Thinking of buying a condo on Key Biscayne and maybe concerned about assessments?

The odds are looking pretty good in the buyer’s favor, based on recent data confirmed by Li Bensimon, a real estate agent at Bensimon Luxury, affiliated with Compass Florida, LLC.

As of Sept. 25, in the MIAMI Multiple Listing Service (MLS), only 23 of the 101 active condo listings on Key Biscayne declare a special assessment, while 65 declare none, and 13 sellers or brokers left the field blank, she noted in her analysis.

That 26.1% of assessments for a low-lying, water-surrounding area is only slightly higher than the 23.6% for Miami as a whole on that particular day of her survey.

Breaking it down further: Condos built before 1998 on Key Biscayne showed a 28.2% having assessments (although just 20 of 71 answered the question), while those built in 1998 or later came in at 17.6% (just 3 of 17 checked the box, so a very small sample).

“Two caveats worth keeping with the number,” Bensimon noted. “The field records what the listing agent declared, so it is a floor rather than a census, and blanks are not counted as ‘no’.”

There is no public dataset of every Key Biscayne condo with an assessment, she added.

A special assessment is the bill a condo association sends when the reserves don’t cover the work.

“In Miami right now, it’s the question I get asked more than any other,” Bensimon notes on her website. “Not ‘What’s the view like?’ but ‘Is this building about to hand me a bill?’ “

In Bensimon’s latest report on Miami Condo Special Assessments, released to Islander News last month, of the 10,157 active condo listings in Miami on Sept. 5, 1,890 declared a special assessment. Of the 7,974 listings that answered the yes-no question at all, that is 23.7% (23.6% on Sept. 25), or roughly 1 in 4.

Bensimon said those stats are not spread evenly.

In buildings finished before 1998, it’s 35.9% (1,470 of 4,090 that answered). In buildings finished in 1998 or later, it’s 10.8% (420 of 3,884). So, in essence, an older Miami condo is 3.3 times as likely to be carrying a declared special assessment as a newer one, she said.

The year 1998 is the year Miami-Dade’s own recertification rule uses.

In her report, Bensimon said , “A blank field (on the polling answers) is not the same as none.”

She also suggests looking the building up in Compass’ condo association directory to see who’s actually registered as running it.

Special assessments on a listing does not mean the building is unsafe, Bensimon said.

“It means the association has levied a charge beyond the regular budget, which can be for concrete restoration, a roof, a seawall, elevators, insurance, or reserve catch-up,” she said. “Many well-run buildings carry one precisely because they are doing the work.”

Results from her analysis show that buildings built in the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s hover around 40% when declaring a special assessment. Buildings in the 1990s cut that percentage in half, while buildings constructed in the 2010s are at 4.3% for assessments of those who answered.

Miami neighborhoods with the most condo special assessments, based on MLS active listings, are Aventura 32.0%, Surfside and Bal Harbour 25.4%, Sunny Isles Beach 23.0%, Miami Beach 22.5%, Brickell 12.7%, and Downtown Miami 11.7%.

(Note: To contact Li Bensimon, call 954-309-0604 or email Li@bensimonluxury.com)