What Does It Cost to Own in The Founders Club?

Three lines: HOA dues, Sarasota County property taxes, and insurance. There is no district assessment, and golf is a separate optional decision rather than a mandatory cost.

Two things in that table are easy to miss. First, Sarasota County bills fire service as a non-ad-valorem assessment rather than through the millage, so it appears as a separate line on the tax bill. Second, because dues on most parcels exclude grounds maintenance, you are paying to maintain half an acre to eight tenths of an acre yourself. That is a real recurring cost most comparisons omit entirely.

How Much Are HOA Dues at The Founders Club?

Dues are billed semi-annually. Verified per-parcel figures run from $366 to $512 a month, or $4,396 to $6,144 a year.

What Do the Dues Cover?

Across verified parcels, dues consistently include a 24-hour manned guard, private roads, management, escrow reserves, security and recreational facilities. Some parcels additionally list common area taxes, grounds maintenance, insurance, tennis courts and pool.

That inconsistency is worth flagging honestly. Association fee disclosures are entered by listing agents and are not uniformly reliable at this community. Two homes a few doors apart show materially different inclusions at nearly the same dollar amount. Request the recorded budget and the current dues schedule rather than relying on the listing.

Note also that there is no evidence of a community pool or spa in the base HOA, despite claims to the contrary on at least one aggregator site. The amenities sit with the club.

Is Golf Membership Required at The Founders Club?

No, and unlike some neighboring communities this is unambiguous. Current listing remarks state it directly: memberships are available but not required.

That single fact is the community's central cost story. A buyer who does not play golf carries HOA dues and taxes and nothing else. In a region where bundled golf communities charge every homeowner for a course whether they use it or not, that is a meaningful structural advantage.

What Are the Membership Tiers?

All tiers include the 24-hour fitness facility, Pilates and yoga, tennis clinics, dining and events.

The club does not publish pricing, and we are not going to invent it. Third-party figures in circulation range from a $15,000 initiation quoted in 2011 developer promotions to brackets of $100,000 to $150,000 on golf directory sites, with annual dues estimates from $10,500 to $17,000. Those sources contradict each other by an order of magnitude and several self-identify as estimates. Contact the club's membership office for current numbers.

What is verifiable: the club caps membership at 275 golf memberships against 262 homesites, requires no tee times, is walkable, and runs a traditional caddie program. The clubhouse is roughly 24,000 square feet with a fitness center, indoor golf training and two tennis courts.

What Are Property Taxes at The Founders Club?

Sarasota County's certified 2025 total countywide millage is 11.4737 mills. Verified tax bills on Founders Club parcels range from $10,909 to $26,033, and the spread is almost entirely about how long the seller has owned.

The 2025 millage components, per the Sarasota County Tax Collector:

Why Does One Home Pay $10,909 and Another $26,033?

Save Our Homes. That is the entire explanation, and it is the most consequential thing on this page.

Florida caps a homesteaded owner's assessed value increase at 3% a year. 3408 Founders Club Drive paid $10,909 while sitting on a home that then sold for $1,910,000. The buyer will not pay $10,909. The cap is removed on transfer and the property is reassessed at full market value the following year.

The documented escalation at 3621 Founders Club Drive tells the same story from the other side: $13,982 in 2021 rising to $21,758 by 2025.

If you are moving from another Florida homestead, portability carries up to $500,000 of accumulated savings within three tax years. Detail in our Florida Homestead Exemption Guide and at the Florida Department of Revenue.

What Do Homes Cost at The Founders Club?

Active inventory in August 2026 ran $2,295,000 to $3,249,000, averaging about $2,922,000 and 5,221 square feet, at an average near $560 per square foot.

262 homesites on roughly 700 acres, with verified lots from 0.46 to 0.82 acres and roughly 90 acres of lakes. Builders have included John Cannon, Lee Wetherington, London Bay, Marc Rutenberg, Taylor Woodrow and Todd Johnston.

A note on the developer's own website, which still advertises homes "from the $800s." That pricing is roughly a decade stale. No current listing is remotely near it.

Which Schools Serve The Founders Club?

Sarasota County Schools: Tatum Ridge Elementary and McIntosh Middle are consistent across every verified parcel. The high school assignment is genuinely contested and must be verified.

Listing records within the same subdivision split between Booker High and Sarasota High. Both cannot be right for the same parcel. Sarasota County also operates school choice, which is likely why agents enter different values.

Verify the assignment for the exact address through the Sarasota County Schools attendance zone lookup before you make a school-driven decision. Our Best Schools in Lakewood Ranch and Sarasota Guide covers the district in detail.

How Does The Founders Club Compare on Cost?

It is the lowest-carrying-cost luxury option in this comparison for a buyer who does not play golf, and the difference is not small.

The county line is doing real work in that table. On a $2.5 million assessed home, the gap between Sarasota's 11.4737 mills and Manatee's 14.1600 is roughly $6,700 a year, every year. Add the absent district assessment and a Founders Club buyer can be $9,000 to $11,000 a year ahead of an equivalent Manatee-side purchase before considering dues.

Against that, you are maintaining your own half-acre-plus lot and there is no HOA amenity campus. See the full field in our Lakewood Ranch Luxury Communities Guide and the Sarasota vs Lakewood Ranch comparison.

Confirm flood designation for any parcel through the FEMA Flood Map Service Center. Our Sarasota Flood Zones Guide explains what drives premiums.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does The Founders Club have CDD fees?

No. Verified disclosure on multiple Founders Club parcels shows no CDD, and no Founders Club community development district appears in Sarasota County or Florida special district records. This is a genuine structural difference from most Lakewood Ranch communities, where either a numbered CDD or the Lakewood Ranch Stewardship District adds a non-ad-valorem line of roughly $700 to $6,500 a year on top of ad-valorem taxes. A Founders Club tax bill carries ad-valorem tax plus the standard Sarasota County non-ad-valorem items such as the fire assessment.

Is golf membership mandatory at The Founders Club?

No. Current listing remarks state repeatedly and unambiguously that membership at The Founders Golf Club is available but not required, and the club itself markets separate Signature Golf, Associate Golf and Social tiers to both residents and others. A homeowner who does not want golf pays HOA dues and property taxes only. Be aware that at least one older real estate page still describes membership as mandatory with a $25,000 contribution; that appears to be stale development-era copy and is contradicted by every current source.

How much are HOA fees at The Founders Club in Sarasota?

Verified per-parcel figures run $4,396 to $6,144 per year, billed semi-annually, which works out to roughly $366 to $512 a month. Dues consistently cover a 24-hour manned guard, private roads, management, escrow reserves, security and recreational facilities. Coverage of grounds maintenance, insurance, tennis and pool varies by parcel and the listing disclosures are inconsistent, so request the association's recorded budget. On most parcels lawn and landscape maintenance for lots of roughly half an acre to eight tenths of an acre is the owner's own cost.

What is the property tax rate in The Founders Club?

Sarasota County's certified total millage for 2025 is 11.4737 mills, roughly 1.15% of taxable value, which includes county general revenue, both school board levies, the hospital district, emergency medical services and water management. Verified annual bills on Founders Club homes range from about $10,900 to about $26,000. That spread reflects Save Our Homes rather than differing rates: long-held homesteaded properties are assessed far below market, and the cap is removed when the home sells, so a buyer's year-two bill is typically much higher than the seller's last one.

How many homes are in The Founders Club and how large are the lots?

There are 262 homesites across roughly 700 acres, including about 90 acres of lakes, with approximately 200 of the lots offering direct golf views. Verified lot sizes range from 0.46 to 0.82 acres. Homes were built from about 2005 through 2024 and run roughly 2,774 to 7,149 square feet. The golf club caps membership at 275, only slightly above the number of homesites, which is why the community reports no required tee times.

Looking at The Founders Club?

Beyond Realty verifies the things that actually move your carrying cost here: the parcel's real tax bill and its reassessment exposure, the association's recorded budget rather than the listing's fee field, the confirmed high school assignment, and current club pricing straight from the membership office.

Darren Dowling, Broker-Owner · Beyond Realty
2170 Main Street, Suite 103, Sarasota, FL 34237 · (941) 204-0493

Schedule a consultation · About Darren Dowling

Figures reflect published sources current as of August 2026 and are provided for planning purposes. Dues, millage, club fees and premiums change. Confirm every figure against the specific parcel and the association's own documents before relying on it.

Darren Dowling is a Sarasota-based real estate broker-owner specializing in Sarasota and Lakewood Ranch residential real estate, new construction, and relocation across Sarasota County, Manatee County, Lakewood Ranch, Waterside, Palmer Ranch, Siesta Key, Bradenton and Wellen Park.