In the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, Glenmore is just one of the local golf community courses that feature gently rolling terrain.    

 

    Many folks with equity in their homes can give themselves a raise by relocating from a relatively high cost of living area to a lower one.  In some cases the improvement is modest but, in others, it can be quite dramatic, enough to spur to action those who have deferred their dreams of a golf home because they are concerned about the value of their home.  As I have written here ad nauseum, if you have equity in your home and a desire to move to a golf rich area in a warmer climate, timing does not matter as much as you may think.  Someday, home values will level off and begin to rise again.  Because of simple demographics -- all those baby boomers wanting to move to warmer climates -- home values in general will rise faster and farther in the southern U.S.
    Today I offer the first in an occasional series of reviews of great places for golf community living.

    For golfers who don't mind a four-season climate -- minus too much snow -- Chapel Hill, NC and Charlottesville, VA top the list of best choices.  I'll cover Chapel Hill in a future review.  
    Charlottesville, home to the University that Thomas Jefferson built, may not be the most inexpensive place to live in the southern U.S., but folks moving from a number of populous cities in the north may think so.  Here are a few examples of cost of living improvements with moves from some cities to Charlottesville (in % decrease):

Baltimore, MD (12%)
Bethesda, MD (18)
Boston (18)
Chicago (6)
Hartford, CT (10)
Minneapolis (4)
Nassau Cty. NY (28)
Philadelphia (14)
Providence, RI (10)
   Source:  Where to Retire magazine, March/April 2009

    From 2007 to 2008, median prices in the Charlottesville market declined about 5%, although prices in Albemarle County, home to some of the nicest golf communities in the area, increased 4%.  People who move to the area do so for a four-season climate and the vibrancy that is unique to a major university town.  In the case of UVA, this includes big time college athletics, an active continuing education program, outstanding restaurants and cultural venues, and a friendly, yet live-and-let-live vibe that makes northerners feel somewhat more at home more quickly than in other towns in the south.
    I devoted an entire issue of my former newsletter to Charlottesville and its golf communities, and I'd be happy to send it with my compliments.  Send me an email by clicking here.  In the meantime, here are the highlights.

Glenmore, Keswick, VA
Golf course designed by John LaFoy
6,849 yards, par 72, rating 73.0, slope 138
Initiation fee: $20,000. Monthly dues:  $471
The golf club is for members only.  

    Glenmore, just 20 minutes from Charlottesville, appeals to a broad spectrum -- active families, many tied to the University of Virginia family; empty nesters; and retirees.  Most of the gated community's residents -- some are university professors -- are still working, even though they may not venture far from the community.  "The home office is an important room" in Glenmore homes, sales director Tom Pace told me. 

    The fine golf course shows some Scottish touches, like un-mown areas of tall grass, but it still plays more like a rolling New England course.  The dramatic brick clubhouse dominates the landscape and frames the 18th green.  The club is a magnet for UVA alumni on the weekends of home football games.  Other amenities in the community run the entire gamut, including an equestrian center.  Glenmore's position to the east of town puts it about an hour from Richmond and its airport, a good alternative to the smaller Charlottesville airport. 

    Glenmore's price points start around $275,000 for a half-acre lot, although the developer has just opened up an area of private five-acre lots starting at $440,000.  Single-family residences begin at $600,000 for a 4BR, 3 ½ BA home.  A group of "low maintenance" Scottish homes on smaller pieces of property start around $525,000; almost all are re-sales.  However, one new developer unit is currently listed at $799,000 and includes complimentary golf membership.

 

The big baronial Keswick Hall dwarfs the big, brawny Arnold Palmer layout at Keswick Estates.

 

Keswick Estates, Keswick, VA
Golf course designed by Arnold Palmer
6,306 yards, par 71, rating 70.2, slope 130
Initiation: $21,000.  Monthly dues: $435
The club is private but guests at Keswick Hall are invited to play

    Keswick Estates feels baronial.  Its centerpiece, the yellow stucco 48-room Keswick Hall, was built by a local magnate in 1912 and was tripled in size in 1990 by Sir Bernard Ashley.  He sold the entire estate, Keswick Hall and the surrounding 600 acres, to British firm Orient-Express in 1999.
    The gated Keswick Estates anchors the high end of the Charlottesville golf community market, with lots beginning above $300,000 and big single-family homes beyond the $1 million mark.  You will not find any villas or condos in Keswick.
    I found the Palmer layout, a reworking of the original course by Fred Findlay, to be dramatic and the course in fine condition.  Keswick Hall looms over the course from its position at the highest point in the estate, and it is quite a sight as you come along the upward sloping 18th fairway. Palmer's sculpting and humongous sand bunkers take a bit away from the beautiful piece of rolling, natural landscape, but those who go in for golf on an aggressive scale (just like Arnie's golf game in his heyday) will like his layout at Keswick.    

    Residents will find much to like about the short (15-minute) drive to Charlottesville, the easy access to services and the feeling of privileged seclusion and security.  Because of a local zoning ordinance, the land surrounding Keswick is designated "agricultural" and will never be turned over to real estate developers.

 

The Blue Ridge Mountains frame the golf course at Old Trail.

 

Old Trail, Crozet, VA
Golf course designed by Jerry Kamis
6,700 yards, par 72, rating 72.3, slope 129
Initiation fee:  $4,000.  Monthly dues:  $250
The golf course is open to the public

    Old Trail, 20 minutes west of Charlottesville, is set on a gently rolling property within sight of the Blue Ridge Mountains.  What sets Old Trail apart from other golf communities in the Charlottesville area is its emphasis on its residents' legs.  Its town center, finally under construction after a few years wait, is at the heart of the community, an easy bicycle ride or decent walk from any of Old Trail's homes.  Architecture of the residences in Old Trail is emblematic of the historic row houses of such southern cities as Savannah and Charleston.  Single-family home sites begin around $145,000, with homes available from $600,000. 

    Unlike many other planned communities, Old Town's developers let their buyers choose from among more than 100 house plans; there is nothing boring about the combination of homes, and the effect is more eclectic than chaotic.  Those looking for simpler housekeeping chores, and much lower buy-in prices, can choose from among a variety of condos and villas.  Two of the villas, at 1,440 and 1,970 square feet, are currently listed at $199,900 and $314,900, respectively. 

    The Old Trail Golf Club course tries hard to look like a Scottish links, but it is just a solid foothills course.  Membership is extremely reasonable, but you do have to share the course with the public.  A few odd holes, including a steep drop-off at the end of the fairway on the 18th, do not ruin the fun of a round at Old Trail.
    One final note:  When I first drove through Old Trail two years ago, I was taken aback by a huge wooden arc standing a few stories high.  The hundreds of people milling around and the elephants and other beasts walking two by two added to my confusion.  Old Trail, it turned out, had been chosen as the backdrop for the filming of the big-production movie Evan Almighty, a comedy about a U.S. congressman turned modern day Moses.  Given the un-funny economy today, if Old Trail's town center indeed is completed later this year, residents may consider it another miracle.

The movie Evan Almighty was filmed at Old Trail in the early stages of the community's development.

     

    Real estate agents like to think that plenty of people with the ability to purchase a home are sitting on the sidelines, waiting for a signal from lower prices, lower interest rates and relief from Washington before they pull the trigger.  One wonders, with the latest sales report, just how low we have to go before people start coming in from the sidelines.  
     Sales of existing homes nationwide declined another 5.3% from December numbers, the lowest level of activity in 12 years.  The total of 4.49 million units, reported by the National Association of Realtors, was well below analysts' estimates.
    I'm not a big fan of the customary glass-half-full analysis of the NAR's chief economist, Lawrence Yun, but he made one reasonable point in announcing the sales figures, that many people deferred buying a home in January because of the pending stimulus package for housing.   
    "[They] simply sat out for clarity and certainty on the nature of housing stimulus," he said.  Of course, never one to pass up the opportunity to conclude that happy days are just around the corner, Yun added that falling interest rates and house prices should spur the market in coming months.  In Mr. Yun's world, niggling issues like unemployment figures, consumer confidence and general fear seem to occupy a minor position in making housing market predictions.  
    But there may not be an interest rate low enough to spur the fearful to buy anything at this point.  Personal example:  My teenage daughter now has her license, and we need to buy another car.  I was sucked in by the ads for a zero interest loan from General Motors for any of its cars -- until I read the fine print and realized you still have to commit to paying $16.67 per $1,000 borrowed per month.  Millions like me are just not ready for that kind of commitment, "free" money or not.
    Housing prices are also working their particular brand of psychological magic on those who might otherwise rush in.  People who have a home and want to move are bummed that they have lost as much as 20% of their value in the last two years, even if they have tens of thousands of dollars in equity left over from the dramatic run-up in prices in earlier years.  They are waiting for a recovery before they move, even if, intellectually, they understand that the next home they buy also will increase in price (maybe more than their current home).  
    These homeowners are actually the only ones in this market in a somewhat secure position -- for now.  If they sell their homes today, they can take the equity and use it for another home.  If market values continue down after they move, so what?  They would have likely lost more money on their home if they hadn't sold it.  Worse, though, would be if they stayed put and, in a continuing downward spiral, watched all their equity erode.  Then they might not have enough left to put down on the next house.
    Going into gridlock is probably not the best response to uncertainty.