New construction in Fort Myers, Florida, from the county record: where builders are actually building, which communities are selling or sold out, each builder's agent registration rule, deposits, warranties, district rules and fees. McGreevy and Comisar
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McGreevy and Comisar lead Domain Realty Group, the #1 real estate team in Southwest Florida. Top 1% Real Estate Agents Nationally Since 2008. Over $900 million in personal sales, and Domain Realty Group has sold over $2.5 Billion as a team. They are the #5 real estate team in Florida (RealTrends 2026).
This page is for the buyer about to walk into a Fort Myers builder's model home. The wider city story, from the river districts to the golf communities, lives in our Fort Myers area guide, and the county picture in our Lee County guide. What follows is the part a sales center does not volunteer: where Fort Myers new construction is actually being built (mostly outside the City limits, under a Fort Myers mailing address); how many new homes the county recorded as builder first sales; which builders and communities are selling, and which are sold out; each builder's own buyer-agent registration rule in its own words; the deposit, warranty and district-assessment law; and the fee lines a new house carries in the City against unincorporated Lee County. By Jesse McGreevy and Marc Comisar, with every figure read from a primary source or the county's own recorded sales (Lee County recorded sales through September 25, 2026; Lee County Property Appraiser roll of October 2026; builders' pages read October 28, 2026). Call Marc at (239) 287-5873 before your first builder visit, or call Jesse direct at (239) 898-6072. Updated October 2026.
Each point below is sourced further down the page, and each one corrects something a Fort Myers new-construction buyer is likely to have assumed before the first sales-center visit. Where a figure is an estimate or a builder's own marketing, the point says so.
McGreevy and Comisar are the Fort Myers new-construction buyer's agents who read the builder's registration rule, the district budget, the fee lines for the lot's jurisdiction and the warranty book before you sign, because in Fort Myers the costly decisions are made at the sales-center door and in the contract's fine print. They are Top 1% Real Estate Agents Nationally Since 2008.
A builder arrives with a sales team, a purchase agreement written by its own lawyers, and usually an affiliated lender and title company. Every builder FAQ we read says the on-site salesperson works for the builder: Lennar writes that "consultants represent Lennar and not customers", and Taylor Morrison calls its Community Sales Manager "an exclusive representative of Taylor Morrison". Our job is to be the person in the room whose duty runs to you. On a Fort Myers build that means specific work: we check the community's tax district on the county roll, so you know whether the City's or the county's fees, millage and fire district apply; we read the community development district budget where one exists; we register you with the builder in the way that builder's own policy requires; and we set the builder's price against the county's recorded builder first sales for that community, the one benchmark a sales sheet never prints.
If you are weighing us against other agents, our side-by-side look at the best real estate agents in Fort Myers sets out the yardsticks we think a buyer should use, so you can choose with that page open rather than on our word. For the resale side of the same decision, our guide to buying a home in Fort Myers covers ownership costs, insurance and the resale contract.
Jesse McGreevy and Marc Comisar hold the Top 1% Real Estate Agents Nationally Since 2008 distinction, the Gulfshore Life Magazine 5 Star Award for Customer Satisfaction for 21 Straight Years, an award only 5 out of more than 21,000 licensees have held, and the #1 Team in Southwest Florida since 2012 position. They are the #5 real estate team in Florida (RealTrends 2026), and between them they have over $900 million in personal sales and over 45 years of combined direct experience. McGreevy and Comisar lead Domain Realty Group, whose team has sold over $2.5 Billion in real estate across more than 4,000 transactions. Those honors are evidence of a long record across Southwest Florida. The figures on this page that describe Fort Myers come from the Lee County recorded sales file, the county roll, the builders' own documents and the governments' own fee schedules, and each one carries its source and its date.
Jesse and Marc handle their own buyers. The person who registers you with a builder is the person who reads the contract and negotiates the options, the incentives and the closing date. Call Marc at (239) 287-5873, or call Jesse direct at (239) 898-6072. Our headquarters is at 24031 S Tamiami Trl #101, Bonita Springs, FL 34134, and our Fort Myers office is at 8290 College Parkway, Unit 201, Fort Myers, FL 33919.
If you're searching for "the best realtor for new construction in Fort Myers, Florida," McGreevy and Comisar represents new-home buyers at builder sales centers across Southwest Florida, from Babcock Ranch and Punta Gorda to Estero, Bonita Springs, Naples and Fort Myers. Bring us before your first model-home visit, and we read the builder's contract, the district budget and the warranty book with you, register with the builder so our side is paid by the builder where its policy allows, and negotiate the options, the incentives and the closing date as hard as a resale.
McGreevy and Comisar are Southwest Florida real estate experts who have represented buyers and sellers from Naples to Charlotte Harbor for more than two decades, including buyers purchasing directly from builders at sales centers in Lee County. The credentials below are the locked, verifiable record we publish on every page, stated exactly as awarded, with the licence numbers you can check yourself.
Jesse McGreevy holds Florida license SL3101296 and Marc Comisar holds BK3060671, both issued under Chapter 475, Florida Statutes, and both can be verified on the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation licensee search. McGreevy and Comisar is brokered by Domain Realty. Jesse has been selling in this market since October 2004 and co-founded the brokerage in 2015.
Fort Myers new construction is being built mostly outside the City of Fort Myers, in unincorporated Lee County east of Interstate 75 and along the Buckingham Road, State Road 80 and Daniels Parkway corridors, under Fort Myers mailing addresses. We decided every community's jurisdiction by its tax district on the county parcel roll, never by its ZIP code, because a ZIP code is a postal route and not a government.
Data updated: October 2026 (Lee County Property Appraiser parcel roll, LeePA build of October 1, 2026, read 28 Oct 2026).
The Lee County Property Appraiser codes every parcel with a taxing district. That code decides who levies the property tax, which fire district serves the home and sets its impact fee, whether the City or the county collects the road, park and school impact fees, and often who supplies water and sewer. Two homes a mile apart, both addressed "Fort Myers, FL", can sit in different districts with different millage and different fee stacks. We read the district code for every parcel in every community on this page, and the result is plain: of the builder communities selling or still closing on October 28, 2026, only Bonavie Cove and Parkway Preserve sit inside City of Fort Myers tax districts. Every other one is unincorporated Lee County.
The table reads each community's parcels on the county roll by legal description. The millage column is the final 2026 total for the district in the Property Appraiser's final millage book, printed October 9, 2026; the non-ad valorem lines (community development district, homeowners' association, solid waste, the City's fire assessment) are not in it.
| Community | Parcels on the roll | Tax district (county code and name) | Inside the City of Fort Myers? | Final 2026 total millage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Valencia Harbor | 491 | 066 Fort Myers Shores Fire | No | 13.6123 |
| Bentley Crossing | 232 | 046 Tice Fire | No | 14.6123 |
| Hemingway Pointe | 116 | 066 Fort Myers Shores Fire | No | 13.6123 |
| Brighton Pointe | 64 | 046 Tice Fire | No | 14.6123 |
| Sandy Key | 45 | 068 Iona McGregor Fire | No | 13.3623 |
| Parkway Preserve | 129 | 090 City of Fort Myers | Yes | 16.9702 |
| Bonavie Cove | 252 | 090 City of Fort Myers | Yes | 16.9702 |
| Esplanade Lake Club | 943 | 071 San Carlos Fire | No | 12.8482 |
| Portico | 1,467 | 066 Fort Myers Shores Fire | No | 13.6123 |
| Verandah (all parcels) | 1,634 | 066 Fort Myers Shores Fire | No | 13.6123 |
| Timber Creek | 1,379 | 047 South Trail Fire (720 parcels) and 049 Lehigh Acres Fire (659 parcels) | No | 13.3623 for district 047; 10.8623 for district 049 |
| Pratt's Preserve | 157 | 047 South Trail Fire | No | 13.3623 |
| Coves of Estero Bay | 224 | 071 San Carlos Fire | No | 12.8482 |
| Tide Marsh | 67 | 068 Iona McGregor Fire | No | 13.3623 |
| Addison Square | 56 | 047 South Trail Fire | No | 13.3623 |
Timber Creek's district 049 is a fire district only; it is not the Lehigh Acres lighting district, and those 659 parcels stay inside this page's Fort Myers figures. The final 2026 total for district 049 is 10.8623 mills.
A Fort Myers ZIP code is not a Fort Myers place. LGI Homes lists Mirror Lakes at "Fort Myers, FL 33913 (825 Yellowbird Dr)" from $312,900, yet all 1,222 of its parcels on the roll sit in tax district 048, Lehigh Acres Fire and Lehigh Acres Light. It is a Lehigh Acres community with a Fort Myers mailing address, covered on our Mirror Lakes community page and our Lehigh Acres guide, and it is left out of every Fort Myers figure here. The same test removed 7,181 parcels in tax district 051, San Carlos Fire and San Carlos Light, which is San Carlos Park and the reason D.R. Horton's San Carlos Spot Lots fall outside this page. ZIP code 33913 also carries parcels whose postal city is Estero (1,771 across the ZIP set) or Miromar Lakes (1,460), and those belong to our Miromar Lakes guide and the Estero pages, not here.
After removing other postal cities, the Village of Estero and Estero Fire districts, the Lehigh Acres districts and San Carlos Park, the Fort Myers scope holds 134,650 parcels: 37,379 in City of Fort Myers tax districts and 97,271 in unincorporated Lee County under a Fort Myers address. Gateway has no separate tax district on the roll, so its parcels stay inside the Fort Myers figures and are broken out by community where it matters. North Fort Myers, the Town of Fort Myers Beach, Cape Coral and Alva use ZIP codes outside this set and never entered it.
The U.S. Census Bureau's Building Permits Survey tells the same story from the government side. In 2025 the City of Fort Myers authorized 304 single-family units, while Lee County as a whole authorized 9,962, so the City issued 3.1 percent of the county's single-family permits. That matches the City's estimated 3.1 percent builder share of recorded sales below, two separate instruments that agree. Most City permits are apartments and other buildings of five or more units: 1,533 of the City's 1,849 units authorized in 2025, 82.9 percent.
An estimated 526 of the 5,729 recorded home sales under a Fort Myers address in the 12 months to September 25, 2026 were builder first sales, 9.2 percent. Most new homes here sell direct from the builder, and a builder's direct sale need never reach the MLS, so we counted the county's recorded, DOR-qualified sales instead, which capture every closing whether or not an agent listed it.
Data updated: October 2026 (Lee County Property Appraiser recorded sales, DOR-qualified, through September 25, 2026, retrieved 28 Oct 2026).
The county record covers single-family homes, condominiums and new homes the roll still codes as vacant residential land, inside the tax-district scope above, for the 12 months from September 26, 2025 to September 25, 2026.
| Measure, 12 months to September 25, 2026 | Recorded sales | Median price |
|---|---|---|
| All home sales | 5,729 | $345,000 |
| Builder first sales (estimate) | 526 (9.2 percent) | $433,554 |
| Resales | 5,203 | $330,000 |
| Prior 12 months, all home sales | 5,461 | $374,750 |
| Prior 12 months, builder first sales (estimate) | 750 (13.7 percent) | $455,500 |
| Prior 12 months, resales | 4,711 | $350,000 |
The arithmetic: 526 divided by 5,729 is 9.18 percent, and 750 divided by 5,461 is 13.73 percent. The estimated builder share fell about 4.5 points in a year while total recorded home sales rose 4.9 percent. The median price per square foot of county heated area across all 5,729 sales was $206.08 (5,188 sales with a heated area on the roll); that is the roll's heated area, not an MLS living-area figure, so it is never set beside one.
| ZIP code | Recorded home sales | Median | Builder first sales (estimate) | Builder share | Builder median | Leading builder communities |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 33901 | 252 | $266,500 | 4 | 1.6% | $502,000 | scattered infill |
| 33905 | 851 | $355,000 | 325 | 38.2% | $404,917 | Valencia Harbor, Portico, Bentley Crossing, Brighton Pointe, Heritage Preserve, Hemingway Pointe |
| 33907 | 336 | $190,000 | 1 | 0.3% | $299,000 | none |
| 33908 | 1,220 | $330,000 | 41 | 3.4% | $522,000 | Sandy Key, Coves of Estero Bay, Tide Marsh |
| 33912 | 492 | $402,500 | 1 | 0.2% | $1,695,000 | none |
| 33913 | 1,125 | $485,000 | 97 | 8.6% | $807,370 | Esplanade Lake Club, Timber Creek, Parkway Preserve |
| 33916 | 251 | $250,000 | 23 | 9.2% | $295,000 | scattered City infill |
| 33919 | 768 | $255,250 | 0 | 0.0% | n/a | none |
| 33966 | 352 | $363,824 | 34 | 9.7% | $379,750 | Pratt's Preserve, Bonavie Cove |
| 33967 | 82 | $407,000 | 0 | 0.0% | n/a | none (San Carlos Park removed by district) |
| All ten | 5,729 | $345,000 | 526 | 9.2% | $433,554 |
ZIP code 33905, east of Interstate 75 along State Road 80 and Buckingham Road, carried 325 of the 526 estimated builder first sales, 61.8 percent, and 38.2 percent of that ZIP code's own sales were new homes. Thirteen communities carried 477 of the 526, 90.7 percent.
| Geography, by tax district | Recorded home sales, 12 months | Median | Builder first sales (estimate) | Builder share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| City of Fort Myers tax districts | 1,423 | $350,000 | 44 | 3.1% |
| Unincorporated Lee County, Fort Myers address | 4,306 | $345,000 | 482 | 11.2% |
| Both | 5,729 | $345,000 | 526 | 9.2% |
The City's estimated builder first sales by calendar year were 947 in 2019, 830 in 2020, 639 in 2021, 104 in 2022, 76 in 2023, 126 in 2024, 71 in 2025 and 33 in 2026 through September 25. Unincorporated Fort Myers ran 771, 902, 1,108, 1,161, 1,191, 851, 663 and 288 in the same years. The City's larger plats filled in after 2021, and the unincorporated east carried the market from then on.
| Calendar year | Recorded home sales | Median | Builder first sales (estimate) | Builder share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 8,285 | $232,500 | 1,718 | 20.7% |
| 2020 | 9,102 | $255,000 | 1,732 | 19.0% |
| 2021 | 11,301 | $287,997 | 1,747 | 15.5% |
| 2022 | 8,038 | $374,995 | 1,265 | 15.7% |
| 2023 | 7,056 | $387,500 | 1,267 | 18.0% |
| 2024 | 5,628 | $400,000 | 977 | 17.4% |
| 2025 | 5,668 | $361,000 | 734 | 12.9% |
| 2026, January 1 to September 25 (partial year) | 4,338 | $340,000 | 321 | 7.4% |
Builder first sales under a Fort Myers address ran about 1,700 a year from 2019 to 2021 and 734 in 2025. The 2026 row covers less than nine months and is never read beside a full year as a trend.
Every figure here comes from the Lee County Property Appraiser's recorded sales, qualified by the Florida Department of Revenue (transfer codes 01 and 02, improved sales over $1,000), matched to the October 2026 roll. A builder first sale is our tool's inference: the first qualified improved sale of a parcel within about a year of its year built, or before the roll records a year built. That makes every builder figure an estimate. Two adjustments keep it honest. New homes the roll still codes as vacant residential land sell as improved sales, and 209 such sales closed in the 12 months, so they are counted. Non-housing product the heuristic would otherwise catch, such as car and storage condominiums and business units, is stripped by the property-use filter: the all-uses count showed 563 builder first sales against 526 for housing. Condominium presales that close in a building's first year can be undercounted, and the record shows an estimated zero new condominium first sales in the 12 months, which fits the roll, where the newest condominium phases finished in 2024 and 2025.
On October 28, 2026 six communities under a Fort Myers address had a builder actively selling: GL Homes' Valencia Harbor, D.R. Horton's Bentley Crossing and Hemingway Pointe, Lennar's Sandy Key, Mattamy Homes' Bonavie Cove and SobelCo's Parkway Preserve, plus Neal Communities' inventory homes at Verandah. Several better-known names are sold out or closed out, and two Lennar communities are only "coming soon."
Data updated: October 2026 (builders' own community pages read 28 Oct 2026; Lee County recorded sales through September 25, 2026).
Every price is the builder's own published figure, read on the builder's page on October 28, 2026, and is a range or a "from" figure, never a price list. The district column quotes the builder's own words where it says anything. The recorded column is the county's estimated builder first sales for the community, with its window.
| Community | Builder | Product, in the builder's words | Builder-published price, read October 28, 2026 | District or HOA, in the builder's words | Jurisdiction, by tax district | Recorded builder first sales (estimate) | Status on October 28, 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Valencia Harbor (55+) | GL Homes | "100% single-family detached" | "From the mid $300s - $600s" | Not stated on the page | Unincorporated, 066 Fort Myers Shores Fire | 164 of 164, 12 months | Selling |
| Bentley Crossing | D.R. Horton | Express Series, 1,614 to 2,221 sq ft, 1 story, gated | "From $299,999" | "HOA" listed as an amenity, no amount | Unincorporated, 046 Tice Fire | 51 of 51, 12 months | Selling |
| Hemingway Pointe | D.R. Horton | Express Series, from 1,328 sq ft, gated | "From $309,990" | "HOA" listed as an amenity, no amount | Unincorporated, 066 Fort Myers Shores Fire | 10 of 10, 12 months | Selling |
| Sandy Key | Lennar | Single-family, five plans of 1,850 to 3,231 sq ft | "$454,999 - $689,999" | Heading with no content | Unincorporated, 068 Iona McGregor Fire | 16 of 16, 12 months | Selling |
| Bonavie Cove | Mattamy Homes | "spacious paired villas", 1,431 to 1,754 sq ft, gated | From $362,990 (Largo) to from $411,990 (Vallarta) | "Low HOA fees and no CDD fees" | City of Fort Myers, 090 | 13 of 19, 12 months | Selling |
| Parkway Preserve | SobelCo | "1-Story Villas and 2-Story Townhomes", gated | "from the Upper $300s" | Not stated | City of Fort Myers, 090 | 23 of 25, 24 months | Selling |
| Heritage Preserve at Verandah | Neal Communities | Single-family | Verandah plan "Priced From $275,990" (Imagination 2, 1,778 sq ft) | Not stated on the page; Verandah sits in two CDDs | Unincorporated, 066 Fort Myers Shores Fire | 14 of 16, 12 months | Inventory homes |
| Esplanade Lake Club | Taylor Morrison | Single-family and condominium | No price | Esplanade Lake Club Community Development District | Unincorporated, 071 San Carlos Fire | 63 of 114, 12 months | "SOLD OUT"; closings continued |
| Portico | Lennar | Single-family and townhomes | No page | Portico Community Development District | Unincorporated, 066 Fort Myers Shores Fire | 54 of 124, 12 months | Closed out |
| Brighton Pointe | D.R. Horton | Single-family | No page | Not stated | Unincorporated, 046 Tice Fire | 20 of 21, 12 months | Near close-out, no page |
| Timber Creek | No builder page | Single-family | No page | Timber Creek Southwest Community Development District | Unincorporated, 047 and 049 | 31 of 110, 12 months | Closed out |
| Orange River Townhomes | Lennar | "This community will offer townhomes" | No current price | Heading with no content | Not yet platted on the roll | None | Interest list |
| Daniels Creek | Lennar | Patio Homes, Manor Homes and Townhomes, "Coming Soon" | No price | Heading with no content | Not yet platted on the roll | None | Coming soon |
Builder names are printed as each builder writes them. Each builder's page is cited only for its own community and its own policies.
In Fort Myers an estimated 526 new homes closed direct from builders in 12 months, and several of those builders end your right to your own paid representation the moment you register on their website or walk in alone. Call before you visit: book your Fort Myers new construction consultation, see how we represent buyers in Southwest Florida, or call Marc at (239) 287-5873 or Jesse direct at (239) 898-6072. If you own a home you will sell to fund the new one, get a Fort Myers home valuation first, so the sale and the builder's closing date can be planned together.
GL Homes calls Valencia Harbor "Fort Myers' Finest 55+" and describes it as "100% single-family detached homes on private lots with room for optional pools", with three collections: Shoreline "from $350s", Marina "from $420s" and Bayside "from $550s" (read October 28, 2026). The builder's October 2026 page also advertises "GET $15,000 IN FREE OPTIONS!" when the buyer uses GL Financial and Nova Title Services, an affiliated-lender and title incentive that comes with the conditions discussed in the incentives section below; no expiry date was printed with it. The community center is open and the larger clubhouse is described as future. On the county roll, all 491 matched parcels sit in tax district 066, Fort Myers Shores Fire, in unincorporated Lee County; 95 are built and 352 are still vacant lots. Every one of its 164 recorded sales in the 12 months to September 25, 2026 was a builder first sale, at a median of $486,163, with 44 in 2025 and 121 in 2026 to date. That median sits well above the advertised "mid $300s" starting point, because the recorded price includes the lot premium, options and the larger collections. A homeowners' association exists, according to its management company's architectural guideline page; no dues figure is published. We found no community development district for it on the state's official special-district list, which is not proof that none exists; the tax bill for a closed parcel settles it.
D.R. Horton describes Bentley Crossing as "a gated, new home community" of Express Series homes, 2 to 5 bedrooms, one story, "From $299,999" with plans "Starting in the $311s" to "the $360s" (read October 28, 2026). Its Southwest Florida division sheet, effective August 25, 2026, listed available Bentley Crossing homes from $319,999. The roll places its 232 parcels in tax district 046, Tice Fire, unincorporated; 44 are built and 176 vacant. All 51 recorded sales in the 12 months were builder first sales, at a median of $314,380 (36 in 2025 and 38 in 2026 to date). The page lists "HOA" as an amenity and prints no amount and no community development district.
Hemingway Pointe is a gated D.R. Horton Express Series community "From $309,990", with plans from 1,328 square feet (read October 28, 2026). Its 116 parcels sit in district 066, Fort Myers Shores Fire, with 25 built and 79 vacant. The county recorded 10 builder first sales in the 12 months, every sale there, at a median of $297,500 (19 in 2025 and 7 in 2026 to date). A name trap to avoid: the state's special-district list carries a "Hemingway Point Community Development District", but that district's own site places it in Homestead, on the other side of the state, so it has nothing to do with this community.
Lennar lists Sandy Key as "Actively selling" at $454,999 to $689,999, with five single-family plans from the 1,850 square foot Victoria to the 3,231 square foot Monte Carlo (read October 28, 2026). Its 45 parcels sit in district 068, Iona McGregor Fire, in unincorporated south Fort Myers; 16 are built and 24 vacant. All 16 recorded sales in the 12 months were builder first sales, at a median of $634,500 (4 in 2025, 12 in 2026 to date). The page carries a "Home Owner's Association" heading with no content.
Bonavie Cove is Mattamy Homes' gated paired-villa community, the builder's first in Fort Myers according to its October 10, 2019 release. On October 28, 2026 Mattamy listed the Largo villa from $362,990, the Oceana from $376,990 and the Vallarta from $411,990, plus quick move-in homes, and stated "Low HOA fees and no CDD fees". It is one of the two selling communities inside the City of Fort Myers, district 090, with 252 parcels, 197 built and 38 vacant. The county recorded 13 builder first sales of 19 sales in the 12 months, at a median of $367,000; builder first sales ran 45 in 2023, 37 in 2024, 29 in 2025 and 10 in 2026 to date. Mattamy offers self-guided tours, and its broker policy ends commission eligibility for a buyer who toured without the broker, so a self-guided tour taken alone counts as a first visit taken alone.
Parkway Preserve's own site says it is "Developed by SobelCo" and offers "1-Story Villas and 2-Story Townhomes", four three-bedroom plans of 1,590 to over 2,231 square feet, "from the Upper $300s", behind a gated entrance with a clubhouse, fitness center and heated pool (read October 28, 2026). It sits in City of Fort Myers district 090, 129 parcels, 84 built and 39 vacant. Only 3 qualified sales closed in the 12 months, so the window widens to 24 months: 23 of 25 sales were builder first sales, at a median of $496,800. The site does not state the association fee and asks buyers to "speak with a sales representative for the latest HOA coverage, fees"; ask for the association's adopted budget and disclosure summary instead.
D.R. Horton's Brighton Pointe page now resolves to the builder's Fort Myers area page; the county recorded 20 builder first sales of 21 in the 12 months (10 in 2026 to date) and 7 lots still vacant, so it is near close-out. Lennar's Pratt's Preserve page redirects to its division page, and the roll shows 145 built homes, no vacant lots and no builder first sales in 2026; 21 of its 24 sales in the 12 months were builder first sales that closed in late 2025. Coves of Estero Bay (210 built, none vacant, 12 builder first sales in the 12 months), Neal's Tide Marsh (63 built, none vacant, 8 builder first sales in the 12 months) and Addison Square (52 built, none vacant, no sales in the 12 months and 16 builder first sales across 24 months) are built out on the roll. They appear here as established resale communities only.
We checked each national builder's own Fort Myers pages and sitemaps on October 28, 2026. An empty sitemap is evidence that no community is listed, not proof that a builder has no lots. Toll Brothers' Fort Myers page links only communities in Estero, Babcock Ranch, Punta Gorda and Venice. Pulte's Fort Myers page read "No results found", and River Hall Country Club is in Alva. KB Home lists Fort Myers and North Fort Myers city pages with no community on them. Meritage Homes' sitemap carries no Southwest Florida path. Lennar's Caloosa Commons, Crane Landing, Brightwater Lagoon, Saddlewood Preserve, Stonehill Manor, Bayshore Ranch and Cielo Mar Townhomes are filed under North Fort Myers, covered by our North Fort Myers guide; Taylor Morrison's Solena is North Fort Myers and its Esplanade at Kingston is Estero. LGI Homes' Liberty Shores is in LaBelle and its Mirror Lakes is Lehigh Acres by tax district. D.R. Horton's Asher Park is Lehigh Acres, Lakes of Estero is Estero and San Carlos Spot Lots is San Carlos Park.
A builder's "from" price is the base plan on the cheapest lot, before the lot premium, options and upgrades. The county's recorded builder first sales show what buyers actually paid at closing. The gap is widest where buyers choose the larger collections: Valencia Harbor advertises "the mid $300s" and recorded a builder median of $486,163; Verandah's Neal plan is priced from $275,990 while Heritage Preserve recorded a builder median of $515,000; Sandy Key starts at $454,999 and recorded $634,500. Where the product is narrow and the options few, the two sit close: Bentley Crossing starts at $299,999 and recorded $314,380, and Bonavie Cove starts at $362,990 and recorded $367,000. Use the recorded median, not the headline, to set your budget.
Verandah, Esplanade Lake Club, Portico and Timber Creek are the four master-planned communities with a Fort Myers address that the county recorded closing builder homes in the last year, and each sits inside a community development district. Only Verandah had a builder selling on October 28, 2026; Esplanade Lake Club is sold out, and Portico and Timber Creek have closed out.
Data updated: October 2026 (builders' pages and district sites read 28 Oct 2026; Lee County recorded sales through September 25, 2026).
Verandah sits in two community development districts. The Verandah East district covers "approximately 652.6 contiguous acres ... bounded by State Road 80 to the north, Buckingham Road to the east, and the Orange River to the south", and Verandah West covers "approximately 777.9 acres ... south of State Road 80 and west of Buckingham Road", in the districts' own words. Neal Communities is the builder now selling there: on October 28, 2026 its Verandah page priced the Imagination 2 plan, 1,778 square feet, from $275,990 and the Dream 2, 1,860 square feet, from $285,990, alongside inventory homes, and listed Stephens Elementary, Tice Elementary, Oak Hammock Middle and Riverdale High as the schools (confirm the assignment for an address with the School District of Lee County). The county recorded 14 builder first sales of 16 in Heritage Preserve in the 12 months, at a median of $515,000, with 73 homes built and 32 lots vacant; across all 1,634 Verandah parcels, 16 of 102 sales were builder first sales. In the Winding River and Edgewater Trace sections, 6 of 12 sales over 24 months were builder first sales, at a median of $1,109,210. The districts' FY2026 adopted budget shows combined general fund revenues of $640,911, a $629,564 gross on-roll assessment levy, and Verandah West carrying 87.40 off-roll units, land paying outside the tax roll. The districts posted a document titled "Hammock Creek Stormwater Flooding Summary", dated April 30, 2026; we have not summarized it, so read it yourself before choosing a lot near that creek.
Taylor Morrison's page title reads "SOLD OUT: Esplanade Lake Club in Fort Myers, FL", yet the county recorded an estimated 37 builder first sales in Plat Six in 2026 through September 25, and 52 Plat Six lots were still vacant on the roll, because contracts already signed were still closing. Across all plats, 63 of 114 recorded sales in the 12 months were builder first sales, at a median of $950,000 (Plat Six alone: 60 of 61, at $964,356). Its 943 parcels sit in tax district 071, San Carlos Fire. The Esplanade Lake Club Community Development District reported $16,265,000 in bonds payable in its March-period financials (Series 2019A-1, 2019A-2 and 2025), held its FY2027 budget hearing on June 11, 2026, and adopted the budget and its assessments by Resolutions 2026-10 and 2026-11. The district's per-product assessments and its step-up from FY2025 are worked in the district section below. A resale there is a resale; our Esplanade Lake Club community page and our guide to buying a home in Esplanade Lake Club cover it.
Portico's Lennar page redirects to the builder's Naples and Fort Myers division page, so it is closed out on the builder's site. The county still recorded 54 builder first sales of 124 sales in the 12 months (27 in 2026 to date), the tail of a run that peaked at 245 in 2022 and 228 in 2023 before 121 in 2024 and 101 in 2025; 17 lots were still vacant. The Portico Community Development District was "established by Ordinance 05-28, adopted of the Board of County Commissioners of Lee County, Florida which became effective on December 6th, 2005" and covers "approximately five hundred eighty-nine (589.15) acres", in its own words. Its 1,467 parcels sit in district 066. Its FY 2026/2027 per-lot assessments are printed in the district section below.
No builder page lists Timber Creek on October 28, 2026. The county recorded 31 builder first sales of 110 sales in the 12 months, but only 2 in 2026 to date, after 293 in 2022, 324 in 2023, 260 in 2024 and 168 in 2025, and the roll shows 1,308 built homes and 1 vacant lot. Its parcels split between tax district 047, South Trail Fire (720) and district 049, Lehigh Acres Fire (659), which is a fire district and not the Lehigh Acres lighting district. The Timber Creek Southwest Community Development District lists a landowners' meeting agenda for November 3, 2026, which means at least one board seat is still elected by landowners on a one-acre, one-vote basis; how many seats remain that way is in that agenda.
Two Lennar communities with Fort Myers addresses were posted as coming soon on October 28, 2026, and neither was selling: Orange River Townhomes, an interest list, and Daniels Creek, a coming-soon page taking appointments. Neither appears on the county roll as a platted community yet, so its tax district and fees cannot be confirmed from the roll.
Data updated: October 2026 (Lennar pages and newsroom read 28 Oct 2026).
Lennar's March 31, 2026 release placed Orange River Townhomes "just off Palm Beach Boulevard with convenient access to Interstate 75", with two townhome designs, Briarcliff and Ashford, "ranging from 1,343 to 1,392 square feet with three bedrooms and two baths", and said it was "Opening this summer". On October 28, 2026 Lennar's townhome page still read "almost here. Join the Interest List", so it is not selling. Do not confuse it with the old Orange River plats on the county roll, which date to 1957 and carry no new homes.
Lennar's Daniels Creek page lists Patio Homes, Manor Homes and Townhomes, all "Coming Soon", at "SR 82 & Daniels Parkway, Fort Myers, FL 33913", by appointment only, with no price (read October 28, 2026). The same address on a ZIP code that also holds Lehigh Acres and Estero parcels is exactly why the tax district has to be read on the county's map once the land is platted, before any fee or millage figure is trusted.
Gulfshore Business reported in March 2026 a proposed 21-story downtown tower, ONE Fort Myers, with up to 34 condominiums. It is not on the county roll as a community and no builder page was read, so we print nothing more about it. A condominium bought before completion follows a different deposit rule, section 718.202, covered in the deposit section below.
You do not need an agent to buy from a Fort Myers builder, but the builder's salesperson works for the builder, and every builder we read decides at your very first contact whether your own agent can ever be paid. Register your agent before you click a builder's inquiry form or walk into a model home, because most builders here will not fix that afterward.
Data updated: October 2026 (builders' broker policies and Florida Statutes read 28 Oct 2026).
Section 475.278, Florida Statutes, presumes that every licensee is a transaction broker "unless a single agent or no brokerage relationship is established, in writing, with a customer", and a transaction broker "does not represent either in a fiduciary capacity or as a single agent". A single agent owes you loyalty, confidentiality, obedience and full disclosure; a transaction broker owes limited confidentiality and fair dealing. Florida also bars dual agency outright: "A real estate licensee may not operate as a disclosed or nondisclosed dual agent." And section 475.011(2) exempts a builder selling its own homes from the licensing chapter only so long as its salespeople are not paid "strictly on a transactional basis", which is why most builder sales staff hold a licence and why the sales center's licensee is the builder's, not yours. The builders say the same in their own words: Lennar, "consultants represent Lennar and not customers"; Taylor Morrison, "an exclusive representative of Taylor Morrison".
Since August 17, 2024, agents who use an MLS must sign a written agreement with a buyer before touring a home, and that agreement must state the agent's compensation as an objective figure and include "a term that prohibits the agent from receiving compensation for brokerage services from any source that exceeds the amount or rate agreed to in the agreement with the buyer", in the National Association of REALTORS' words. On a new home this matters directly: D.R. Horton's Southwest Florida program sheet of August 25, 2026 says it "will pay up to 4% of the final purchase price of the home at closing as a commission to buyer's real estate agent; however, in no event shall the compensation paid by D.R. Horton exceed the amount provided for in the written agreement between agent and their client." The buyer agreement is therefore signed before the first sales-center visit, and it sets the ceiling.
| Builder | The rule, quoted from the builder's own site | Website or online-contact disqualifier | Registration life | Published compensation | Read |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GL Homes | "Broker or one of Broker's Agents must be present during the Buyer's initial visit to the community and must complete a Broker Registration Form at that time." | "If the Buyer registers without identifying a Broker or Broker's Agent, no Broker will be eligible to receive a commission" | "exclusive right to represent the Buyer ... for a period of 90 days" | "generally 3% of the net purchase price" | Realtor Policies, copyright 2026 |
| D.R. Horton | "agent must accompany and register client on their first visit to the D.R. Horton sales office or call or email the D.R. Horton sales agent at the community to pre-register client before their first visit" | "Client must not have previously registered on the D.R. Horton website or communicated with D.R. Horton's sales agent." | Contracts "written and ratified from 1/1/2026 through 12/31/2026 and close no later than 12/31/2026" | "up to 4% of the final purchase price", capped by the buyer agreement | Division sheet, 8/25/2026 |
| Lennar | "the Cooperating Broker must be documented on the first customer interaction with a Lennar employee" | "Booking an appointment on this website does not constitute a realtor registration" | "sixty (60) days", extendable once by sixty days | Not published; "Not all communities offer a broker co-op commission" | Broker Participation Policy, lennar.com legal page |
| Mattamy Homes | "the Cooperating Broker must register a prospective buyer ... before the Buyer: (i) is introduced to the Community via the Internet; (ii) visits the Community; and/or (iii) attends a tour of the Community. Phone registrations will not be accepted." | Introduction "via the Internet" without the broker ends eligibility | "confirm the effective period ... with the New Home Consultant" | Not published | Legal Disclaimers page |
| Neal Communities | "real estate broker must be procuring cause and must be present during prospective buyer's first visit and registration" | A prior sales-office visit or prior registration at the community | "valid for 90 days within that same community" | "up to 3% payable to your office" | For Realtor page, copyright 2026 |
| Taylor Morrison | The community-specific Real Estate Broker Referral Agreement is signed "at the prospective buyer's first visit ... and, in all events, prior to the buyer's execution of a purchase agreement" | Website information "DOES NOT SATISFY" the referral agreement | In the community agreement, not published | Not published | Agent Registration page |
Four of the six builders publish a rule that turns an online first step into a lost representation. D.R. Horton disqualifies a client who has "previously registered on the D.R. Horton website". Mattamy requires the broker's registration before the buyer "is introduced to the Community via the Internet". Lennar says an online appointment is not a registration, and adds that if "the Prospect previously inquired about a community with a Lennar employee without identifying and registering the Cooperating Broker ... neither Cooperating Broker nor its sales associate shall be entitled to receive a commission in connection with the sale of real property in any Lennar community to such Prospect." Taylor Morrison says providing information on its website does not "serve as an introduction or registration of such buyer". GL Homes and Neal tie eligibility to the first visit itself. The practical rule is simple: call your agent before you click.
A registration does not last forever. GL Homes gives the registering broker 90 days of exclusive representation and requires a Broker Participation Agreement within 30 days of a purchase contract; Neal registrations last 90 days per community; Lennar's last 60 days and can be extended once by 60 days if the agent accompanies the buyer to the sales office again before the first period ends. Lennar's policy also says a registration "does not protect Cooperating Broker from another cooperating broker or broker registering the same Prospect", so the agent you choose should be the one who registers you.
GL Homes advertises a "$5,000 BROKER BONUS" on new spec homes at Valencia Harbor and Valencia Ridge, "valid only on new contracts written through November 30, 2026", and requires the broker to accompany the client on the initial visit (read October 28, 2026). It is a payment to the broker, not a buyer incentive, and GL Homes' policy says "Brokers may not refund, rebate, or otherwise reimburse Buyer for any portion of the commission earned." We tell you about it because you should know what a builder pays the agent across the table from it, and because your buyer agreement, not the bonus, sets what your agent may receive.
A Florida buyer of a new one- or two-family home has the right to have deposits up to 10 percent of the purchase price placed in escrow, under section 501.1375, Florida Statutes, and that right can be waived in writing. The waiver is often a line in the builder's contract, so it is the first paragraph to read before you hand over a deposit.
Data updated: October 2026 (2026 Florida Statutes read 28 Oct 2026).
The statute applies to builders and developers who sell 10 or more one- or two-family homes a year statewide. Every builder contract must carry, in conspicuous type, the legend "THE BUYER OF A ONE-FAMILY OR TWO-FAMILY RESIDENTIAL DWELLING UNIT HAS THE RIGHT TO HAVE ALL DEPOSIT FUNDS (UP TO 10 PERCENT OF THE PURCHASE PRICE) DEPOSITED IN AN ESCROW ACCOUNT. THIS RIGHT MAY BE WAIVED, IN WRITING, BY THE BUYER." If you do not waive it, the builder places the funds with a bank, savings and loan, trust company, Florida Bar attorney, licensed broker or title insurer, and withdrawals need both signatures. The builder may still use escrowed funds for construction after buying a surety bond payable to you, or a master bond, and you may be charged your share of the bond premium at closing. A builder who willfully fails to escrow commits a third-degree felony, and failing to escrow within 10 days is prima facie evidence of a violation. The statute speaks to deposits up to 10 percent; it says nothing about amounts above that, so anything over 10 percent is protected only by what the contract says.
Section 501.1375(12) excludes deposits placed in an escrow account required by the Federal Housing Administration or the Department of Veterans Affairs, and deposits made to a licensed real estate broker, which follow Chapter 475 instead. If you default and the builder is not in default, the builder may withdraw escrowed funds after giving you written notice by certified mail at least 72 hours ahead.
A preconstruction condominium falls under section 718.202, which requires the developer to "pay into an escrow account all payments up to 10 percent of the sale price received by the developer from the buyer towards the sale price" until construction is substantially complete. Any downtown condominium tower sold before completion is bought under that section, not 501.1375.
Find the deposit paragraph and the escrow legend, and do not sign a waiver you have not chosen. Ask who holds the deposit and whether a surety bond replaces the escrow. Note the deposit schedule for options and upgrades, which builders often take separately and which may be non-refundable under the contract. D.R. Horton's pages say only that "A good faith earnest deposit is required at contract", so the amount is in the purchase agreement.
A Fort Myers new home can carry three layers on top of the price: a community development district assessment on the tax bill, homeowners' association dues set by a builder-controlled board, and impact and connection fees folded into the price at permit. Which layers apply depends on the community and its tax district, so each one is read from that community's own documents.
Data updated: October 2026 (district assessment schedules and budgets; Florida Statutes; read 28 Oct 2026 unless dated otherwise).
Section 190.048, Florida Statutes, requires every initial sale contract inside a district to carry, "immediately prior to the space reserved in the contract for the signature of the purchaser", in bold type larger than the rest: "THE (Name of District) COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DISTRICT MAY IMPOSE AND LEVY TAXES OR ASSESSMENTS, OR BOTH TAXES AND ASSESSMENTS, ON THIS PROPERTY. THESE TAXES AND ASSESSMENTS PAY THE CONSTRUCTION, OPERATION, AND MAINTENANCE COSTS OF CERTAIN PUBLIC FACILITIES AND SERVICES OF THE DISTRICT AND ARE SET ANNUALLY BY THE GOVERNING BOARD OF THE DISTRICT." Section 190.009 adds that the district must record a disclosure of its public financing in the county's property records, so the debt behind a lot can be read at the Lee County Clerk before a first visit.
Section 190.021 lets a district levy two kinds of assessment: a benefit (debt) assessment that repays the bonds that built the roads, water and drainage, and a maintenance assessment for operations. Both are certified to the Property Appraiser by August 31 and collected by the Tax Collector "in the same manner and at the same time as county taxes". Section 197.3632 defines a non-ad valorem assessment as one "not based upon millage", so neither the homestead exemption nor the Save Our Homes cap reduces it.
The Portico Community Development District's schedule for the November 2026 tax bill sets an operations and maintenance budget of $267,643.00 and these per-lot lines. The district's own total column prints $0.00 on every row, a template artifact, so the total below is our sum of the district's two printed lines.
| Lot class | Units | Operations and maintenance per lot | Series 2020 debt per lot | Total per lot, our sum |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Townhome | 162 | $106.63 | $620.05 | $726.68 |
| Single Family 50 Series | 704 | $193.87 | $729.75 | $923.62 |
| Single Family 60 Series (Series 2020-1) | 306 | $228.77 | $949.13 | $1,177.90 |
| Single Family 60 Series (Series 2020-2) | 132 | $228.77 | $949.13 | $1,177.90 |
| Single Family 70 Series | 104 | $263.67 | $1,168.50 | $1,432.17 |
The district's footnotes, verbatim: "Annual assessment that will appear on November 2026 Lee County property tax bill. Amount shown includes all applicable collection costs and early payment discounts (up to 4% if paid early)." and "Lee County collection costs are $1.84 per parcel / line and are included in the O&M assessment."
The Esplanade Lake Club district's adopted FY2027 budget (adopted June 11, 2026; read in the district's budget file on October 11, 2026) sets operations and maintenance at $1,365.05 per unit. Totals with debt service by product:
| Product | FY2027 total, operations plus debt | Debt portion |
|---|---|---|
| Venetian condominium | $2,091.20 | $434.90 plus $291.25 |
| Twin villa | $2,396.46 | $1,031.41 |
| 50 to 59 foot lot | $2,776.85 | $1,411.80 |
| 60 to 69 foot lot | $2,998.80 | $1,633.75 |
| 70 to 79 foot lot | $3,236.02 | $1,870.97 |
| 80 foot lot and up | $3,321.06 | $1,956.01 |
The worked step-up: the district's operations and maintenance assessment rose by $223.27 (19.6 percent) from FY2025 to FY2027 and by $58.47 (4.5 percent) from FY2026 to FY2027. That puts FY2026 at $1,365.05 minus $58.47, or $1,306.58, and FY2025 at $1,365.05 minus $223.27, or $1,141.78 (our arithmetic on the district's figures). The debt line stays fixed for the life of the bonds unless a lot is paid off; the operations line is reset every year by the board. Paying the November bill early earns the 4 percent discount, which takes a 60 to 69 foot lot's $2,998.80 to $2,878.85.
The Verandah East and West districts' FY2026 budget carried a $629,564 gross on-roll levy ($604,381 net of the early-payment discount), with Verandah East Series 2016 bonds and Verandah West Series 2013 bonds and a final principal payment scheduled for May 1, 2038. Per-home FY2027 figures for Verandah, and any per-unit figure for Timber Creek Southwest, are in each district's FY2027 adopted budget, which we list in the not-verified section rather than estimate.
Section 720.307 gives owners other than the developer at least one board seat once 50 percent of the parcels in all phases are conveyed, and a majority "Three months after 90 percent of the parcels in all phases of the community ... have been conveyed to members other than the developer", or on an earlier event the statute lists. Builders buying lots to build on do not count as owners for this test, and "The developer is entitled to elect at least one member ... as long as the developer holds for sale in the ordinary course of business at least 5 percent of the parcels". A home bought early in a phase is bought under a builder-run board that sets the first budgets. Section 720.401 requires the disclosure summary before you sign, warning in capitals "YOU WILL BE OBLIGATED TO PAY ASSESSMENTS TO THE ASSOCIATION" and that "THE DEVELOPER MAY HAVE THE RIGHT TO AMEND THE RESTRICTIVE COVENANTS WITHOUT THE APPROVAL OF THE ASSOCIATION MEMBERSHIP". If it is not given first, you may cancel within 3 days of receiving it or before closing, a right that "may not be waived by the purchaser". Section 720.3085 lets the association lien a parcel for unpaid assessments. No builder on this page prints an association dues figure.
A single-family home inside the City of Fort Myers carries $16,997.09 in impact and connection fees under the City's schedule for May 4, 2026 to May 3, 2027, including City water, sewer and the meter. In unincorporated Fort Myers the county's impact fees come to $9,881.56 to $10,150.39 by fire district, plus Lee County Utilities capacity fees where it serves.
Data updated: October 2026 (City of Fort Myers schedule for 05-04-26 to 05-03-27; Lee County impact fee schedule; Lee County Utilities capacity fee schedule; all read 28 Oct 2026).
| Line, single family, per unit | Impact fee | Administrative fee | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Roads | $5,247.90 | $157.44 | $5,405.34 |
| Fire | $380.25 | $11.41 | $391.66 |
| EMS | $60.00 | $1.80 | $61.80 |
| Meter (5/8 inch) installation | $150.00 | $0.00 | $150.00 |
| Water | $3,278.00 | $75.39 | $3,353.39 |
| Sewer | $3,435.00 | $79.01 | $3,514.01 |
| Schools | $2,879.10 | $86.37 | $2,965.47 |
| Regional Park | $341.78 | $10.25 | $352.03 |
| Community Park | $780.00 | $23.40 | $803.40 |
| Total, as printed by the City | $16,997.09 |
The City's footnote, verbatim: "Rates are subject to change based on approved changes to Lee County and City codes, ordinances and resolutions." Without the meter, water and sewer lines the sheet sums to $9,979.70 (our sum). The line totals add to $16,997.10 by hand, a one-cent rounding against the City's printed figure. The prior year's City sheet totalled $16,948.43, so the step-up was $48.66, all of it from the fire and EMS amendments. A low-rise multifamily or duplex unit in the City totals $12,446.43.
Lee County's schedule collects road, park and school impact fees "at 52.5% of adopted Base Fee", and "A 3% administrative fee is added to every impact fee assessment". Its fire and EMS amendments were "Adopted: February 3, 2026. First Increase: May 4, 2026", with further increases "Incrementing annually through May 4, 2029". The figures in force on October 28, 2026, for a detached single-family home:
| Line | Base fee | Collected |
|---|---|---|
| Road | $9,996 | $5,248 |
| Community park | $884 | $464 |
| Regional park | $651 | $342 |
| School | $5,484 | $2,879 |
| EMS | $60 (from May 4, 2026) |
| Fire district (roster communities it serves) | Fire fee from May 4, 2026 | Impact fees, our sum | With the 3% administrative fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fort Myers Shores (Valencia Harbor, Hemingway Pointe, Portico, Verandah), Tice (Bentley Crossing, Brighton Pointe) or San Carlos Park (Esplanade Lake Club) | $861.75 | $9,854.75 | $10,150.39 |
| Iona-McGregor (Sandy Key, Tide Marsh) | $704.25 | $9,697.25 | $9,988.17 |
| South Trail (Timber Creek in part, Pratt's Preserve, Addison Square) | $600.75 | $9,593.75 | $9,881.56 |
The common lines (road, both parks, school and EMS) come to $8,993 before the fire fee. The City's fire line of $380.25 is the county's City of Fort Myers fire column from May 4, 2026, which confirms which column is in force today. The fire fee rises each May 4 through the schedule's final step.
Lee County Utilities' schedule raises its capacity fees each May 5 in a "4-Year Capacity Fee Increase Implementation". From May 5, 2026 the water capacity fee is $3,050.00 and the wastewater capacity fee $3,325.00 per equivalent residential unit, $6,375.00 together (our sum), rising to $3,355.00 and $3,657.50 on May 5, 2027. Meter installation and tap-in are now "Actual Cost". Which utility serves each community (Lee County Utilities, the City of Fort Myers, another district or a private utility) is in the builder's contract utility disclosure; we did not confirm it community by community.
Impact and capacity fees are paid at permit, so on a builder's home they are already inside the price. They matter to you in two ways: they explain part of the price gap between the City and the unincorporated communities, and on a build-on-your-lot purchase they are yours to pay. The county's Building Permit Fee Schedule was updated by the Board of County Commissioners on March 17, 2026; its amounts are not on this page.
A new Fort Myers home's property tax depends first on its tax district, because the final 2026 total millage is 16.9702 inside the City of Fort Myers against about 12.8 to 14.6 mills in the unincorporated districts where most new homes are built, and second on the January 1 after the home is finished, when the county first assesses the completed house.
Data updated: October 2026 (Lee County Property Appraiser 2026 final millage book, printed October 9, 2026; Florida Statutes read 28 Oct 2026).
One mill is $1 of tax for every $1,000 of taxable value. The final 2026 gap between City district 090 (16.9702) and Fort Myers Shores district 066 (13.6123) is 3.3579 mills, or $335.79 a year for every $100,000 of taxable value (our arithmetic). These are ad valorem rates only; every non-ad valorem line (district assessments, association dues, solid waste and the City's fire assessment) are separate.
Section 689.261 requires a disclosure that "BUYER SHOULD NOT RELY ON THE SELLER'S CURRENT PROPERTY TAXES AS THE AMOUNT OF PROPERTY TAXES THAT THE BUYER MAY BE OBLIGATED TO PAY IN THE YEAR SUBSEQUENT TO PURCHASE." On a new home the seller's current taxes are often on a vacant lot or a partly built assessment. The first full assessment of the finished home comes on the January 1 after completion, and section 193.155 resets assessed value to just value as of January 1 of the year after a change of ownership. Budget from the finished home's likely assessed value and the district's millage, plus every non-ad valorem line.
The Save Our Homes cap starts only the year after homestead is first granted: section 193.155 says assessed value then changes by no more than the lower of 3 percent or the change in the Consumer Price Index. The home is assessed at just value as of January 1 of the year homestead is first granted, and the cap applies from the following year's reassessment. Portability from a home you are selling is a separate calculation, which we leave to the Property Appraiser's own worksheet.
Builder incentives in Fort Myers are real money, but most are tied to the builder's own lender and title company, carry expiry dates, and are capped by mortgage rules, so the question is never "how big is the incentive" but "what does the same home cost me with and without it." Compare a written quote from the builder's lender against an outside lender before you choose.
Data updated: October 2026 (builders' offer pages read 28 Oct 2026; RESPA, Regulation X and Fannie Mae Selling Guide read 28 Oct 2026).
D.R. Horton's Bentley Crossing and Hemingway Pointe pages advertised a "5.50% 6.030% APR Fixed Rate Conventional Mortgage" with "5% down payment required", for buyers who "contract on or after 08/19/26 and close by 12/15/26", and a "7/6 Adjustable-rate" conventional loan at "5.250% 6.404% APR" for contracts on or after 09/21/26 closing by 11/30/26 (offer pages revised 08/20/26). Its own worked example used a $353,285 price, a $335,621 loan and a $2,365 monthly payment. The builder adds: "Buyer is not required to finance through DHIM to purchase a home; however, buyer must use DHIM to receive the advertised rate", that the rate "may require borrower to pay points", and that "DHIM is an affiliate of D.R. Horton." GL Homes advertised "GET $15,000 IN FREE OPTIONS!" at Valencia Harbor when the buyer uses GL Financial and Nova Title Services. Lennar's terms say closing cost offers "are only available on select Lennar homes", that the buyer "may be required to sign a purchase agreement or close by a certain date", and that an offer "may require financing through seller's affiliate Lennar Mortgage, but use of Lennar Mortgage is not required to purchase a home." Taylor Morrison writes: "You do not need to finance with our Affiliated Lender to purchase a home, but you must use both our suggested Closing Agent and Affiliated Lender for eligibility to certain incentives or other benefits." Every one of these is a builder-wide or community offer as of the date read, not a promise for your home.
RESPA section 8 says "No person shall give and no person shall accept any fee, kickback, or thing of value pursuant to any agreement or understanding ... that business incident to or a part of a real estate settlement service involving a federally related mortgage loan shall be referred to any person." An affiliated lender or title company is lawful as an "affiliated business arrangement" only if the referral comes with a written disclosure and the buyer "is not required to use any particular provider of settlement services". Regulation X, 12 CFR 1024.15, requires that disclosure "on a separate piece of paper no later than the time of each referral", in the format of the Affiliated Business Arrangement Disclosure Statement. Ask for that sheet the day the builder's lender or title company is first named.
A builder's rate offer is either a permanent rate on the note or a temporary buydown. Fannie Mae's Selling Guide allows temporary buydowns where "the rate reduction does not exceed 3%, and the rate increase will not exceed 1% per year", over a buydown period "not greater than 3 years", and requires that "the lender must qualify the borrower based on the note rate without consideration of the bought-down rate." Builder money toward your loan is an "interested party contribution", and on a conventional Fannie Mae loan for a principal residence or second home it is capped at 3 percent of the price when the loan-to-value is over 90 percent, 6 percent from 75.01 to 90 percent and 9 percent at 75 percent or less; anything over the cap "must be deducted from the property's sales price." A buyer putting less than 10 percent down has the smallest room for builder credits.
Get the builder lender's Loan Estimate and an outside lender's Loan Estimate on the same day for the same home, and compare the cash to close and the payment after any buydown ends. Ask whether the incentive can be taken as a price reduction instead, because a lower price also lowers the first full property tax assessment. And read the expiry: D.R. Horton's rate offers close by December 15 and November 30, 2026, and its whole agent program runs on contracts closing by December 31, 2026.
Every new Florida home built for a first owner carries a one-year statutory warranty under section 553.837, Florida Statutes, against construction defects that are a material violation of the Florida Building Code, and most builders add a written 1-2-10 limited warranty on top. The written warranty can replace the statutory one, and many builder warranty books waive implied warranties, so read the book before you sign.
Data updated: October 2026 (2026 Florida Statutes and builders' warranty pages read 28 Oct 2026).
Section 553.837(2), added in 2024: "A builder shall warrant a newly constructed home for all construction defects of equipment, material, or workmanship furnished by the builder or any subcontractor or supplier resulting in a material violation of the Florida Building Code pursuant to this part, for a period of 1 year after the date of original conveyance of title to the initial owner or after the date of initial occupancy of the dwelling, whichever occurs first." Appliances under a manufacturer's warranty are outside it. The builder must remedy covered defects at its own expense, and the one-year warranty follows the home if it is sold within that year. Under subsection (3), a builder's express written warranty supersedes the statute if it is the same or greater in scope and duration and transfers to a new owner for at least the first year. Enforcement "is limited to a private civil cause of action by a purchaser".
| Builder | Written warranty, in the builder's words | Read |
|---|---|---|
| Lennar | "1-2-10 Limited warranty": "1 Year Workmanship", "2 Years Mechanical & Systems", "10 Years Structural" | Lennar warranty page |
| Taylor Morrison | "an assignable Limited Warranty ... a 1-year warranty on workmanship, a 2-year warranty on certain systems, and a limited 10-year warranty on structural elements" | Taylor Morrison FAQs |
| Mattamy Homes | "one year of coverage for workmanship and materials", "two years of coverage on certain mechanical systems" and "a 10-year limited structural warranty"; "no third-party administrator is involved" | Mattamy customer care FAQs |
| Neal Communities | "1 Year Coverage", "2 Year Coverage" for plumbing, electrical and mechanical systems, "10 Year Coverage Structural Warranty" | Neal warranty page |
| D.R. Horton | "Residential Warranty Corporation (RWC) ten-year limited warranty program" and "One-year warranty from D.R. Horton" | Bentley Crossing features sheet, February 24, 2026 |
| GL Homes | Not published on its public site; a warranty phone line and owner portal only | GL Homes site |
| Pulte (Addison Square, closed out) | National book: one year materials and workmanship, two years systems, five years for "certain types of water infiltration and internal leaks", ten years structural | Pulte national warranty book, file dated August 19, 2024 |
D.R. Horton's February 2026 sheet states a one-year builder warranty and a ten-year third-party structural program and does not state a two-year systems tier, so we print none.
The one builder warranty book we could read in full, Pulte's national book, says: "To the fullest extent permitted by law, all warranties regarding your home and any building common element, including, but not limited to, statutory and implied warranties, are hereby disclaimed by us and waived by you. This Limited Warranty is substituted in place of all such warranties." It routes disputes to mediation and then "binding arbitration". That is Pulte's national document, not a Fort Myers contract, but it shows what to look for in any builder's book: the waiver, the dispute clause, and the phrase "except as may be required by law", which is where section 553.837 sits.
Section 553.835 says there is no implied-warranty claim "for damages to offsite improvements", meaning the street, sidewalk, drainage and utilities off your lot, or on it but not directly supporting the home. Its definition keeps shared structural elements of attached homes inside the implied warranty, which matters on paired villas such as Bonavie Cove and on townhomes. Claims in contract, tort or statute, including the condominium warranties of section 718.203, survive.
Section 95.11(3)(b) gives four years to sue over the design, planning or construction of an improvement, running from the certificate of occupancy (or from discovery, for a latent defect), and an outer limit: "In any event, the action must be commenced within 7 years after the date the authority having jurisdiction issues a temporary certificate of occupancy, a certificate of occupancy, or a certificate of completion". Warranty repairs do not extend that period once a certificate has issued. "If a newly constructed single-dwelling residential building is used as a model home, the time begins to run from the date that a deed is recorded first transferring title to another party", which matters if you buy a builder's model.
Before suing over a construction defect, Chapter 558 requires written notice of claim "at least 60 days before filing any action" (120 days for an association of more than 20 parcels). The builder may inspect within 30 days and must respond within 45 days with an offer to repair, an offer to pay, a combination, a dispute or an insurer referral. The notice "shall not toll any statute of repose period". Section 558.005 lets the parties opt out of the chapter in writing, so read the dispute section of the contract. Florida also keeps a Homeowners' Construction Recovery Fund under section 489.140 for claims against licensed contractors; its eligibility rules are in section 489.141.
A new condominium unit carries the developer's implied warranty under section 718.203: three years from completion of the building for the unit, and for the roof, structure and building systems three years from completion or one year after owners take control of the association, "whichever occurs last, but in no event more than 5 years."
Yes. The county's or the City's building inspections check code compliance for the permit, and the builder's own walk-throughs check its punch list; neither is a person working for you. An independent inspector at the pre-drywall stage and before closing, plus a walk before the one-year warranty ends, catches what is cheapest to fix while the builder is still obliged to fix it.
Data updated: October 2026 (builders' warranty pages and Florida Statutes read 28 Oct 2026).
The inspections that matter on a new Fort Myers home fall at four points: after framing and before insulation and drywall, when the structure, roof connections, windows, plumbing and electrical rough-in are still visible; before the final walk-through and closing; at about 11 months, before the one-year coverage ends; and before the second-year systems coverage ends. Neal Communities' own warranty page lists "1 Month", "6 Month" and "11 Month" warranty service requests, which shows the builder's own schedule for the same idea.
Whether you may bring your own inspector, at which stages and with what notice is a contract term. Ask the builder to confirm it in writing before you sign, together with the warranty book. Mattamy's FAQ is a reminder of why timing matters: "only work performed by Mattamy or its subcontractors is covered - modifications or additions made after closing are not warranted by Mattamy."
The one-year warranty under section 553.837 covers defects that are a material violation of the Florida Building Code. A defect that is poor workmanship but not a code violation falls to the builder's written warranty and its performance standards, which is another reason to have your own inspector document conditions before closing.
A build-to-order home is one you choose before it is built; a spec or quick move-in home is one the builder started or finished before it had a buyer. Fort Myers builders sell both, and Lennar's and Mattamy's terms each commit them to complete your home within two years of signing unless the purchase agreement says otherwise.
Data updated: October 2026 (builders' pages and terms read 28 Oct 2026).
Lennar: "Unless otherwise noted in your purchase agreement, Lennar is required to complete, and does agree to complete, the construction of your home within a period of two (2) years from the date you sign your purchase agreement." Mattamy uses the same words for its Home Purchase Agreement. That is an outside limit, not a schedule; the estimated completion for your home is a separate line in the contract, and it is the date your sale, your rate lock and your move have to fit.
Builders publish finished and under-construction homes separately from their plans. On October 28, 2026 Mattamy showed quick move-in homes at Bonavie Cove, Lennar showed "5 homes available" at Sandy Key, and D.R. Horton's division sheet listed available homes at Bentley Crossing and Hemingway Pointe with "Pricing and availability effective 8/25/2026." A quick move-in home trades choice of finishes for a known closing date, and the builder has already paid its carrying cost, which is often where the negotiating room is. GL Homes' broker bonus applies only to "new spec homes".
A build-to-order contract fixes the plan, the lot and a base price, then adds the lot premium and the option selections at the design center. The deposit schedule for options is often separate from the main deposit. Budget the lot premium and options from the start: the recorded medians in the builders section above show how far they move a final price.
A new Fort Myers home permitted today is built to the Florida Building Code, 8th Edition (2023), and one permitted after December 31, 2026 to the 9th Edition (2026). In a flood hazard area its lowest floor must sit at least at the base flood elevation plus 1 foot, in the City and in unincorporated Lee County alike.
Data updated: October 2026 (Florida Building Commission; ICC; Lee County Ordinance 22-30; read 28 Oct 2026).
"The Effective Date for the Florida Building Code, 8th Edition (2023), is December 31, 2023," says the Florida Building Commission, and the International Code Council lists the 9th Edition (2026) with an effective date of December 31, 2026. The edition follows the permit application date, so a home whose permit is applied for in October 2026 is built to the 8th Edition.
Florida Building Code, Residential (2023), section R322.2.1: "Buildings and structures in flood hazard areas not including flood hazard areas designated as Coastal A Zones, shall have the lowest floors elevated to or above the base flood elevation plus 1 foot (305 mm), or the design flood elevation, whichever is higher." In AO zones the floor sits at the depth number plus 1 foot, or at least 3 feet if no depth number is given. The City of Fort Myers defines freeboard as "the additional height that adds a factor of safety above the Base Flood Elevation (BFE) for purposes of floodplain management"; whether the City requires more than the code's 1 foot is in its floodplain chapter, which we did not read.
Lee County's Ordinance 22-30, adopted November 8, 2022, adopted the Flood Insurance Study effective November 17, 2022 and restored the code's substantial-improvement rule with a five-year cumulative period: improvements "taking place during a five-year period, the cumulative cost of which equals or exceeds 50 percent of the market value of the building" trigger full flood compliance. That rule matters more to a resale buyer planning a major renovation than to a new-home buyer. Unincorporated Lee County holds a Community Rating System Class 5 rating (25 percent flood insurance discount), and the City of Fort Myers a Class 6 (20 percent) from October 1, 2025, as WGCU reported. FEMA's map service center also carries a preliminary Lee County flood map index with an issue date of July 25, 2024; we did not confirm its adoption status, so ask the county's floodplain staff in writing whether a lot's zone changes on it before you buy.
Ask the builder for the elevation certificate for your lot once the slab is set, and give it to your insurance agent before you bind a flood policy. On a new home in a flood zone it is the document that prices the policy.
The City of Fort Myers authorized 304 single-family units in 2025 and 231 in the first nine months of 2026, out of 1,849 and 1,089 total units, according to the U.S. Census Bureau's Building Permits Survey. Lee County as a whole authorized 9,962 single-family units in 2025, most of them outside any city.
Data updated: October 2026 (U.S. Census Bureau Building Permits Survey place and county files through September 2026, retrieved 28 Oct 2026).
| Period | Months reported | Single-family units | Two-unit | Five or more units (buildings) | All units | Single-family construction value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 12 | 222 | 24 | 1,201 (24) | 1,447 | $61,950,806 |
| 2024 | 12 | 229 | 34 | 1,458 (17) | 1,721 | $55,320,203 |
| 2025 | 12 | 304 | 12 | 1,533 (28) | 1,849 | $64,908,037 |
| 2026, January to September | 9 | 231 | 8 | 850 (14) | 1,089 | $43,975,618 |
The City reported every month in every period, so its figures carry no imputation. The 2025 single-family construction value works out to $213,513 per unit (our division), which is the construction cost declared on the permit, not a sale price. A permit is an authorization, not a completion or a sale, and nine months is not a year, so the 2026 row is never read beside a full year as a trend.
| Period | Lee County single-family units | Lee County all units | Unincorporated Lee single-family units | Unincorporated Lee all units |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 8,654 | 13,556 | ||
| 2024 | 10,554 | 15,411 | ||
| 2025 | 9,962 | 13,547 | 7,226 | 8,336 |
| 2026, January to September | 5,918 | 8,643 | 4,058 | 5,309 |
Unincorporated Lee County includes Lehigh Acres, San Carlos Park and the other areas removed from this page's sales figures, so its permits are context, not a Fort Myers count. All-unit totals are our sums of the survey's columns.
Choose new construction in Fort Myers when you want a home built to the current code with a warranty and can accept a builder-run association, a district assessment and a location mostly east of Interstate 75; choose resale when location, lot, price or an established community matters more. The county record shows the price gap plainly: an estimated $433,554 builder median against $330,000 for resales.
Data updated: October 2026 (Lee County recorded sales through September 25, 2026; ACS 2020 to 2024 5-year estimates; retrieved 28 Oct 2026).
Across the Fort Myers scope in the 12 months to September 25, 2026, the estimated builder first sales closed at a median of $433,554 and resales at $330,000. In ZIP code 33905, where most new homes are, builder first sales closed at a median of $404,917 against $315,000 for that ZIP code's resales. In single-family homes only, the estimated builder median was $429,000 against $432,500 for all single-family sales. A resale median includes older condominiums and smaller homes, so compare like with like: the same ZIP code, the same type, the same size.
The American Community Survey (2020 to 2024 5-year estimates) counts 48,984 housing units in the City of Fort Myers, with a median year built of 2001. 13,295 of them (27.1 percent) were built in 2010 or later, 26,285 (53.7 percent) in 2000 or later, and 11,901 (24.3 percent) before 1980. Lee County's median year built is 1997. The survey covers the City only, not the unincorporated Fort Myers addresses where most new construction is.
| Year structure built | City of Fort Myers units | Lee County units |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 or later | 2,186 | 15,770 |
| 2010 to 2019 | 11,109 | 53,521 |
| 2000 to 2009 | 12,990 | 129,170 |
| 1990 to 1999 | 4,362 | 69,173 |
| 1980 to 1989 | 6,436 | 86,636 |
| 1970 to 1979 | 4,532 | 55,046 |
| 1960 to 1969 | 3,187 | 20,239 |
| 1950 to 1959 | 2,311 | 7,464 |
| 1940 to 1949 | 615 | 1,880 |
| 1939 or earlier | 1,256 | 2,295 |
| Median year built | 2001 | 1997 |
| Question | New construction in Fort Myers | Resale in Fort Myers |
|---|---|---|
| Recorded median, 12 months to September 25, 2026 | $433,554 (builder first sales, estimate) | $330,000 |
| Where the homes are | Mostly unincorporated, concentrated in ZIP code 33905 and the 33913 and 33908 corridors | Every ZIP code, including 33919, 33907 and 33912, where the county recorded almost no builder sales |
| Building code and flood elevation | Current code; lowest floor at base flood elevation plus 1 foot in a flood zone | The code of its permit year; check the elevation certificate |
| Warranty | Statutory one-year warranty plus the builder's written 1-2-10 | None from a builder unless still inside its term and transferable |
| Deposit protection | Section 501.1375 escrow up to 10 percent, waivable in writing | Escrow with a broker, attorney or title company under the resale contract |
| Association control | Builder-run board until the section 720.307 turnover thresholds | Owner-run board in most established communities |
| District assessment | Common in master-planned communities (Portico, Esplanade Lake Club, Verandah, Timber Creek) | Same where the community has a district; the debt line may already be partly repaid |
| First-year tax | Reset to the finished home's value on the January 1 after completion | Reset to just value on the January 1 after purchase |
| Negotiation | Incentives, options and closing costs, usually tied to the builder's lender | Price, repairs and credits with an owner |
| Timing | Two-year outside completion limit; estimated date in the contract | The contract's closing date |
| Your agent's pay | Set by your buyer agreement; the builder pays only if you register first | Set by your buyer agreement |
New construction fits a buyer who wants to choose the plan and finishes, wants the newest code and a warranty, is comfortable east of Interstate 75 or in the south Fort Myers corridors where the builders are, and has a timeline that can absorb an estimated completion date. It fits best when the buyer registers an agent first and compares the builder's lender against an outside one.
Resale fits a buyer who needs a particular location or lot, such as the river districts or the older golf communities, a closing on a fixed date, or a lower price for the space. It also fits a buyer who would rather negotiate with an owner than with a builder's contract. Our guide to buying a home in Fort Myers covers that side, and our Fort Myers real estate market report carries the wider market figures.
We represent Fort Myers new-construction buyers from before the first sales-center visit to the warranty walk a year after closing. This is the checklist we actually run, in order, at every builder, and it starts before you click any builder's website, because that is where the representation rules begin.
We sign the buyer agreement, so its compensation term sets the ceiling the builder can pay. We read the community's tax district on the county roll and pull its fee lines, district budget and millage. We pull the county's recorded builder first sales for the community, so you know what homes there actually closed for. And we register you in the way that builder's own policy requires: in person at the first visit for GL Homes, Neal and Taylor Morrison, before any online contact for Mattamy, at the first contact of any kind for Lennar, and by accompanying you or pre-registering by email for D.R. Horton.
We come to the first visit. We ask for the purchase agreement, the warranty book, the 720.401 disclosure summary, the district's disclosure where there is one, the Affiliated Business Arrangement Disclosure Statement and the current price and incentive sheet with its expiry date, all in writing.
We read the deposit and escrow paragraph, the completion clause, the dispute and Chapter 558 sections, the inspection-access terms and the option deposit schedule. We compare the builder lender's Loan Estimate against an outside lender's. Then we negotiate the options, the incentives and the closing date as hard as a resale.
We track the estimated completion date against your sale and your rate lock, attend the pre-drywall and final inspections with your inspector, check the elevation certificate, and walk the home before closing. At about 11 months we walk it again so the warranty requests go in before the first year ends.
Most new-construction buyers in Southwest Florida own a home they will sell to fund the new one, and the two timelines have to meet: a builder's estimated completion date on one side and your buyer's closing date on the other. Start with an honest value of the home you own, then set the builder's contract and the sale around it.
If you own a home to sell first, get a Fort Myers home valuation before your first builder visit, so the budget for the new home is set from a real number. When you are ready to list, our guide to selling a home in Fort Myers sets out how we price and market it. For a home outside Fort Myers, start from our Southwest Florida home valuation page.
A build-to-order home can take months; a quick move-in home can close in weeks. We match the listing date to the builder's estimated completion, write the sale with the room you need, and keep the rate lock, the deposit schedule and the option deadlines on one calendar.
To see Fort Myers homes for sale right now, including builders' finished homes, browse Domain Realty Group's Fort Myers listings. Builders list their quick move-in homes on their own sites, and this page prints starting prices with the date read rather than a live list, because prices and availability change weekly.
Active new-construction inventory in Fort Myers from the MLS: Information not available at time of publishing (checked 2026-10-28).
Builders change prices often, so a price list on this page would be wrong within days. The tables above show each builder's starting price with the date we read it and the builder's own words. Send us the communities and builders on your list and we will send back the current price sheets, the county's recorded builder sales for each community and the fee lines for its tax district.
A Fort Myers new construction consultation is a short meeting or call before you visit any sales center, where we read each builder's registration rule with you, check each community's tax district, fees and district assessments, and set out what we would negotiate. There is no charge and no obligation, and it should happen before your first builder website form.
A shortlist of builders and communities that fit your budget once the district assessment, the association dues, the fees and the taxes are counted; each builder's current registration rule in writing; the county's recorded builder first sales for the communities you are considering; and a plan for your first visits. If you are also selling, a valuation and a timeline.
Use the consultation form on this page under the heading "Start Your Fort Myers New Construction Consultation", read how we represent buyers in Southwest Florida, or call Marc at (239) 287-5873 or Jesse direct at (239) 898-6072. Call before you click any builder's inquiry form. You will be working with Top 1% Real Estate Agents Nationally Since 2008, and the first conversation costs nothing.
Jesse McGreevy and Marc Comisar are top-reviewed Southwest Florida buyer's agents, and the quotes below are genuine five-star reviews from clients we represented, reproduced word for word, each labelled with the review site where the client posted it. We chose them because each one is about the part of a new-home purchase this page covers: the builder, the community and the lot.
★★★★★ "Marc has been a great help in securing a great price for our home during its build phase. Negotiated a much better deal from the builder." Verified Google review
★★★★★ "Marc was terrific to work with. His knowledge of the area, community and builder were excellent. He and his staff were well organized and made the process easy. I highly recommend Marc and his team." Verified Zillow review
★★★★★ "Marc did a great job for us. He listened to our needs and was great throughout the process! He ensured we knew all of our options and informed us of the area, both positives and negatives. Surprisingly he was also knowledgeable about layouts of new homes when we bought our lot. Thank you Marc." Verified Zillow review
These are questions a Fort Myers new-construction buyer will ask that no primary record we could read answered on October 28, 2026. We name each gap and the document that closes it, rather than print a number from a sales sheet or an estimate of our own.
These are the questions Fort Myers new-construction buyers ask most, gathered from search engines' own question boxes and suggestions, each answered in a single paragraph from the same sources as the rest of this page. Where an answer depends on a builder's current offer, it carries the date we read it.
On October 28, 2026 builders were actively selling at GL Homes' Valencia Harbor (55+), D.R. Horton's Bentley Crossing and Hemingway Pointe, Lennar's Sandy Key, Mattamy Homes' Bonavie Cove and SobelCo's Parkway Preserve, with Neal Communities selling inventory homes at Verandah. Lennar's Orange River Townhomes and Daniels Creek were coming soon, and Esplanade Lake Club, Portico, Timber Creek and Pratt's Preserve were sold out or closed out.
Two instruments answer it. Builders' own starting prices, read on October 28, 2026, ran from D.R. Horton's "From $299,999" at Bentley Crossing to Lennar's "$689,999" top plan at Sandy Key. The county recorded a median of $433,554 for the estimated 526 builder first sales under a Fort Myers address in the 12 months to September 25, 2026, ranging by ZIP code from $295,000 in 33916 to $807,370 in 33913. A starting price excludes the lot premium and options.
The builders with a Fort Myers community selling or closing on October 28, 2026 were GL Homes, D.R. Horton, Lennar, Mattamy Homes, SobelCo, Neal Communities and Taylor Morrison, the last with Esplanade Lake Club sold out. Toll Brothers, Pulte, KB Home and Meritage Homes showed no community with a Fort Myers city address on their own pages that day, and LGI Homes' Mirror Lakes is Lehigh Acres by tax district.
GL Homes markets Valencia Harbor as "Fort Myers' Finest 55+", and it carried an estimated 164 builder first sales in the 12 months to September 25, 2026, the most of any community on this page. Age-restricted status is a legal designation set in each community's recorded documents, so confirm it in the declaration before you sign.
No, Florida law does not require one, and every builder FAQ we read says so. But the builder's salesperson works for the builder: Lennar writes that "consultants represent Lennar and not customers". Your own agent owes you loyalty and confidentiality as a single agent under section 475.278, and every builder on this page decides at your first contact whether that agent can ever be paid by the builder.
The builder usually pays your agent at closing, if its policy allows and you registered your agent correctly. D.R. Horton's Southwest Florida sheet says "up to 4% of the final purchase price", GL Homes "generally 3% of the net purchase price" and Neal "up to 3%", while Lennar notes "Not all communities offer a broker co-op commission". Since August 17, 2024 your own written buyer agreement sets the ceiling on what your agent may receive from any source.
Usually not. GL Homes allows a broker to complete its form "within 2 days" only if you named the broker on the traffic registration form at your first visit; Neal and Taylor Morrison may refuse a registration after a prior sales-office visit; Lennar bars commission "in any Lennar community" after an unregistered inquiry. Bring your agent to the first visit.
For several builders it does the damage of one. D.R. Horton requires that the "Client must not have previously registered on the D.R. Horton website", Mattamy requires the broker to register you before you are "introduced to the Community via the Internet", and Lennar and Mattamy both say an online appointment "does not constitute a realtor registration". Call your agent before you click a builder's form.
It depends on the builder. GL Homes gives 90 days of exclusive representation from the broker registration form, Neal 90 days within the same community, and Lennar 60 days, extendable once by 60 days if your agent accompanies you to the sales office again in time. D.R. Horton's 2026 program covers contracts written and closed in calendar 2026, and Mattamy says to confirm the period with its New Home Consultant.
Yes, though the levers differ from a resale. Builders negotiate most often on options, lot premiums, closing costs and rate incentives rather than the base price, and quick move-in homes the builder has already carried usually have the most room. The county's recorded builder first sales for the community are the benchmark: at Valencia Harbor the builder median was $486,163 against an advertised "From the mid $300s".
They are credits, options or rate offers, usually tied to the builder's affiliated lender and title company and to an expiry date. D.R. Horton advertised a "5.50% 6.030% APR Fixed Rate Conventional Mortgage" for contracts from 08/19/26 closing by 12/15/26, and GL Homes "GET $15,000 IN FREE OPTIONS!" with its lender and title company. Whether one is worth it depends on the same home's cost with an outside lender, so compare two Loan Estimates.
No. RESPA forbids requiring a buyer to use a particular settlement provider in an affiliated arrangement, and the builders say so: D.R. Horton, "Buyer is not required to finance through DHIM to purchase a home; however, buyer must use DHIM to receive the advertised rate"; Lennar, "use of Lennar Mortgage is not required to purchase a home". What you give up by going outside is the incentive tied to the affiliate.
A temporary buydown lowers the rate you pay for the first years of the loan, funded by someone else, often the builder. Fannie Mae allows one where "the rate reduction does not exceed 3%, and the rate increase will not exceed 1% per year", over no more than 3 years, and the lender "must qualify the borrower based on the note rate without consideration of the bought-down rate". It is not the same as a permanent rate on the note.
A CDD fee is a community development district assessment on your property tax bill, under Chapter 190, Florida Statutes. It has two parts: a debt assessment that repays the bonds that built the community's roads, water and drainage, and an operations and maintenance assessment. At Portico the FY 2026/2027 lines for a 50-foot lot are $193.87 and $729.75, $923.62 in all (our sum of the district's two lines).
A community development district is a unit of local government that borrows to build public infrastructure and collects its assessments on the county tax bill; a homeowners' association is a private corporation that runs common areas and amenities under recorded covenants and bills dues directly. A Fort Myers master-planned community such as Verandah or Esplanade Lake Club can have both. A district assessment is not based on millage, so the homestead exemption does not reduce it.
The debt part ends when the bonds are repaid or when a lot's share is paid off, which some buyers do at closing: the Esplanade Lake Club district's FY2022 audit recorded $1,373,261 in prepaid assessments. The Verandah districts' schedule shows a final principal payment on May 1, 2038. The operations and maintenance part continues for as long as the district maintains its facilities.
The operations and maintenance part can, because the board resets it every year. At Esplanade Lake Club it rose $223.27 (19.6 percent) from FY2025 to FY2027, to $1,365.05 per unit. The debt part is set by the bond schedule and normally stays level. The statutory contract box says the assessments "ARE SET ANNUALLY BY THE GOVERNING BOARD OF THE DISTRICT".
No builder on this page prints an association dues figure. Mattamy says Bonavie Cove has "Low HOA fees", Parkway Preserve asks buyers to speak with a sales representative, and D.R. Horton lists "HOA" as an amenity. The figure is in each association's adopted budget and the section 720.401 disclosure summary, which the builder must give you before you sign.
Mattamy Homes says Bonavie Cove has "Low HOA fees and no CDD fees" (read October 28, 2026). It is one of two selling communities inside the City of Fort Myers tax district, so it pays the City's millage and the City's impact and connection fees.
Inside the City of Fort Myers a single-family home carries $16,997.09 in impact and connection fees under the City's schedule for May 4, 2026 to May 3, 2027, including City water, sewer and the meter. In unincorporated Fort Myers the county's impact fees with the 3 percent administrative fee come to $9,881.56 to $10,150.39 by fire district, plus Lee County Utilities capacity fees of $3,050 water and $3,325 wastewater where it serves. On a builder's home they are inside the price.
Usually not. Of the builder communities selling or closing on October 28, 2026, only Bonavie Cove and Parkway Preserve sit in City of Fort Myers tax districts; the rest are unincorporated Lee County. The county parcel roll's tax-district code, not the ZIP code, decides it, and our Fort Myers area guide covers the City itself.
Because a ZIP code is a postal route, not a government. LGI Homes lists Mirror Lakes at "Fort Myers, FL 33913", but every one of its 1,222 parcels sits in the Lehigh Acres fire and lighting district on the county roll, so it is a Lehigh Acres community with a Fort Myers mailing address. Our Mirror Lakes community page covers it.
The county recorded an estimated 734 builder first sales under a Fort Myers address in calendar 2025 and 526 in the 12 months to September 25, 2026, down from about 1,700 a year in 2019 to 2021. Those are estimates from the county's recorded, DOR-qualified sales inside the tax-district scope on this page.
Builders sell most new homes from their own sales centers, and a builder's direct sale has no listing agent who would need to enter it in the MLS, so an MLS count can miss part of the market. The county records every qualified sale at the deed, which is why this page counts from the county record and labels its builder split an estimate.
ZIP code 33905, east of Interstate 75 along State Road 80 and Buckingham Road. It carried an estimated 325 of the 526 builder first sales in the 12 months to September 25, 2026, and 38.2 percent of its own home sales were builder first sales, led by Valencia Harbor, Portico, Bentley Crossing, Brighton Pointe, Heritage Preserve and Hemingway Pointe.
Under section 501.1375, a buyer of a new one- or two-family home has the right to have deposits up to 10 percent of the price placed in escrow, and the right "MAY BE WAIVED, IN WRITING, BY THE BUYER." A builder may use escrowed funds for construction after posting a surety bond payable to you. A preconstruction condominium follows section 718.202 instead.
Section 553.837 requires a one-year builder warranty against construction defects that are a material violation of the Florida Building Code, running from the first conveyance of title or first occupancy, whichever comes first. Most builders add a written warranty: Lennar, Taylor Morrison, Mattamy and Neal publish 1-year, 2-year and 10-year tiers, and D.R. Horton a one-year warranty plus a ten-year Residential Warranty Corporation program.
It is a builder's written limited warranty: one year on workmanship and materials, two years on plumbing, electrical and mechanical systems, and ten years on structural elements. Lennar describes its program as "1 Year Workmanship", "2 Years Mechanical & Systems" and "10 Years Structural". It is the builder's promise on top of the statutory one-year warranty, with its own exclusions and performance standards.
Yes, under section 553.837(3), if the builder's express written warranty is the same or greater in scope and duration and transfers to a new owner for at least the first year. Many builder books also waive implied warranties: Pulte's national book says statutory and implied warranties "are hereby disclaimed by us and waived by you", "except as may be required by law". Read the book before you sign.
Section 95.11(3)(b) gives four years, running from the certificate of occupancy or, for a latent defect, from when it was or should have been discovered, with an outer limit of 7 years after the certificate of occupancy. Warranty repairs do not extend that period, and Chapter 558 notice must come first.
It is the written notice of claim a homeowner must serve on the builder at least 60 days before suing over a construction defect, under section 558.004. The builder may inspect within 30 days and must respond within 45 days with an offer to repair, pay, both, a dispute or an insurer referral. A builder's contract can opt out of the chapter in writing under section 558.005.
Yes. The county's or City's inspections check code compliance for the permit, and the builder's walk-throughs check its punch list; an independent inspector before insulation and drywall sees the framing, roof connections, windows and rough plumbing and electrical while they are still visible. Confirm in writing before you sign that the contract lets your inspector in, and when.
An independent inspector looks at what drywall will hide: framing and fastening, roof-to-wall connections, window and door installation and flashing, rough plumbing, electrical and air conditioning runs, and any visible water intrusion. The written report goes to the builder while the walls are open, which is when a fix is cheapest.
A spec or quick move-in home is one the builder started or finished before it had a buyer, so the plan and finishes are set and the closing date is near. A build-to-order home is one you choose on a lot before construction, with the design-center options you pick. On October 28, 2026 Mattamy showed quick move-in homes at Bonavie Cove and Lennar "5 homes available" at Sandy Key.
Lennar's and Mattamy's terms each say the builder "is required to complete, and does agree to complete, the construction of your home within a period of two (2) years" from signing, unless the purchase agreement says otherwise. That is an outside limit; your estimated completion date is a separate line in the contract.
It is the extra a builder charges for a particular homesite over the base price, for a lake view, a larger lot or a preserve behind it. It is not in the "from" price. GL Homes' broker commission, for one, is figured on "base purchase price of the home plus lot premium, not including any options", which shows how builders separate the three.
It depends on the tax district. The final 2026 total millage is 16.9702 in City of Fort Myers district 090 and 12.8482 to 14.6123 in the unincorporated districts on this page, before district assessments and other non-ad valorem lines. A gap of 3.3579 mills between district 090 and Fort Myers Shores district 066 is $335.79 a year for every $100,000 of taxable value (our arithmetic).
Because it is often figured on a vacant lot or a partly built assessment. Florida's property tax disclosure warns buyers not to rely on the seller's current taxes, and the finished home is first assessed on the January 1 after completion. Budget from the finished home's value, the district's millage and every non-ad valorem line.
In a flood hazard area other than a Coastal A Zone, the Florida Building Code, Residential (2023), section R322.2.1 requires the lowest floor at or above the base flood elevation plus 1 foot, or the design flood elevation if higher. That applies in the City and in unincorporated Lee County; ask the builder for the elevation certificate for your lot.
A home whose permit is applied for before December 31, 2026 is built to the Florida Building Code, 8th Edition (2023), in effect since December 31, 2023. The 9th Edition (2026) takes effect on December 31, 2026, so a later permit falls under it.
Taylor Morrison's page reads "SOLD OUT", so it is not taking new contracts. The county still recorded an estimated 37 builder first sales in its Plat Six in 2026 through September 25, as contracts already signed closed. Anyone buying there now buys a resale, covered on our Esplanade Lake Club community page.
No. Lennar's Portico page redirects to its division page. The county recorded 27 builder first sales there in 2026 through September 25, the tail of contracts already written, and 17 lots were still vacant on the roll.
Lennar's Orange River Townhomes, off Palm Beach Boulevard, was an interest list on October 28, 2026, and its Daniels Creek, at State Road 82 and Daniels Parkway, listed patio homes, manor homes and townhomes as coming soon by appointment. Neither had a current price or a platted parcel on the county roll.
Buy new for the current code, a warranty and your own finishes, accepting a builder-run association, a likely district assessment and a location mostly east of Interstate 75; buy resale for location, lot, a fixed closing date or a lower price. The county's estimated builder median was $433,554 against $330,000 for resales in the 12 months to September 25, 2026.
Get a value on the home you own before your first builder visit, then match its listing to the builder's estimated completion date. Start with a Fort Myers home valuation, and keep the rate lock, the deposit schedule and the option deadlines on one calendar with the sale.
The City of Fort Myers' single-family permits in 2025 declared an average construction value of $213,513 per unit (our division of the Census Bureau's $64,908,037 across 304 units). That is the construction cost declared on the permit, not a price, and it excludes the lot, impact fees, the builder's margin and options. A builder's contract is the only reliable figure for a specific home.
Yes, with a building permit from the City or Lee County, depending on the lot's tax district. You then pay the impact and capacity fees yourself: $16,997.09 for a single-family home inside the City under its current schedule, or the county's $9,881.56 to $10,150.39 plus any Lee County Utilities capacity fees outside it.
Every document below is hosted by the organization that issued it. We link to the source rather than re-host it, so you always read the current version.
| Document | Issuer | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| City of Fort Myers Impact Fee Schedule for 05-04-26 to 05-03-27 | City of Fort Myers | Every impact and connection fee for a new home inside the City |
| Miscellaneous and Capacity Fee Schedule | Lee County Utilities | Water and wastewater capacity fees by year through 2028 |
| Portico CDD FY 2026-2027 Assessment Schedule | Portico Community Development District | Per-lot debt and maintenance assessments |
| Esplanade Lake Club CDD adopted FY2027 budget | Esplanade Lake Club Community Development District | Assessments by product type |
| Esplanade Lake Club CDD agenda package, July 9, 2026 | Esplanade Lake Club Community Development District | Budget hearing minutes and bonds payable |
| Esplanade Lake Club CDD FY2022 audit | Florida Auditor General e-file | Assessment history and prepaid assessments |
| Verandah East and West CDDs FY2026 budget | Verandah East and West Community Development Districts | District revenues, bonds and off-roll units |
| Hammock Creek Stormwater Flooding Summary, April 30, 2026 | Verandah East and West Community Development Districts | Read before choosing a lot near the creek |
| Timber Creek Southwest CDD landowners' meeting agenda, November 3, 2026 | Timber Creek Southwest Community Development District | Which board seats are still landowner-elected |
| D.R. Horton Southwest Florida Available Homes, August 25, 2026 | D.R. Horton | Available homes and the 2026 agent registration rule |
| D.R. Horton Bentley Crossing Express Series features, February 24, 2026 | D.R. Horton | The builder's warranty lines |
| Pulte National Transferable New Home Limited Warranty | Pulte | A full builder warranty book with its implied-warranty waiver |
| Lee County Ordinance 22-30, floodplain regulations | Lee County Board of County Commissioners | The 2022 flood maps and the substantial-improvement rule |
| 2026 Taxing District Millage Book, final, printed October 9, 2026 | Lee County Property Appraiser | Final 2026 millage by tax district |
| Quick Guide for Floodplain Management | Florida Division of Emergency Management | Freeboard and elevation basics |
Every source below was read on October 28, 2026 unless another date is shown. The county record is cited in words, as Lee County recorded sales through September 25, 2026 and the county roll of October 2026 (the Property Appraiser's build of October 1, 2026), with the Property Appraiser's property search and tax roll downloads as its public door. Builders are cited only for their own communities and policies. No figure on this page comes from an MLS.
By Jesse McGreevy and Marc Comisar. For this page we tracked 5,729 recorded home sales under a Fort Myers address in the 12 months to September 25, 2026, read the tax district of every parcel in every community named, and read each builder's own Fort Myers pages and policies on October 28, 2026, along with the City's and the county's fee schedules, the district budgets and the 2026 Florida Statutes, so the figures here come from public records and the builders' own documents rather than estimates from a sales center. Updated October 2026.
McGreevy and Comisar is the flagship brand of Domain Realty Group, the #1 real estate team in Southwest Florida since 2012, with $2.5 Billion in cumulative production and more than 4,000 transactions across Lee, Collier and Charlotte County. Jesse McGreevy and Marc Comisar have personally sold over $900 million in Southwest Florida real estate, hold the Top 1% Real Estate Agents Nationally Since 2008 distinction, are the #5 real estate team in Florida (RealTrends 2026), and have been recognized with the Gulfshore Life Five Star award for 21 consecutive years. Jesse co-founded the brokerage in 2015 and has been selling in this market since October 2004.
Jesse McGreevy direct: (239) 898-6072. Marc Comisar direct: (239) 287-5873. Email: [email protected]. Office: 24031 S Tamiami Trl #101, Bonita Springs, FL 34134. Fort Myers office: 8290 College Parkway, Unit 201, Fort Myers, FL 33919.
More on the team at about McGreevy and Comisar, or reach us through our contact page for Southwest Florida buyers and sellers. McGreevy and Comisar lead Domain Realty Group, a full-service Southwest Florida real estate team. The area guide for this page is our Fort Myers area guide, and the county hub is our Lee County guide. Buying new elsewhere in Lee County? Our Cape Coral new construction guide, Estero new construction guide and Bonita Springs new construction guide use the same method, as does our Punta Gorda new construction guide in Charlotte County.
Send us the builders and communities on your list and we will send back each builder's current registration rule, the community's tax district and fee lines, its district budget and the county's recorded builder sales, with the source document behind every figure. Call Marc at (239) 287-5873 before your first builder visit, or call Jesse direct at (239) 898-6072. You are working with Top 1% Real Estate Agents Nationally Since 2008, and there is no obligation.
Updated October 2026. This page is general information about buying a new-construction home in and around Fort Myers, Florida. It is not legal, tax or insurance advice, and it is not an offer of representation. Builder prices and incentives change weekly, statutory figures change annually and market figures change often. Jesse McGreevy, SL3101296, and Marc Comisar, BK3060671, are licensed by the Florida Real Estate Commission under Chapter 475, Florida Statutes. County data from Lee County Property Appraiser recorded sales, DOR-qualified, through September 25, 2026, and the county roll of October 2026. McGreevy and Comisar, 24031 S Tamiami Trl #101, Bonita Springs, FL 34134, (239) 898-6072. Brokered by Domain Realty.