Fisher Island, Florida: The Complete Buyer's Guide to 33109

Fisher Island is a 216-acre private island in ZIP code 33109, in unincorporated Miami-Dade County off the southern tip of Miami Beach. It has no bridge. Access is by the community's own vehicle ferry or by private yacht, and every visitor needs pre-arranged security clearance. Roughly 800 residences sit there.

Almost everything written about Fisher Island describes the lifestyle. Very little of it describes the transaction. This guide does both, and where a number could not be verified against a primary source, it is not printed here.

Three things changed in 2026 that most Fisher Island pages have not caught up with, and each one matters to a buyer. The ZIP code lost the national price crown it held in 2025. Miami-Dade County formally adopted a resolution to take the island's fuel terminal by eminent domain, which stops the residential project planned for that parcel. And Florida's condominium inspection and reserve laws reached the deadline that turns them from a future obligation into a present line item on Fisher Island's older buildings.

---

Fisher Island at a glance

One number in that table deserves a note. The 216-acre figure is what the Fisher Island Club publishes and what nearly every article repeats. The Census Bureau measures the census-designated place at 0.27 square miles in total, which works out to about 173 acres, with 0.24 square miles of that being dry land. The two figures are measuring different boundaries. Neither is wrong. Anyone quoting 216 acres as a precise land area is quoting a marketing number, not a survey.

---

Getting there: the part everyone gets wrong

Search results for Fisher Island will tell you the ferry runs every five minutes. The community's own published schedule says something different, and the difference is the single most practical fact in this guide, because it determines what daily life on the island actually feels like.

The published resident schedule

Fisher Island Community Association operates the ferry through its Transportation Department, which runs every day of the year, twenty-four hours a day. The schedule posted by the Fisher Island Club runs on three distinct patterns:

• Weekday mornings, 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. Three ferries run to Terminal West with ten-minute departures. Island departures leave on the fives. Mainland departures leave on the hour and every ten minutes after.
• Weekdays, 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Two ferries run to Terminal West with fifteen-minute departures, on the hour and at :15, :30 and :45.
• Weekday evenings from 6:00 p.m., overnight, and all weekend. Two ferries run, and the resident route shifts to Terminal East, again at fifteen-minute intervals.

That last line is the one nobody mentions. Outside business hours the resident route changes terminals. If you are coming home from dinner in South Beach on a Saturday night, you are not driving to the same place you left from on Thursday morning.

Employees and contractors run on a separate schedule entirely, from the Parcel 8 Ramp to Terminal East, weekdays 7:00 a.m. to 5:45 p.m. at fifteen-minute intervals. Resident traffic and service traffic are deliberately kept apart.

The two mainland terminals

Both sit just off the MacArthur Causeway on Terminal Island Road.

• Terminal West, 190 MacArthur Causeway. Residents and their guests.
• Terminal East, 112 MacArthur Causeway. Employees and commercial traffic, with an employee parking garage attached.

FICA's Public Safety Department staffs both terminals along with the guest and resident marinas, and works with Guest Clearance Agents who verify that every member, guest, employee and vendor has clearance before boarding. The Fisher Island Club states plainly that guests require pre-arranged security clearance to board. There is no walk-up option.

FICA also operates an online ferry reservation system for residents.

What fits on the ferry

This is a genuine constraint on ownership and no competing guide mentions it. FICA publishes the dimensional limits:

• Private passenger vehicles: under 24 feet long and 8 feet wide.
• Designated commercial vehicles: under 24 feet long and 8 feet wide.
• Member vehicle and trailer combinations: under 40 feet long and 8 feet wide.
• Emergency vehicles are accommodated separately.

If you own a long-wheelbase Sprinter, a large motorhome, or a boat on a trailer over forty feet, the ferry is not going to take it. That has knock-on effects for moving furniture, for renovation logistics, and for how contractors price work on the island. A general contractor bidding a Fisher Island renovation is bidding a marine logistics problem, and the bid reflects it.

Arriving by water

The Fisher Island Club operates two marinas and describes them precisely:

• Approach depth to both marina entrances: 15 feet.
• Main Marina (resident): 8 feet inside.
• Vanderbilt Marina (deep water, recently renovated): 12 feet inside, with concrete floating docks accommodating yachts up to 250 feet.
• Position: latitude 25.756820, longitude -80.141155.
• Radio: monitoring VHF Channel 16, working VHF Channel 11.
• Entry breakwaters on both marinas, which is why the club describes the berths as calm.

The marinas hold Florida Clean Marina designation and offer utilities, WiFi, a ship store, golf cart rentals, restrooms, showers and laundry. Private yacht and fishing charters are arranged through the marina.

For a buyer, the 8-foot versus 12-foot distinction is the whole conversation. A vessel with meaningful draft is a Vanderbilt Marina vessel, not a Main Marina vessel, and slip availability in the two basins is not interchangeable.

On the island

Golf carts are the normal vehicle. Personal parking is limited. The Club's own materials describe the island as accessible by yacht or by its private ferry, and the census-designated place record notes the same two modes. Helicopter access is frequently described online; the Club's published access page does not list it, so treat any helicopter claim as something to confirm directly rather than assume.

What ferry-only access actually does to daily life

Most Fisher Island coverage treats the ferry as a charming detail. It is a constraint that touches six things a buyer will actually experience.

Renovation. Every load of tile, every dumpster, every cabinet run crosses on a boat, on a schedule, in a vehicle under 24 feet, through a security clearance process, on the commercial route from Terminal East. Contractors price that. A Fisher Island renovation quote and a South Beach renovation quote for identical scopes are not comparable numbers, and the difference is logistics rather than finish.

Deliveries and service. Furniture, appliances, art installation, piano movers, and anything oversized run into the same dimensional ceiling. Ask the association how it handles oversized deliveries before you specify a nine-foot sofa.

Staff. FICA runs a separate employee and contractor ferry route from the Parcel 8 Ramp to Terminal East, weekdays only, 7:00 a.m. to 5:45 p.m. FICA operates an employee parking garage at Terminal East. Household staff who work outside those hours are a logistics question with an answer you should get in advance.

Guests. Every guest needs pre-arranged clearance, verified by FICA's Guest Clearance Agents. There is no arriving unannounced, which is precisely the point for some buyers and a genuine friction for others.

Emergencies. FICA instructs residents to call 911 first. Miami-Dade Fire Rescue is island-based, which is a meaningful mitigation. But definitive care is on the mainland, across water, and a buyer with a serious medical dependency should treat that as a real variable rather than an abstraction.

Departure timing. With fifteen-minute departures for most of the day and a terminal change in the evening, the practical planning unit for leaving Fisher Island is roughly half an hour rather than five minutes. That is not a hardship. It is simply a different rhythm from a bridge-connected island such as Venetian Islands or Key Biscayne, and buyers who mis-model it are the ones who resell early.

---

Who actually governs Fisher Island

This is where most guides go silent, and it is the structural fact that explains every fee on the island.

There is no city

Fisher Island is unincorporated. It belongs to no municipality. Miami-Dade County handles its zoning through Community Council Area 16, formally named the Fisher Island Board, which is divided into six sub-areas designated 161-A through 161-F. Zoning applications for the island go through Miami-Dade Regulatory and Economic Resources. The island falls in County Commission District 5.

Incorporation has been raised and dropped. Miami-Dade considered making Fisher Island a municipality in 2000 and revisited the question in 2005, when the county commission authorized further study. It never incorporated.

Policing and fire come from the county. FICA states that its Public Safety Department works with the island-based Miami-Dade Fire Rescue and the Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office. FICA Public Safety officers staff posts around the clock and are trained in security, first aid and AED use, but they are not sworn police. FICA instructs residents to call 911 first in a medical emergency and to call Public Safety afterward.

The two-tier association structure

Fisher Island Community Association is the master homeowners' association, organized under Florida Statutes and governed by its Articles of Incorporation, By-Laws, and the Master Covenants of Fisher Island. Its stated primary responsibility is to manage, maintain and improve the island's common areas. It runs seven departments: Accounting, Administration, Human Resources, Member Services, Public Works, Public Safety, and Transportation. FICA describes itself as one of Miami-Dade County's premier employers with a year-round staff of more than 250.

FICA also states, in its own words, that anyone who purchases property on Fisher Island becomes a FICA member. That is not optional. It is a consequence of taking title.

Beneath FICA, and this is the number that reframes the island, FICA reports that Fisher Island contains twenty-one condominium associations and two homeowners associations, the latter being Valencia Estates and Links Estates. Plus the Fisher Island Club itself.

So a Fisher Island owner is simultaneously subject to: the Master Covenants and rules of FICA; the declaration, bylaws and rules of one specific condominium or homeowners association out of twenty-three; Miami-Dade County ordinances; and Florida Statutes Chapter 718 or 720. Optionally, and separately, the rules of the Fisher Island Club.

FICA further notes that it ensures island compliance with Miami-Dade County's Department of Regulatory and Economic Resources, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, the US Coast Guard, and the City of Miami Beach. The Coast Guard line is a reminder that this is a working waterway with a cruise port on the other side of the channel.

What this means in practice: there is no single set of Fisher Island rules. Ask what a Fisher Island building's rental policy is and the honest answer is that there are twenty-three answers. The only reliable source is the recorded declaration for the specific association, which a seller is legally required to give you. More on that below.

---

The Fisher Island Club: what it is, what it gates, and what it does not

The Fisher Island Club is a private membership club. It is a separate legal entity from FICA and from any condominium association. Confusing the two is the most common error in Fisher Island coverage.

Equity membership

Per the Club's own membership page, Equity Membership is available to Fisher Island property owners. Each Equity Membership represents an equity ownership stake in the Club. Membership privileges extend to the primary member, spouses, and dependent children under the age of 24.

The Club lists these as equity benefits:

• Preferred member dues
• Snooker Club privileges
• Preferred golf fees and preferred marina rates
• Priority reservations for golf, tennis, spa and beach cabanas
• Unlimited complimentary tennis privileges
• An equity ownership interest in the Club
• The option to add golf privileges for an additional annual fee

Golf is a separate election. The Club states that equity members may opt into an annual golf membership for an additional fee, and that greens fees and cart fees for golf still apply on the base membership. The optional golf membership removes greens fees for unlimited play, adds unlimited range use and complimentary clinics, and cart fees continue to apply.

What the club membership gates

The Club's published list of what privileges give access to includes the private beach and Beach Club, the Snooker Club, Theapolis, the Sunset Bar, Porto Cervo, La Trattoria, Greenside, the Island Market, the aviary, The Links golf course, the Tennis Center, Spa Internazionale with the Fitness Center and Salone di Bellezza, both deep-water marinas, the Observatory, member events and family activities.

Read that list carefully. It includes the Island Market, the island's grocery store. It includes the beach. On an island with one supermarket and no bridge, that is a meaningful gate.

What the Club does not publish

The Fisher Island Club does not publish an initiation fee, a dues schedule, a guest fee, or a non-resident membership price anywhere on its website. Not on the membership page, not on the amenity pages. Membership inquiries go through a form and a membership office.

Every dollar figure you will find online for Fisher Island Club initiation or annual dues is second-hand and unverifiable against the Club. This guide does not repeat those figures. If a page quotes you a precise initiation fee for the Fisher Island Club, ask where it came from, because it did not come from the Club.

What you should do instead is treat club cost as a diligence item with a defined answer path: request the current membership schedule from the Club's membership office during your inspection period, in writing, and reconcile it against the seller's actual prior-year statements.

Membership is not automatic with purchase

FICA membership follows title automatically. Fisher Island Club equity membership does not. A buyer who assumes that closing on a condominium confers beach, golf, tennis, spa and Island Market access has made an assumption the Club's own documents do not support. Confirm membership status and transferability before you go hard on a deposit.

---

The amenities, checked against the Club's own descriptions

Published Fisher Island amenity lists are riddled with inherited errors. Court counts drift, the golf course changes par depending on who is writing, and the number of restaurants varies by article. Here is what the Fisher Island Club itself says.

The Links: a nine-hole course, hole by hole

The Club publishes a full hole-by-hole tour of its P.B. Dye-designed course. Adding up its own scorecard yields facts no competitor prints:

That totals par 35 over 3,069 yards from the back tees, and 2,183 yards from the forward tees. There is one par 5, two par 3s, and six par 4s. Hole 4 at 450 yards is the longest par 4. Hole 8 is drivable.

The Club sets a pace-of-play standard of two hours or less for nine holes, defines out of bounds by white stakes with any ball on or across a roadway out of bounds, and marks penalty areas with red stakes. Flower beds play as ground under repair. The course tour notes that Hole 5 shows the downtown Miami skyline from the elevated back tee, Hole 6 looks toward South Beach, and Hole 7 plays along the Port of Miami waterway where cruise ships and freighters pass while you play.

Two Fisher Island guides describe this course as "18 holes in 9." That is a marketing phrase, not a configuration. It is a nine-hole course.

The Racquet Club: 17 courts, not 18

The Club's dedicated Racquet Club page gives an exact breakdown: 17 tennis courts and 4 pickleball courts. The tennis surfaces are 2 grass, 5 European red clay, 3 DecoTurf hard, and 7 Har-Tru, covering all four Grand Slam surface types, all with night lighting.

Note the discrepancy honestly: the Club's own homepage separately describes 16 tennis courts plus 5 pickleball and 2 padel courts. The Racquet Club page and the membership page both say 17 tennis and 4 pickleball. Two of three Club sources agree on 17. Competing guides say 18, which no Club page supports.

The Club states that its Racquet Club has been ranked number one in the East Coast region of the United States by Tennis Magazine, that it consulted the Head Groundskeeper from the All England Club on its grass courts, and that its staff includes ten certified tennis and pickleball professionals. Its published list of professionals who have practiced there includes Caroline Wozniacki, Eugenie Bouchard, Sofia Kenin, Gael Monfils, Feliciano Lopez, Tommy Haas, Bob and Mike Bryan, Andre Agassi, Steffi Graf, Andy Roddick, Anna Kournikova, Boris Becker, Mats Wilander and Jim Courier.

Beach, spa, and the rest

The Club describes a private, uncrowded beach with white sand and seaside pavilions, the Vanderbilt Mansion Pool, and an outdoor Sunset Bar at the Beach Club facing Biscayne Bay. Beach and pool service runs on a button on the umbrella.

Also published by the Club: 15 all-suite luxury accommodations reserved for members, Spa Internazionale with a fitness center and the Salone di Bellezza salon, The Cove kids' club, the Vanderbilt Theater, an Observatory, and an aviary holding more than a dozen exotic birds. Named dining venues on the Club's own privileges list are the Beach Club, Sunset Bar, Porto Cervo, La Trattoria and Greenside, alongside the Island Market.

Members represent more than forty countries, per the Club.

---

The school on the island

Fisher Island Day School sits at 2 Fisher Island Drive. It is an independent, co-educational day school. The school describes itself as serving Early Learning from age two through Grade 8, and describes its location as accessible only via an eight-minute ferry ride from Miami Beach.

Federal data and school data give slightly different pictures of size, and both are worth knowing:

The school reports accreditation by the Florida Council of Independent Schools, membership in the National Association of Independent Schools, and licensing of its Early Learning Program as a child care facility through the Florida Department of Children and Families. Its curriculum was developed with the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education. Facilities include four buildings with a gymnasium, an art and music center, a commercial kitchen with a private organic chef, a nurse-staffed health clinic, a library and media center, and a STEM lab.

Two details matter to the international buyers who make up a large share of this market. First, the school states it is certified by the Student and Exchange Visitor Program to enroll F or M nonimmigrant students, which is not common at a school this size. Second, its Board of Trustees is composed of Fisher Island Club equity members alongside educators from the wider community, which means school governance and club governance overlap.

The school ends at Grade 8. Secondary school means leaving the island every morning, on the ferry, in traffic. Families with teenagers should model that commute before they buy, not after. This guide makes no claim about public school attendance boundaries; confirm any zoning question directly with Miami-Dade County Public Schools.

---

The 33109 economics

What happened to the number one ranking

For 2025, PropertyShark's annual ranking of the 100 most expensive US ZIP codes placed 33109 first in the country with a median sale price of $9.5 million, a 65% jump year over year, ending Atherton, California's eight-year run at the top. It was the first time the country's most expensive ZIP code was outside California or New York.

The detail inside that ranking is more useful than the headline. PropertyShark reported that in 2025 the cheapest Fisher Island home sold for $1.41 million while the most expensive sold for nearly $23.7 million, a condominium of about 6,800 square feet with three bedrooms. The top single-family sale that year was an 11,000-square-foot, six-bedroom house at $21 million. PropertyShark's methodology counted closed residential transactions between January 1 and September 30, 2025, in disclosure states, requiring a minimum of five transactions per ZIP.

That ranking no longer holds. In 2026, PropertyShark and Bloomberg data reported by the Miami Herald show Atherton reclaiming the number one spot, its median climbing to nearly $10 million in the first half of 2026, roughly 20% higher year over year. The Herald attributes the reversal to artificial intelligence wealth, noting Atherton recorded five sales of at least $30 million during the year as employees of AI companies converted stock into trophy real estate. Fisher Island held the top spot for two years.

A separate Realtor.com analysis in January 2026 ranked Fisher Island the country's second most expensive ZIP code by median listing price, at just under $12 million. Listing price and sale price are different measures, and the gap between $9.5 million closed and roughly $12 million asked tells you something about where sellers are positioned relative to where deals actually clear.

The Herald's own assessment is worth quoting on the point: losing the number one ranking hardly signals weakness. South Florida still dominates the very top of the market. Bloomberg reported that seven of the eleven US residential sales above $100 million last year happened in Florida.

The occupancy math nobody runs

Put two verified figures side by side.

The Fisher Island Club says the island holds approximately 800 residences. The 2020 US Census counted 561 people in 197 households on Fisher Island.

That implies roughly one in four residences is somebody's census-counted primary home. The rest are second, third or fourth homes, corporate holdings, trust-held assets, or seasonal. That single ratio explains more about Fisher Island's market behavior than any price statistic: thin permanent occupancy, low resale velocity, buyers who are not payroll-dependent on Miami, and a homestead exemption that most owners cannot claim.

For context on how other Miami enclaves compare on scale and permanence, see our guide to Miami's billionaire neighborhoods.

---

The housing stock

Fisher Island is overwhelmingly a condominium market. FICA's count of 21 condominium associations against 2 homeowners associations is the cleanest evidence of that.

The buildings sort into three generations, and generation is the single most useful sorting variable because it determines inspection status, reserve exposure, floor plate size and finish level all at once.

The village and mid-rise generation, built in the late 1980s through the 1990s. Bayside Village, Seaside Village, Seaside Villas, Oceanside, Bayview, Villa Del Mare and Harborview. Lower density, mature landscaping, larger communities, and the generation where renovation upside and reserve exposure both live. Every building in this cohort is now more than thirty years old, which puts it squarely inside Florida's milestone inspection regime discussed below.

The Palazzo generation, 2008 to 2019. Palazzo Del Mare, Palazzo Del Sol and Palazzo Della Luna. Larger floor plates, contemporary systems, higher finish levels, and buildings young enough that milestone inspection is not yet the governing question.

The current generation, 2025 onward. The Residences at Six Fisher Island and The Links Estates.

This guide does not publish per-building unit counts, floor counts or price bands. Those figures circulate widely online and none of them trace to a primary source. The authoritative unit count for any Fisher Island building is in that association's recorded declaration of condominium, which a seller must deliver to you before closing under Florida law. Ask for it and count.

Buyers weighing a Fisher Island condominium against oceanfront alternatives elsewhere in Miami Beach can compare against our survey of Miami trophy penthouses and our Miami condo market analysis.

Why comparables behave strangely here

Twenty-three associations across roughly 800 residences means an average of about thirty-five units per association. That is a small denominator, and it produces three effects that a buyer relying on portal data will misread.

Price per square foot travels poorly between buildings. Two units at the same dollar per foot in two different associations can carry different assessment structures, different reserve positions, different milestone inspection status and different leasing rights. The per-foot number is not comparing like with like, and on Fisher Island the spread between generations is wide enough that a blended island-wide average tells you almost nothing about any specific purchase.

Thin transaction counts make medians volatile. PropertyShark's own 2025 methodology required only a minimum of five residential transactions for a ZIP to qualify for its ranking. A 65% year-over-year move in a ZIP median, which is what 33109 posted in 2025, is what happens when a handful of large trades land in a small sample. It is a real number and it is not a growth rate you should extrapolate.

Listing price and closing price separate. Realtor.com's January 2026 analysis put Fisher Island's median listing price just under $12 million while PropertyShark's 2025 closed median was $9.5 million. Those measure different things at different moments, and the gap is the negotiating room the island's own aggregate data implies.

The practical consequence is that Fisher Island rewards association-level analysis over ZIP-level analysis. The right comparable set for a unit is other units in the same association, adjusted for line and exposure, with the association's financial position held constant.

The Residences at Six Fisher Island

The most heavily documented new project on the island, and the one where primary sources are actually available.

Verified through Berkadia, which arranged the financing, and the developer's own site:

• Developers: Related Group with partners Teddy Sagi, BH Group and Wanxiang America RE Group.
• Scale: 50 private residences across 10 stories.
• Residence size: averaging 4,817 square feet.
• Bedrooms: three to eight, per the developer's site.
• Pricing: residences from $15 million, per the developer's site. Berkadia reported remaining inventory targeting prices north of $4,000 per square foot.
• Design: Kobi Karp Architects, interiors by Tara Bernerd and Partners.
• Site: the island's last available development parcel, along more than 1,000 linear feet of shoreline on the northeastern shore.
• Financing: a $400 million construction loan from Madison Realty Capital, arranged by Berkadia South Florida in June 2024, replacing an $85 million acquisition loan originated in 2022.
• Sales: more than $500 million in presales was reported in June 2024 alongside the construction loan, including two penthouses under contract at a combined $150 million. These are presale contracts, not closings: a Miami-Dade Official Records search of the owner entity and of the property address, indexed through August 25, 2026, returns no declaration of condominium and no unit deed for 6 Fisher Island Drive, and county permit records show no certificate of occupancy has been issued.
• Sales brokerage: Douglas Elliman, exclusively.
• Significance: Madison Realty Capital's principal described it as the first newly built property on the island since 2019.

Amenities described by the developer's financing announcement include two separate resort-style pool decks with private cabanas and full-service bars, a playground, a game room, a multi-sport simulator, a wellness facility with dedicated cardio, Pilates, weight training and yoga areas, and 24/7 concierge. Residences have private elevator foyers and water views on all sides, with Sub-Zero and Wolf kitchens.

On the completion date, carry the ambiguity. Berkadia's 2024 announcement slated completion for 2026. The developer's site as of this review says "now under construction" without a date. Industry posts in 2026 have described both late 2026 and 2027. A buyer should get the delivery date in writing in the purchase agreement rather than from any published source, including this one.

The Links Estates

The island's rare single-family opportunity, and one of only two homeowners associations FICA lists. A small enclave of custom estate homes beside the golf course, held in fee rather than as condominium interests. Because these are single-family dwellings rather than condominium units, they sit outside Florida's condominium statute for inspection and reserve purposes, and outside Miami-Dade's documentary surtax. Both points are explained below and both are worth real money.

Published square footage, lot sizes and pricing for The Links Estates vary across sources and none of them trace to the developer. Treat any figure you see as unverified until you have the offering documents.

---

The fuel terminal, One Fisher Island, and eminent domain

This is the live issue on Fisher Island and it is documented in Miami-Dade County's own legislative record, which is the only source worth using here. Most Fisher Island pages describe this dispute as ongoing or unresolved. It was resolved, at least at the county level, on July 21, 2026.

What the site is

A roughly 10-acre waterfront parcel at the north end of Fisher Island holding a marine fuel terminal. Per the County Mayor's memorandum in the legislative record, this facility has been the principal source of marine fuel for cruise and cargo lines serving PortMiami since the 1920s, and PortMiami has never owned, leased or controlled it. Reporting by Realtor.com and the Wall Street Journal describes the tank farm as holding roughly 28 to 30 million gallons of fuel.

The County's stated stakes: PortMiami generates over $61 billion in annual economic impact, comprising 3.9% of Florida's gross domestic product, and directly and indirectly supports more than 340,000 jobs while facilitating $2.2 billion in state and local tax revenues.

The sequence

• 2025. The property sold to an investor group including Chicago-based HRP Group for $180 million, per Realtor.com. HRP planned to demolish the tanks, remediate the land, and build two luxury condominium towers under the name One Fisher Island, a project Realtor.com reported at a $2 billion price tag.
• September 18, 2025. The Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners adopted Resolution R-897-25, directing the Seaport to negotiate to acquire the property.
• October 9, 2025. The Board adopted Resolution R-995-25, directing the Administration and County Attorney to acquire the property by negotiation or by eminent domain.
• Through spring 2026. Confidential mediated settlement negotiations with HRP.
• End of May 2026. The Fisher Island Community Association filed suit seeking to undo the negotiated agreement, per Realtor.com.
• June 5, 2026. The County Mayor advised the Board that negotiations had concluded, that the final terms were unacceptable, and that the Administration intended to proceed with an eminent domain suit. Reporting put the negotiated deal at $400 million, structured as half payable immediately and half over twenty years.
• June 16, 2026. File 261076 heard as agenda item 8J1 and amended.
• July 21, 2026. File 261369 adopted as agenda item 15F1. The Board declared acquisition of the Fuel Facility Property a public necessity and authorized acquisition by negotiation, by purchase at appraised value, or by eminent domain court proceedings including declarations of taking.

The numbers inside the county record

Two figures from the adopted item deserve attention because they are not in any other Fisher Island article.

The County's appraisals of the same parcel came back at $25 million at the low end and $430 million at the high end. The record attributes the seventeen-fold spread to differing valuation methodologies and differing assumptions about whether the property would obtain development approvals. That is the entire dispute expressed as a single number: the site is worth a fortune as condominiums and comparatively little as a fuel farm, and the County has now moved to fix its use as a fuel farm.

The County is authorized to offer up to 15 percent over appraised value as an incentive to avoid litigation, funded by Seaport Revenue Bonds under the FY 2025-26 Adopted Budget and Multi-Year Capital Plan.

The record also notes that the current operator's lease provides for cessation of fuel operations from the property by May 2027, and that an AECOM study commissioned by the County concluded that on-port alternative fuel facility options were not viable.

What a buyer should take from this

HRP's chief executive told Realtor.com the County's effort would be long, costly and ultimately unsuccessful, and vowed to continue pursuing the residential development. So this is not over in court. But three things are now settled enough to plan around:

1. The two-tower One Fisher Island project is not a scheduled part of the island's future supply. Any pricing model that assumed new competing inventory on that parcel needs revisiting.
2. The tank farm is more likely to persist than to disappear, since the County's declared purpose is continued fuel operation.
3. Litigation between the County, the developer, and the Fisher Island Community Association is active, which means FICA is spending on legal work. Ask for FICA's current budget and any special assessment history before you buy.

One market view, from Analytics Miami founder Ana Bozovic speaking to Realtor.com, is that the dispute is unlikely to move Fisher Island home prices, because the island's value rests on scarcity, privacy, security and exclusivity rather than on any one parcel.

---

The real cost of ownership

Here is where a Fisher Island purchase differs from a Miami Beach purchase in ways that are measurable rather than atmospheric.

The four recurring obligations

Every Fisher Island owner carries some combination of:

1. FICA assessments. Automatic with title. Fund the ferry operation, public safety, public works, landscaping, and the island's shared infrastructure. On an island with no city, FICA is performing functions a municipality would otherwise perform and charging owners directly for them.
2. Condominium or homeowners association assessments. Set by one of the twenty-three sub-associations, covering that building's operations and reserves.
3. Property taxes. Miami-Dade County levies, with no municipal layer because there is no municipality.
4. Fisher Island Club dues, if elected. Separate, optional, and not published.

Only the third of those has a public schedule. The first, second and fourth all require documents from a specific seller and a specific association. Any guide that quotes you a single "Fisher Island monthly fee" is quoting an average of twenty-three different answers.

Documentary stamp tax: the condominium penalty

This is the most concrete, least-discussed cost difference on the island, and it is stated plainly by the Florida Department of Revenue.

Florida charges documentary stamp tax on deeds. In every Florida county except Miami-Dade, the rate is 70 cents per $100 of consideration. In Miami-Dade the rate is 60 cents per $100, plus a discretionary surtax of 45 cents per $100. The Department of Revenue states that the surtax is not due on a document that transfers only a single-family dwelling.

A Fisher Island condominium is not a single-family dwelling. A Links Estates house is.

Work it through on a $10 million purchase:

The condominium buyer pays $45,000 more in deed tax on identical consideration. At $20 million the gap is $90,000. The Department of Revenue's own worked example confirms the mechanic: it computes both taxes on a Miami-Dade transfer and states there is no exemption from the surtax because the deed does not transfer a single-family residence.

Separately, mortgages and other recorded evidences of indebtedness carry documentary stamp tax at 35 cents per $100 of the amount secured, with no cap. Promissory notes are capped at $2,450; recorded mortgages are not. On a financed Fisher Island purchase, that is real money and it is frequently misunderstood.

Our Miami closing costs guide covers the full closing stack.

Homestead exemption: most Fisher Island owners cannot claim it

Miami-Dade's Property Appraiser sets out the requirements. To qualify, an owner must hold legal or equitable title as of January 1, must make the property their permanent residence as of January 1, and must be a US citizen or permanent US resident and a Florida resident as of January 1. Proof means a Florida driver's license, Florida vehicle registration, Florida voter registration, a prior year's IRS return or W-2, bank statements registered at the property, utility payments, or a recorded Declaration of Domicile.

The exemption is worth up to $50,000 off taxable value. The first $25,000 applies to all taxing authorities. The second applies to assessed values above $50,000 and excludes School Board taxes, which the Property Appraiser notes can run up to 40% of a tax bill. Following Florida's Amendment 5, approved in November 2024 and effective January 1, 2025, the second exemption is annually adjusted for inflation by the Consumer Price Index; for tax year 2025 the total exemption amount reflects $50,722.

Set that against the census figures above. If roughly one in four Fisher Island residences houses a census-counted household, then most Fisher Island owners are not permanent Florida residents and therefore cannot homestead. A second-home buyer should model taxes without the exemption.

There is a related trap the Property Appraiser flags explicitly. If an owner fails to notify the office of a change in status affecting the legitimacy of the exemption, the property can be back-taxed for ten years of exempted taxes, plus 15% interest per annum, plus a penalty of 50% of the taxes exempted. The Property Appraiser separately warns that renting a homesteaded property can jeopardize the exemption. On an island where owners come and go across seasons and rent when policy allows, that is a live risk, not a theoretical one.

FIRPTA: the withholding most Fisher Island buyers will meet

Fisher Island Club states its membership represents more than forty countries. That means a large share of Fisher Island sellers are foreign persons, and a large share of Fisher Island purchases trigger the Foreign Investment in Real Property Tax Act.

Per the IRS: purchasers of US real property interests from foreign persons are required to withhold 15% of the amount realized on the disposition. The buyer is normally the withholding agent. The IRS states that if the transferor is a foreign person and the transferee fails to withhold, the transferee may be held liable for the tax.

On a $10 million Fisher Island purchase from a foreign seller, that is $1.5 million the buyer must withhold and remit, at risk of personal liability if they do not. The amount realized includes cash paid, the fair market value of other property transferred, and any liability assumed.

The IRS provides a release valve. A seller may apply for a withholding certificate on Form 8288-B for reduced or zero withholding, and the IRS states it normally acts on such applications within 90 days of receiving all necessary information. Ninety days is longer than most Fisher Island contracts run, which is why this needs to be raised at contract, not at closing.

The residence exception that eliminates withholding applies only when the amount realized is $300,000 or less. It will never apply on Fisher Island.

Foreign buyers should also read our foreign buyers guide to Miami.

---

Building condition: the Florida law that reshaped this market

Florida's post-Surfside condominium legislation lands harder on Fisher Island's older buildings than almost anywhere, because the island's village generation is now past thirty years old and sits in salt water.

Milestone inspections

Under Florida Statutes section 553.899, an owner of a building three stories or more in height that is subject in whole or part to the condominium form of ownership must have a milestone inspection performed by December 31 of the year the building reaches 30 years of age, based on the certificate of occupancy date, and every 10 years thereafter.

The provision that matters on Fisher Island is the next one. The statute allows the local enforcement agency to determine that local circumstances, including environmental conditions such as proximity to salt water, require the milestone inspection at 25 years of age instead of 30, and every 10 years after.

Fisher Island is an island. Every building on it is proximate to salt water.

The inspection has two phases. Phase one is a visual examination by a licensed architect or engineer producing a qualitative structural assessment. If no signs of substantial structural deterioration are found, it stops there. If substantial structural deterioration is identified, phase two follows, which may involve destructive or nondestructive testing and can be as extensive as necessary. Phase one must be completed within 180 days of written notice from the local enforcement agency.

Within 45 days of receiving the report, the association must distribute the inspector-prepared summary to every unit owner regardless of what it found, post it conspicuously on the property, and publish the full report if the association is required to have a website.

The statute also gives local government teeth: a board of county commissioners may adopt an ordinance requiring repairs for substantial structural deterioration to be scheduled or commenced within a specified timeframe, and in any event within 365 days of the phase two report. If an owner fails to show repairs have been scheduled or commenced, the local enforcement agency must review and determine whether the building is unsafe for human occupancy.

Note that the statute does not apply to single-family, two-family, three-family or four-family dwellings with three or fewer habitable stories above ground. The Links Estates houses are outside it.

Structural integrity reserve studies

Section 718.112(2)(g) requires a structural integrity reserve study for each building three stories or higher. The study is based on a visual inspection, and that visual inspection portion must be performed or verified by a licensed engineer, a licensed architect, or a person certified as a reserve specialist or professional reserve analyst by the Community Associations Institute or the Association of Professional Reserve Analysts.

The study must cover the roof, the structure, fireproofing and fire protection systems, plumbing, electrical systems, waterproofing and exterior painting, windows and exterior doors, and any other item with a deferred maintenance or replacement cost above $10,000 whose failure would negatively affect the listed items.

For each item it must state estimated remaining useful life, estimated replacement cost or deferred maintenance expense, and a funding schedule with a recommended annual reserve amount sufficient to reach that cost by the end of the useful life.

The deadline is not in the future. The statute required associations existing on or before July 1, 2022 and controlled by unit owners to complete a SIRS by December 31, 2024 for each building three stories or higher, and states that in no event may the study be completed after December 31, 2026. An association permitted to run the SIRS simultaneously with a milestone inspection had until that same outside date.

If the officers or directors of an association willfully and knowingly fail to complete a SIRS, the statute makes that a breach of their fiduciary duty to unit owners. Within 45 days of receiving the study the association must distribute it or notify owners it is available, and within 45 days must file a statement with the state division confirming it did so.

The reserve waiver warning

Florida requires this exact language, in capitalized bold type larger than anything else on the proxy ballot, on any vote to waive or reduce reserves:

WAIVING OF RESERVES, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, OR ALLOWING ALTERNATIVE USES OF EXISTING RESERVES MAY RESULT IN UNIT OWNER LIABILITY FOR PAYMENT OF UNANTICIPATED SPECIAL ASSESSMENTS REGARDING THOSE ITEMS.

The legislature does not put warnings in all caps for decoration. A Fisher Island buyer's real question about any pre-2000 building is not what the monthly fee is. It is what the SIRS found, what the milestone inspection found, whether the association has historically waived reserves, and what the funding gap is between the SIRS recommendation and the actual budget. That gap is a future special assessment with a date on it.

---

How a purchase actually works here

Your statutory right to walk away

Florida Statutes section 718.503 gives condominium buyers cancellation rights, and they differ sharply depending on whether you are buying from a developer or from an existing owner.

Buying from a developer, which is the case at Six Fisher Island, the contract must state in conspicuous type that it is voidable by the buyer on written notice within 15 days after execution by the buyer and receipt of all items the developer is required to deliver. The agreement is separately voidable within 15 days after receipt of any amendment that materially alters or modifies the offering adversely to the buyer. The developer may not close for 15 days after execution and delivery unless the buyer is informed of the voidability period and separately signs an agreement to close early, which the developer must retain.

Buying a resale, the window is much tighter: voidable on written notice within 3 days, excluding Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays, after execution and receipt of a current copy of the declaration of condominium, articles of incorporation, bylaws and rules of the association, the most recent annual financial statement and annual budget, and the Frequently Asked Questions and Answers document if so requested in writing.

Read that last clause again. Several of those documents only have to be provided if you ask for them in writing. If you do not ask, your clock may start without them. The statute adds that any purported waiver of these voidability rights shall be of no effect, and that a buyer may extend closing by up to three business days after receiving the documents. The right to void terminates at closing.

The documents that now must come with a resale

The 2024 statute expanded the required delivery list, and the additions are precisely the ones that matter on an island of aging waterfront buildings. Alongside the declaration, articles, bylaws, rules, financial statement and budget, a seller must furnish:

• A copy of the inspector-prepared summary of the milestone inspection report under section 553.899, if applicable.
• The association's most recent structural integrity reserve study, or a statement that the association has not completed one.
• A copy of the turnover inspection report under 718.301(4)(p) and (q) for turnover inspections performed on or after July 1, 2023.
• The Frequently Asked Questions and Answers document.

A statement that no SIRS has been completed is itself a material disclosure. On a building that is well past the December 31, 2026 outside deadline, it is a red flag with a legal consequence attached.

Estoppel certificates

Under section 718.116, the association must designate on its website a person or entity with a street or email address to receive estoppel certificate requests, and must deliver the certificate by hand, regular mail or email on the date of issuance.

The deadlines and caps set by that same statute are specific. If an association receives a request from a unit owner or designee, or a mortgagee or designee, and fails to deliver within 10 business days, it may not charge a fee for that certificate. Section 718.116 permits an additional fee of $100 for an expedited certificate delivered within 3 business days, and caps the additional fee at $150 where a delinquent amount is owed on the unit. Where multiple units owned by the same owner are requested simultaneously with no past due obligations, the statute caps aggregate fees at $750 for 25 or fewer units, $1,000 for 26 to 50 units, $1,500 for 51 to 100 units, and $2,500 for more than 100 units.

Order the estoppel early. It is how you discover unpaid assessments, pending special assessments and open violations before they become yours.

Board approval and transfer

Most Fisher Island associations will have approval rights over transfers, and the twenty-three associations do not run identical processes. Build approval time into the contract timeline explicitly. On an island where boards are composed of people who are frequently out of the country, approval is a scheduling risk as much as a substantive one.

The diligence sequence that actually works here

Fisher Island's statutory clocks are short and they run concurrently, so the order matters more than on a mainland purchase.

1. Before you sign, identify which of the twenty-three associations the unit belongs to and request the declaration, bylaws, rules, most recent annual financial statement, annual budget and the Frequently Asked Questions document in writing. The resale voidability clock under 718.503 runs on execution and receipt, and several of those documents are only owed to you if you ask in writing.
2. At execution, calendar the 3-business-day resale window, or the 15-day window on a developer purchase, and treat it as the real deadline rather than the inspection period.
3. Immediately, request the milestone inspection summary and the structural integrity reserve study, or the association's written statement that no SIRS was completed. Both are now on the statutory delivery list.
4. In parallel, order the estoppel certificate. The association has 10 business days or it forfeits its fee, and 3 business days on an expedited request for an additional $100.
5. In parallel, request FICA's current budget, assessment schedule and any special assessment history, which is separate from the sub-association's.
6. In parallel, request the Fisher Island Club's current membership schedule in writing from the membership office, since it is not published.
7. Before the window closes, reconcile the SIRS recommended annual reserve funding against the association's actual budgeted reserve contribution. The difference is your future special assessment exposure, and it is the single most valuable number in the file.
8. Confirm leasing rights in writing against the specific declaration if seasonal or rental use is part of the plan.
9. If the seller is a foreign person, raise FIRPTA at contract, not at closing, because a Form 8288-B withholding certificate can take the IRS up to 90 days.
10. Confirm board approval timing and whether any right of first refusal exists in that association's declaration.

Steps 3 and 7 are the ones buyers skip, and on Fisher Island's pre-2000 buildings they are where the money is.

Insurance, elevation and windstorm

Fisher Island's elevation is recorded at 7 feet. It is a low-lying barrier island in a hurricane-exposed county, and the Florida statutes above exist because of a Surfside collapse on the same coastline.

This guide does not publish insurance premiums, because premiums on Fisher Island are association-specific and building-specific and no credible aggregate exists. What it will say is that the master policy carried by the association, its windstorm deductible, and its claims history are diligence items of the same rank as the reserve study, and that a unit owner's own policy sits on top of a master policy whose terms the buyer does not control. The association's most recent annual financial statement, which a seller must deliver under 718.503, will show the insurance line. Read it against the prior year.

The structural reserve study is the connected document. A SIRS covering roof, structure, fireproofing and fire protection, plumbing, electrical, waterproofing and exterior painting is, read correctly, an insurer's view of the building expressed as a funding schedule.

Leasing

There is no island-wide Fisher Island rental policy, and any source that gives you one is guessing. Leasing terms are set by each individual association's declaration and rules, layered on FICA's Master Covenants, and can differ between two buildings on the same road. What varies: whether leasing is permitted at all, minimum lease term, maximum number of leases per year, board approval requirements, application fees, security deposits, and whether tenants get any club or amenity access.

If rental income or seasonal use is part of your thesis, make it a written contingency. Get the declaration and current rules for the specific association before your voidability window closes, and confirm whether the association has amended its leasing provisions recently. Separately confirm what a tenant can and cannot access, because FICA and Fisher Island Club privileges are not automatically conveyed to a lessee.

---

Fisher Island against the alternatives

Fisher Island, Indian Creek and Star Island

These three get compared constantly and they are not the same product.

The governance row is the one that decides most cases. Indian Creek is an incorporated village with its own government. Star Island sits inside the City of Miami Beach. Fisher Island has neither, and instead runs a private master association that performs municipal functions and bills owners for them.

The deed surtax row is the one nobody prices. Buying a condominium on Fisher Island costs 45 cents per $100 more in deed tax than buying a house on Indian Creek or Star Island at the same price.

Detailed comparisons are in our guides to Indian Creek, Star Island, and our head-to-head on Indian Creek versus Star Island versus La Gorce. Broader context sits in our roundup of Miami's most expensive homes.

Fisher Island against the mainland alternatives

If the appeal is privacy and amenity depth without the ferry, the honest alternatives are different in kind rather than in degree.

• South of Fifth offers walkable urban beach living with restaurants at street level, at the cost of privacy. It is the closest geographic neighbor and the furthest in character.
• Key Biscayne offers island living with a causeway, a village government, and a family-oriented residential base.
• Bal Harbour offers oceanfront service-led condominium living with retail and a village government.
• Coconut Grove offers tree canopy, walkability and bay access on the mainland.
• Venetian Islands offers bridge-connected island living without a ferry constraint.
• Sunny Isles and its branded towers offer new construction at scale, including the Armani Casa tower, with a very different density profile.
• Aston Martin Residences on the Miami River offers branded residences with a marina and downtown access.

For a systematic view of how these neighborhoods trade against each other, start with the best Miami neighborhoods to buy a condo, our safest Miami neighborhoods analysis, and the Miami hub. Market data across all of them lives in our market intelligence hub. Buyers running a parallel Manhattan search can compare against luxury condos in New York.

---

Fisher Island history, corrected

Popular accounts of Fisher Island's origin contain several errors that have been copied between sites for years. Here is the sequence as the documentary record supports it.

Three corrections worth naming, because they appear on many Fisher Island pages including our own prior version. The Vanderbilt trade was in the late 1920s, not 1920, and it was for a yacht named Eagle, not for a yacht plus ten dollars. Fisher traded part of the island, not all of it. And the Vanderbilt mansion's designer, Maurice Fatio, is correctly credited, but the chain of ownership between Vanderbilt's death and the Club's 1987 opening ran through at least four distinct parties, not a vague "changed hands multiple times."

---

Who Fisher Island suits, and who it does not

It suits a buyer who wants condominium or villa living with resort-grade shared amenities, values controlled access above street-level convenience, is comfortable with a private association performing municipal functions, has young children who would attend an on-island school through Grade 8, keeps a yacht that needs deep water and calm berthing, and is not dependent on being able to leave at an unplanned moment.

It does not suit a buyer who wants a walkable restaurant scene at the door, who needs vehicles or trailers over the ferry's dimensional limits, who has high-school-aged children, who wants to renovate quickly and cheaply, whose thesis depends on short-term rental income, or who wants a single-family house on real land, since only one small enclave on the island offers that format.

The recurring mistake on Fisher Island is treating it as a building choice. It is a governance and logistics choice that happens to come with buildings attached. The right question is not which tower has the better view. It is which of twenty-three associations you are joining, what its milestone inspection and reserve study said, whether it permits the use you have in mind, and what your ferry looks like at 6:45 on a Monday morning.

The five myths worth unlearning

Fisher Island generates more repeated misinformation than any other Miami market, largely because early articles were copied rather than checked. These five come up in almost every buyer conversation.

"The ferry runs every five minutes." It runs at ten-minute intervals during the weekday morning peak and fifteen-minute intervals the rest of the time, and it changes terminals outside business hours. The Club publishes the schedule.

"You have to join the Fisher Island Club to buy." You have to join FICA, automatically, by taking title. Club equity membership is a separate election, and skipping it means skipping the beach, the golf, the tennis, the spa, the marinas and the Island Market.

"Fisher Island is part of Miami Beach." It uses a Miami Beach mailing address and is regulated in part by the City of Miami Beach on environmental matters, but it is unincorporated Miami-Dade County with its own county zoning council. There is no city government.

"It is one HOA." There are twenty-three associations under one master association, and a rule that applies in one building may not apply next door.

"It is the most expensive ZIP code in America." It was, for 2025 and the year before. As of 2026 it is second, behind Atherton. Any page still asserting the title in the present tense has not been updated in a year.

---

Frequently asked questions

How do you get to Fisher Island?

Fisher Island has no bridge. Access is by the community's own vehicle and passenger ferry from Terminal Island Road off the MacArthur Causeway, or by private yacht. The Fisher Island Club states that ferry guests require pre-arranged security clearance. Residents and guests use Terminal West at 190 MacArthur Causeway; employees and commercial traffic use Terminal East at 112 MacArthur Causeway.

How often does the Fisher Island ferry actually run?

Not every five minutes, despite the common claim. The published schedule runs three ferries with ten-minute departures weekdays from 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m., two ferries with fifteen-minute departures weekdays from 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., and two ferries at fifteen-minute intervals on weekday evenings and weekends. Outside business hours the resident route shifts from Terminal West to Terminal East.

Is Fisher Island Club membership required to own on Fisher Island?

No. Purchasing property on Fisher Island automatically makes you a member of the Fisher Island Community Association, the master homeowners' association. Fisher Island Club equity membership is separate and elective. The Club states that equity membership is available to Fisher Island property owners, and its privileges gate the beach, golf, tennis, spa, marinas, most dining venues and the Island Market.

What does Fisher Island Club membership cost?

The Fisher Island Club does not publish initiation fees or annual dues on its website. Any specific figure circulating online is second-hand and cannot be verified against the Club. Request the current schedule in writing from the Club's membership office during your inspection period and reconcile it against the seller's prior-year statements.

Is Fisher Island part of Miami Beach?

No. Fisher Island uses a Miami Beach mailing address but is unincorporated Miami-Dade County and belongs to no municipality. Its zoning runs through Miami-Dade Community Council Area 16, formally named the Fisher Island Board, and it sits in County Commission District 5. Miami-Dade considered incorporating the island in 2000 and 2005 and it never happened.

How many associations are there on Fisher Island?

The Fisher Island Community Association reports that in addition to the Fisher Island Club, the island contains twenty-one condominium associations and two homeowners associations, Valencia Estates and Links Estates. Every owner is subject to FICA's Master Covenants plus the declaration and rules of one specific sub-association.

Can you rent out a Fisher Island condo?

It depends entirely on which of the twenty-three associations you buy into. There is no island-wide rental policy. Minimum lease terms, leases permitted per year, board approval, fees and tenant amenity access all vary by association declaration. Obtain the declaration and current rules for the specific building before your statutory voidability window closes.

What is happening with the Fisher Island fuel terminal?

On July 21, 2026 the Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners adopted a resolution declaring acquisition of the fuel facility a public necessity and authorizing acquisition by negotiation or by eminent domain, after negotiations over a reported $400 million buyout failed. The developer had planned two luxury condominium towers on the site under the name One Fisher Island and has said it will continue to pursue the project, so litigation is ongoing.

Is Fisher Island still the most expensive ZIP code in America?

Not as of 2026. PropertyShark ranked 33109 first in the nation for 2025 with a $9.5 million median sale price, a 65% year-over-year increase. In 2026, PropertyShark and Bloomberg data reported by the Miami Herald show Atherton, California reclaiming the top spot with a median approaching $10 million in the first half of 2026. Fisher Island ranks second.

What school is on Fisher Island?

Fisher Island Day School, an independent co-educational day school at 2 Fisher Island Drive, serving Early Learning from age two through Grade 8. Federal data for 2023-24 records 152 total students and 15 full-time-equivalent classroom teachers. The school reports accreditation by the Florida Council of Independent Schools, membership in the National Association of Independent Schools, and certification to enroll F or M nonimmigrant students. There is no secondary school on the island.

What is the milestone inspection requirement on Fisher Island?

Florida Statutes section 553.899 requires a milestone structural inspection for condominium buildings three stories or higher by December 31 of the year the building turns 30, and every 10 years after. The statute lets the local enforcement agency require inspection at 25 years where local conditions such as proximity to salt water warrant it. Fisher Island's village-generation buildings from the late 1980s and 1990s are all inside this regime.

Why do Fisher Island condo buyers pay more deed tax than house buyers?

Because of the Miami-Dade discretionary surtax. The Florida Department of Revenue sets documentary stamp tax in Miami-Dade at 60 cents per $100 of consideration, plus a surtax of 45 cents per $100, and states the surtax is not due on a document that transfers only a single-family dwelling. On a $10 million purchase, a condominium buyer pays $105,000 in deed tax while a single-family buyer pays $60,000.

Does FIRPTA apply when buying on Fisher Island?

Frequently, because many Fisher Island sellers are foreign persons. The IRS requires purchasers of US real property interests from foreign persons to withhold 15% of the amount realized, and states the buyer is normally the withholding agent and may be held liable for the tax if they fail to withhold. A seller may apply for a reduced-withholding certificate on Form 8288-B, which the IRS says it normally acts on within 90 days.

How long do you have to cancel a Fisher Island condo contract?

Under Florida Statutes section 718.503, a purchase from a developer is voidable within 15 days after execution and receipt of all required documents. A resale is voidable within 3 days excluding Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays after execution and receipt of the declaration, articles, bylaws and rules, most recent annual financial statement and budget, and the FAQ document if requested in writing. The statute states any purported waiver of these rights has no effect.

Can a yacht dock at Fisher Island?

Yes. The Fisher Island Club operates two marinas with 15 feet of approach depth to both entrances. The Main Marina carries 8 feet inside and serves residents. The Vanderbilt Marina carries 12 feet inside and accommodates yachts up to 250 feet on concrete floating docks. The marinas monitor VHF Channel 16 and work Channel 11, and hold Florida Clean Marina designation.

---

Fisher Island rewards buyers who do the association-level work and punishes buyers who shop by view. If you want that work done before you commit, begin a private advisory conversation.

---

---