A buyer touring Tellico Lake this summer stood on the back deck of two homes in the same week, both on the water, both inside a gated golf community, both listed within $40,000 of each other. She assumed the paperwork would look about the same too. It didn't. One property came with a mandatory monthly assessment that runs with the land no matter who owns it. The other had no mandatory club fee at all, just an optional membership she could decline. Same lake, same general drive time to Knoxville, two entirely different cost structures. The listing agent walked her through it, but the more interesting part came later, when she learned that one of those homes sits on a peninsula that pays its property taxes to Monroe County while answering, for everything from marina slips to clubhouse budgets, to a homeowners association based across the county line in Loudon.
That peninsula is Kahite. And once you understand how it sits on Tellico Lake, you understand why nobody can quote you a single honest "median price" for this market without first asking which side of an invisible line your listing falls on.
Two Counties, One Shoreline
Tellico Lake was built as a Little Tennessee River reservoir, finished in 1979, and its 357 miles of shoreline run through Loudon, Monroe, and Blount counties. Most of the well-known planned communities cluster on two sides of that boundary. Tellico Village and WindRiver sit on the Loudon County shore. Rarity Bay and Kahite sit on the Monroe County side, the shore that runs south from the Loudon line down toward Vonore. Water levels stay fairly stable through the year because Tellico is operated in tandem with the neighboring Fort Loudoun reservoir, which is part of why docks here tend to stay usable longer than on lakes with deeper winter drawdown. You can check current pool levels directly through TVA's own lake level page, which is worth a bookmark if you're comparing waterfront lots on either shore.
None of that geography is controversial. What surprises buyers is what happens once you cross from the open shoreline into the gated communities themselves, because the property line and the governance line don't always match.
The Neighborhood That Sits on the Line
Kahite is home to one of Tellico Village's three golf courses, The Links at Kahite, and it functions administratively as a neighborhood of the Tellico Village Property Owners Association. The POA's own 2026 budget materials list Kahite alongside the Village's other clubhouses as a line item in the amenities budget. That means a Kahite property owner pays into and is governed by an association headquartered in Loudon County, with an elected board and staff who answer to Loudon-side bylaws.
At the same time, Monroe County's own tourism office lists Kahite as one of the county's golf destinations, in the same breath as Rarity Bay, describing its lakeside fairways and driving range as part of what makes Monroe County worth visiting for a round of golf. That's not a marketing error. Kahite genuinely sits in Monroe County geographically, on the county's northern edge near the Loudon line, while its homeowners association, dues structure, and clubhouse budget flow through a Loudon County nonprofit.
So a Kahite buyer pays county property taxes to Monroe County, sends children (if applicable) to Monroe County schools, and calls Monroe County for most local government services. But the monthly assessment on the deed, the reserve study governing future special assessments, and the vote on next year's clubhouse budget all run through the Tellico Village POA in Loudon County. It's a split most buyers never think to ask about until they're already deep into a purchase contract.
Rarity Bay, a few miles south along the same shore, is the cleaner comparison. It sits entirely in Monroe County and has been fully homeowner-controlled since 2012, with its own community association setting its own dues independent of any Loudon-based board.
Here's how the shore breaks down:
| Community | County of Record | Governing Association | Mandatory Monthly | Optional Add-Ons |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tellico Village core | Loudon | Tellico Village POA | $181.53/property, 2025 filing | Golf, marina slip, wellness center |
| Kahite | Monroe | Tellico Village POA (Loudon-based) | Same TVPOA assessment as Village core | Same optional tier as Village core |
| Rarity Bay | Monroe | Rarity Bay's own homeowner-controlled association | Roughly $100 to $300/month depending on property type | $15,000 one-time Social Membership plus about $299/month for clubhouse and golf access |
| Traditional lakefront near Vonore | Monroe | None, typically no mandatory POA | $0 mandatory | None |
The Tellico Village Property Owners Association's own information letter for prospective buyers and title companies puts the 2025 monthly assessment at $181.53 per property, a figure reviewed annually by the board, and that number applies whether the home sits in the Village's Loudon County core or on the Monroe County side of Kahite.
What This Does to the Median
Once you see the fee split, the price data stops looking contradictory. A countywide snapshot of Monroe County in July 2026 showed 372 active listings with a median asking price of $399,450 and a median 57 days on the market. A separate market update covering January 2026 pegged the county's typical sale price between $265,000 and $275,000, with homes taking 60 to 70 days to sell and roughly 140 to 160 active listings at any given time. Meanwhile, Tellico Village's median sale price over the three months ending in May 2026 came in at $650,000, up 4.5% from the same stretch a year earlier, with homes taking 102 days to sell compared to 89 days the year before.
Those three numbers describe three different things. The countywide figures include Sweetwater starter homes, Madisonville in-town properties, and rural acreage alongside anything lake-adjacent, which pulls the median down. The Tellico Village figure only reflects homes already inside the POA structure, where the mandatory monthly assessment and amenity access are baked into what buyers expect to pay. Neither number is wrong. They're measuring different fee-stacked submarkets that happen to share a county name or a lake name, which is exactly why quoting a single "Monroe County median" or "Tellico Lake median" to a buyer comparing options is close to useless without asking which submarket that number actually describes.
The Bill That Doesn't Show Up in the List Price
The sticker price on a listing rarely tells you what you'll actually pay to live there. A Kahite or Tellico Village core buyer is signing up for that $181.53 monthly assessment (2025 figure, reviewed each year) regardless of whether they ever golf. It funds road maintenance, water and sewer systems, and the fire department, and it runs with the land, meaning it transfers to whoever owns the property next.
A Rarity Bay buyer faces a lighter mandatory load, generally $100 to $300 a month depending on whether the property is a single-family home or a condo, with condo fees running higher because they typically bundle water, sewer, and exterior maintenance. Clubhouse and golf access at Rarity Bay is optional rather than baked in, structured as a one-time $15,000 Social Membership initiation plus roughly $299 a month if a buyer wants it.
For contrast, some Loudon-side new construction at WindRiver carries a steeper path: by one 2026 accounting of the community's buyer fee sheet, new builds add a capital contribution calculated as a percentage of the purchase price at closing, on top of a mandatory five-figure social membership initiation, before any optional golf membership is layered in. That's a genuinely different math problem than the one a Rarity Bay buyer faces two coves away, even though both communities sit within a short drive of the same marina.
Questions to Ask Before You Compare Two Listings
- Which county collects the property tax bill, and which association collects the monthly assessment? They are not always the same answer.
- Is the club or golf membership mandatory and running with the land, or optional and tied to the current owner's choice?
- What does the association's most recent reserve study say about funded status, and are any special assessments pending?
- If the listing quotes a "median" for the area, does that figure include the mandatory assessment in the comparison, or just the sale price?
A Few Direct Questions
Is Kahite part of Tellico Village or part of Monroe County? Both, in different ways. Kahite sits geographically within Monroe County and is treated by the county's own tourism materials as a Monroe County golf destination. Its homeowners association, however, is the Tellico Village Property Owners Association, based in Loudon County, and Kahite owners pay the same mandatory monthly assessment as any other Tellico Village neighborhood.
Do all Tellico Lake communities require a golf or social membership? No. Rarity Bay has no mandatory golf or club membership, only an optional Social Membership. Tellico Village's mandatory assessment covers roads, utilities, and fire service, not golf or clubhouse access, which remain separate optional fees. WindRiver, by contrast, has structured its social membership as mandatory for new construction.
Why did Tellico Lake produce three different median prices this year? Because "Tellico Lake" isn't one submarket. A countywide figure blends inland Monroe County homes with lakefront ones. A Tellico Village figure only reflects homes already inside that POA's fee structure. Comparing them without adjusting for what's mandatory and what's optional will make an honest market look confusing when it isn't.
If you're weighing a listing on either side of that county line, or trying to figure out what a Kahite or Rarity Bay assessment actually means for your monthly budget, that's exactly the kind of detail worth working through before you write an offer. Jim Swafford has walked buyers through this stretch of shoreline enough times to know which questions save you a surprise at closing. Let's Connect.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
