Selling Houses

Osceola County

Sell your house in Celebration

Celebration is an unincorporated community in the northwest corner of Osceola County, so there is no municipal building department and no city code office to call. The first residential phase was occupied in the summer of 1996, and every residential owner belongs to the Celebration Residential Owners Association, whose architectural review committee reviews changes to the outside of a house. A separate community development district, established in 1994, adds its own line to the annual Osceola County tax bill.

Talk to an agent who works Celebration

Who permits work on a house in Celebration?

Osceola County. Celebration is unincorporated, so building permits, code enforcement, and zoning all come from the county, and the county online permit center is where you search by address, apply, pay, and schedule an inspection.

The two local bodies people confuse with a city government are not permitting authorities. The community development district is a public entity responsible for public common areas. The association is a private entity responsible for residential standards and the private amenities. Neither issues a building permit and neither can close one out.

So the sequence for a seller is county permit search first, association file second. If a past owner enclosed a porch or replaced windows, the county record is where that either appears or does not.

What is the CDD line on my Celebration tax bill?

It is a non-ad-valorem assessment from the Celebration Community Development District, an independent unit of special-purpose government established effective March 29, 1994 under chapter 190 of the Florida Statutes. The county tax collector bills it on the same statement as your property tax and collects it the same way.

It has two parts. Debt service amortizes the bonds that financed the infrastructure and is fixed over the life of those bonds. Operations and maintenance funds the district's annual work, which includes the downtown lake and esplanade, common area landscaping and street trees in district right of way, mosquito and aquatic weed control, and supplemental off-duty deputies.

An owner may pay the debt portion down early, in part or in full. If it is not paid down before closing, the next owner picks up that property's share until the final bond payment date. The district office has the payoff figure, and the adopted budget lists assessments by village and product type.

Does the association have to approve anything before I list?

For anything that shows on the outside, yes. All residential owners in Celebration are members of the association, and its design guidelines and architectural review committee cover exterior changes. The committee meets monthly, so a repaint or a roof planned for the week before photos may not clear in time.

The document set a buyer expects is the declaration, the current guidelines, the dues amount, the management company name, and any approvals already on file. Association dues fund the administration and the maintenance of the private parks, which is a separate budget from the district assessment on your tax bill.

If work was done without approval, finding that now is cheaper than finding it during a buyer's due diligence. The association is the only place that record exists.

What does a Celebration condominium seller have to produce?

Three things on top of the usual file: the association's budget and reserve position, the special assessment history, and the building's milestone inspection status. Florida requires a milestone inspection of load-bearing elements and primary structural systems for condominium buildings three stories or more, sealed by a licensed architect or engineer, by December 31 of the year the building turns 30.

Celebration's earliest residential buildings were occupied in 1996, so the first of them are reaching that mark. A buyer's lender and the insurer will both ask about it, and a completed report or a scheduled inspection date answers the question in one line.

Neighborhoods in Celebration

  • Celebration Village. Part of the opening residential phase, occupied from the summer of 1996 along with West Village and Lake Evalyn.
  • Lake Evalyn. One of the three phases in the first wave of residential development, laid out around the small lake south of the town center.
  • North Village. Built after the opening phases, in the wave that also produced South Village, East Village, and Aquila Reserve.
  • Artisan Park. The last residential phase. The owners association maintains its park and club alongside Lakeside, Founder's, Heritage, North Village, and East Village parks.
  • Town Center. Mixed use, with residences above the shops and restaurants. Those units are condominiums, which changes the document set a seller has to produce.
  • Island Village. Shown inside the Celebration Community Development District boundary on the district's own published map, and newer than the original villages.

Housing stock to check

  • Urban Design Associates wrote an architectural pattern book for the town, so exterior materials, proportions, porch details, and colors are governed by recorded guidelines rather than by owner preference. That is the first thing to understand about any repair here that shows from the street.
  • Residential types include detached houses, townhomes, and condominiums, plus residences over commercial space in the town center. Which one you own decides whether you are producing association documents, condominium documents, or both.
  • Construction started in 1996 and ran through the Artisan Park phase, so the whole town sits past the polybutylene supply line era. What it is not past is the age band where roofs, air handlers, and water heaters come due for their second replacement.
  • Condominium buildings three stories or more fall under Florida's milestone inspection law. Section 553.899 of the Florida Statutes requires a licensed architect or engineer to complete the first structural inspection by December 31 of the year the building reaches 30 years of age, and a local enforcement agency may move that to 25 years where conditions warrant.

Osceola County records and permits

Before you list in Celebration

  • There is no Celebration building department. Osceola County provides building permits, code enforcement, zoning, and public works here, so the county online permit center is the only place the record exists. Neither the district nor the association issues or closes a permit.
  • Pull the declaration of covenants, conditions, and restrictions, the current design guidelines, the dues figure, and every architectural review committee approval for work already done. The association office is at 851 Celebration Avenue and the committee meets once a month, which is the scheduling constraint on anything you still need approved.
  • Read the non-ad-valorem section, not only the assessed value. The district assessment has a debt service part tied to the bonds that built the infrastructure and an operations and maintenance part the board adopts each year, and some villages have retired bond series and carry maintenance only.
  • Exterior work here usually leaves two paper trails: the Osceola County permit and the architectural review approval. A buyer's agent who has closed in this town will ask for both, and a receipt without the approval invites the question you do not want asked late.

Gather

HOA documents and dues

Find the declaration, the current rules, the dues amount, and the name of the management company. Florida sellers in an association have to give a buyer these, and tracking them down late is what delays a contract.

Inspect

Ceilings and the roof line

Look for stains, sagging drywall, and daylight in the attic, then walk the outside and look for lifted or missing shingles and tiles. Water shows up on a ceiling long after it started somewhere else.

Resolve

Replace every burned-out bulb

Match the color temperature across a room while you are at it. A house with one dead bulb per room photographs dim and shows dimmer.

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Last updated September 16, 2026