Bradenton, FL
The only community in this set with its own marina. Waterlefe sits on the Manatee River east of I-75, 471 houses on the county roll built between 2000 and 2005, and the golf course runs 172 acres with five holes that touch the river. The Marina Club keeps 59 slips on the Manatee itself, sized 20 to 29 feet, with direct Gulf access, so a boat can be in open water the same morning. The River Club clubhouse is the social center, with fine dining over the water, a pro shop and a grill room. Beyond that: a saltwater resort pool, a Tiki Bar, a fitness center, pickleball, walking trails and a playground, plus an aquatic driving range with targets set out in the water. Twenty-seven percent of homes are waterfront and ninety percent have a private pool, the highest combination of the two anywhere in Bradenton.
Home Types
Single-family, villas and condominiums
Amenity Level
Resort
HOA (Yearly) Est.
$3,672 - $6,444
CDD (Yearly) Est.
$3,134 - $4,099
Flood Zone
X
Fee estimates may vary by lot size and sub-association. View all community fees →
Community size
471
homes, as the community reports it
community record
615
completed homes on the county roll
Manatee County property appraiser roll, read October 2026
761
recorded residential lots
Manatee County property appraiser roll, read October 2026
These two figures are 23% apart. These two figures count different things and have not been reconciled. The roll counts parcels inside the boundary matched to this name; the community figure may cover plats the roll matched separately, or an association roster. Neither is presented here as the size of the community.
Michael’s Take
County-assessed CDD $3,134-$4,099 on 94% of homes, the highest CDD of any Bradenton community tracked here. Marina slips are separate from the HOA, confirm slip availability and cost before promising a boat space.
From the county records
$610,000
Median of 91 recorded sales since October 2023, the middle eighty percent between $350,000 and $1,250,000.
72%
Of the 615 matched residential units here claim a homestead exemption, which reads as most homes here are claimed as a permanent residence.
Newest completion recorded 2012. The roll records no completions here in the last three years. Most of what trades is resale, though an absence of recent completions is not by itself proof a community is closed to new building.
Arm’s-length sales recorded with Manatee County, read October 2026. Quitclaims, foreclosures, family transfers and pre-construction sales are excluded. Homestead requires the property to be a permanent residence, so the share carrying one is reported here as a share of matched residential units rather than as a count of who lives here. Homestead is a tax filing, not an occupancy count. A rented home can house full-time residents and will never carry the exemption, and an owner who lives here but never filed does not appear in it either. Read it as what share of matched residential units claim the exemption, not as who lives here.
At an estimated $8,675 a year in combined HOA and CDD, Waterlefe sits about 387% above the Bradenton median of $1,783, ranking 23 of the 23 Bradenton communities whose fees this site tracks.
Estimates from the same dataset behind the fee pages and the True Cost Index. Fees vary by lot size and sub-association, and change with each budget.
Golf here is Waterlefe Golf & River Club, a semi private club. Membership structure and any fees are on its page.
Waterlefe also appears in
Governing Documents
4 documents from the community development or stewardship district that covers Waterlefe and linked to the page each one lives on. Nothing is copied here, so you read whatever they publish today. No association documents have been located for Waterlefe yet, which is a gap in what has been found rather than evidence there are none.
A community development or stewardship district is a unit of local government, not an association. Its assessment is billed with your property taxes rather than by the association, and its rules are public records of a different kind. Shown separately for that reason.
Waterlefe Community Development District
Matched to Waterlefe because: Established by the district’s own official website, which names it, gives the creating and amending ordinances, and states that it covers approximately 457.959 acres located entirely within Manatee County. Corroborated by the district’s own adopted budget transmittal to the Clerk of the Board of County Commissioners of Manatee County, which the county publishes. That second source matters: this district files NOTHING with the Florida Auditor General under any name form tried, so a probe of the state filings alone, which is what found the Parrish and Palmetto districts, would have missed it completely.
Created by Manatee County Ordinance 00-55, effective 9 October 2000, and amended by Ordinance 01-11, effective 6 February 2001. Waterlefe carries the highest district assessment of any Bradenton community on this site, which makes it the single most important number to put in front of a buyer here, and the district publishes its own assessment charts year by year.
Who to contact
No individual supervisors or managers are listed here. The board is named in the district’s own agendas and minutes, which its website publishes.
Board members and officers are not listed here. They change often, and their names are on the association’s own records and in the state’s corporate filings, which is where they should be read from rather than from a page that cannot keep up.
Issued by Waterlefe Community Development District
Each assessed product separately.
Published by the district alongside its FY2023-2024 adopted budget.
The newest assessment chart the district publishes as a separate file. Later years fold the schedule into the adopted budget package instead.
Issued by Waterlefe Community Development District
Every parcel inside the district boundary, across approximately 457.959 acres.
The newest adopted budget published by the district as of the last check.
Issued by Waterlefe Community Development District
The district as a whole. An audited statement of what it raised and spent.
The most recent audit published by the district as of the last check.
Published by the district itself. This district files nothing with the Florida Auditor General under any name tried, so its own site is the only route to its audited figures.
Issued by Waterlefe Community Development District
Every parcel inside the district boundary.
Adopted by the board for the fiscal year that began 1 October 2024.
The governing body is known and nothing it publishes is public. That is a gap in what has been published, not evidence that the community has no restrictions. This list records what has been found in public, not everything that governs the property. Before an offer I pull the full document set for the specific address along with the association’s budget and financials.
The full document directory →I'll send current listings and pricing in Waterlefe, line up private showings, and give you an honest read on value, HOA/CDD costs, and resale before you commit, no pressure, no obligation.
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Waterlefe offers single-family, villas and condominiums. Attached homes carry an association that maintains the building itself, so the fee covers more than it would on a single-family home and the association's reserves matter to you directly. What a specific home includes, and what the association maintains, is set out in that community's documents and is worth reading before an offer rather than after.
Golf is central to Waterlefe, but living in a golf community and holding a golf membership are two different things and the distinction costs real money. The course here is Waterlefe Golf & River Club, which is semi private. Membership structures vary: some are required with the home, some optional, some sold separately to non-residents, and some carry a waiting list. Confirm which applies to the specific address, and the current dues, directly with the club before relying on it.
Waterlefe offers 18-hole course with five riverfront holes, 59-slip marina with direct Gulf access, River Club clubhouse with riverfront dining, Pro shop and grill room, Saltwater resort pool and Tiki Bar, among others. Worth separating two things that often get blurred together: amenities the HOA maintains and which every owner pays for, and club or golf facilities that may require a separate membership on top. Which category each amenity falls into determines your actual annual cost, and it is set out in the community documents rather than in any listing.
91 arm's-length sales have been recorded in Waterlefe since October 2023, at a median of $610,000. The middle eighty percent of those sales fell between $350,000 and $1,250,000, which is a better guide to the range than the extremes. These are prices recorded with Manatee County, not asking prices, so they describe what buyers and sellers actually agreed. Figures read October 2026; quitclaims, foreclosures and family transfers are excluded.
72% of the 615 matched residential units in Waterlefe claim a homestead exemption, which Florida grants only on an owner's permanent residence, read from the Manatee County roll in October 2026. That reads as most homes here are claimed as a permanent residence. Homestead is a tax filing, not an occupancy count. A rented home can house full-time residents and will never carry the exemption, and an owner who lives here but never filed does not appear in it either. Read it as what share of matched residential units claim the exemption, not as who lives here.
The most recent home the county records in Waterlefe was completed in 2012, across 761 platted parcels of which 615 carry a finished home. The county records no completions in Waterlefe in the last three years, so what trades is resale. An absence of recent completions is not by itself proof that no further building is permitted. Build year matters more in Florida than buyers expect, because insurers weight roof age heavily and it drives what a property costs to carry rather than just what it costs to buy.
Yes. Waterlefe carries an estimated CDD assessment of $3,134 - $4,099, on top of an HOA fee estimated at $3,672 - $6,444 yearly. A community development district assessment can have two components, and they behave differently: debt service repays the bonds that funded the roads, drainage and amenities, and ends when those bonds are retired, while an operations and maintenance charge pays to run what the bonds built and does not. Both are billed with your property taxes rather than by the association, and both are separate from the HOA. Assessments are set annually and vary by home and phase, so confirm the current components for the specific address.
The flood zone recorded for Waterlefe is X. Zones beginning A or V are the higher-risk categories, where a federally backed mortgage generally requires flood insurance, while zone X is lower risk and coverage is usually optional. Flood zone is assigned per property rather than per community though, and elevation can change both the requirement and the premium substantially, so get the zone and the elevation certificate for the exact address rather than relying on a community-level figure.
