Buying a Condo in Davie

Davie's condo market in five numbers

• Typical condo: $226,106, down 4.3% over 12 months.
• One-bedroom (all home types): about $156,288.
• Two-bedroom: about $250,180.
• Three-bedroom: about $495,679, a level most condos never reach, since three-bedroom homes here are mostly houses.
• Single-family: $624,877, down only 0.8%.

The condo index fell more than five times as fast as houses over the year. That pattern shows up across Broward, where older associations are absorbing higher insurance premiums and the costs of the 2022 condo law. For a buyer it means negotiating room, as long as you understand why a particular building is cheap.

What Davie condos look like

Davie has no oceanfront towers. Census data shows 24.6% of homes are in buildings of 10 or more units, and most of that is low-rise: two- and three-story garden complexes, townhome-style condos and apartment-style buildings along the main roads and near the university area. The median home in Davie was built in 1989, so many complexes date from the 1970s through the 1990s.

Nova Southeastern University's main campus is in Davie, along with campuses of Broward College and Florida Atlantic University. Complexes close to campus tend to have more short-stay owners and younger occupants. That affects parking, noise and how the association runs, so ask about it before you choose.

Condo or townhome: check the legal structure

In Davie, a two-story attached home can be a condominium or a fee-simple townhome in an HOA. They look the same and work very differently.

• Condo: the association owns and insures the building structure through a master policy. You insure the interior with an HO-6 policy. Buildings of three or more stories fall under the milestone inspection and SIRS rules.
• HOA townhome: you own the structure and the land under it, and you buy a full homeowner's policy, including the roof. The HOA handles common areas only.

The legal form changes your insurance bill, your loan type and who pays for the next roof. The title commitment and the declaration tell you which one you're buying.

Reserves, inspections and assessments in older complexes

For a three-story building, the milestone inspection is due by December 31 of the year it turns 30, then every 10 years, and the Structural Integrity Reserve Study is required every 10 years. Since budgets adopted on or after December 31, 2024, owners can't waive or reduce SIRS reserves. Any complex built before 1996 is already past the 30-year mark, so its first milestone report should exist.

Ask the seller or manager for the milestone report, the most recent SIRS, the current budget, the reserve balance and minutes from the last year of board meetings. Minutes are where you see talk of roof replacement, plumbing failures or special assessments before they show up in a vote. Two-story complexes are outside the SIRS rule but still need a reserve plan for roofs and paving.

Financing a Davie condo

A conventional or FHA loan needs the building to pass a lender review. Common problems in older complexes are low reserves, deferred structural repairs, a high rate of owners behind on dues, litigation, or one investor owning too many units. A building that fails is non-warrantable, and you'll need cash or a non-QM loan, typically with a bigger down payment.

Because condo values here run well below the conforming loan limit, many buyers can put 10% to 20% down on a $200,000 to $250,000 unit. Have the lender order the condo questionnaire early so you know before the inspection period ends whether the building qualifies.

Rules that matter when you sell

Read the association rules as if you were the next buyer. Pet limits, vehicle and truck restrictions, approval requirements for new buyers, and minimum lease terms all affect how many people can buy your unit later. Complexes with strict rules can have steadier ownership, and complexes with loose rules can be easier to sell. Neither is automatically better.

Also check the parking count per unit, whether there's covered parking, and the age of the roof and windows. Impact windows or shutters help the master policy and your HO-6 premium.

Closing costs and property tax on a Davie condo

On a purchase, the buyer usually pays the doc stamps on the mortgage note ($0.35 per $100 borrowed), the intangible tax of 0.2% of the loan, the lender's title policy and recording fees. In Broward, the buyer also customarily pays for the owner's title policy, which is a state-set rate. On a $225,000 condo with a $180,000 loan, the note stamps come to $630 and the intangible tax to $360, before lender and title fees.

If the condo will be your permanent residence, file for homestead with the Broward County Property Appraiser. In 2026 it takes up to $51,411 off assessed value and caps future increases at 3% or CPI. A second home gets no exemption and only a 10% cap on non-school levies, and the assessment resets to market value after the sale either way, so budget on the new value rather than the seller's bill.

Davie condos against nearby options

For the same budget, nearby cities offer different housing types. Sunrise averages $360,778 and Lauderhill $211,924 across all homes, with large condo stocks of similar age. Tamarac, at $291,266, has many 55+ condo communities. Plantation, at $492,003, and Pembroke Pines, at $486,731, have newer townhome communities that compete with Davie's.

The other option inside Davie is a manufactured home. Census data shows 13.7% of homes in town are mobile homes, and some sit in communities where you own the lot. They can cost less than a condo, though financing and insurance differ and need their own checks. If you want a side-by-side list of complexes in your price range, that's what the shortlist below does.