investing Club™ between May and October as the South Florida market continues to unwind.In this week’s issue of the Miami Condo Market Intelligence Report™ newsletter, we examine the changes coming to the Miami Condo Investing Club™ for the 2026 South Florida Summer Buying Season of May through October in an effort to provide even more actionable information for members targeting opportunities in the tricounty region of Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach.The centerpiece of this Summer Buying Season is a project we have been tinkering with for more than 15 years: a Condo Ratings Agency™ that will assess the financial health and structural viability of condo associations across South Florida.We are not talking about the generic rankings based on sellside brokers promoting their favorite projects that pay high commissions and feature celebrity residents for social media posts but rather market moving insights that data-driven investors can use to differentiate opportunities from value traps.Think Moody’s. Think S&P. Think Fitch.Now, think the Condo Ratings Agency™ for evaluating South Florida’s 13,000 associations.Instead of rating public companies and municipalities, the Condo Ratings Agency™—which will rely upon our experience as a Wall Street consultant, expert witness and nonpracticing real estate broker—will rate the condo buildings that line the South Florida coast east of I-95.Many of these condo projects are now being forced by state law to confront decades of deferred maintenance, mandatory structural inspections and reserve fund shortfalls that have sent monthly fees and special assessments surging for cash-strapped unit owners across South Florida.Before writing off these older condo projects that we call Vintage when they reach their 30-year anniversary, consider that many of the units have asking prices that are 40% less than the Overall market, have superior locations to the new generation of buildings as they were constructed in or before 1996 and feature significantly more square footage compared to the current space being built by developers.The impetus behind the Condo Ratings Agency™ traces back to the Great South Florida Condo Boom and Bust of 2002-2011 when we were asked by bankers to figure out a better way for portfolio lenders to understand the financial state of a particular condo association.Our early efforts—that included putting up a website in April 2011—were eventually snuffed out by legal advice suggesting that a thorough evaluation of condo associations—in which boards vehemently resist sharing their information so as to maintain their reputation—could potentially impact valuations.Fast forward to June 2021 when the Champlain Towers South collapsed on the Miami-Dade County barrier island in Surfside, killing nearly 100 people and resulting in a $1 billion settlement with the families of the victims.In the nearly five years since the Surfside tragedy, legislators have passed sweeping new requirements focused on bringing transparency to the Florida condo market by way of mandatory evaluations every 10 years called Structural Integrity Reserve Studies (SIRS) and Milestone Inspections at a project’s 30-year anniversary.Beside the rising maintenance fees, hefty special assessments and pricey insurance premiums that have followed, at least one Florida municipality—Miami-Dade County— has moved to make specific information public with the Community Association Registry.Unfortunately, Miami-Dade County is an outlier at the moment but the day of being able to rate condo associations based on defendable metrics is near and we are jumping on the opportunity this Summer to prove it.