A CDD fee can add $1,500–$3,000 per year to your carrying costs — and most listings bury it in the fine print or leave it out entirely. Here's every community, what they carry, and exactly how to find the real number before you sign anything.
A Community Development District is a government-authorized special-purpose unit created to finance, construct, and maintain community infrastructure. In Florida, developers use CDDs to fund the installation of roads, utilities, drainage systems, recreational amenities, and entry features without paying for them upfront — the cost is spread across buyers through annual assessments on their property tax bills, typically over 20–30 years.
The CDD assessment is not an HOA fee. It is a separate line item on your annual Hillsborough County property tax bill labeled "non-ad valorem assessments." Many buyers focus on the HOA fee and miss it entirely until their first tax bill arrives after closing.
The disclosure problem: Florida law requires CDD disclosure in purchase contracts, but the timing and clarity of that disclosure varies. Don't wait for the contract stage — ask about CDD status before you fall in love with a property. Once you're emotionally committed to a home, a $2,000/year CDD feels different than it does during initial research.
| Community | CDD Status | Approx. Annual Amount | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sun City Center | No CDD | $0 | No CDD — established pre-CDD era |
| Kings Point | No CDD | $0 | No CDD — established pre-CDD era |
| Southshore Falls | No CDD | $0 | Confirmed no CDD; verify at purchase |
| Renaissance | No CDD | $0 | Part of SCC; no CDD applies |
| Valencia Lakes | Yes | ~$1,500–$2,000/yr | Varies by phase and parcel |
| Valencia del Sol | Yes | ~$1,500–$2,000/yr | Similar structure to Valencia Lakes |
| Medley at Southshore Bay | Yes | ~$1,200–$2,100/yr | Part of Southshore Bay master CDD |
| Regency at Waterset | Yes | ~$930–$1,420/yr | Teal: ~$77/mo; Vine: ~$100; Wren: ~$118 |
| Fairway Pointe | Verify | Unknown | Confirm with builder before purchasing |
| Preserve at La Paloma | Verify | Unknown | Part of Villages at Cypress Creek — confirm |
CDD amounts vary by parcel, phase, and year. Amounts shown are estimates based on available community data. Always verify the specific non-ad valorem assessment for any property from Hillsborough County records before closing.
The most reliable source is the Hillsborough County Property Appraiser's public records database. Here's the step-by-step process:
Go to hcpafl.org (Hillsborough County Property Appraiser). Use the property search to look up the address or parcel number of the home you're considering.
On the parcel detail page, look for the section labeled "Non-Ad Valorem Assessments" or find the most recent tax bill. This section lists CDD assessments separately from your regular property tax.
The CDD line item will show the annual amount and the name of the CDD district. This is the current year's charge — note it may increase or decrease as the bond balance changes.
To find when the CDD ends: contact the CDD district directly (the name from the tax bill) and ask for the bond maturity date and current outstanding balance. This tells you how many years of assessments remain.
The CDD amount in the MLS is often wrong or missing. Real estate listings frequently show HOA fees but omit CDD fees, or show a CDD amount that is outdated or from the wrong phase of a community. The Hillsborough County property records are the authoritative source — use them, not the listing.
At $1,800/year, a CDD adds $18,000 to your 10-year ownership cost. At $2,000/year, it's $20,000. These are real dollars that compound alongside HOA fee increases, tax increases, and insurance increases in your total carrying cost projection.
To put it in home-buying terms: at a 5% mortgage rate on a $350,000 home, every $10,000 in additional purchase price adds roughly $54/month in principal and interest. The $18,000 ten-year CDD cost is equivalent to paying $1,800 extra on the purchase price every year — except you can't finance it and you can't write it off against capital gains at sale.
CDD bonds have stated maturity dates. Once the bond retires, the annual assessment typically drops to a maintenance-only amount — often $200–$500/year rather than $1,500–$2,000/year. Communities like Valencia Lakes, which completed construction in 2019, are in the early years of their bond repayment cycle. That bond will likely run for another 15–20 years before dropping significantly.
At Regency at Waterset, where construction began in 2024, the bond was just issued. Buyers there are at the beginning of a 20–30 year CDD repayment cycle.
Yes, in two ways. First, Florida requires disclosure of CDD fees to buyers — so when you sell, your buyer will see the CDD as part of their carrying cost calculation, which can affect what they're willing to pay. Second, in a community where comparable homes with and without CDDs are selling simultaneously (which happens in South Hillsborough), the CDD-carrying home typically trades at a modest discount to reflect the ongoing assessment cost.
This is not a reason to avoid CDD communities — they often have newer infrastructure, better-funded amenities, and more modern construction. But it's a factor in both the purchase math and the eventual resale analysis.