We all want value for our money, and never more so than for the biggest-ticket items.  No item is more big ticket than a house, and as millions of baby boomers consider whether to take advantage of low sale prices, developer and private home sellers’ concessions, and near historically low interest rates, there are no shortage of formulas for determining what constitutes “value.”

        Forbes.com recently posted its take on value with their ranking of “America’s Best Bang for the Buck Cities.”  By combining city rankings on such criteria as real estate taxes, unemployment, home price forecasts, commuting time and housing affordability, Forbes determined which cities provide residents and future buyers with the best value.

        The Omaha (NE)/Council Bluffs (IA) area led the nation in bang for the buck, largely on its #1 Rank

for employment and #3 rank for low foreclosure rates.  If best steaks in America were a category, Omaha might have run away with the title.  But Omaha, wonderful though it may be, does not offer the kind of golf-attractive climate most of us seek.  For a longer golf season, here are some of Forbes’ top value plays in the southern U.S.

        Weather in the #2 ranked Little Rock, AR, area can be unpredictable in the winter months, but there is nothing unpredictable about the comparatively low cost of living there.  According to Forbes, the area around Little Rock ranks 8^th best in real estate taxes, as well as 4^th best in unemployment rate.  The jobs forecast looks good too.  The largest gated golf community in America is located just an hour from Little Rock at Hot Springs Village.  The community features nine golf courses, eight of them open to the public, 26,000 acres and 9,000 homes (single-family and town homes).  With 33,000 property owners and 14,000 residents, many lots are available.  My real estate contact in Hot Springs wrote me that some owners in the Diamante neighborhood, site of the Village’s private club, have sold their lots recently for $1 to avoid monthly dues, and even paid the required $5,000 transfer fee.  That implies bargain prices for those who intend to move to and build in Hot Springs Village.

The 17th hole at the Cortez course at Hot Springs Village, one of nine clubs in the largest gated community in America.  Photo courtesy of

Donna Bigg, Challenging Designs Inc..

 

        I can’t say I have visited the #3 ranked Jackson, MS, area, but I plan to.  I count more than a dozen golf courses within 15 miles of the city, some of them highly ranked.  Jackson’s bang for the buck rating is substantially the result of its low real estate tax rate, rapid commuting times and low home foreclosure rates.

        The second-most easily commutable city in the nation is Augusta, GA, home to The Masters golf event and just across the river from one of my favorite cities, Aiken, SC (Forbes ranks only the top 100 metro areas, which does not include Aiken).  Augusta’s real estate taxes are also among the lowest in the nation, but those contemplating a job in the area may want to keep an eye on the local unemployment rate, which ranked 56^th out of the 100 cities.  Just 14 miles from the center of Augusta, Champions Retreat features 27 holes of unique golf, 9 each designed by Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player, the only course in the world designed by the three, according to the community's web site.  Owners of golf bungalows in Champions Retreat are able to rent them out during Masters week, with the developer taking only a 10% fee, quite low as such rentals go.

        Chattanooga, TN, doesn’t knock the ball out of the park in any one category, but its 50^th or lower rank across all categories puts it in the overall 8^th position nationally.

        I was pleased to see that Columbia, SC, ranked #12 on the list, primarily on the basis of its low real

estate taxes (although it ties with Augusta on the unemployment ranking).  I was in the Columbia area last summer to watch my son play in a golf tournament and to also play the golf course at Cobblestone Park, in nearby Blythewood.  Cobblestone is a poster child for ambitious golf community developments that hopped the tracks when the economy crashed in mid decade.  Abandoned by developer Ginn Resorts during the early days of that company’s financial meltdown, Cobblestone’s owners have lost as much as 60% of their property values (especially lots) and are still waiting for the clubhouse to be finished (they hope by new developers).  It is hard to imagine prices dropping much more, especially with an excellent golf course at the core of the community.  Cobblestone Park may have reached a tipping point that makes it a decent risk, especially for couples looking for a long-term relationship with a golf community in a major university town (Cobblestone Park is home to the University of South Carolina golf teams).

        Florida, with all its real estate problems, contributes one metro area to the Forbes rankings.  The Palm Bay/Melbourne/Titusville area weighs in at #18, with housing affordability and travel time ranking among the top 10 nationally, and the home price forecast at an impressive #15, despite pretty dismal rankings for foreclosures and unemployment.  Those are anomalies that anyone considering the area might look into more closely.

        The Greenville,SC, area rounds out the top 20, on the basis of a top 10 ranking in real estate taxes.  I think that Greenville is underappreciated as a golf retirement destination, living in the shadow of the more hyped Asheville, also a great place to live but without the strong industrial base of the Greenville area, which is home to BMW America and all the necessary smaller companies that have popped up to support it.  Golf quality is unquestioned in the area, with such offerings as The Thornblade Club, Chanticleer, and a few of The Cliffs Communities courses within a short drive.

        Other southern cities of note that rank favorably include Raleigh/Cary, NC (#21), Knoxville, TN (#22), Charleston, SC (27), Birmingham, AL (28), and Greensboro/High Point, NC (30).  Residents of Chicago, New York, Miami and Los Angeles, which ranked 97^th through 100^th respectively, do not need any list to tell them what they already know about bang for the buck.

        You can review the Forbes list of 100 cities on their bang for the buck list by clicking here.

Despite the failure of Ginn Resorts to build a clubhouse and deliver on other promises to disappointed residents of Cobblestone Park, the interesting golf course remains in nice shape.

        I read only one cartoon strip on a daily basis, the brilliant “Dilbert” by Scott Adams.  I was first attracted to Dilbert during my career as a corporate executive.  It was comforting to know that someone out there understood so perfectly the odd behavior of a few of my fellow execs, as well as one or two bosses whose peculiarities were the stuff of cartoons.  Dilbert helped me laugh to keep from crying (except, of course, when I recognized a little of my own behavior in the strip; then it was just crying).

        Now almost seven years beyond early retirement -– my choice, in case you are wondering –- I still read the column every day.  It is funny how the things that annoyed you up close and personally are a source of great mirth once you put some distance and time between you and a former career.

        Cartoonist Adams spares no one or no thing in Dilbert, and today he got around to the game of golf.

        Wally, who is the laziest person on the staff –- he celebrates his sloth –- announces today that he wants to expand his uselessness beyond the workweek.  “I decided to take up golf,” he tells Dilbert and fellow staffer Anok, “so I can be useless on the weekends too.”

        But when Dilbert asks Wally, “Are you going to take lessons?” the idiot savant’s response is unerring in its insight into the game most of us love to hate.

        “You get to hit the ball more,” says Wally, “if you don’t.”

        Today’s comic strip is available at http://www.dilbert.com.

*

The large estate house dominates Keswick Estate near Charlottesville, VA, and almost puts Arnold Palmer's monstrous bunkers in their place.

 

        Keswick Estate is sited on one of the most beautiful pieces of property in central Virginia, just east of Charlottesville, and at its core, sitting high above the Arnold Palmer golf course and the rest of the property, is a large estate house now used as both a resort and clubhouse for Keswick’s members.  When I played the golf course a few years ago, I thought Palmer’s layout was out of character with the rest of the estate, lacking a certain consistency and refinement.  Some holes were straightforward, almost boring, and others were overwrought, with huge bunkers carved into steep hills that would have presented enough challenge without the scarring sand traps.

        Homes in the community are large, generally on two-acre lots and expensive.  Current listings show the lowest priced home at $1.7 million, but it does boast more than 6,000 square feet, 6 BRs, 5 ½ BAs and frontage on the 4^th fairway of the golf course.  Nearby Charlottesville is a wonderful town to visit and live in, with much American history and Thomas Jefferson’s inspiration, the University of Virginia, at its heart.  The downtown mall, closed to vehicular traffic and rife with interesting shops and restaurants, as well as a popular amphitheater for concerts, shows that city planners were able to think out of the box more than a decade ago.

        Contact me if you would like to learn more about Keswick Estate or the other interesting, and lower-priced golf communities in the Charlottesville area.

*

        Last year, I bought a used set of Ping Eye Two irons I thought would help me straighten out my longer approach shots.  This morning, I thought I was dumb lucky when I read in the Wall Street Journal that old Ping Eye Two irons with U-Grooves are exempt from a ban the USGA imposed on PGA golfers this year and on us amateurs in 14 years.  As a result of a 1990 court case, the USGA had agreed that the Ping Eye Twos would conform in “perpetuity.”  For that reason, golfers like John Daly will be able to continue to use their Pings, which generate more backspin out of the rough, even though their competitors will be using clubs with new, less active grooves.

        I don’t notice much action out of the rough with my Ping Eye Twos, but I don't generate John Daly like clubhead speed (I can't take the club back that far).  After reading the article this morning, I thought maybe I could sell my relics to another PGA tour player.  But alas, when I checked with Ping, I found out that my irons are circa 1993, too late to be grandfathered in.