Updated October 2026
Mello-Roos is a special tax charged on homes inside a Community Facilities District (CFD), a district that a city, county or school district sets up to pay for roads, parks, schools and other public facilities. In Irvine it appears on the property tax bill of most homes in the newer master-planned communities, including Great Park, Portola Springs, Orchard Hills, Cypress Village, Stonegate and Woodbury. Most homes in the older villages, like Turtle Rock, University Park and Woodbridge, don't have it. The amount is set parcel by parcel, so the only number you can rely on is the one on that home's tax bill.
What Mello-Roos is
California passed the Mello-Roos Community Facilities Act in 1982. It lets a local agency form a CFD, get approval from the voters or landowners inside it, and sell bonds to build public facilities before most of the homes exist. The people who later own homes in the district pay those bonds back through an annual special tax, collected on the Orange County property tax bill alongside the regular tax.
Two things make it different from your base property tax. The special tax is usually set by home size or land use, not by what you paid for the house. And a Notice of Special Tax Lien is recorded against every parcel in the district, so it shows up in the preliminary title report when the home sells.
What "No Mello-Roos" means in a listing
"No Mello-Roos" means the parcel isn't in a CFD that levies a special tax. The owner still pays the base property tax and any voter-approved bond charges, plus HOA dues if there is an HOA, and the parcel can still carry other assessments. Check the tax bill line by line. In Irvine that matters, because a few thousand dollars a year in Mello-Roos changes the monthly cost of a home by a few hundred dollars. Buyers comparing a Woodbridge home with a Great Park home at the same price will run that number, and so will their lender. If a listing says "low Mello-Roos" instead, ask for the actual tax bill.
Which Irvine communities have Mello-Roos, and how much
Whether a home has Mello-Roos mostly comes down to when its community was built. Villages built out before CFDs were common generally have none. Communities built from the 1990s on generally do, and the newest ones carry the highest amounts.
Mello-Roos isn't a percentage of the price. Each parcel's special tax is set by the district's formula, and a resale doesn't reset it. On many Great Park homes, the annual amount works out to roughly 0.5% to 0.6% of today's price, so the full tax bill lands around 1.5% to 1.7%, against roughly 1% to 1.1% in villages with no Mello-Roos, such as Turtle Rock, University Park and Woodbridge. Treat those ratios as a quick comparison, not a way to calculate a specific home's tax. Other newer communities, including Portola Springs, Orchard Hills, Cypress Village, Stonegate and Woodbury, also carry Mello-Roos. The amount varies by district and by home, so check the bill.
Great Park: what the city says about CFD 2013-3
The Great Park Neighborhoods sit in the City of Irvine's CFD No. 2013-3, formed in 2013. According to the City of Irvine, the original bonds take about 40 years to repay, and after that the charge drops by roughly 65% to 82%. The remaining part continues with no end date to pay for maintenance. The city also publishes a yearly report on the district.
So a Great Park buyer isn't taking on a tax that stays the same forever. It gets much smaller once the bonds are paid off. Buyers always ask two questions here: how much per year, and for how long. We answer both in the listing materials before anyone asks.
The City puts it at about 40 years from when the district's bonds were issued, and later bond series can push it out. It isn't 40 years from the day you buy, so check the district documents for the remaining term. For most buyers today the step-down is still decades away. What matters more is what they'll pay during the years they own the home.
How long Mello-Roos lasts, and whether you can pay it off
Every CFD has its own Rate and Method of Apportionment, the document that sets the tax formula, the maximum tax and the end date. Some special taxes end when the bonds are paid off. Others, like Great Park's, continue at a lower level for maintenance. Some districts let an owner prepay the bond portion. Few owners do, because the payoff is a large lump sum and the buyer takes the tax over when the home sells. To know the terms for a specific home, read that district's Rate and Method or call the special tax administrator listed on the tax bill.
How Mello-Roos changes what a buyer can borrow
Lenders count the special tax as part of the monthly housing payment when they calculate debt-to-income. For a buyer already at the limit, every dollar of Mello-Roos is a dollar that can't go to the mortgage. Here is how much loan that is on a 30-year fixed mortgage:
Monthly Mello-Roos | Per year | Loan amount it replaces at 6.5% | at 7.0% | at 7.5% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
$100 | $1,200 | $15,800 | $15,000 | $14,300 |
$300 | $3,600 | $47,500 | $45,100 | $42,900 |
$500 | $6,000 | $79,100 | $75,200 | $71,500 |
Calculated by Irene and Ricky Zhang, principal and interest only.
This doesn't mean a home with Mello-Roos sells for that much less. Plenty of buyers have room in their budget. It means the buyers who are stretching drop out first, and the buyer pool at your price is a little smaller.
Is a home with Mello-Roos worth it?
Our view: Mello-Roos is a cost to price in, not a reason to rule out a community. Take a $1.5 million home in Great Park with about $8,000 a year in Mello-Roos. Few people stay until the bonds are paid off; say you stay 12 years. That's about $96,000, call it $100,000, or roughly 6% to 7% of the purchase price, spread across the time you live there. This is a simple total for illustration.
So the question isn't whether a home has Mello-Roos. It's whether this home, in this community, is worth about $100,000 more to you over the years you'll own it than a similar home without it. For a lot of buyers, a newer house with newer parks and schools nearby is. When we sell in Great Park, that's the math we put in front of buyers.
Selling a home with Mello-Roos: what you have to disclose
California Civil Code §1102.6b applies when the home is subject to a continuing Mello-Roos lien. The seller has to make a good-faith effort to get the disclosure notice from each agency that levies the tax, and give it to the buyer. A notice from a private source is also allowed if it states the required details, including the name of the district, this year's tax, the maximum tax that can be levied and the last year the tax can be levied.
Before we list a home in a Mello-Roos community, we pull the current tax bill and the district documents, and we put the annual amount and the remaining term in the listing materials. We also price against comparable sales with a similar Mello-Roos picture, not just similar square footage. A Great Park home and a Woodbridge home of the same size aren't the same purchase for a financed buyer.
At closing, Mello-Roos is prorated with the property tax, and the buyer takes it over from the closing date.
Is Mello-Roos tax-deductible?
Sometimes, in part. IRS Publication 530 says you can't deduct assessments for local benefits that tend to increase the value of your property, such as new streets and sidewalks. You can deduct the part used for maintenance, repairs or interest on those improvements. Most Irvine CFDs fund both construction and maintenance, so take your tax bill to your CPA.
How to look up the Mello-Roos on a specific Irvine home
- Pull the latest property tax bill from the Orange County Treasurer-Tax Collector by address or parcel number (APN).
- Look for line items labeled "CFD" or "Special Tax" with a district number.
- Check the preliminary title report for a Notice of Special Tax Lien.
- For the formula, maximum tax and end date, get the district's Rate and Method of Apportionment from the city or school district that levies it.
FAQ
What does Mello-Roos mean?
It's a special property tax inside a Community Facilities District, used to repay bonds for public facilities and sometimes to fund maintenance. It's named after the two legislators who wrote the 1982 law.
Does every home in Irvine have Mello-Roos?
No. Most homes in the newer communities do. Most homes in older villages like Turtle Rock, University Park and Woodbridge don't.
How much is Mello-Roos in Irvine?
It depends on the district and the home. It's set per parcel by the district's formula, not by the price. On many Great Park homes it works out to roughly 0.5% to 0.6% of today's price, about $8,000 a year on a $1.5 million home. Older villages like Turtle Rock, University Park and Woodbridge mostly have none. Check the tax bill for the exact number.
Does Mello-Roos ever go away?
It depends on the district. In Great Park, the city says the charge drops by about 65% to 82% after the original bonds are repaid, roughly 40 years in, and the rest continues for maintenance.
Do I have to disclose Mello-Roos when I sell?
Yes. Under Civil Code §1102.6b you have to make a good-faith effort to get the district's notice and give it to the buyer, or give an equivalent notice from a private source.
Who pays Mello-Roos at closing?
It's prorated like property tax. The seller pays up to the closing date and the buyer takes it over after that.
Thinking about selling a home with Mello-Roos? We'll pull your tax bill and district documents, and show you how buyers will compare your home with the competition. Get your home value.
About Irene and Ricky Zhang: RealTrends Verified ranks Irene and Ricky Zhang the #1 small team in Irvine by both sales volume and transaction sides (2026 City Rankings, based on 2025 production).
