Right now, Sunriver owners are voting on a measure that would attach a new charge to every future sale in the community: a Capital Transfer Fee equal to half a percent of the sale price, paid when a property changes hands. It hasn't passed. It might not pass at all. But the fact that it's on a ballot this summer tells you something buyers and sellers researching this market from a distance rarely piece together on their own. The number on a Sunriver listing is the start of the math, not the end of it.
I've sat across the table with enough Sunriver buyers to know the surprise almost never comes from the price of the home itself. It comes from what shows up on the settlement statement, or in the first owner invoice a few weeks after closing, that nobody mentioned along the way. Some of that is just how a resort-scale community pays for itself. Some of it, this particular year, is a cluster of changes landing in the same twelve-month window.
The Vote Owners Are Casting This Month
The Sunriver Owners Association put the proposed Capital Transfer Fee to a vote of owners this summer, and the board has been fielding questions on it at SHARC's monthly Owner Happy Hour gatherings, a sign the measure needed regular explaining before anyone marked a ballot. As of spring 2026 it remained a proposal rather than a standing charge, which means anyone closing on a Sunriver property this season is transacting in a window where the rule could change between the time an offer is written and the time it records. You can track the board's ongoing actions on the subject in SROA's own meeting minutes archive.
Whether or not it passes, the vote makes a broader point worth sitting with. SROA already has more than one mechanism for collecting money from owners, and each one attaches to a different moment in ownership. A transfer fee lands at the sale. A monthly fee lands every billing cycle. A new mandatory charge can land on a date the association sets, regardless of what a buyer expected when they made an offer. Asking "what's the HOA fee" only answers one of those questions.
The Fee Stack the Listing Sheet Doesn't Show
Here's what a Sunriver owner is actually working with in 2026, layered from the fee everyone quotes down to the one almost nobody mentions until the invoice arrives.
| Charge | 2026 Amount | What It Covers |
|---|---|---|
| SROA Maintenance Fee | $172.94/month | Roads, pathways, recreation programs, reserve funding |
| SHARC Assessment | Varies by account | Often bundled into the same invoice until paid off |
| TDS Fiber (current) | Varies | Optional today, appears separately if connected |
| Mandatory Fiber Fee (new) | $35/month starting January 2027 | Applies to every developed property, used or not, as the coax network retires |
| Proposed Capital Transfer Fee | 0.5% of sale price | Pending owner vote, would apply at sale |
| Online Payment Surcharge | 3% | Applies to card payments through the member portal |
The fiber transition is the one item on that list that isn't up for a vote anymore. SROA has said the existing coax network is scheduled for retirement at the end of 2026, and every developed property picks up the new $35 monthly charge starting the following January, whether the owner ever plugs in a router. For anyone closing in the second half of this year, that means the home's first full winter under new ownership carries a cost the seller never paid, because it didn't exist yet when they bought.
What Changes If You Plan to Rent It
If the plan is income property, the stack gets a second layer, and this is where I see the most first-year disappointment.
SROA's Recreation Plus Program gives paying guests access to SHARC aquatics, disc golf, tennis and pickleball courts, and the boat launch, but the annual cost scales with bedroom count, running from $1,380 for a one-bedroom home to $6,210 for an eight-bedroom home in 2026. That's separate from the Member Preference Program, which is the owner's own $90 recreation card and doesn't transfer to renters. Two different programs, two different price points, and it's easy to budget for the wrong one.
Then there's the county layer. Deschutes County requires anyone renting a Sunriver property for 30 days or less to register with the Tax Office and hold a Certificate of Authority, which costs $300 initially and $150 to renew under the schedule that took effect September 1, 2025. Registration has to happen within 15 calendar days of starting the rental business under the county's current code, and it's required even if a platform like Airbnb or VRBO is already collecting and remitting tax on the owner's behalf. Once registered, the owner is on the hook for an 8% county transient lodging tax plus Oregon's 1.5% state lodging tax on gross rent, a category that includes cleaning fees, pet fees, and other charges the guest can't opt out of. You can see the county's own breakdown on the Deschutes County transient lodging tax FAQ page.
None of this means the rental math doesn't work. A 2024 SROA owner survey found that a third of respondents describe their property as both a vacation home and a rental, and most who rent, about seven in ten, use a property management company rather than handling bookings themselves. That's a reasonable structure. But it only stays reasonable if the projection going in accounts for the recreation program tier, the county registration, and both layers of lodging tax before anyone quotes a nightly rate as if it were take-home income.
The Market Underneath the Median
Here's where the fee stack and the market data start explaining each other. In March 2026, the median sale price for a Sunriver home was $885,000, up 9.2% from the year before. On its own, that reads like a market getting more expensive across the board. But homes sold in that same March 2026 window sat on the market for about 98 days on average, nearly double the 49 days a year earlier, while the number of homes that actually closed, 20, was flat against the 21 that closed in March 2025.
Put those together and a different story shows up. Volume didn't move. Marketing time doubled. The median still climbed. That combination usually means it isn't that every home is worth more this year. It means a different slice of the market is doing the selling, likely weighted toward higher-priced properties, while the broader middle of the market is taking much longer to find its buyer. A rising median can sit right on top of a market that's actually gotten more patient.
That patience is exactly why the fee stack matters more now than it would in a faster market. When homes are moving in 49 days, nobody has time to ask about a pending transfer fee vote or an upcoming fiber mandate before the next offer shows up. At 98 days, a buyer has room to ask those questions before writing an offer, and a seller who lays out the current invoice, the SHARC and fiber line items, and the transfer fee vote's status up front isn't losing extra days to the conversation later, when a title company or lender's underwriter asks the same questions anyway.
Before You Write an Offer, or Accept One
A few questions worth asking before either side signs anything:
- What does the current SROA invoice actually show, and is the SHARC assessment paid off or still being carried?
- If renting, what occupancy limit is on file with the Deschutes County Assessor, since that number sets the Recreation Plus card count?
- Has the property already been registered for a Deschutes County Certificate of Authority, or would that start fresh at closing?
- Where does the Capital Transfer Fee vote stand relative to the closing date, and has SROA published an effective date if it passes?
- Is the home connected to TDS fiber today, and has the seller budgeted for the mandatory $35 monthly charge starting in January 2027?
Questions We're Getting About the Vote
If the Capital Transfer Fee passes, does it apply to a sale already under contract? That detail depends on the effective date SROA sets if the measure passes, which is exactly the kind of thing to confirm with your title company rather than assume.
Does every property owe the new $35 fiber fee even if the owner never uses the internet service? Yes. SROA has said the charge applies to all developed properties starting in January 2027 regardless of use, since the existing coax network is being retired at the end of 2026.
Is short-term rental actually banned in Sunriver? No. Deschutes County treats short-term rentals as generally allowed in Sunriver, subject to registration and the standards described above. Some of the confusion traces back to SROA's rule that rental or lease signage is for long-term rentals only, which is a signage rule, not a prohibition on renting short-term.
None of this is a reason to avoid Sunriver. It's a reason to walk in with the full stack in front of you instead of finding it invoice by invoice after closing. If you're weighing a purchase, a sale, or how a pending vote might affect either one, I'd rather talk it through with you now than have you learn it from a bill in October. Reach out to Jan Davey and let's connect before you write the offer, not after.
