What Does It Cost to Own in Country Club East?
Four lines: HOA dues, the Stewardship District assessment, Manatee County property taxes, and insurance. Golf is a fifth optional line that most owners do not pay.
Cost line | Typical annual range | Billed by | Mandatory? |
|---|
HOA dues | Roughly $1,700 to $6,900 | Country Club East HOA | Yes |
Stewardship District | $1,166 to $4,427 | Manatee County tax bill | Yes |
Property taxes | $6,464 to $20,816 (verified) | Manatee County Tax Collector | Yes |
Insurance | Verify per address | Your carrier | Yes |
Golf membership | $6,000 to $85,000 initiation, if you want it | LWR Golf & Country Club | No |
The important structural point: Country Club East funds its own amenities through HOA dues, so you get three pools, a fitness center and The Retreat without buying a club membership. In the original Lakewood Ranch Country Club village, every pool and gym belongs to the club and requires paid membership. That is the central cost difference between the two.
How Are HOA Dues Calculated at Country Club East?
Dues are based on your lot's street frontage, which ranges from 45 to 125 feet, and are billed annually on January 1. Homes in maintenance-free neighborhoods pay an additional quarterly fee for landscape services.
Verified per-parcel figures show a wide practical range:
Parcel or neighborhood | Reported dues |
Whittlebury | $144 per month |
Belleisle | $3,553 per year plus $143 per month additional |
Castle Park Terrace | $436 per quarter plus $2,766 per year |
Kendleshire Terrace | $506 per quarter |
Prestbury | $401 per month |
Linn Park Terrace | $380 per month |
Haddington | $554 per month |
Clubside condominium | $2,859 per year plus $1,734 per quarter condo fee |
Why Do Those Numbers Look Inconsistent?
Because listing fee fields at this community genuinely are inconsistent, and you should not trust any single one of them.
Some listings bundle the annual master assessment and the quarterly maintenance-free fee into one figure. Others report only one component. The same house has appeared at $267 a month in one year and $3,768 plus $3,130 in another. A 45 to 57 foot Belleisle lot has reported higher dues than a 76 foot Castle Park lot, which runs backwards against the frontage-based formula in the association's own manual.
Request the current adopted assessment schedule from the association. Roughly 25% of the 20 neighborhoods are not maintenance-free, meaning those owners hire their own landscapers, which is a separate cost that never appears in a dues figure at all.
What Is Included?
Three amenity pools, a fitness center, meeting rooms, and The Retreat, the community's private clubhouse with a resort-style pool, fitness center and patio. Two manned gatehouses, the Masters and Players gates, staffed daily with an after-hours visitor system. Private roads, common grounds, management and reserves. Maintenance-free neighborhoods add lawn and landscape service.
Golf is not included. The Royal Lakes course and The Lodge belong to Lakewood Ranch Golf and Country Club.
What Is the Stewardship District Assessment?
Country Club East is not in a numbered CDD. It sits inside the Lakewood Ranch Stewardship District, created by act of the Florida Legislature in 2005, and the assessment appears as a non-ad-valorem line on your Manatee County tax bill.
Every Country Club East lot pays the same operations and maintenance component of $693.87 gross per year. On top of that sits a debt service amount that varies by neighborhood and bond series. Selected adopted FY2026 figures, gross:
Neighborhood and lot | Bond series | Debt service | Plus O&M | Total |
Belleisle 45 foot | 2020 | $472.25 | $693.87 | $1,166.12 |
Belleisle 57 foot | 2020 | $752.91 | $693.87 | $1,446.78 |
Clubside | 2023 | $807.19 | $693.87 | $1,501.06 |
Hillside | 2023 | $1,758.76 | $693.87 | $2,452.63 |
Highlands 57 foot | 2020 | $2,141.59 | $693.87 | $2,835.46 |
Windy Hill 62 foot | 2020 | $2,210.21 | $693.87 | $2,904.08 |
Haddington 76 foot | 2020 | $2,470.26 | $693.87 | $3,164.13 |
Collingtree 76 foot | 2020 | $2,658.06 | $693.87 | $3,351.93 |
Seacroft 90/100 foot | 2020 | $3,209.21 | $693.87 | $3,903.08 |
Eaglescliffe 90 foot | 2014 | $3,732.67 | $693.87 | $4,426.54 |
Source: the Lakewood Ranch Stewardship District FY2026 assessment schedule.
Belleisle lots carry two bonds. They pay the 2020 series plus a separate 2021 Belleisle series, which is why a Belleisle owner's total district line lands near $2,041 rather than the $1,166 the 2020 bond alone would suggest. That kind of stacking is exactly why you read the parcel's tax bill instead of a community average.
Does the Assessment Ever End?
The debt service portion does. The operations and maintenance portion does not.
Component | Purpose | Ends? |
Debt service | Repaying bonds that built roads, drainage, utilities and amenities | Yes, on a fixed schedule, and it is often prepayable |
Operations and maintenance | Ongoing upkeep of that infrastructure | No, and it is re-set annually |
For the broader mechanics, see our HOA vs CDD Fees Guide and Chapter 190 of the Florida Statutes.
What Are Property Taxes at Country Club East?
Manatee County's 2025 final adopted millage is 14.1600 mills for the East Manatee Fire Rescue district covering this area, and 13.3100 for unincorporated parcels outside it. Verified bills, which include the district assessment, ranged from $6,464 to $20,816.
Parcel | Size | Price | Annual tax |
Belleisle Glen | 1,988 sq ft | $679,000 | $6,464 |
Divot Loop (condo) | 1,748 sq ft | $495,000 | $6,781 |
Helmsdale Place | 1,744 sq ft | $724,000 | $9,944 |
Whittlebury Trail | 2,443 sq ft | $855,000 | $10,537 |
Haddington Cove | 2,902 sq ft | $1,350,000 | $11,464 |
Kendleshire Terrace | 3,149 sq ft | $1,750,000 | $12,794 |
Linn Park Terrace | 3,393 sq ft | $2,399,000 | $20,816 |
Those are gross bills including the non-ad-valorem district line, and they reflect the seller's homestead status. They are not a reliable proxy for what you will pay.
Verify against the county's own 2025 Final Adopted Millage Rates. Several popular real estate sites publish a Manatee total near 17.29 mills, which is well above the adopted schedule.
Because Florida's Save Our Homes cap resets on sale, your year two bill is typically well above the seller's last one. Portability carries up to $500,000 of accumulated savings within three tax years. See our Florida Homestead Exemption Guide and the Florida Department of Revenue.
Do I Have to Join the Golf Club?
No. Membership at Lakewood Ranch Golf and Country Club is optional for Country Club East residents, and the club's own materials state that members are never assessed and there are no minimum spending requirements.
Per the club's published membership packet:
Tier | Initiation | Monthly dues |
Premier Golf | $85,000 | $1,200, or $900 under 40 |
Sports | $15,000 | $390 |
Social | $6,000 | $170 |
Additional published costs include cart fees of $16.50 for nine holes and $26.00 for eighteen, bag storage at $168 per year, and lockers from $108 to $360 annually.
One caution on these figures. An earlier official club sheet from March 2024 listed Premier Golf at $75,000 with $1,041 monthly dues, and a separate club document has been indexed showing a $95,000 initiation. The club states plainly that fees are subject to change without notice. Confirm current pricing with the membership office rather than relying on any published figure, including ours.
Residents of Country Club East, The Lake Club and the original Country Club village are eligible for a personal take-home golf cart lease, with a minimum annual lease of $3,120.
What Do Homes Cost in Country Club East?
Median sale price was $949,670 in the three months ending June 2026, at a median of $323 per square foot. Active inventory in August 2026 spanned $495,000 to $2,399,000.
Metric | Figure |
Total homes | 1,352, being 1,260 single-family and 92 condominiums |
Neighborhoods | 20, each roughly 35 to 115 homes |
Median sale price | $949,670 |
Median price per sq ft | $323 |
Active list range | $495,000 to $2,399,000 |
Home sizes | Roughly 1,608 to 4,671 sq ft |
Lot sizes | Roughly 0.21 to 0.49 acres |
Lot frontages | 45 to 125 feet |
Build years | Roughly 2007 to 2022 |
Neighborhoods confirmed in the association's own documents include Belleisle, Camargo, Hazeltine, Royal Valley, Secret Harbor, Windy Hill, Haddington, Seacroft, Collingtree, Eaglescliffe, Longcliffe, Hawkstone, Devon Cove, Highlands, Whittlebury, Prestbury, Hillside and Clubside.
Two names commonly attached to Country Club East do not belong to it. Bridgewater and Woodleaf Hammock are assessed under different Stewardship District bonds alongside entirely different villages. If a listing describes either as Country Club East, treat the rest of that listing's details with caution.
Which Schools Serve Country Club East?
Manatee County Schools: Robert E. Willis Elementary, R. Dan Nolan Middle and Lakewood Ranch High School, consistent across six independent parcel records.
At least one community site lists Gullett Elementary and Dr. Mona Jain Middle for Country Club East. Those serve the 34211 corridor, not this community. Zoning is assigned parcel by parcel and Manatee reassigns periodically, so verify through Manatee County Schools. Our Best Schools in Lakewood Ranch and Sarasota Guide covers both districts.
How Does Country Club East Compare?
| Country Club East | The Lake Club | LWR Country Club |
Special district | Stewardship District | Stewardship District | Numbered CDD 2, 5, 6 |
District assessment | $1,166 to $4,427/yr | $694 to $4,428/yr | Roughly $3,000 to $6,500/yr |
HOA dues | Roughly $1,700 to $6,900/yr | $6,800 to $10,600/yr | $135 to $216/yr, or $2,000 to $3,100 in maintenance-free |
Amenities in dues | Yes, 3 pools, fitness, The Retreat | Yes, Grande Clubhouse and spa | No, club membership required |
Median or typical price | $949,670 median | $1.5M and up | Roughly $1,089,000 average |
Country Club East occupies the middle of the Lakewood Ranch luxury market deliberately. It costs less than The Lake Club and delivers a real amenity campus without a club membership, which the original Country Club village cannot. Full field in our Lakewood Ranch Luxury Communities Guide, and the Lake Club cost guide for the tier above.
Confirm flood designation through the FEMA Flood Map Service Center; our Sarasota Flood Zones Guide explains the drivers.
