Buying Property in Coral Gables from Brazil: Documents and Steps

A buyer living in Brazil can close on an unit in Coral Gables without travelling, provided the power of attorney, the apostille and the funds transfer are settled first. And the purchase does not end at closing: it leaves a filing obligation in Brazil.

The Brazilian file has two ends. In Florida, the title company decides which power-of-attorney wording it accepts and which documents it demands apostilled; in Brazil, the purchase is documented before the bank that sends the money and is recorded for the declaration of assets held abroad that Brazil requires of its residents before its own authorities. That second obligation is the most commonly forgotten, because it surfaces months after closing and needs details only available on signing day: who appears as owner, under which identification and on what date the deed was recorded.

Buying in Coral Gables from abroad means understanding that the city splits two approvals that most of the county treats as one: the construction permit and the aesthetic sign-off on anything visible from the street. Owners who sign remotely often discover that a renovation is not cleared by the municipal building department alone, but also by a review board that weighs proportion, materials, color and tree canopy, and that meets on its own calendar. Ask the seller whether what is already built was approved that way or was never regularized, because the burden transfers with the deed. The usual counterparty here is an individual owner or a family estate holding a single-family house, not a developer, which means scattered paperwork, powers of attorney prepared well in advance, and response times nobody controls. Ask your closing attorney who requests the permit history from the city, ask your insurance broker whether the policy treats regularized older structure differently from later work, and ask a local architect which intervention has to go before that board and which does not. The counter you call is not the county's, and neither is the phone number.

What is specific to Coral Gables

What to verify, step by step

1. Check the broker's licence in the Florida state register and engage a real estate attorney licensed there before sending documents from Brazil.
2. Ask the title company for the exact power-of-attorney wording it accepts and execute it before a Brazilian notary using that wording.
3. Have the power of attorney and identity documents apostilled in Brazil and order the translation the title company requires.
4. Ask your bank in Brazil what documentation of the transaction it needs to process the outbound transfer, and ask the closing agent in whose name the funds must arrive.
5. Confirm in writing which closing signatures are accepted remotely and which require presence in Miami, yours or your attorney-in-fact's.
6. On signing day itself, ask the attorney and the closing agent for the title and recorded deed details, and pass them to your accountant in Brazil for the declaration of assets held abroad.

Mistakes that cost money

• Closing the purchase and not keeping the title and recorded deed details, which are precisely what the accountant asks for in Brazil's declaration of assets held abroad.
• Executing the power of attorney on a standard Brazilian template without first consulting the title company, and having to redo it with an apostille.
• Sending the money before confirming in whose name it must arrive and what source-of-funds support the closing agent requires.

Frequently asked questions

Can you close without travelling to Miami?

It is common to do so under a power of attorney, but which signatures are accepted remotely is decided by the title company and, if there is financing, by the lender. Confirm it in writing before arranging a trip or ruling one out.

Does a Brazilian power of attorney work as it stands in Florida?

That cannot be assumed. Ask for the wording the title company accepts, execute it before a notary in Brazil, have it apostilled and translated as that company requires.

What about the declaration of assets held abroad?

Brazil requires its residents to declare assets held outside the country to its own authorities. What to declare, when and how is a question for an accountant in Brazil; it is not something we settle here.

And financing?

It has a separate file and is covered in the article on financing for Brazilian buyers. It is best resolved before making an offer.

Where to check it

• Miami-Dade Clerk of the Courts — deeds, liens, encumbrances and litigation on the property
• Florida DBPR — whether a broker, appraiser or contractor holds a current licence
• FinCEN — reporting applicable to all-cash real estate purchases
• Internal Revenue Service — the non-resident owner's federal tax obligations
• City of Coral Gables — the rules of the municipality Coral Gables belongs to

Official bodies. Specific figures are requested there, not copied from a listing.

Updated 2026-11-06