What Tellico Village Buyers Actually Sign Up For at the Closing Table

The listing shows a price, a dock, and a view. The MLS does not show the four line items that decide what this home will actually cost you to own. Those live inside a document most buyers ask for too late.

That document is the TVPOA resale package. Read it before you release contingencies, and the rest of this post explains why.

The document, not the disclosure, decides the deal

Tennessee sellers hand you a property condition disclosure. That form catches the roof, the septic, the water heater. It does not catch the assessment that runs with the land, the surcharge on your water bill, the slip lease that dies at closing, or the pending fee the Board may vote back in next January.

Those items sit in the resale package produced by the Tellico Village Property Owners Association. TVPOA represents all property owners, maintains Tellico Village roads, amenities, water and sewer systems, and operates all Village facilities as a nonprofit funded by a monthly assessment and user fees paid by property owners. In other words, the POA functions as your municipal government, and its documents matter the way a municipal lien search matters in a city closing.

What the MLS price does not include

Four fee mechanics will show up on your first year of ownership. None of them appear in the list price.

The monthly assessment runs with the land. Every property owner in Tellico Village pays a mandatory TVPOA assessment of $189 per month as of 2026, an assessment that is tied to the property, not the owner, and reviewed annually by the TVPOA board. The seller's rate becomes your rate on the day of closing. At the 2025 budget adoption, the Board approved a 3 percent increase from the 2024 base of $176.24 to $181.53 for 2025, and the 2026 rate reflects a further adjustment. Ask your closing attorney to prorate it to the day.

The water and sewer surcharge is real and still running. The Board added an $80 fee to water bills to fund infrastructure work. The fee was voted on in July of 2024, going into effect in September of that year, and was initially slated to last for 60 months, though the Board is in a state of reevaluation. Board member Steve Schneider indicated the timeline could shorten. The money could possibly be accrued in as little as three and a half years, according to the Board's observations. Budget as if the full run applies until the Board formally shortens it.

The 2026 budget passed with dissent, and the amenity mix is shifting. The TVPOA officially debuted and approved its operating budget for 2026 with the biggest points of spending outlined by Chief Financial Officer Judy Bedford. Every individual facet was accepted at the November 19 meeting, but not without disagreement, with board members Mike Lackey and Joel Reed declining to vote in favor of the main capital project and operation expense portions. Water usage is a notable line item. Early drafts show the Village gearing up for around half a billion gallons of water to be purchased in the next year, seeing an average rate increase of 12 percent. That rate feeds directly into your utility bill, not just the POA's ledger.

The Reserve Study explains where your assessments go. The 2026 Reserve Study executive summary reports a starting reserve balance of $18.44 million, annual modeled contributions of $4.64 million, and an estimated 77 percent funded level for included assets. It is a planning model, not the adopted budget, so near-term assessments or fees depend on Board decisions. Seventy-seven percent funded is not distress. It is the number a lender or a careful buyer wants to see trending up rather than down.

Here is the shape of the year-one cost of entry that the MLS omits, at 2026 rates:

Loudon County collects property taxes on a schedule independent of the POA. Property taxes are separate. Loudon County assesses and collects property taxes. Your POA dues are not taxes, and county taxes do not fund POA facilities. Two bills, two calendars, two authorities.

The slip lease is a separate closing

This is where second-home buyers get surprised. The dock in the photos may not be the dock you get to use.

If boating is part of your plan, dig into slip logistics early. POA marinas operate with written slip leases that set insurance minimums, use rules, and transfer policies, and slip leases typically do not transfer automatically with a home sale, with subletting without POA approval prohibited. Treat the slip as its own transaction. Confirm with the marina office whether the seller's slip is transferable, whether a waitlist applies, and what insurance minimums attach to the lease.

If the listing mentions "boat slip included," ask for the lease number, the current annual rate, the assignment procedure, and written confirmation from the marina office that the slip will be reassigned to you at closing. A verbal promise from the seller is not a slip.

The Reserve Funding Fee: dormant, not dead

A one-time fee on buyers has been proposed twice and stalled twice. It will likely return.

On December 11, the POA Board announced it intended to present a revised Reserve Funding Fee during the 2025 legislative session, citing that as the community nears buildout and income from housing permits diminishes, additional revenue beyond monthly assessments is necessary, and recalling that the fee was proposed the year before but failed to carry through to the 2024 legislative session. The revised version changed the math. Originally the fee was proposed to be one-half percent of the buyer's purchase price. The revised fee is a flat rate of $5,000 regardless of purchase price.

Two features of the proposal are worth remembering, because if a version passes in a future session, the same structure is likely to return.

This fee is not intended to be paid by the current Tellico Village resident. This fee is to be paid by the buyer of your home, when you leave our community. And there will be exemptions for current residents who buy another home in Tellico Village after 24 months of residence and property transfers to family members, into or out of a trust, to an heir, or a business entity in which the owner holds an ownership interest.

If you are buying now: no such fee is on your HUD today. If you are relocating within the Village in the next two years: the 24-month exemption is a material planning variable. If you are a seller preparing to list: your buyer pool may thin at the exact moment a version of this fee returns to the agenda.

Tanasi and your closing calendar

The reopening of the Tanasi Clubhouse is not a lifestyle footnote. It is a real number in your year-one carrying cost, because subsidies flow from every assessment.

The Tanasi Rebuild is nearing completion and set to debut in early 2026, and while the initial opening will be propped up by a subsidy of around $317,000, CFO Bedford estimates that by the summer of 2027, the building will be operating fully in the green with a surplus nearing $375,000. The 2026 budget also allocates $4M for completion of the Tanasi clubhouse, along with $6M net of an expected grant for new pump stations and freshwater storage, and $1.8M for road maintenance. Those figures are the reason your assessment reads the way it does, and the reason to ask whether any temporary infrastructure fees are still active on the address you are buying.

The buyer's due diligence sequence

The order matters. Doing these steps out of order is how buyers discover a $5,000 surprise on the wrong side of a contingency deadline.

1. Under contract, request the TVPOA resale package immediately. Ask specifically for the Blue Book, architectural standards, and any open violations linked to the property.
2. Confirm the current monthly assessment amount in writing, and ask the POA to state whether any temporary or address-specific fees apply beyond the standard $189.
3. Verify the $80 water and sewer surcharge status. If the Board has revised the timeline since your search date, get the current schedule in writing.
4. If a slip is part of your interest, contact the marina office directly with the slip number. Confirm reassignment terms, insurance minimums, and any waitlist position.
5. Read the most recent adopted budget and the 2026 Reserve Study executive summary. You are looking for pending capital work, not just current dues.
6. Ask whether any proposed reserve funding fee, transfer fee, or amenity assessment is scheduled for a vote in the current legislative session. If it is, ask how the closing date affects your exposure.
7. Confirm neighborhood-level covenants for the specific lot. Neighborhoods can differ in supplemental rules and fees, so confirm which neighborhood the home is in and what that means for your access and costs.

Run this sequence during your inspection window, not after. The resale package is a contingency document, not a housewarming gift.

Short answers to the questions this raises

Is the $5,000 Reserve Funding Fee currently in effect? Not as of this writing. The revised version was tabled after the January 2025 board vote cycle. A future Board can bring it back in a future legislative session, and buyers should ask directly before closing.

Do I inherit the seller's boat slip? Generally no. Slip leases are separate agreements with their own transfer rules, and subletting without POA approval is prohibited.

Are POA dues the same as property taxes? No. Loudon County property taxes are billed and collected separately from POA assessments. Neither funds the other.

Does the monthly assessment cover the Wellness Center and golf? No. Those are optional, separately priced memberships and user fees. The base assessment covers roads, common areas, water and sewer infrastructure, public safety, and the administrative backbone.

What if the property is in Rarity Bay rather than Tellico Village proper? The 2026 Parks and Recreation fee chart applies to owners in Tellico Village and Rarity Bay, but the governing documents and neighborhood covenants differ. Confirm which set governs the specific lot.

The price on the listing is the beginning of the conversation, not the end. The resale package, the current budget, and the pending fee agenda tell you what the next twelve months of ownership actually cost. Reading them in that order is what separates a smooth Tellico Village closing from a surprise at the settlement table.

If you are under contract, or close to it, and want a second set of eyes on the resale package before your contingencies release, Kathy May-Martin and the Coldwell Banker Jim Henry & Associates team read these documents for a living. Schedule Your Consultation and we will walk the numbers with you line by line.