Quick Answer: The sticker price on a home in St. Johns County is only part of the cost. CDD fees, HOA dues, flood zone assessments, homeowners insurance, and property tax rates all affect your true monthly payment — often by hundreds of dollars. Zillow shows you the mortgage estimate. It doesn’t show you the full picture.
What the Listing Price Doesn’t Include
This is one of the most important conversations I have with out-of-state buyers. Someone moves from New Jersey, sees a home listed at $550,000 in St. Johns County, does the math on the mortgage, and figures it’s a great deal. Then they find out the monthly cost is several hundred dollars more than expected.
Not because the home was mispriced. Because the full cost of ownership wasn’t visible on the listing page.
Here’s what you need to factor in.
CDD Fees
CDD stands for Community Development District. Many of the master-planned communities in St. Johns County — Nocatee, RiverTown, Shearwater, Beacon Lake, Beachwalk, Julington Creek Plantation, Durbin Crossing, and others — were built using CDD bonds. Those bonds financed the roads, utilities, and community infrastructure. Residents repay them over time as part of their annual property tax bill.
CDD fees are not the same as HOA fees. They show up as a separate line item on your tax bill. They are real, they are significant, and they vary widely by community and even by lot within a community.
When you’re comparing a home in Silverleaf (no CDD) to a comparable home in a CDD community, the non-CDD home can represent meaningful savings over time — even if the purchase price is similar.
What to do: Before you make an offer on any home in the county, I pull the full CDD disclosure so you know exactly what the annual assessment is on that specific parcel.
HOA Dues
Most communities also carry separate HOA dues. These cover ongoing maintenance of shared spaces, amenity centers, pools, trails, and common areas. HOA fees vary by community and sometimes by neighborhood within a community.
Some buyers from the Northeast are used to paying high HOA fees for older buildings with elevators and doormen. In St. Johns County, you’re generally paying for outdoor amenities and community upkeep — different dollar amounts, different value proposition.
Homeowners Insurance
Florida’s insurance market is one of the most difficult in the country. This is not a small caveat — it is a meaningful cost that deserves serious attention before you budget for a purchase.
Rates vary significantly based on:
- Age of the home (newer homes typically insure better)
- Roof condition and age
- Wind mitigation features
- Flood zone designation
- Distance from coast
New construction in St. Johns County tends to carry better insurance terms than older homes because it’s built to current Florida codes with updated roofing standards. That said, buyers should always get insurance quotes before going under contract, not after.
Flood Insurance
Most of St. Johns County is not in a high-risk flood zone, but some areas are. Flood insurance is separate from homeowners insurance and can add substantially to annual costs in affected zones.
The good news: many of the newer master-planned communities were built on elevated land specifically to avoid flood zone designations. But always check the FEMA flood map for any specific property.
Property Taxes
Florida has no state income tax, which is a real benefit for buyers coming from high-income-tax states. But property taxes are real and should be factored in.
St. Johns County’s property tax rate is competitive compared to other Florida counties. However, the rate you’ll pay as a new buyer is based on the assessed value at time of purchase — not what the prior owner was paying if they had homestead exemption and years of Save Our Homes caps.
Homestead Exemption: Once you establish primary residency in Florida, you can apply for homestead exemption, which reduces your assessed value and caps future assessment increases at 3% per year. This is a real financial benefit — but you don’t get it automatically and you don’t get it in the year you buy.
The Real Monthly Number
Here’s the point: when you see a home listed at $600,000 in St. Johns County, the real monthly cost of ownership includes mortgage principal and interest, homeowners insurance, HOA dues, CDD fees (if applicable), and property taxes.
That full number is what I help buyers calculate before they fall in love with a home. It’s the honest version of affordability — and it’s almost always different from what Zillow projects.
If you want to run the real numbers on a specific home or community, reach out to Josh Rogers with the F3 Home Team at StJohnsWithJosh.com/contact.
Josh Rogers is a licensed real estate professional with the F3 Home Team, specializing in buyer representation throughout St. Johns County and Northeast Florida. That’s what I’m here for.
