Irony is not something typically associated with golf communities, but River Landing in Wallace, NC, may take the title. A community conceived and developed by one of the largest hog farming businesses in America will benefit by a state legislature earmark that will help control an under-capacity sewage system in River Landing. The lack of a large and more efficient system has prevented the Murphy family, founders and owners of the community, from enlarging its on-site Holiday Inn Express Hotel and developing the remaining 1,000-plus lots inside the gates. Depending on what side of the issue local North Carolinians find themselves, the $860,000 River Landing will receive from the state is either a boon to the local economy or a special favor from one legislator to a former powerbroker in the North Carolina state legislature, River Landing principal Wendell Murphy. Whatever, River Landing’s 400 property owners have started the new year in a happy place.
Homes for sale in River Landing start in the mid $200s.
        After a few visits to River Landing over the last decade, a few rounds on its two Clyde Johnston golf courses and a fine dinner in its beautiful and large clubhouse, I can recommend the community as a great buy and a convivial place to retire. (For the record, I smelled nothing amiss during those visits and, according to reports, River Landing and Wallace town workers have been mostly successful in keeping the sewage problem under control.) During that dinner in the clubhouse years ago, my waiter excused the slow service -– I hadn’t noticed it -– as a result of the Murphy family patriarch holding a meeting in an adjacent room where he was enlisting local doctors to fly on the Murphy family airplane to Haiti to help with earthquake relief. Maybe I am an idealist, but developers who care about people thousands of miles away probably take pretty good care of their residents at home.
        I have always wondered why River Landing, handsome as it is and located beside Interstate 40 and not far from the intersection with Interstate 95, had not taken off the way similar golf communities in the Carolinas had. True, River Landing is located in a rural area, but the Atlantic beaches and vibrant town of Wilmington are barely 45 minutes away, and the huge international airport in Raleigh just a bit over an hour. Inside the gates lie a river that is central to the topography of one of the two fine 18-hole golf courses, the beautiful arts and crafts style clubhouse, and some of the most reasonably priced homes you will find in a full-amenity southern golf community. (One brick home with 3 bedrooms and 2 baths is currently listed at just under $250,000.)
        A couple looking for a golf community with River Landing’s combination of assets might want to make a visit soon. The odor of negativity about the sewage issue, which so far has been kept under control, has tamped down selling prices. But once an upgraded motor at the local plant and additional sewer lines are installed, things should start smelling like roses for home and lot sales at River Landing.
        To read more about the sewage issue, please see the article at The News & Observer.

        Rounds of golf played last year on Myrtle Beach’s nearly 100 courses were up year to year for the first time in more than a decade. Even before the Great Recession, rounds began to drop in 2005, the result of irrational exuberance about the golf market on the South Carolina coast and the resultant overbuilding. In recent years, the number of courses on the Grand Strand, as the strip between Wilmington, NC, and Georgetown, SC, is commonly known, has dropped by about 20%.  According to the Myrtle Beach Sun Times, a study conducted by Golf Tourism Solutions, a technology and marketing group hired by the local golf industry, determined that total rounds increased 4.1% year over year. The firm used about 80 of the area’s courses to compare rounds year to year. The positive golf numbers were reflected in incoming passengers through Myrtle Beach’s International Airport (a couple of flights from Canada make it “international”) and hotel and condo occupancy rates.
The Jack Nicklaus designed Pawleys Plantation is one of the 30 golf courses in the Myrtle Beach area owned by Chinese firms. Pictured is the 11th green.
        The uptick in golf tourism appears to be propping up real estate sales. The Coastal Carolinas Association of Realtors has not produced end of 2017 results yet, but as of the end of November, sales volume was up 9.2% for the year, and condo sales were up 16.3%. For those seeking to build a home, or to invest in lots for appreciation, unimproved property sales were up 8.3% through November. Of greater importance to those considering Myrtle Beach for a vacation or permanent home, median sales prices in the area were up 3.9% year to date at the end of November, although November prices slid 2.4% when compared with November of 2016. 
        Those of us, including your author, who own property next to the 30 or so golf courses owned and managed by Chinese companies, are especially buoyed by the latest results. Ongoing reports about financial troubles back home in China have created ongoing rumors that these owners might walk away from their investments and put the future of the golf courses as golf courses in jeopardy. In golf markets that are not doing as well as Myrtle Beach, golf course owners, residents of adjacent properties and local zoning boards are battling over whether it is permissible to build homes on failing – sometimes abandoned -- golf courses. Regardless of the outcomes of these fights, real estate values suffer, certainly in the short term. Those considering a move to a golf community should look carefully at the course’s stability and ask for all relevant documents and data.
        The migration of baby boomers from North to South continues apace. And the recent Federal tax changes only serve to hasten the flight. South Carolina’s overall tax burden on individuals, for example, is under $3,000 annually. Connecticut’s, for example, is just under $8,000. Overall cost of living comparisons tilt even more strongly in favor of most southern towns.