GOLF COURSE COMMUNITY BUYER S GUIDE

Transcription

1 GOLF COURSE COMMUNITY BUYER S GUIDE

2 1 WELCOME So you are thinking about buying a home in a golf course community? Great! It s a dream for many homeowners to live in a beautiful home alongside one of their favorite championship golf courses. However, there are a number of things you will want to consider before making the jump! Buying a new home in a golf course community can introduce a homebuyer to a host of factors that aren t an issue with a non-golf course home. When you are buying a home in a golf course community, there are things you will want to consider about the community, the house itself, and even the golf course that the community surrounds. Because golf course communities are becoming more and more popular across the country, there are more options to choose from than ever before. That means that the odds are better than ever that you will be able to find a community, home, and golf course that is the perfect fit for you needs and preferences. You just have to know what those needs and preferences are! Homes that are located in golf course communities present some interesting options, decisions, and pitfalls that are simply not present in normal home buying situations. In order to make sure that your dream home doesn t turn into a nightmare, the rest of this guide contains some of the different things you will want to consider when evaluating where to buy or build your new home. 1

3 2 THE COMMUNITY You want to find a community that fits your needs first, rather than finding the perfect home only to learn that the community is a terrible fit for what you are looking for. The ideal community will contribute a great deal to making the perfect house really feel like home! Here are some factors to take into account. DEVELOPER CREDIBILITY There have been quite a few examples of golf course communities that were kept afloat by a developer while the homes were being built only to fall apart after the last home was completed and the developer moved on. You don t want to buy into a community that is going to fall apart, so do 2

4 some background checking into the developer. See if you can find another community that the developer previously built and see how that community looks today. You should also use common sense to assess the developer s long-term plans for the community. Do their financial estimates look reasonable? Are their build-out plans too ambitious? Keep in mind, if the course becomes overbuilt and stops attracting players, your new home s value could suffer. ASK THE NEIGHBORS The best way to learn whether or not a community is a good fit for your family is to introduce yourself to the neighbors and see what they have to say. You will be surprised how open and honest many complete strangers will be with you if you simply approach them and ask questions. This is one of the absolute best sources of information about a community you are considering. HOMEOWNER S ASSOCIATIONS Many golf course communities are governed by very strict regulations created by the homeowner s association. Make sure you read their rules thoroughly and ask about any potential improvements you might want to make to your new home before signing on the dotted line. Homeowners associations can be very particular about every detail of your home. What are their stipulations regarding landscaping, maintenance, and home improvement projects? If you are dreaming of one day adding a deck or pool, you should clear it with the homeowners association before you start building so there are no surprises after you are committed. There are also likely to be fees associated with being a member of the homeowner s association. What impact is that going to have on your projected budget? 3

5 - FEATURED COMMUNITY - VILLAGES OF CITRUS HILLS VISIT WEBSITE Whether you re a beginner or a seasoned player, the four golf courses within the Villages of Citrus Hills located on Florida s Nature Coast will win you over with their natural beauty and unique terrain. Take in the spectacular scenery near the highest point in Citrus County from the championship Skyview course, enjoy both relaxing and challenging play at the Oaks & Meadows courses and play a quick round in a beautiful setting at the 9-hole Brentwood course. Each course offers its own unique challenges. Members of Citrus Hills Golf Club and Skyview also enjoy access to nearbyocala National Golf Course, an 18-hole Rees Jones redesign in Ocala. Within Citrus Hills, golfers will find two pro shops, two clubhouses and comprehensive practice facilities. The clubs also offer a full slate of league and championship play for men and women. 4

6 3 THE HOME Normal home buying situations involve simply finding the perfect home for your needs and then dealing with any external factors down the road. However, in a golf course community, many of those external factors can be overwhelming if you aren t prepared for them. In addition to finding the perfect location, layout, and design, you are also going to want to evaluate how your new home will interact with the golf course, the surrounding community, and nature in general. These factors will influence both the value of your new home and the amount of enjoyment you get out of it. 5

7 LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION One significant factor in the price that the developer is likely to charge for a new home in a golf course community is the location of the home with respect to the golf course. Different locations along the course will have different positives and negatives about them, and having a general idea of which qualities are most important to you will allow you to better decide what qualities you are willing to pay extra for. Homes that are located near the tee box of a hole will allow you to watch one epic power shot after another as golfers pass through each day. However, the tee box is often the part of a hole that contains the most noise and (sometimes) explicit language from golfers. It is also the place that groups of golfers will gather if play happens to get backed up on a busy Saturday morning. Homes that are situated along the fairway are often much more reasonably priced, and they can offer tremendous views of an entire hole or even multiple holes. The obvious drawback here is that anything lining the fairway is bound to get pelted with stray golf balls. Knowing that most golfers are bad and tend to slice the ball to the right makes the right side of the fairway an ominous place to live. When better golfers make bad drives they tend to hook the ball to the left, but while there are fewer of them, they usually hit the ball harder and further, making the safer zones further down the fairway on the left side. Houses that are located closer to the greens can seem like a great option because golfers are known for being quieter in these areas. They are also generally taking shorter, more accurate shots around the greens. The downside here is that the greens require the most attention from grounds crews, which are notorious for cutting the grass very early in the morning. In addition to where your new home is located along a given hole, the type of hole might also play a factor in the cost of your home. Any hole that contains a water hazard is likely to drive the price higher because it naturally makes for more beautiful scenery. CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS Another consideration when comparing golf course community homes are the restrictions and limitations with respect to building materials. As we just discussed, depending on your new home s location around a hole and distance from active play, it might be in serious jeopardy of getting hit with stray golf balls. 6

8 These stray shots can do tremendous amounts of damage to homes with stucco exteriors, where the shots might simply bounce off of brick or stone exteriors. Depending on the exterior construction materials of your home, you might have to budget in the cost of regular repairs. LOT ORIENTATION You will probably be limited in the amount of flexibility you have to adjust the orientation of your new home on the lot. That means that you should consider how the rising and setting sun will impact the home before you commit to building it. You might find that the sun will rise and set in a way that it doesn t bother the primary windows of the home, but you certainly don t want to find out that there is a lot orientation problem on your first evening trying to watch TV in your new living room or your first morning waking up to a hot sun cooking your bedroom windows. PRIVACY ISSUES When you purchase a lot and build a home in a golf course community, you are obviously going to be giving up some personal privacy, but you need to be perfectly clear with your family what that will mean. If your home is close to the fairway, you will need to be prepared to have strangers searching your landscaping for their stray shots. If privacy is a significant concern for you, looking for lots that sit above the fairways is a good way to avoid these issues. WHERE S MY YARD? One of the most common golf course community fallacies is the idea that the golf course provides a never-ending back yard. This can lead to new residents building on lots that are not quite as large as they really need, which can become an issue in the future when you need space to put in a pool. Make sure you understand exactly where your yard ends and the golf course begins! Some developers cut back on lot sizes in order to create more room for the golf course. Others have been known to ignore the standard acceptable distances that a home should be set back from golf course play. Do your own homework and you will be able to tell for yourself whether there is enough room between your house and the course. 7

9 - FEATURED COMMUNITY - PLANTATION BAY Prestigious, private, gated and beautiful VISIT WEBSITE Few communities offer the kind of abundance that has come to be expected at Plantation Bay Golf and Country Club. You won t need your imagination to know what life will be like here in the charming seaside town of Ormond Beach, Florida where an unhurried pace, year-round warm weather, and a lower cost of living offer superb value. With a twenty-year reputation for being among the best of the best, Plantation Bay continues to get better and better. With more than half of the 3,600 acres yet to be developed, miles of pristine natural beauty blends with mature landscaping to provide the backdrop for a sparkling array of amenities including 45 holes of championship golf, two full-service clubhouses, ten tennis courts, scenic pool pavilion, nature parks and miles of walking trails. 8

10 4 THE GOLF COURSE When considering buying or building a home in a golf course community, the quality of the course and the cost to play it can have a tremendous influence on the value of your new home, and that value is not necessarily guaranteed to remain constant. You will want to make sure that the course will be a quality course many years down the road in order to ensure that your home will maintain its value. COURSE & CLUB FEES The fees associated with the course and club are another key factor in determining the price of the homes that surround the course. What does it cost to play a round of golf on the course? How much are the initiation fees to join the club? Is outside play permitted and if so, under what conditions? 9

11 The same factors that make the course more or less attractive to potential golfers will also make your new home more or less valuable. On the flip side, are you going to be able to afford both building your dream home and regularly playing the course it is located on? When comparing different communities, keep track of the ratio between the cost of a round of golf and the cost of the home you would like to build. COURSE DESIGNERS There are quite a few golf course communities that have been built around courses that were designed by famous golfers like Jack Nicklaus. Houses in these communities typically command higher prices because of the name value of the course designer, but that name value also lends credibility and value to the entire community, which can help tremendously with resale values. NOISE LEVELS Before committing to your new home, you will want to understand what you are getting into in terms of noise. Most golf courses have maintenance crews and mowers working on the course very early in the morning. Will this disrupt your plan to sleep in on a Saturday? Speaking of that, where will your bedroom be located with respect to the course? In order to get a solid feel for the noise level you can expect on a regular basis, you should make multiple trips to any lot you are considering building on at different times of day. Find out what times the grounds crews start working and try to catch them in action to gauge the volume you will have to contend with. GOLF CARTS Most golfers don t stray too far from their carts, so the location of the cart paths is an important thing to consider if you are looking for privacy. If the cart path lies between your home and the course, you are likely to experience far more noise than if the cart path runs along the opposite side of the hole. This can become an even bigger issue if the golf course requires carts to stay on the paths regularly. 10

12 CHEMICALS Another grounds crew related concern is the type of chemicals they use for herbicides, pesticides, and fertilizers. These could be hazardous to your health, or the health of your plants and animals if they are not properly controlled or if proper drainage is not utilized. NON-GOLF ACTIVITIES In many golf course communities, non-golf activities like walking, running, or bicycling is not permitted anywhere near the course. If you are an avid walker, runner, or biker, this might be a huge issue for you that you overlook until it is too late. On the other hand, if you are looking for privacy you will not want to live next to a popular walking path. Make sure you get squared away with the rules up front, before you commit to building your new home. PLAY THE COURSE This might seem obvious, but the best way to really get a feel for how the golf course and its traffic will impact your new home is to actually play the course a few times. This will allow you to gain an understanding for what is going through a golfer s head as they make their way past your property. If you aren t a great golfer, that is even better because you will be able to see how likely your new home will be to get hit with a stray shot. As you can see, there is quite a bit to consider when determining whether or not any particular golf course community home is worth the price. The true answer to that lies in deciding exactly what you are looking for and then comparing how close the house in question can get you to your dream home. With golf course communities becoming more and more popular nationwide, there is no reason that you can t find an ideal situation that meets all of your needs. The best way to find that ideal situation is to know exactly what you are looking for, so start brainstorming and make a list! 11

13 - FEATURED COMMUNITY - AMELIA NATIONAL VISIT WEBSITE Privacy, Prestige, and a Clubhouse that Says it All The entire experience of Amelia National is geared to those well acquainted with the world s finest private golf club destinations. This truly magnificent community embodies country club living at its best; from the Tom Fazio-designed, 18-hole golf course and championship-quality tennis courts to the luxurious fitness and clubhouse facilities. A charming, French Provincial clubhouse will welcome you with a relaxing atmosphere of quality and elegance. Steeped in the traditions of the world s most renowned golf clubs, fine dining as well as the casual camaraderie of a 19th hole bar and grill will be accompanied by superlative service and fabulous views of the course and grounds. Amelia National is a five-minute drive to the legendary charms of Amelia Island, Florida its glorious ocean beaches, worldrenowned sport fishing, to the quaint boutiques, fine restaurants, and art galleries of historic Centre Street in Fernandina Beach. 12

14 5 GOLF CART OWNER S GUIDE One of the best things about living in a golf course community and owning a golf cart is that you can leave your car at home and use your golf cart to get wherever it is you want to go within the community. Most communities will let you use your own cart on the course and, depending on the community, you can save thousands of dollars a year by not having to pay the yearly cart rental fee. You will likely however have to pay a yearly trail fee which helps cover the maintenance and upkeep of the golf cart trails. 13

15 GOLF CART INSURANCE Golf carts need insurance just like your automobile does. But thankfully its a whole lot cheaper. Golf cart insurance is available through most insurance companies so check with your home or auto insurer for details. GOLF CART SAFETY Because they are so much fun to drive, people sometimes forget that operating a golf cart is serious business, especially when operating your cart on the roadway. You d be surprised to learn just how many golf cart injuries and fatalities occur each year. So here are 10 basic tips to help keep you and your passengers safe. 1. Never drive recklessly or joy ride. Drive courteously. Obey all vehicle traffic laws and rules of the road. 2. Never drive intoxicated or under the influence of any drug or narcotic. 3. Avoid distractions while operating the golf cart just as you would in an automobile. 4. The driver and all occupants should utilize available seat belts anytime the vehicle is in use. 5. Keep all body parts inside cart while vehicle is in motion, except when signaling a turn. 6. Always use hand signals to indicate your intent to turn. 7. Avoid excessive speed, sudden starts, stops and fast turns. 8. Do not leave your keys in the golf cart while unattended and make sure the parking brake is set. 9. Always yield to pedestrians and be cognizant of motor vehicles. 10. Use extreme caution in inclement weather. Although a golf cart may shield you from the rain, it may not protect you from a lightning strike. 14