The $400 Cap on Show Low HOA Fees Doesn't Cover What Torreon Can Still Charge You

The closing statement lands three days before signing, and there it is: a $400 line item labeled HOA disclosure fee. Anyone who has shopped for a home in Show Low's Torreon community has probably heard the number before it ever showed up on paper. Arizona caps it. Everybody says so. The agent says so, the title company says so, and technically they are all correct.

What almost nobody mentions is that the $400 cap only governs one specific charge, and Torreon's fee structure has more than one.

What the $400 Actually Covers

Arizona Revised Statutes 33-1806(C) sets the ceiling for exactly one thing: the resale disclosure package an association prepares when a member sells. The statute is specific about the number. It allows the association to charge a fee of not more than an aggregate of four hundred dollars for resale disclosure documents, with a further $100 allowed if the paperwork has to be rushed within 72 hours, and $50 more if 30 days have passed since the original documents were pulled and updated figures are needed.

That's the whole cap. It covers the packet of governing documents, financial statements, and meeting minutes an association hands over so a buyer can see what they're walking into. It does not touch a second, entirely separate charge that Arizona law treats differently: the transfer fee.

The Fee the Cap Was Never Written to Stop

A transfer fee is a different animal under Arizona law. If an association's CC&Rs authorize one, tied to services that benefit the property, there is no statutory ceiling on the amount. A law firm that handles Arizona community association disputes has documented a real case worth knowing about: a Mesa homeowner selling an $800,000 property was told their HOA required a transfer fee equal to half of one percent of the sale price, four thousand dollars, ten times the disclosure cap most closing checklists reference. Because no statute limits transfer fees the way 33-1806 limits disclosure fees, the seller had no legal ground to refuse it.

Nobody is suggesting Torreon charges anything close to that. The point is narrower and more useful: the $400 figure that gets repeated at every Show Low closing table protects against exactly one line item. If a Torreon association's governing documents authorize a transfer fee on top of it, that second charge answers to different rules, and those rules don't include a dollar limit.

Why "Torreon" Isn't One Association

Here's where the Show Low specifics matter more than the general Arizona rule. Torreon isn't governed by a single HOA with one set of documents. Public homeowner association directories list the Torreon Homeowners Association, The Casitas at Torreon HOA, and the Torreon Centre Office Condo Association as separate, distinct entities, each with its own governing documents and fee schedule. A golf villa, a custom estate on the Cabin Course, and a condo unit near the clubhouse can sit inside three different sets of rules despite all being marketed under the same community name.

On top of that, Torreon separates club access from association membership entirely. The community's own site describes 36 holes across the Tower and Cabin courses, a clubhouse pool, dining at the Torreon Grille, a fitness center, and an equestrian center, but access to that package runs through membership categories layered on top of standard HOA dues, not automatically bundled into them. A listing's HOA line can be accurate and still leave out what it actually costs to use the amenities that made the buyer want Torreon in the first place.

There's a timing wrinkle here too. Torreon's golf courses run April through November and close for the winter months. A buyer who closes in December and gets billed into a club membership at signing is paying for access to a course that won't reopen for another four months. That's not a legal problem, it's a planning one, and it only comes up if someone asks the right question before removing contingencies rather than after.

What This Looks Like at the Table Right Now

Show Low's market gives this extra weight in August 2026. The median sale price hit $484,500 this month, the fifth straight month of gains, with closed sales reaching 72 for the month, the highest monthly count in 22 months. Inventory sits at 212 active listings, months of supply is running at 2.9, and the average sale-to-list ratio is 97.9%. Homes are averaging 78 days on market overall, but well-priced product in Torreon, Bison Ridge, and Show Low Bluff is closing in 40 to 65 days.

That speed cuts against buyers who plan to sort out fee questions during escrow. A property moving in six weeks doesn't leave much room to discover a transfer fee clause after the inspection period has closed and earnest money is on the line. The homes still sitting past 90 days in this market tend to be dated cabins priced over $650,000 and properties with unresolved septic or well questions, which tells you buyers here are already reading the fine print on some things. The transfer fee question deserves the same scrutiny.

Before You Write the Offer

1. Identify which specific association governs the parcel. Ask which HOA or condo association the property falls under, by name, not just "Torreon."
2. Request the resale disclosure statement in writing. This is the $400-capped document. Get it early, not at closing.
3. Ask a separate, direct question about transfer fees. Specifically ask whether the CC&Rs authorize a transfer fee distinct from the disclosure fee, and if so, how it's calculated.
4. Confirm whether club or program membership is mandatory or optional. Find out if golf, pool, and fitness access come bundled with the HOA dues or billed as a separate membership category.
5. Get every number in writing before the inspection period ends. Verbal assurances from a listing agent are not a substitute for the actual CC&R language.

A Few Questions Worth Asking Directly

Is the transfer fee the same as the disclosure fee? No. They're governed by different rules. The disclosure fee is capped by statute at $400 aggregate. A transfer fee, if the CC&Rs authorize one, has no statutory ceiling.

Who typically pays the transfer fee, buyer or seller? It depends on the association's documents and what the purchase contract says. Payment responsibility is negotiable in most cases, so this is worth settling on paper before removing contingencies.

Does every property in Torreon have the same fee structure? No. Because Torreon includes multiple distinct associations rather than one governing HOA, the fee schedule attached to a golf villa can differ from the one attached to a custom estate or a condo unit, even within the same community.

Fee questions like these are exactly where a general search of the portals runs out of answers, because the number that matters lives in a specific association's CC&Rs, not in a summary anyone can pull up online. If you're weighing an offer in Torreon or anywhere else in Show Low, Mountain Home Team can pull the actual governing documents for the specific parcel you're looking at before you're staring down a closing deadline. Get a free home valuation and a straight answer on what a property will actually cost you to own.