A Bloomberg news service headline a week ago must have made some recent retirees a little nervous, especially those who are poised to start searching for a vacation or retirement home. “Bargains Dry Up; So Do Vacation Home Sales” blared the headline in my local Hartford Courant Sunday real estate section, as I am sure it did in other local papers across the land. Citing National Association of Realtor figures, the article reported that sales of vacation homes in 2015 were down 19 percent compared with 2014 sales, and that the competition among baby boomers for a dwindling number of properties is driving prices higher. Indeed, the median price of vacation homes that sold in 2015 jumped to $192,000, a 28 percent rise. Since, in very few instances, current primary homes in the North are appreciating at rates approaching 28 percent annually -– or even double digits for that matter –- baby boomers poised to sell their current homes and move to a warmer climate could continue to lose buying power the longer they wait. (Full disclosure: I am a baby boomer trying to get our primary home in Connecticut ready for sale, but it is taking forever to get rid of stuff. Sound familiar?)
Although the numbers don’t lie, we know of some extreme bargains in high-quality golf communities across the Southeast, although you may have to make a compromise or two in terms of location. For example, Savannah Lakes Village, one of our favorites for its low real estate prices and low cost but well-tended amenities, including 36 holes of golf, is located a good half hour from Greenwood, SC, the nearest town that provides services beyond the one supermarket eight minutes from the community. Those looking for single-family homes that begin in the low $100s and homes with views of beautiful Lake Thurmond that start in the mid $200s may find the remote location not much of an inconvenience at all.
There are dozens of other such golf communities across the region. Take just 10 minutes to fill out our Golf Homes Questionnaire -- click here – and we will share with you which golf communities best match your lifestyle, your golfing interests and your plans for a good chunk of the rest of your life.
Savannah Lakes Village in McCormick, SC, features two fine 18 hole golf courses and Lake Thurmond, as well as some of the most reasonable real estate and amenity prices anywhere.
The Wintergreen Resort in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, located less than an hour from the university town of Charlottesville, is running a stay and play special this year that includes one night of lodging, two days of golf and prices starting at just $144. Wintergreen features 18 holes by Ellis Maples at the top of the mountain with breathtaking views, and 27 by Rees Jones in the valley at the base of the mountain. For about the price of a night in a Holiday Inn Express, inveterate golfers get 45 holes of golf at what works out to $3.20 per hole (or for free, if you consider you are paying entirely for the lodging).
I have fond memories of visits to Wintergreen and especially of its golf courses. I hosted a family reunion in 2011 at Wintergreen for my siblings and their children just after my son’s graduation from Washington & Lee University a couple of hours away. Everyone had a great time and a family dinner in one of the condos at the top of the community’s highest mountain offered a beautiful sunset over the Blue Ridge Mountains and the famous snakelike highway named for them.
The 17th green on the Devil's Knob golf course at Wintergreen Resort and the Blue Ridge Mountains beyond.
I have played the mountaintop course at Wintergreen, Devil’s Knob, just once and the Rees Jones course, Stoney Creek, a few times. I prefer the latter but for sheer eye candy views, Devil’s Knob cannot be beat. I have a special soft spot for Stoney Creek because my son Tim posted the low individual score in a college golf tournament there. I followed the college kids around for two days and learned how I should have played the course previously.
Jim Justice, the wealthy West Virginia industrialist, purchased the financially troubled Wintergreen in 2012 and immediately invested $12 million to rehabilitate some of its aging infrastructure, including restaurants and the resort’s snow making equipment. (Wintergreen is that rare place where a golfing skier can tackle the slopes in the morning and the golf course in the afternoon if conditions are right in January.) But Justice, who also owns the famed Greenbrier Resort, found he was overcommitted in his business ventures and, in 2014, sold Wintergreen to EPR, a Missouri-based real estate investment trust. At the time of the purchase, EPR maintained a $3.9 billion portfolio of properties.
The community comprises 1,300 detached homes on the mountain and another 500 in the valley around Stoney Creek. Nearly 1,000 undeveloped lots are parceled out across the community. Prices (and taxes) are comparatively low at Wintergreen. We note one current single-bedroom, single-bath condo on the mountain is listed for just $59,900; two-bedroom units begin around $80,000. Mountain style homes with multiple bedrooms start in the $160s. Homes around the Stoney Creek golf course in the valley are of a more recent vintage and priced accordingly from the low $300s.
Steve Marianella is our professional contact at Wintergreen, and we would be pleased to introduce you to him. Just send me a note.
A downhill par 4 starts one of the nines on the 27-hole Stoney Creek course at Wintergreen.
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March 2024
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