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 Home On The Course Newsletter
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Turning cart wheels to save money |
I will never forget my early morning car drive to one of the six golf courses at The Landings in Georgia a few years ago. Golf carts appeared to the left of me, the right of me, and in front of me. It felt like the famous helicopter scene from the movie Apocalypse Now. I had never seen anything like it in any community.
But today, pressed by concerns about the environment and the high cost of energy, more and more golf communities and municipalities are giving the green light to golf carts on their streets. If you find yourself in one of those communities, here are some things to consider in choosing the right kind of cart.
You have two basic choices in carts, gasoline powered or electric. Depending on battery capacity, electric carts, quiet and odor free, typically achieve a range of 20 miles to 55 miles. Their batteries require a minimum of six hours recharging (best overnight). Some observers estimate that the electric cart costs about 3 cents per mile to run, based on 20 cents per kilowatt in electrical charges (the carts can be charged via a typical 110-volt home outlet).
Gas carts, on the other hand, get up to 30 miles per gallon; at $2 per gallon, the cost of operation is about 7 cents per mile. They are loud and smell funny and tend to lurch forward if not tuned properly. However, gasoline powered carts are priced at about half the cost of comparably sized electric carts.
I found online a slick-looking electric cart with the capacity to handle two golf bags; it was priced at $5,200 and claimed a range of 55 miles for each full battery charge. A Yamaha gas powered cart, not quite as fancy as the electric one, was listed for $2,200. Golf carts are in plentiful supply, both new and used, and for those of us handymen who don't mind doing the occasional tune-up, bargains are available. One man in the St. Louis area operates a 20-year-old electric cart for just $30. He can go 20 miles, or the equivalent of at least three rounds of golf, on a 10-hour charge.
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Friday, 05 December 2008 05:19 |
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For some, now may be a good time to buy a home, not an investment |
Who among us has not at some time said, "Damn, if I had only waited" or, "Damn, if I had only bought (or sold) a year ago?" I bought a few shares of Apple three years ago around $45, sold at $65, thought I was a genius and then watched the stock go to nearly $200.
No need to weep for me, if you feel tempted to do so. After all, I made a few dollars. The underlying point in all this is that you don't go poor making money. Which brings me around to the current real estate market and whether With rare exception, every real estate market is down -- the ones we live in and the ones we would move to.
I understand the psychology of the moment for many homeowners; I am none too happy that the market value of my primary home in Connecticut is down at least 15% in the last 18 months or so. But we bought the house 16 years ago, and put a nice chunk of money down. If it weren't for a daughter still in high school, we would be having a serious discussion about taking what the market gives and moving to our second home in South Carolina. As it is, we are slowly starting to identify things to take to the dump or consider listing things on eBay.
Fast forward a few years, with our kids off to school, and it makes no sense to stay in a too-large house for two people, with all the attendant costs, no matter how much market value has been taken from us by this dreadful economy. The housing issues stretch across the nation and, with only rare exceptions, every real estate market is down -- the ones we live in and the ones we would move to. Chances are that if our home has lost 15% of its value, the next one we move to will have lost something of that magnitude as well.
Conclusion: It doesn't really matter if the fair (i.e. market) price you can get for your house doesn't meet your notion of what it is truly worth. It is worth only what someone else will pay for it (blindingly obvious point that). The person you buy your next home from, whether a developer or private owner, is going to be suffering some of the same pangs, and if they must sell -- either to keep their company afloat or because some life situation forces them to -- you will get a better deal than the people buying your primary home.
This is a long way around to say what I have said here before: If you have equity in your home and no other financial impediments to selling, and your dream is to have a home on the golf course (or near it), there is no better time than today...or yesterday...or tomorrow. Just consider it your home, not an investment.
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Thursday, 04 December 2008 14:32 |
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Not so fast: Redemption laws could vaporize that great foreclosure deal |
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Some homes in golf communities, like Southbridge, near Savannah, are starting to make the foreclosure lists. Georgia does not have a right to redemption law but, in some states, an owner who has defaulted on a loan could retake the property.
More and more pre-foreclosure sales are popping up in golf communities. I noted one today in Southbridge, a nice community 15 minutes from Savannah that features a Rees Jones designed golf course (semi-private). The 3 BR, 2 ½ BA two-story home is listed at $379,900 in a golf community whose homes average a couple of hundred thousand dollars more. When I played the course a few years ago, I thought its condition left something to be desired, but the layout was a joy and with a little care, the course could hold its own against the upscale local competition. Southbridge also includes a large and active spa in its expansive clubhouse.
If that Southbridge home doesn't sell in the coming weeks, it will go to a foreclosure auction at which some lucky bidder will pick it up for less. One extra piece of luck for the winning bidder is that the state of Georgia has no right of redemption.
Until I attended a New Principles and Practices in Real Estate course, I did not realize that if you purchase In some states, a person who had defaulted on a loan can re-take the property from the purchaser upon payment of all debts, even up to a year after the foreclosure sale.
If the borrower (known also as a mortgagor) can raise the necessary funds to pay off all the debts to the lender within a statutory period of time, then the borrower can retake possession free and clear. The lengths of the statutory periods vary from state to state, and in some states, like my own Connecticut, the right of redemption applies only to tax defaults, not mortgage defaults. In other words, if a municipality in Connecticut forecloses on your home and sells it at a foreclosure auction, you have six months to settle your tax debt (plus costs) and retake the home -- even if the purchaser is living in it. In Alabama, the mortgagor has up to a year to clear all property-related debts and redeem his property. At the other end of the scale, Georgia, Texas and a few other states provide no statutory rights of redemption.
Anyone who purchases a foreclosed property needs to be mindful of the state statute in which they are buying and should not commit to any expensive renovations until the period of redemption has passed. In effect, once you own the foreclosed property, you may not in fact own it for a period of months.
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Wednesday, 03 December 2008 05:00 |
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