West Palm Beach has 18 locally designated historic districts and 46 individually designated historic sites. The city’s Historic Property Search map shows whether an address is one of them. In a district, a Certificate of Appropriateness is needed for work that changes the outside of a building. Smaller jobs get a staff-level COA-Minor and larger ones go to the board as a COA-Major. Interior remodeling is not reviewed.
For a seller, that means a buyer’s renovation plans for windows, roofs, additions or demolition depend on the review. We buy historic-district homes without asking you to make changes first. Our Northwood case study describes a sale where several heirs sold an older family home that needed cleanout and repairs while the estate was still being handled.