I have a personal interest in Myrtle Beach real estate; I own an empty lot and a condo in Pawleys Island, SC, where the Jack Nicklaus Signature golf course is one of the most popular and best on the Grand Strand. Therefore, whenever I am at the condo, I make sure to check the listings in the Myrtle Beach Sun News for a hint that the depressed real estate market is on the mend.

        It’s not quite rebounding yet, based on a cursory examination of this past Sunday’s real estate section, as well as anecdotal information from my neighbors. The entire Myrtle Beach area, which stretches from 20 or so

miles above the state line with North Carolina down to Georgetown, a total distance of about 90 miles (and 100 golf courses), seems to be stuck at 2009 price levels (although local agents say business is picking up); and for those who have followed the leisure residential markets the last few years, that means Myrtle Beach is still very much a buyer’s market for now, good news for golf nuts who are looking for either a vacation home or place to retire with plenty of accessible golf. One further bit of evidence: The condo unit at the other end of our six-unit building recently sold for $249,000, slightly more than the owners paid for it 10 years ago but almost $100,000 less than their original listing price three years ago.

This being the Myrtle Beach area -- Murrells Inlet, actually -- Wachesaw Plantation's Tom Fazio layout features pines, wide expanses of sand, marsh and, often enough, ocean breezes from the Atlantic just three miles away.

 

        I noted this Sunday, for example, that there are plenty of other bargains in the area, including a two-bedroom two-bath cottage at  Wachesaw Plantation, one of the few golf communities on the Strand with a private golf club, priced at just $209,000, perfect especially for those interested in a second home at the coast. (Wachesaw’s front gate is just five miles from the magnificent Huntington Beach State Park.) Wachesaw’s Tom Fazio golf course, one of only two Fazio layouts in the entire Myrtle Beach area (Barefoot Resort is the other), is challenging for single-digit players and fun for high-handicappers, and always in great shape. Maybe best of all, Wachesaw club membership is a bargain, with both non-equity and equity plans available, with the highest initiation fee just $2,500 and dues around $400. (Click here for a sample of current Wachesaw homes for sale.)

 

Golf Course owners in price war on Grand Strand

        Myrtle Beach is one of the those golfing meccas, like Pinehurst, where you don’t have to actually belong to a private club to be assured of a round of golf on any number of courses. Right now, the area is so competitive, from the standpoint of daily fee golf, that golf course owners are slugging it out on price. For example, you can become a member of the Legends Golf Group for no initiation fee and play any of their courses for $25 per round, cart included. Golf courses in the group include Heritage Plantation in Pawleys Island, Oyster Bay just over the state line in North Carolina, and The Legends golf courses in Myrtle Beach; members also receive breakfast, lunch and two drinks (beer, if you choose) when they pay the modest green fees.

        A new active adult community called Cresswind is advertising single-family homes in the low $200s at Market Common, a rapidly developing area of shops, restaurants, movie theaters, offices and homes on the former site of the air force base in Myrtle Beach. Featuring “resort amenities” and within biking distance to the beach, bargain-hunting retirees and vacationers may find that excellent golf courses within 15 minutes in any direction of Market Common is close enough.

        I've been visiting Myrtle Beach since the late 1960s and know the area well.  If you are interested in more information or want to arrange a visit to explore real estate opportunities inside and outside the gates of the many golf communities in the area, please contact me. 

        The surest sign of a comeback in the leisure residential market, including golf communities, is new construction. That happens when individuals who have been sitting on home sites decide the time is right to build their dream homes, and when developers have confidence that the market has turned strongly in their direction. The Reserve at Lake Keowee, citing a strong rise nationally in vacation home sales, is adding to its supply of homes in the mid-six-figure range and up.

        Between 2011 and 2012, vacation home sales rose 10.1%, and 45% of those transactions were in the U.S. South. The Reserve is not strictly a second-home community, but given its position a few hours from Atlanta and less than an hour from Greenville, the communities officials understand that a continuing improvement in the economy will drive weekenders and seasonal visitors to their front gate.

        The Village Point neighborhood is adjacent to The Reserve’s marina and just steps from the golf community’s market and post office, and pool (with lake view) and just a short golf cart ride to clubhouse, fitness and tennis center and golf practice facility. The neighborhood debuted a year ago and, since then, 11 of the 13 home sites in phase I have sold, with seven in construction already. The model at Village Point features a 2 bedroom, 2 ½ bath layout, a two-story porch and courtyard with grill and wet bar. Phase II, just announced, adds 17 more home sites with full home and land packages starting in the mid $700s.

There is plenty to distract the eye at The Reserve, including the approach to the lakeside 15th green.

 

        For those looking for slightly lower prices in an upscale community, The Reserve offers its newest neighborhood, High Grove, a group of eight lake access and parkside homes that will suit either seasonal or year round residents. They are priced from the low $400s, which is the most reasonably priced new construction in the community. For those looking for a more indigenous style of home, The Reserve’s Cottages at Laurel Pond provide 1,800 square feet of open-floor plan in two post-and-beam options and prices that begin in the low $500s.

        At the The Reserve’s heart is a challenging and beautifully conditioned Jack Nicklaus Signature golf course good enough to host a Web.com tour event earlier this year. I attended one day of the tournament and it was gratifying to see the large turnout by residents to watch and, in many cases, volunteer in support of the event. I’ve now played the Nicklaus course a few times and am always impressed at its condition and layout; it isn’t exactly a walking course, given the dramatic changes in elevation, but if you play to the correct sides of the fairways and greens, you should find a fairly level lie more often than not.

        If you’d like more information on golf and real estate at The Reserve, contact us.

The first phase of the Village Point at The Reserve has nearly sold out, prompting the announcement of a second phase of the $700,000+ homes beside the lake and marina.