Condotel Loans in Sunny Isles Beach: Financing a Condo-Hotel Unit on Collins Avenue

Short answer

Yes, but not a conventional one: a Sunny Isles Beach unit in a building run as a hotel, with a front desk, a rental program or rules that limit owner stays, is ineligible for Fannie Mae, so it is financed with a condotel loan from a non-QM or portfolio lender. These loans usually need a larger down payment and more reserves than a regular condo loan, and the building review decides the deal as much as your credit does. Rates vary daily; call for today's pricing.

Why Sunny Isles Beach is a condotel market

Sunny Isles Beach is almost all condos. In the second quarter of 2026, the city recorded 172 condo and townhouse sales but only 5 single-family sales, according to MIAMI REALTORS data (as of October 2026). The condo median sale price was $550,000, down 23.6% from a year earlier, with 19.8 months of supply and a median of 165 days to contract. Sellers got a median of 91.0% of original list price.

That is a buyer's market, and a lot of what is for sale along Collins Avenue sits in oceanfront towers built for vacation use. Some buildings are true condo-hotels: the association or a hotel operator runs a front desk, housekeeping and a rental program, and units are sold to owners who share in the rental income.

Other towers are regular condos where many owners rent short-term on their own. That difference matters to lenders. A building can look like a hotel to an underwriter even if the sign out front does not say so.

For the plain definition, see what is a condotel.

What makes a building a condotel to a lender

Fannie Mae's Selling Guide lists condo-hotel features that make a project ineligible for conventional financing, as of October 2026. The main ones:

• The association is licensed as a hotel, motel, resort or hospitality business.
• The legal documents limit when owners can use their own unit, or require rental pooling or profit sharing with the association, a management company or a resort company.
• The project's legal or common name includes "hotel," "motel" or "resort," or it is marketed as a hotel or investment.

Fannie Mae also lists red flags that call for a closer look: 75% or more of units owned as investments or second homes, units under 400 square feet, and franchise agreements. In Sunny Isles Beach, oceanfront towers trip these flags often, because many owners are seasonal or foreign buyers.

Two more rules hit mixed-use resort towers: non-residential space over 35% of the project, and an association that gets more than 10% of its budgeted income from non-incidental businesses like a restaurant or spa. Either one can push a building that is not called a hotel into non-warrantable territory. Our Florida non-warrantable condo guide covers the other triggers.

How condotel financing works

A condotel loan is a non-QM or portfolio loan written for exactly these buildings. What to expect:

• Bigger down payment. Condotel programs typically require more down than a warrantable condo. The exact minimum depends on the lender, the occupancy (second home or investment) and your credit.
• Reserves. Lenders want several months of payments in the bank after closing. See what are reserves.
• Income options. You can qualify with tax returns, bank statements, or, on an investment unit, the unit's rental history through a DSCR loan. DSCR and other investment-property condotel loans are business-purpose loans.
• Foreign buyers. Many Sunny Isles Beach owners live abroad. A foreign national loan can be paired with a condotel review.
• Building questionnaire. Expect a detailed condo questionnaire plus the rental program agreement, budget and insurance.

Rates on condotel loans run higher than conventional because fewer lenders buy them. Rates vary daily; call for today's pricing. As a broker we send the same file to several condotel lenders, which matters here because each one keeps its own list of buildings it will or will not lend in.

Sunny Isles Beach rules that affect your numbers

Short-term rental license. The City defines a short-term vacation rental as a condo or apartment unit rented for six months or less. Owners must get a City short-term rental license and a local business tax receipt, register with the Florida Department of Revenue and the Miami-Dade Tax Collector, hold a state transient lodging license from DBPR, carry liability insurance, and submit the condo association's written consent or bylaws. In a hotel-run building the operator usually handles this; if you rent on your own, budget the time and cost.

Property taxes. Sunny Isles Beach has one of the lowest city millages in the county. The 2025 adopted total millage was 16.7227 mills (city operating 1.7000), per the Miami-Dade Property Appraiser (as of October 2026). That is about $16.72 per $1,000 of taxable value before any exemptions. A condotel is rarely a primary residence, so plan on no homestead exemption.

Older towers. Florida requires a milestone structural inspection for condo buildings three stories or taller once they reach 30 years from their certificate of occupancy, then every 10 years, and the local agency may move that to 25 years for buildings near salt water. Buildings must also complete a structural integrity reserve study at least every 10 years. Plenty of Collins Avenue towers are old enough to be in this cycle. Read about milestone inspections and SIRS before you write an offer.

Flood and wind. Sunny Isles Beach is a barrier island between the ocean and the Intracoastal. Check the unit's flood zone on the FEMA Flood Map Service Center and ask how the master policy covers wind and flood. See what is a flood zone.

Before you sign a contract on a Sunny Isles condotel

• Ask the listing agent for the rental program agreement and the last 12 to 24 months of owner statements.
• Get the condo budget, reserve balance, milestone report and SIRS status, and ask about pending special assessments.
• Ask whether the association is in any lawsuit. Pending litigation is a common deal killer.
• Check whether owners can live in the unit year-round or only part of the year. Use limits change which lenders will look at it.
• Put a financing contingency in the contract long enough for a condotel review, and send us the building name before you sign so we can tell you which lenders accept it.

Equal Housing Opportunity. All loans are subject to credit approval and building eligibility.