Where can I be when I sign via RON?

Anywhere in the world with a stable internet connection, a webcam-equipped computer, and a government-issued photo ID. Only the notary must be physically located in their own commissioning state — Florida or, more commonly, Virginia for Florida real estate closings. Common signer locations include home offices in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, hotel rooms while traveling, or any US location.

Does a German passport work for Florida RON?

Yes — current passports from Germany, Austria, Switzerland and most other countries are accepted for the credential-analysis step. National ID cards (e.g. German Personalausweis) are not consistently accepted; use a passport. The separate knowledge-based authentication step relies on US public-record data and can fail for foreign signers with no US credit history, in which case the closing uses a hybrid workflow with apostilled paper signatures.

What are the most common RON mistakes for absentee sellers?

Discovering RON eligibility too late in the transaction, signing from a phone instead of a computer, using an expired passport, Wi-Fi failure mid-session, timezone confusion between Miami and Europe, using a national ID card instead of a passport, and skipping the knowledge-based authentication preview.

How does RON interact with FIRPTA paperwork?

Seamlessly. FIRPTA forms 8288 and 8288-A are routinely notarized via RON. If a withholding certificate was obtained via Form 8288-B before closing, the supporting documentation is delivered to the closing agent by the seller's CPA and any required signatures are captured during the RON session. ITIN application paperwork is handled separately by the CPA before closing.

FAQ · ABSENTEE & INTERNATIONAL CONDO SELLERS

Remote Online Notarization (RON) for Absentee Florida Sellers

If you live outside Miami — in Berlin, Zurich, São Paulo, or even just New York — and you own a Florida condo you want to sell, the question I get every single time is the same: “Do I have to fly to Miami to close?”

The short answer: No. Florida has one of the most mature Remote Online Notarization (RON) statutes in the United States, and a properly run absentee-seller closing can be signed entirely from your home country in front of a webcam.

This article walks through what RON is, what Florida law allows, what documents qualify, the workflow I use with my absentee sellers, and the practical gotchas that trip people up — especially DACH-region (Germany, Austria, Switzerland) sellers using foreign passports as ID.

Disclaimer: I am a Florida real estate broker, not an attorney or notary. The information below is general orientation. Title companies, lenders, and the IRS each have their own RON policies that change. Confirm with your closing agent and, where relevant, your CPA before closing.

Quick answer (the 90-second version)

RON = Remote Online Notarization. A Florida-commissioned online notary verifies your identity and watches you sign documents over secure video. The notary applies an electronic seal; the signed documents have the same legal force as wet-ink notarized originals.
Legal basis: Florida Statutes §117.201–117.305, in force since January 1, 2020. Florida is one of the leading RON jurisdictions in the US.
Where you can be: Anywhere in the world with a stable internet connection, a webcam, and a government-issued photo ID. The notary must be physically in Florida and Florida-commissioned.
What it covers: The vast majority of real estate documents — deeds, seller’s affidavits, FIRPTA forms, closing statements, lien releases. A few categories (some wills, certain family-law instruments) are excluded, but those rarely appear in a condo sale.
What you need: A passport or other accepted government ID, a webcam-equipped computer (not a phone for most platforms), and ~45–90 minutes of focused time. The session is recorded and stored by the RON provider for 10 years.

If you stop reading here, internalize this: flying to Miami to close is optional, not required. Plan the RON workflow from day one and the rest of the absentee-sale logistics get dramatically simpler.

1. What is Remote Online Notarization (RON), exactly?

RON is a notarization performed over secure two-way audio-video by a notary who is electronically commissioned in a state that authorizes it. Instead of physically appearing in front of a notary with paper, you appear on screen, prove your identity through a two-step process (credential analysis + knowledge-based authentication), sign electronically, and the notary applies an electronic seal and digital signature.

The output is a digitally signed PDF with a tamper-evident certificate. Under Florida law, that document has the same legal effect as a paper document with a wet-ink notary seal. County recorders accept RON-notarized deeds; title insurers accept RON-notarized affidavits; the IRS accepts RON-notarized FIRPTA paperwork.

The session is recorded — video, audio, screen — and the recording is retained by the RON platform for at least 10 years under Florida law. That recording is your audit trail if anyone ever challenges a signature.

2. Is RON legal in Florida for real estate closings?

Yes. Florida’s RON framework took effect January 1, 2020 under §117.201–117.305 of the Florida Statutes. It is one of the most established RON regimes in the United States, predating most other states.

The statute specifically permits notarization of real property documents — deeds, mortgages, affidavits, seller’s disclosures, lien releases — by online notaries. Title companies and closing agents in Florida have now done thousands of RON closings; in Miami it is routine, especially with international and out-of-state sellers.

A few categories are excluded by statute or by individual title underwriter policy. The most common exclusions:

Wills and codicils (Florida courts still require physical presence for most testamentary instruments).
Some family-law instruments (e.g., certain marital settlements).
A few specialized real-estate documents where individual lenders or underwriters choose not to accept RON — this is a lender/title policy issue, not a legal one.

For a standard absentee-seller condo sale with no mortgage payoff issues, RON works end-to-end.

3. Who can act as an online notary for a Florida real estate closing?

Two pathways are legally valid — and this is where most RON articles oversimplify.

Pathway 1 — Florida-commissioned online notary. Florida Statutes §117.201–117.305 authorize Florida online notaries to notarize any document that can be notarized in person, including deeds and other real estate instruments. The notary must:

Hold a traditional Florida notary commission.
Separately register with the Florida Department of State as an online notary public — bond, E&O insurance, approved training, approved RON platform.
Be physically located in Florida during every session.

Pathway 2 — Out-of-state online notary, most commonly Virginia. A notary commissioned in another RON-authorized state can also notarize Florida real estate documents, provided the execution complies with Florida law (identity authentication, signing requirements, etc.) and the title insurance underwriter approves. The notary must be physically located in their own commissioning state during the session.

Virginia is the dominant out-of-state pathway because Virginia legalized RON in 2012 — eight years before Florida — so the largest platforms (Notarize, Pavaso, Stavvy, Notarycam) matured around Virginia-commissioned notaries and Virginia’s identity-verification framework. For practical reasons explained in the next question, most absentee/foreign-seller closings I see are run by Virginia notaries.

The notary’s commissioning state matters less to you as a signer than the platform and process. What matters is that the title company has chosen a path their underwriter has approved.

3. Who can act as an online notary in Florida?

Two pathways are legally valid — and this is where most RON articles oversimplify.

Hold a traditional Florida notary commission.
Separately register with the Florida Department of State as an online notary public — bond, E&O insurance, approved training, approved RON platform.
Be physically located in Florida during every session.

The notary’s commissioning state matters less to you as a signer than the platform and process. What matters is that the title company has chosen a path their underwriter has approved.

4. Florida notary or Virginia notary — which one will run my closing?

Probably Virginia. Here is why, and what it means for you.

Why Virginia notaries are the industry default for absentee-seller deals:

First-mover advantage. Virginia’s 2012 RON statute gave platforms, title underwriters, and the IRS an 8-year head start. By the time Florida went live in 2020, the industry’s operational defaults were already Virginia-shaped.
Mature identity verification for non-US signers. Virginia’s identity-proofing framework has more case-by-case precedent for foreign-passport sellers whose US credit footprint can’t satisfy standard knowledge-based authentication. For DACH-region sellers in particular, Virginia notaries are usually the smoother path.
Underwriter comfort. National title underwriters (First American, Old Republic, Fidelity National, Stewart Title) have far more Virginia-RON closings on the books than Florida-RON closings. Risk committees default to what they’ve seen most.
Platform routing. When you sign through Notarize.com or comparable services, the platform routes you to a notary in their network — which is overwhelmingly Virginia-commissioned. Florida-direct closings happen, but more often through specialized boutique title operations.

What this means for you operationally — nothing changes. Same webcam session, same passport, same 30–60 minute call. The notary’s commissioning state is invisible to you during the session. It only matters when the title company is structuring the closing.

What you should ask the title company early in the transaction:

“Will this closing use a Florida online notary or an out-of-state notary?”
“Has your underwriter approved that arrangement for a foreign-passport seller?”
“Have you done a RON closing on this platform with a foreign passport in the past 12 months?”

If the title company can’t give you a confident answer on all three, find a different title company. For absentee-seller deals, the wrong title company is the single most expensive mistake — and the right one makes the whole thing feel like nothing happened.

5. Where can I be — physically — when I sign?

Anywhere with a stable internet connection. Common locations for the absentee sellers I work with:

A home office in Germany, Austria, or Switzerland.
A hotel room while traveling, as long as the Wi-Fi is solid.
A relative’s house in another country.
A US location anywhere (you don’t need to be in Florida — only the notary needs to be in their own commissioning state).

Things that can derail the session:

Public Wi-Fi with packet loss or blocked video.
A mobile hotspot in a moving vehicle.
A phone-only setup (most RON platforms require a desktop browser with webcam — phones work on some platforms but identity verification is more reliable on a computer).
A location with active screen-sharing or VPN routing that the platform’s anti-fraud system flags.

The practical rule: plan to sit at a quiet desk, on home or office Wi-Fi, with a computer, a webcam, and your passport, for an uninterrupted 60–90 minutes.

6. What ID do I need, and does a German passport work?

A current, government-issued photo ID is required. The two-step verification process is:

Credential analysis. You take photos of the front and back of your ID through the RON platform. The platform’s automated system verifies that the ID is genuine (hologram, machine-readable zone, etc.).
Knowledge-based authentication (KBA). The platform pulls public-record questions about your identity — typically based on US credit-history data — and you must answer them correctly under time pressure.

For DACH-region sellers, the practical issues:

Passports work, national ID cards usually don’t. Use a current passport (German Reisepass, Austrian Reisepass, Swiss Pass). National ID cards (German Personalausweis, etc.) are not consistently accepted by US RON platforms — confirm with the title company before the session.
KBA can fail for foreign sellers. The knowledge-based authentication is built on US public-record data. If you’ve never lived in the US, you won’t have a US credit footprint, and the questions can’t be generated. In that case, the platform falls back to alternative ID verification (sometimes called “identity proofing by credible witness” or enhanced credential analysis), or the closing agent uses a hybrid workflow where some signatures are done via paper-and-mail with a Florida consular or German Notar and apostille.
Plan for this in advance. I confirm KBA viability with the title company at the start of the transaction, not the day of closing. If KBA won’t work, the workflow shifts well before signing day.

7. What documents in a Florida condo sale can be notarized via RON?

For a standard absentee-seller condo sale, RON typically covers all of the following:

Deed (Warranty Deed or Special Warranty Deed transferring title to the buyer).
Seller’s Affidavit (no-lien affidavit, gap affidavit).
FIRPTA paperwork for foreign sellers — IRS Forms 8288, 8288-A, and any 8288-B documentation if a withholding certificate was obtained.
Closing Disclosure / Settlement Statement (typically e-signed, not always notarized).
HOA estoppel acknowledgment (where required).
Power of Attorney (if you’re authorizing someone to sign on your behalf — though most absentee sellers no longer need a POA precisely because RON exists).
1099-S certification and other tax-related closing forms.

If the buyer is taking out a mortgage, the buyer’s loan documents have their own rules — that’s the buyer’s side and doesn’t affect you. As a cash-sale absentee seller, your stack is short and RON-friendly.

8. What does the RON session itself look like?

A typical session lasts 30–60 minutes for a clean condo sale. The flow:

Pre-session. The title company emails you a link 24–72 hours before. You complete account setup, ID upload, and KBA at your own pace.
At the scheduled time. You join via browser, the notary joins, and you both confirm video/audio.
Identity confirmation. The notary visually compares you to your ID and confirms your KBA passed. You may be asked to hold the ID up to the camera.
Document review. The notary walks through each document. You read on screen. The notary cannot give legal advice but will confirm you understand what you are signing.
Signing. You apply your e-signature to each document. The notary applies the electronic seal and digital signature.
Wrap-up. Signed PDFs are sent to the title company; you receive copies in email. The video recording is archived.

After the session, the title company records the deed with the Miami-Dade County Recorder, wires sale proceeds (minus FIRPTA withholding if applicable — see the FIRPTA FAQ), and transmits the FIRPTA paperwork to the IRS.

9. What are the most common RON mistakes I see absentee sellers make?

In order of frequency:

Discovering RON-eligibility on closing week instead of contract week. Always confirm at the start of the transaction that the title company supports RON for your specific situation (foreign passport, no US credit history, your country of residence).
Trying to sign from a phone. Most platforms require a desktop browser. Use a laptop or desktop with a working webcam.
Using an expired passport. Even one day past expiry kills the session. Check before scheduling.
Wi-Fi failure mid-session. Restart router beforehand, sit close to the access point, and have a backup hotspot ready.
Timezone confusion. Closings are scheduled in Eastern Time. A 10:00 AM ET closing is 4:00 PM in Germany / Austria, 3:00 PM in the UK during DST, 5:00 PM in CET winter time. Convert and put it in your calendar correctly.
Assuming a national ID card will be accepted. Use a passport.
Skipping the KBA dry-run. Most platforms let you preview the KBA flow before the actual session — do it.

10. What if RON won't work for my situation?

A few alternatives, in order of preference:

Hybrid closing. Most documents via RON, a small number via paper-and-apostille through a US Embassy or Consulate, or a local Notar with apostille for Hague Convention countries (Germany, Austria, Switzerland all qualify). Slower but works when KBA fails.
Power of Attorney (POA). You execute a Florida-compliant POA in front of a US consular officer or notary-plus-apostille, naming a trusted person in Miami to sign at closing. This was the standard pre-2020 approach and still works, though it now feels heavyweight given that RON exists.
Fly in. Always an option — but the entire premise of an absentee-seller niche is that you don’t have to.

I assess this on each deal during the Net + Risk Review (see Question 12). Most of the time the answer is “RON works fine”; occasionally we plan for a hybrid.

11. How does RON interact with FIRPTA and other tax paperwork?

Seamlessly. FIRPTA forms (8288, 8288-A) are routinely notarized via RON in Florida closings. If you obtained a withholding certificate via Form 8288-B before closing (see the FIRPTA FAQ), the certificate and supporting documents are typically delivered to the closing agent by your CPA, and you e-sign anything that requires the seller’s signature during the RON session.

ITIN application paperwork (Form W-7) is not part of the closing itself — it’s filed separately by your CPA or Certified Acceptance Agent — but the closing agent will confirm your ITIN is in hand or in process before scheduling RON.

12. How does this fit into Tom's Net + Risk Review?

This is exactly the kind of question my free 15-minute Net + Risk Review is built to answer. Before you commit to a listing — before you even decide whether selling makes sense — I walk you through:

Whether RON will work for your specific country, ID, and credit-footprint situation.
Which Miami title companies I recommend for absentee-seller RON closings (not all are equally experienced).
The full net-proceeds calculation, including FIRPTA withholding.
Assessment exposure, SB 4-D milestone status, and HOA-document red flags.
A realistic timeline that integrates RON scheduling, ITIN/CPA work, and the recording timeline at the county.

For non-US sellers, this conversation usually saves a closing from being rescheduled at the last minute.

Final disclaimer: RON statutes, platform requirements, and title-underwriter policies change. Confirm the current rules with your closing agent before scheduling. Nothing in this article is legal or tax advice. I am a Florida real estate broker — I coordinate closely with title attorneys, CPAs, and tax advisors to deliver a clean remote closing, but the legal/tax sign-offs come from them.