We Buy Houses in Palmetto Bay for Cash

A village of large lots and 1960s and 1970s houses

Palmetto Bay incorporated in 2002, but its houses are far older than the village government. The Village's Comprehensive Plan puts more than half of its homes between 1960 and 1979, and fewer than one in ten after 2000, so most houses here carry the roof, plumbing, and electrical questions that come with 50 or 60 years of age.

The old East Perrine area around US 1 and Franjo Road, the Triangle area near Old Cutler Road where small workers' homes went up in the early 1950s, and Morningside Acres off SW 183rd Street are among the earliest sections. East of Old Cutler Road and along the C-100 canals the lots get larger and many back onto water. Across the village, the Comprehensive Plan notes that most homes still run on septic tanks rather than county sewer, one more item a financed buyer's inspector will write up and we will not.

More than thirty years after Andrew

Hurricane Andrew came ashore at Fender Point in Biscayne National Park before dawn on August 24, 1992, near SW 280th Street, as a Category 5 storm with 165 mph sustained winds. The National Weather Service estimates about 49,000 homes were destroyed and 108,000 damaged, almost all in southern Dade County. Palmetto Bay sits a short drive north of that point, and the village's own history records that Andrew erased the last remnants of the old town of Peters and heavily damaged the Thalatta Estate on Old Cutler Road.

Much of what stands here was repaired, re-roofed, or rebuilt in the years right after the storm, so a roof, air handler, or set of windows from 1993 or 1994 is now past the age most insurers accept without a fight, and the original 1960s plumbing and electrical in houses that came through intact are older still. Owners call us when the renewal demands a new roof, when the impact-window estimate for a 3,000-square-foot ranch house comes back in the five figures, or when they are done managing a big older house. None of it has to be fixed first. We also buy houses that need major repairs, not just cosmetic updates.

Permits, additions, and the village lien search

Inside village limits, the Village of Palmetto Bay's Building and Permitting Department at 9705 East Hibiscus Street issues permits, and its Code Compliance Division handles violations and Special Master hearings. A permit is required under the Florida Building Code to construct, enlarge, alter, or repair a building, and the Village offers an online permit search plus a lien search that reports open or expired permits and code violations on a property. A title company orders that search before closing, so a garage enclosed in 1985 or a pool or dock that never got a final inspection will surface whether or not anyone mentions it.

Palmetto Bay follows the High-Velocity Hurricane Zone rules, and the Village flagged the HVHZ roofing code changes that took effect January 1, 2024. Miami-Dade County's Product Control section approves the roofing, windows, exterior doors, shutters, and wall cladding used here, which is part of why replacements cost more than elsewhere in Florida. If your house is just outside the village line in unincorporated Miami-Dade, the county building department holds the permit history instead.

• We check the permit history ourselves and price open or expired permits into the offer rather than asking you to close them out.
• Unpermitted additions are common in homes of this age. Tell us what was added and when, if you know.
• If a code case is open, send the notice. Fines that have attached as a lien are paid from the proceeds at closing like any other lien.

Flood zones from the bay to the canals

The village's eastern edge is Biscayne Bay, and its flood information pages say plainly that Palmetto Bay is susceptible to flooding from major rain events and storm surge, with most of the village in or near a FEMA Special Flood Hazard Area. Miami-Dade's storm surge planning map puts the village in zones A through D, and the Comprehensive Plan describes Zone A, the area at risk from a Category 1 storm, as everything east of SW 67th Avenue north of SW 152nd Street and east of SW 77th Avenue south of it. Stormwater drains to the C-100 Cutler Drain canals, which back up when a heavy rain exceeds their capacity.

Three rules matter when you sell in those areas. A federally backed mortgage on a home in a Special Flood Hazard Area requires flood insurance, which thins the pool of financed buyers for an older house near the bay. Under the Village's floodplain rules, repairs or improvements that cost 50 percent or more of the structure's value in an AE or VE zone are a substantial improvement, and the house must then be brought up to current code, including elevation above the design flood elevation, which is why a badly damaged slab house near the bay is often worth more as a lot and a shell than as a repair project. And Florida's flood disclosure law, section 689.302, requires every seller of residential property to disclose at or before contract whether they filed a flood insurance claim or received federal flood assistance, and since October 1, 2025, whether the property flooded at all during their ownership.

We buy in every zone. If the house has flooded, tell us what happened and what was repaired, and we base the offer on the house as it is today. Our page on storm-damaged houses covers what flood and wind damage do to a sale.

Selling an inherited Palmetto Bay house

Because so many of these houses have had one owner for forty or fifty years, a large share of the Palmetto Bay homes we see are estates. Probate runs through the Probate Division of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit, with filings handled by the Clerk of the Court and Comptroller of Miami-Dade County. If the estate's assets subject to administration are worth $150,000 or less, or the owner has been gone more than two years, Florida allows a shorter summary administration. That limit rose from $75,000 on July 1, 2026 under Chapter 2026-57, so an estate that needed formal administration a year ago may now qualify for the faster route.

One tax detail catches heirs off guard. A long-held homestead here has had its assessed value capped under Save Our Homes at no more than 3 percent growth a year, so a house held for decades may be assessed at a fraction of its market value. Any sale or transfer of title is a change of ownership, and the property is reassessed at full just value the following January 1. That does not change what you receive at closing, but heirs who plan to keep the house should not expect the parent's tax bill to carry over, and it is one reason families sell rather than hold. We buy inherited houses at any stage, and a contract with us can wait for the court's order if the estate is still open.

What closing costs look like in Miami-Dade

Florida's documentary stamp tax on deeds is 70 cents per $100 of the price everywhere except Miami-Dade County, where the rate is 60 cents per $100 plus a 45-cent surtax that does not apply to a single-family dwelling, so a Palmetto Bay house pays $0.60 per $100. By local custom in Miami-Dade the buyer usually pays for the owner's title insurance policy, the opposite of most of Florida, though the contract controls. There are no commissions in a sale to us, a Florida title company handles the closing, and you get a written net estimate before you sign.

How to get an offer on a Palmetto Bay house

Enter the address in the form at the top of this page, or call or text (786) 914-1017. A member of our team calls or texts you back with a few questions that matter here: how old the roof is and whether it was replaced after Andrew, what has been added or enclosed and whether it was permitted, which flood zone the house is in and whether there have been claims, and whether an estate is open and who the personal representative is. We then look at the house with you or whoever has the key and put a written offer in front of you with the reasoning behind it. Our team has been buying as-is properties for more than 10 years, and there is no deadline to accept and no obligation.

• What moves the number: roof and system age, the cost of bringing additions into compliance, flood zone and the 50 percent rule, septic condition, and the size and location of the lot.
• What moves the date: whether the title is already clear, whether a probate order is still needed, and when you want to be out. With a clear title we can close in as little as 10 days; if you need longer, you set the date.
• What you can skip: repairs, cleaning, showings, and anything left in the house you do not want.

Where we buy around Palmetto Bay

Palmetto Bay is bordered by Pinecrest and Coral Gables to the north at SW 136th Street, Cutler Bay to the south at SW 184th Street (Eureka Drive), Biscayne Bay to the east, and US 1, also called South Dixie Highway, to the west. Old Cutler Road runs down the eastern side, past the Deering Estate, into Cutler Bay. West of US 1 is unincorporated Miami-Dade, including Kendall, where the county rather than a village handles permits and code enforcement. We buy houses, condos, townhomes, duplexes and small multifamily buildings, mobile and manufactured homes, and land across this part of south Miami-Dade, so if your property is over the line in Pinecrest, Cutler Bay, Kendall, or Coral Gables, the process is the same.

Frequently asked questions