If my mother were alive today, she would be embellishing her warnings to me about unhealthy foods, spending too much money in restaurants, and walking through "bad" neighborhoods with the following admonition: Don't believe everything you read on the Internet (except, of course, what you read at her son's web site...).
Such caution occurred to me as I did research online today for an article I am preparing on Cobblestone Park, the troubled Ginn Resort community
Properties that were offered at $300,000 in 2007 are now listed at $75,000 in Cobblestone Park.
near Columbia, SC, that seems to be moving toward a point of stabilization under the management of the same folks who own and manage Reynolds Plantation in Georgia. Ginn's organization, as any frequent reader of this space knows, has been forced to shed most of its high-end golf communities (Tesoro, Laurelmor, RiverTowne and others) in the face of a huge loan default after the company overspent and under-managed its properties. Of course they blamed their demise on the economy (doesn't everyone?).
My Internet search led me to a two-year old posting on a real estate web site by an Orlando, FL, agent offering two properties for sale in Cobblestone. His hyperventilating words, written in 2007, remind us that few things we read on the Internet can be trusted, and that real estate prices, like everything else, cannot defy the laws of gravity forever. Here's what he wrote just two years ago:
"When it comes to beautiful real estate, then these two lots for sale in Cobblestone Park, SC, are quite possibly the very best value not only in the community, but perhaps in the State... and if you know anything about that particular company [Ginn], then you know this is the best of the best. And now you can become part of this incredible place for less than $300,000! And not only that, you will get a $20,000 golf membership included in your purchase."
Just two years later, "that particular company" is virtually out of business, golf membership is priced at just $1,805, and the lots that were "the very best value" at $300,000 are now selling for, gulp, $75,000. That drop in value of 75% outdoes Miami and Las Vegas and is in contention with Detroit for most precipitous declines in the nation over the last few years. As my mom might have warned me, if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
The University Golf Club at Cobblestone Park hosts the Unviersity of South Carolina golf teams and is an interesting modern layout in excellent condition. The previously private club is also a bargain, at $1,800 to join or $49 to play as a walk on. The par 3 17th hole is shown.
That said, I believe properties in Cobblestone Park, which range from $60,000 to $110,000, could very well now turn out to be the value plays they were touted as two years ago, especially when the clubhouse is finished and the ownership of the community is settled. I played the University Club golf course at Cobblestone last week and found its 27
holes well conditioned and interestingly laid out. The previously private club is now open to the public and a bargain at just $49 per round, cart included.
There are enough homes built and occupied in the community to give it a neighborhood feel, although any new owners may find their already established neighbors a little prickly over having overpaid substantially a few years ago. Still, the good news for them is that the more new residents, the greater the chance that the clubhouse and other amenities will be finished sooner rather than later.
If you want more information and opinions about Cobblestone Park, please contact me. I will have more to say about Cobblestone Park in the next Home On The Course newsletter, which will publish this coming week. To ensure you receive a copy, sign up using the convenient box at the top left above. Be assured we will never share your name or email address with anyone.
The clubhouse at Cobblestone Park is just waiting for a new owner to complete it. For current residents of the golf community, that day cannot come too soon,
