Why Your Mill Creek Condo Comes With Two HOAs, Not One

A townhome near Mill Creek Town Center lists for $250,000 less than a detached house three streets over. On paper, that looks like the affordable way into a market where the median sale price sits north of $900,000. What the listing sheet doesn't show is that the townhome owner is paying into two separate fee structures, not one, and the larger of the two is calculated as a percentage of a number the owner never sets.

That's the piece of Mill Creek's condo and townhome market that surprises buyers who assumed a smaller purchase price meant a simpler transaction.

The Fee You Don't See on the Listing Sheet

Most of the townhome and condo clusters near Town Center sit inside the Mill Creek Community Association, known locally as MCCA. It's a master homeowners association that covers trails, parks, and common areas across a large share of the city. Every property inside its boundary pays an annual MCCA assessment, on top of whatever dues that property's own building or complex charges for its private common areas.

That second layer is the one buyers tend to miss. A townhome at Amberleigh, Belvedere Place, or Pembrook has its own association handling entryways, landscaping, and shared walls, separate from anything MCCA collects. Same for condo-style communities like Fairway Village, Mill Run, or The Station at Mill Creek. The complex's own HOA sets its own budget, its own reserve schedule, and its own dues. MCCA's assessment arrives independently, on its own bill, governed by its own board.

So the real question for anyone comparing a Mill Creek condo to a Mill Creek single-family home isn't "what's the HOA fee." It's "how many HOAs am I actually in."

A Discount That Isn't Fixed

MCCA doesn't charge every property type the same amount. Single-family homes pay the full assessment. Townhomes pay 75 percent of that figure. Condos and apartment-style units pay 50 percent.

At first glance, that tiered structure reads like a builtin discount for smaller units. Here's where the math gets interesting: the 50 percent and 75 percent figures are proportions, not dollar amounts. They're pegged to whatever the single-family rate happens to be in a given year. If MCCA raises its base assessment to cover a capital project on the trail system or a resurfacing job on a shared parkway, every tier moves with it, including the condo owner's 50 percent share, even though that owner may walk the trail once a month and never touch the parkway in question.

In other words, the discount isn't fixed savings. It's a fixed proportion of exposure to a budget the condo owner has limited say in and limited use for. That's worth knowing before you assume the smaller unit is the cheaper long-term hold.

It's also worth checking whether your target complex is inside MCCA at all. Plenty of Mill Creek addresses sit outside the association's boundary entirely and pay nothing into it. The MCCA site lists every division it covers, and it's a five-minute check worth doing before you get attached to a specific building.

The Club Everyone Confuses With the HOA

A separate source of confusion: Mill Creek Country Club. It's a private, member-owned golf and social club, and it has nothing to do with MCCA. Buying a home near the golf course, including in neighborhoods like Fairway Village, does not enroll you in club membership or its dues. Membership is optional, priced separately, and handled entirely through the club itself.

Buyers sometimes assume proximity to the course means the club fee is baked into their HOA bill somewhere. It isn't. If golf and clubhouse access matter to your decision, budget for it as its own line item, and confirm current membership categories directly with the club rather than guessing from the listing.

What Shows Up at the Closing Table

Washington law requires a resale certificate before a sale in a common-interest community can close, and the certificate has to include a specific list of disclosures. For a condo governed by the state's condominium statute, that list runs to 20 items, spelled out in RCW 64.34.425. For homeowner associations governed by Washington's newer common-interest-community law, the list grows to 26, under RCW 64.90.640.

If your complex sits inside MCCA, you may be looking at two separate resale certificates before you can close, not one: one from your building's own association, one from MCCA. Each comes with its own disclosure list, its own turnaround time, and potentially its own fee to produce. Ask your closing team early which certificates apply to your specific unit, so it doesn't become a surprise the week before closing.

A few other pieces of state law worth knowing before you write an offer:

• Reserve studies for these associations are required every three years under RCW 64.90.545, so ask to see the most recent one and check whether the reserve fund matches what the study recommends.
• Washington's common-interest-community law gives an association's unpaid assessment lien a limited window of priority over a first mortgage. Ask your lender or closing agent how that applies to the specific association you're buying into.
• Confirm whether the association has any special assessments planned. A healthy-looking monthly due can still be followed by a five-figure bill for roof or siding work if the reserve fund is behind.

Before you write an offer on a Mill Creek condo or townhome, it's worth running through a short list:

• Is this complex on MCCA's divisions list, and if so, at what percentage?
• What does the complex's own sub-HOA charge, separately from MCCA?
• How many resale certificates will this transaction require?
• When was the last reserve study, and is the fund on track?
• Is there a special assessment on the horizon?

What the Math Looks Like on the Ground

As of June 2026, the median sale price across Mill Creek sat at $975,000, based on Northwest Multiple Listing Service records. Townhomes and condos near Town Center commonly trade well below that, often in the $600,000 to $800,000 range, while golf-course-adjacent single-family homes frequently clear $900,000 and above.

That price gap is real, and it's the reason so many buyers head straight for the condo and townhome tier without stopping to map out which fee structures apply. It doesn't help that there isn't much to choose from. A pull of Northwest MLS-fed listings in September 2026 showed only about eight condos active across the entire city. When inventory is that thin, buyers tend to move fast and ask fee questions later. The smarter order of operations is to ask them first.

A Few Questions Worth Answering Before You Commit

Does every condo in Mill Creek pay into MCCA? No. Coverage depends on which division the property falls in. Some Mill Creek addresses sit outside the MCCA boundary entirely.

Is Country Club membership required if I buy near the golf course? No. The club is a separate private entity with its own optional membership and its own dues, unrelated to any HOA or MCCA assessment tied to the property.

If my complex sits inside MCCA, do I really need two resale certificates? In most cases, yes, one from your building's own association and one from MCCA, since each is a separate legal entity collecting its own dues. Confirm with your closing team early in the transaction.

If you're comparing a Mill Creek condo against a townhome or a single-family listing and want someone to walk through exactly which fee layers apply to a specific address, that's the kind of groundwork I do before a client ever writes an offer. You can browse current listings on the Mill Creek neighborhood page, read the companion piece on buying a Mill Creek condo or townhome, or reach out through the buyer resources page to talk through a specific address before you commit to it.

Becca Locke has spent 20 years and more than 500 closings learning which questions matter before the ones that show up in escrow. Start Your Search when you're ready to look at what's actually available, fee structures included.