Golf Community Reviews

In rural Georgia, sale of golf course could hold key to adjacent community's future

I learned recently that one of the first golf communities I visited in 2006, shortly after I started Home On The Course, had suffered a setback. Cooper's Point in Shellman Bluff, GA, is adjacent to Sapelo Hammock Golf Club, which closed last summer and is currently up for sale. Cooper’s Point is offering golf home sites through the end of the month for 50% off previous pricing, including beautiful marsh-view lots for $200,000 (equivalent lots in more established coastal communities run more than twice that). The lowest priced lot is just $29,000. I recall during my visit just four years ago that lots with views of the marsh and the Sapelo River were listed in the high $300s, which I thought reasonably priced at the time. But anyone who borrowed 80% of the cost of one of those lots back in 2006 may now be both adjacent to and under water, figuratively speaking.

Values for residential golf community property are governed by the same three principles as our primary homes are -– location, location, location. Therefore, residential communities in the more remote locations are suffering the most in the current economy. Cooper’s Point is between Savannah and Jacksonville, FL, but over an hour from the former and well over two hours from Jacksonville. Moreover, it is 10 miles from Interstate 95 and, despite plans for an eventual retail center at the perimeter of the community, it is a good haul to shopping (the nearest Walmart is in Brunswick, more than an hour away). Cooper’s Point does have a restaurant on site, although dining options outside the gate are limited (and you better like seafood).

CoopersPointmarshview

Marshview lots at Cooper's Point are priced at $200,000 and lower through the end of the month.

I understand that a group of local businessmen are expected to close on a contract to purchase the golf course by the end of the month and plan to invest in an upgrade to the layout, which I liked when I played it (nice links style in good condition and cheap to play, about $40 as I recall). It is reasonable to assume that in a remote, though beautiful, location like Shellman Bluff, GA, the fortunes of the real estate development are tied to the fortunes of the golf club. Unless you like to fish, boat and watch marsh birds, there is not an overwhelming number of activities in and around Shellman Bluff. A firm commitment to the golf course by its future owners could make a $29,000 or larger investment in a Cooper’s Point lot look pretty smart by next year.

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Last Updated on Thursday, 09 December 2010 19:46

Thursday, 09 December 2010 14:44

Will the sun shine on Florida and its golf communities again?

Steady readers of this site probably wonder why I don’t cover Florida golf communities more often. A few of you have even accused me of willfully ignoring the state that has the most golf courses and golf communities in the nation. To that I plead “guilty, with an explanation.”

First, frankly, I am intimidated by the sheer numbers of golf communities near cities like Orlando, Naples, Tampa, the Palm Beaches, the Lauderdales, Miami… It would take weeks in each area just to scratch the surface of the best golf courses and golf communities. I’d rather spend that time investigating golf communities in lower-cost states with little or no threat of hurricanes or unpredictable but ever-increasing insurance costs.

Second, I have something of a Florida bias because I hate traffic. (Who doesn’t?) Florida is the 22^nd largest state in the nation but the 4^th

Florida' reputation as "God's Waiting Room" is deserved.

in terms of population. In just the last 10 years, Florida’s population has increased 16% compared with an increase nationally of 9% (and that was with Florida’s 2008/09 net migration loss, the first in 50 years). The state’s roads have never caught up with the explosive growth of the last half-century (and the rest of the infrastructure isn’t so hot either). Third, Florida’s reputation as “God’s Waiting Room” is deserved; 18% of the state’s population is over the age of 65 against a national figure of 12.4%. Of the 2.8 million net new citizens in Florida since 2000, about 1.9 million are over the age of 45. At my tender age of 62, that is the pot calling the kettle black, but I am still of sound enough memory to recall visiting my parents in Lauderdale Lakes when I was in my 40s. It gave me the willies with its glimpse of my (then) future. I am not sure I want to do that to my kids.

It is not for nothing that Florida had its first net population loss in 2008, many Floridians fleeing to the mountains near Asheville, NC, happy to put up with wearing a sweater on chilly winter days to avoid the stifling heat of summer. But with all that said, the virtual collapse of the Florida real estate market has created price levels that second-home hunting baby boomers and retirees cannot ignore. A case can be made for Florida, and that is exactly what I do in the December issue of Home On The Course, our free newsletter, which will be distributed in the next few days. If you are not a subscriber, please sign up today at the top of this page.

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Last Updated on Tuesday, 14 December 2010 23:10

Tuesday, 14 December 2010 15:13

The Donald doesn’t get The Point

Faster than you can say “You’re fired,” the Trump organization has given up on its bid to buy The Point Golf Club in Mooresville, NC, according to an online story in the local Mecklenburg Times authored by Sam Boykin. We reported here yesterday on the controversy brewing inside the gates of The Point; dissident members of the club worried that a Trump purchase would lead to increased dues, a fear apparently confirmed by comments from Donald Trump’s son, Eric, who was negotiating the deal with the golf club’s advisory board.

“We see hundreds of golf clubs every month,” the younger Trump told Boykin, “and we would have put tens and tens of millions into The Point.”

Now members are left to figure out what to do with a golf club that Crescent Resources, the developer, is set to turn over to them next month. It remains to be seen if members who favored the deal and those who did not can work together to come up with the $3 million required to pay Crescent, or to find a more acceptable new owner. Stay tuned.

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Last Updated on Wednesday, 07 December 2011 20:55

Wednesday, 07 December 2011 20:50

Dominion Club members raise their voices

Our story a few days ago about the bankruptcy at Richmond’s Dominion Club struck a chord with a few of our readers who are none too happy with the owner’s actions. If you haven’t read the article, the capsule is that the golf club’s owner declared bankruptcy reportedly to avoid repaying initiation fee deposits for which he was obligated. Here is what one club member wrote:

“…thanks for your very thoughtful, well written and right on the money reporting. We continue to reel at their [the owners’] arrogance and disdain with which HH Hunt continues to hold its long supporting club members. We should have seen this coming from such a treacherous bunch of self-dealing land developers. If you pursue this further, you will find a trail of deceit, shell companies and HH Hunt's footprints throughout the myriad of related entities involved in the unfortunate taking.

“They admitted at the meeting last Tuesday that they had grave concerns about the continued success of their business model which incorporated a ‘refundable’ deposit as early as 1999. They did, however, continue to take refundable deposits and, in fact, offered upgrades to various levels of golf membership for a number of years after that realization.

“Thanks again for alerting other clubs and potential and existing members to the folly of this form of capital formation in the golfing arena.”

I was also gratified to hear from someone I once was matched with for a round of golf in Williamsburg, VA. He wrote:

“I am now a member at Dominion and wanted to tell you that your brief summary of the situation is by far the most objectively on point. Much of the Richmond media has presented a distorted perspective. Thanks again and hope that you are doing well…”

We are doing well, thank you, and hope that The Dominion Club members get some satisfaction from the bankruptcy process. Stay tuned.

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Last Updated on Thursday, 20 January 2011 07:36

Wednesday, 19 January 2011 22:17

Running Numbers: Rental income can defray costs of owning a golf vacation home

We shared recently some tips about how to buy a vacation golf home and rent it out to defray your annual costs. (Read it here.) The following are a sample of homes in three communities that generate consistent annual rental returns. One is located in the Virginia mountains, one in coastal South Carolina and one on the Chesapeake Bay. We have visited all of them, played their golf courses and met with their real estate people, and we recommend all of them as worthy of consideration. There are thousands more like them currently available across the southern U.S. at prices that range from under $100,000 to over $1 million. If you would like more information on any of these homes or others like them in some of the best golf communities in the southern U.S., please contact me.

Note: These communities and others list their golf homes for sale, some of them appropriate as rentals, at GolfHomesListed.com.

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