Whenever I arrive in Pawleys Island, SC, as I do a few times a year, I grab from the rack at the local supermarket one of those brochures that include listings of current homes for sale. When you do that enough times over the years -- and this has been a habit of mine for the last 15 years -- you get a strong sense of what is happening with prices locally.
        I landed in Pawleys Island yesterday, made a grocery store run and grabbed the latest free copy of the Pawleys Island Rag, a 20-page list of current condos, townhomes and single-family homes for sale in one of the most well known and popular towns on the Carolinas coast. My wife and I have owned a condo in Pawleys Plantation for 15 years beside the 15th tee of the Jack Nicklaus course which opened in 1989. We also purchased a lot on the 16th hole just before the recession -- yuck -- on which we intended to build a single-family home. That idea is in limbo for now.
        The long and short of my latest reading of the Pawleys Island Rag is that prices, finally, in Pawleys Plantation and surrounding golf communities like Heritage Plantation, The Reserve at Litchfield and the others, have risen and firmed up. The obvious bargains, including vacation condos at Pawleys Plantation that generate about 20 weeks of rental revenue for their owners each year, have vanished from the brochure's pages. Some of those units had been selling as recently as last winter for $125,000, or less than $100 per square foot. I noticed another condo currently listed for $300,000; its type had previously been listed $50,000 lower last winter.
        At the other end of the spectrum, one of our favorite homes in Pawleys Plantation, with a floating and fixed dock and a view out over a wide expanse of marsh toward the island and ocean beyond, is on the market for $1.1 million, only the third or fourth such home in the community to ever top the $1 million asking-price mark.
        The lack of available properties at the lower end signals that those searching for a vacation home have descended on Pawleys Island for its laid-back

lifestyle and easy access to some of the best beaches and golf along the coast. But homes for more permanent living appear to have gained some price momentum as well, although we need to remind ourselves these are listing prices, not selling prices. But as much as listed prices seem to have risen, selling prices, according to the real estate site Trulia.com, have exploded in recent months. The median selling price in Pawleys Island between July and October, according to Trulia, rose $40,000, to $225,000. Yes, that very well could be a timing issue, but a $40,000 jump for any reason is a strong vote of confidence in the market.
        As prices rise, bargains may be fewer and farther between. We note that the house a few doors from our empty lot on the 16th hole recently sold for $524,500. At 4,700 square feet, that works out to about $112 per square foot, a grand bargain for any nice golf home, which it is. And that is without consideration of the inherent value of the lot itself which, given its view down the 16th hole and out across the marsh to the island a half mile away, is probably worth $250,000 itself.
        Pawleys Island and the entire Myrtle Beach area have lagged most other leisure residential, golf-oriented markets. There are two equally logical reasons why this area's real estate prices seem to be catching up now. One could be that buyers have finally figured out that Pawleys Island and its surrounding areas are undervalued compared with other golf rich areas. Or, second, this spate of buying and firming of prices in Pawleys Island may be reflective of the overall leisure real estate market up and down the east coast. For those who have been waiting to buy or build their dream homes in a warmer climate, the time for a cost-effective decision may be nigh. Contact me if you would like to get the process started.

        News from some of the golf communities we follow has crossed our desks in recent days. Here are the highlights:

Tidy bargains; one on lake, one a cabin in the mountains

        We can’t pass up a bargain, and you know you can’t either. Two special bargain homes came to our attention in the last week. The first is a 3 bedroom, 3 bath 18-year-old home in Savannah Lakes Village, a winner community when it comes to inexpensive real estate on a dollar per square foot basis and with some of the most reasonably priced amenities we have encountered. The home looks out to the 8th green of the Tara Course, one of two well-maintained and interesting 18-hole layouts at Savannah Lakes. At 2,038 square feet, the house is priced just a skooch under $100 per square foot even if you don’t factor in the value of the ½ acre lot on which it rests. Combine the low cost of the home with Savannah Lakes’ incredibly reasonable dues for golf and its other amenities, and this home would be perfect as a primary or vacation home in a lake community.

Photo courtesy of Michael Sherard, Savannah River Realty

        A second home that struck us as an extreme bargain, and had us dreaming of sipping cocktails while looking out upon beautiful mountains, is a small cabin in Sylva, NC, which we know for the upscale golf community of Balsam Mountain Preserve. The cabin is outside that community but there is ample golf in the area, and the views from fairways, greens and clubhouses can't be beat. One good choice would be a membership at Balsam Mountain’s breathtaking Arnold Palmer design stretched across the top of Balsam Mountain. A good semi-private alternative is Sequoyah National Golf Club, just 23 minutes up into the Smoky Mountains where a $300 annual pass entitles the holder to golf at $39 per round, cart included. (Regular green fees are $59.) At 2 bedrooms and 2 baths and only 1,104 square feet, things could get awfully cozy in this cabin but the huge windows and cathedral ceilings give the place a much larger feel. And at an offering price of just $188,500, the home will take only a tidy little bite out of a budget.

Photo courtesy of Cecelia Coker, Balsam Team

Breaking new ground at St. James Plantation

        A groundbreaking for the long-awaited Wellness Center at Southport, NC’s St. James Plantation is slated for next week. Completion of the facility is expected before the end of 2016. The Wellness Center is the last amenity promised to the residents by the St. James’ developers. The St. James golf courses, which comprise 81 holes, also broke new ground of a sort recently when they announced play on their sometimes well-used layouts would be on a walk-up basis; no longer is there a need to call for a tee time ahead of play. The golf courses are popular with members who, so far this year, have accounted for 84% of the rounds played; the other rounds included guests of members, a couple of First Tee Foundation events, other charity events and college golf tournaments. Golf dues at St. James, which is managed by Troon Golf, remain comparably low, under $500 per month per couple, less for a single, and including access to many of Troon’s other clubs around the country for a small monthly charge.

A new section for Woodcreek Farms

        Columbia, SC, is recovering from the recent relentless rains and flooding. The Tom Fazio designed course at Woodcreek Farms took a pretty good hit but members and work crews have restored everything pretty much to normal. (Sister course Wildewood suffered less damage; Woodcreek and Wildewood are available for play by members of each for one monthly dues payment.) A little bit of sunshine poked through when New Style Communities, an offshoot of national builder Epcon, announced recently that ClubRidge at Woodcreek, a neighborhood of single-family, low maintenance homes, is under construction. The homes will all be one-story, which should appeal to baby boomers in the area looking to downsize, as well as northerners considering a balmier climate for their retirements. Best of all, outside maintenance is included in monthly homeowner dues.
        Columbia is one of those sleeper locations for baby boomers retiring in the Southeast. The town is located at the nexus of a couple of Interstates, making travel in all directions quick and relatively easy. (Our neighbor in Pawleys Island makes it back and forth from Columbia every weekend in about two hours each way.) Columbia, the state capital, is also home to the giant University of South Carolina and all that a major institution of higher learning can add to the vitality of a region. Our agent in Columbia, Mike Wyka, lives in Woodcreek Farms but is also quite knowledgeable about all the golf communities in the area, which include a diverse sampling.

Lakewood Ranch, a golf community city unto itself, adds another 235-acre development

        Lakewood Ranch in Bradenton, FL, is about as big as a golf community gets. It started out as a 48 square mile timber ranch owned by the family that founded Schlitz beer in Milwaukee. Over time it has grown into a residential and mixed-use community big enough to have its own zip code. Now a new 235-acre section of reasonably priced villas, townhomes and single-family homes has been announced, with prices starting in the $180s. Called Harmony at Lakewood Ranch, developer Mattamy Homes will construct houses up to 2,700 square feet near a large community pool, fitness center and children’s playground and clubhouse. Although the community of Lakewood Ranch is self-sustaining, with every conceivable service and plenty of shopping, the towns of Sarasota and Bradenton are a short drive away, and the beaches of the Gulf of Mexico less than a half hour.