At listing / contract — identify the full stack
- How many associations govern this property? (Boca-style layers: master + sub + club — each needs its own estoppel)
- Buyer approval required? Application, interview, fees, board meeting rhythm — get the actual calendar, boards don't meet on your closing date's schedule
- Right of first refusal in the documents? Rare but date-shaping
- Club membership mandatory? Initiation/capital fees and transfer paperwork belong on the settlement statement early
- Rental restrictions — investor buyers should read them BEFORE the deposit hardens, not after
The document machinery (what we run, what you shepherd)
We order estoppels at file opening (statutory deadlines and fee caps apply; certificates expire, so slipping closings need updates), and we chase the association's document package for condo resales — where Florida gives your buyer a short statutory review-and-cancel window after delivery. Your shepherding role: make sure the buyer actually READS the budget, reserve schedule, milestone-inspection status, and minutes during that window. Post-Surfside, 'how healthy is the building?' is a dollars question, and the minutes are where next year's special assessment is discussed this year.
Assessment allocation — the negotiable nobody negotiates
Florida's standard contracts split special assessments by levied-versus-pending logic with checkbox variations — real money rides on which box and what the estoppel reveals. Read the clause with your client at offer time; if the estoppel later surprises, the pay-or-escrow-at-closing structure usually keeps the date while the dispute resolves behind it.