What are Impact Fees?

How they may affect the term use of a vacation home in Orlando

Around 2017 developers learned that there was a way to save considerable money on new home build costs buy negotiating with the county to reduce or eliminate impact fees.
Impact fees are monies that a developer pays to the local county on new homes to grow the county funds for items such as schools. People who buy vacation homes are not likely to put kids in local school so builders lobbied to eliminate or reduce the impact fee.
In return, new home buyers may sign a waiver that they won’t be using the home as a residence and will not stay in the home for a set period of time per year. That time varies depending on location.

To our knowledge there is no “department of impact fees” nor is there anyway it seems for the county to police how often an owner uses the home. We expect the red flag would occur if a pupil tried to enroll in the local school but as yet we have no way of knowing because no one has tried that we know of.

It’s a grey area that we assume was pieced together when the developers realized they were unnecessarily spending monies so they negotiated with the county – and we end up with a policy that is neither clear or apparently enforceable in its current form.
What makes it really hard for us as Realtors is there is one to call and ask: “has impact fees been paid on this home”.

If you purchase a new our resale home built in a major resort around or after 2017 this is something that you should be aware of and take into consideration.
We believe that the following resorts have this policy in place: Championsgate The Retreat, Windsor at Westside, Windsor Island, Solara,  Storey Lake and the new Windsor Cay Resort.

We have been told homeowners who use their homes many times a year for extended periods have not had a problem but we want to make sure all of our clients are aware and understand what impact fees are and how they may effect your ownership.
Make sure you discuss this with the sales staff if you are buying a new home.

Please check with us on other locations, our research current only shows the above have this policy but may of course change as new locations are added or updated.