The narrative around South Florida real estate has long been one of relentless demand and perpetual sunshine. But in Pembroke Pines, the picture is more layered – particularly within the 55-plus communities that have quietly defined this corner of Broward County for decades. Rising insurance costs, new state mandates requiring structural inspections and fully funded reserves following the 2021 Champlain Towers South collapse, and a broader slowdown in condo transactions are changing how buyers, sellers, and agents navigate this market.
Denis Kersaint, a licensed real estate salesperson with Signature International Real Estate who specializes in active adult communities in Pembroke Pines, works primarily within Century Village – a community of nearly 8,000 condos. His perspective goes well beyond the headlines.
Pembroke Pines has long attracted retirees for practical reasons: walkable access to shopping, restaurants, and services, combined with steady new development that keeps the city feeling current. “Everything is within a mile radius,” Kersaint notes. “It’s a place where you can not only live but also work, and what separates it from a lot of communities is that, unlike Miami, it has continued to be developed.”
For some prospective buyers, Century Village’s reputation as a retiree community is enough to give them pause – a perception Kersaint works to actively reframe. Many of its residents have lived there for 15 to 25 years, aging in place rather than arriving elderly. “I like to describe it as an active adult community and try to remove that stigma of it being a retiree community,” he explains.
That distinction matters when marketing to the current wave of buyers, who skew younger than previous generations of residents. Where the community once drew heavily from the New York metro area and Canada, Kersaint is seeing a notable geographic change. More empty nesters are downsizing from single-family homes, many coming from Miami-Dade County. “There’s nothing like Century Village in Miami,” he says, “so a lot of residents in Dade County are actually relocating up north to Broward.”
One of the more significant behavioral changes Kersaint has observed is how thoroughly buyers are vetting properties before making an offer. “A lot of buyers are asking questions regarding the financial health and stability of the association and the building,” he says.
That now means routinely requesting association budgets, financial statements, milestone inspection reports, Structural Integrity Reserve Studies, and disclosures on pending special assessments, often before a formal offer is even submitted. New state mandates introduced following the 2021 Champlain Towers South collapse have driven much of this shift, though for most buyers the paperwork has become a routine part of due diligence rather than a dealbreaker.
For Century Village, which Kersaint says has been well-managed in terms of reserves, this scrutiny is manageable. But it has added friction to the transaction process and raised the bar for what sellers need to have ready before listing.
While inspection issues derail deals across most markets, Century Village has a more specific challenge: association credit requirements. Most associations within the community require a minimum credit score of 650, with some setting the bar at 700. The problem is that the score buyers see on consumer platforms often differs from what the association’s vetting process produces.
The associations use a different scoring model than platforms like Credit Karma or bank-provided scores. A buyer showing 680 on their own platform might come in at 640 under the association’s methodology, falling just short of the threshold. “When it’s run by the association, it’s significantly lower because they’re utilizing a different vantage score than what the consumer is seeing,” Kersaint explains. The result is that buyers who believe they qualify are being denied – not because of poor credit, but because of a mismatch in scoring models.
This issue is compounding an already constrained buyer pool. Association restrictions on investor purchases – including a two-year waiting period before a new owner can lease a unit – have effectively eliminated the investor segment. “The investor pool has pretty much become non-existent,” Kersaint notes, “so the majority of individuals purchasing are looking to reside in the community.”
On the seller side, pricing expectations remain a point of tension. Most sellers are reluctant to reduce their asking prices and have not adjusted to current inventory levels, according to Kersaint. The decision to sell is often an emotional one, particularly for long-time residents, which makes price adjustments difficult to initiate.
That said, sellers are not entirely inflexible. Many will negotiate once a buyer makes an offer. The challenge is getting buyers to the table in the first place. “As an agent, for us to even get to that point, we have to be at a price point that will actually entice them to be interested in the property,” Kersaint says.
The broader slowdown in the single-family home market is also a factor. Many prospective Century Village buyers are waiting to sell their existing homes before committing to a purchase, creating a chain reaction that has contributed to longer days on market across the community.
Rising HOA fees present a distinct challenge in a 55-plus community where most residents live on fixed retirement income. While Kersaint reports that Century Village has been relatively well-managed, he acknowledges the particular sensitivity of fee increases in this context. “When the fees go up, it’s a big burden on the residents, because these are individuals on a fixed income due to being retired,” he says.
Insurance cost increases, which have driven fee hikes in many Florida communities, are part of the equation. As property values have risen, so too have the insurance requirements tied to those valuations – a dynamic that flows directly into monthly carrying costs for residents.
As of mid-2026, Kersaint points to new healthcare facilities planned near Century Village as the most concrete reason for cautious optimism. For a demographic where healthcare access is a genuine quality-of-life consideration, that kind of infrastructure investment could meaningfully support demand. “There’s going to be new hospitals nearby, which will make it more appealing for residents,” he notes.
For buyers considering the market, Kersaint’s advice is straightforward: understand what you’re buying into, get your financials in order before engaging with an association, and approach the community with an open mind about what active adult living actually looks like today. “You’re guaranteed to find 50 to 200 people who have something in common with you,” he says.
That kind of community fabric – built over decades by residents who chose to stay – may be Century Village’s most durable asset in a market navigating real headwinds. Whether rising costs and tighter regulations continue to constrain the buyer pool or whether new infrastructure and a younger demographic bring fresh momentum will likely depend on how well the community adapts its financial planning to a more demanding regulatory environment.
About the Expert: Denis Kersaint is a licensed real estate salesperson with Signature International Real Estate, specializing in active adult communities in Pembroke Pines, Florida, with a primary focus on Century Village.
This article is based on information provided by the expert source cited above. It is intended for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, financial, or real estate advice. Readers should conduct their own research and consult qualified professionals before making any real estate or financial decisions.
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