This time of year, the news media likes to publish their “best of” lists and top annual awards. People must like them because the media publish them year after year. Beginning today, we extol the virtues of a few of our favorite communities

 

        At this time last year, Greensboro, GA’s Reynolds Plantation, which covers 80 miles of Lake Oconee shoreline an hour and a half northeast of Atlanta, seemed down and almost out. Homeowners had voted, quite emphatically, to reject an offer from Mercer and Jamie Reynolds to buy the

troubled community’s golf clubs at an inflated asking price that might have bailed out the failing developers. Bankruptcy followed quickly and nervous owners began biting their nails. Then into the small town of Greensboro, which is mostly composed of Reynolds Plantations’ 10,000 acres, rode white knights Daniel Corporation and MetLife. The savvy giant financial services company knows a bargain when it sees one, and for pennies on the dollar, it scooped up Reynolds’ undeveloped land and the community’s 117 holes of golf.  Daniel, with experience buiding and managing a successful Birmingham, AL, golf community and skyscrapers in Atlanta, will manage land development and sales.

Lake Oconee is never far from any of the 6 1/2 golf courses at Reynolds Plantation.  On the par 3 3rd at Tom Fazio's 27-hole National course, a narrow finger of the lake makes it clear that you are playing the "Cove" nine.

        During our recent visit, we saw no visible sign that Reynolds had ever been in trouble –- the golf courses and their clubhouses were pristine, the 38,000 foot Lake Club was bustling with workout sessions, lunch crowds and other activities, and residents were roundly pleased that their

investments and retirement lifestyles now seemed secure. Further, after hearing from some visitors and a few residents that Greensboro was “in the middle of nowhere,” we were surprised to find a large supermarket, multiple doctors offices (a hospital is on the way), an eight-screen Cineplex and enough good restaurants on and just-off the gated property to keep a snobby urbanite content for a week. Okay, at 90 minutes from Atlanta and 50 from the university town of Athens, Greensboro itself may be a tad remote, but Reynolds Plantation has definitely secured its place –- once again -- among the best upscale golf communities.

        Reynolds and other Georgia golf communities received a big boost when the State announced that state tax on retiree income for those 65 and older will be phased out in 2016.  Next year, the exclusion will be $100,000, with $150,000 in 2014 and $200,000 in 2015.  The exclusion for residents 62 to 64 remains at $35,000.

        Furnished golf villas at Reynolds Plantation start in the high $200s, single-family homes from the low $400s, and lots from around $50,000, with some lake view properties beginning in the low $100s.  For a list of current Reynolds Plantation properties for sale, visit GolfHomesListed. Or contact us for more information and to arrange a "discovery" visit to Reynolds. The golf courses there are open all year.

        A reader from Georgia wrote us today that his search for a vacation home in a southern golf community is on hold indefinitely “unless I see prices on a rapid escalation.”

       "Rapid escalation," of course, is a relative term, and we are on safe ground testifying that prices for golf community properties will not rise as fast as they fell in most markets.  In Naples, Fl, for example, where prices dropped as much as 50% and more in two years, they have now climbed back only about halfway in the last couple of years.

Champion Hills in Hendersonville, NC, is member-owned and debt-free, and having its best real estate sales year since 2006.  Prices are up 8.5% compared with last year.

 

        But prices will rise in the coming few years, barring any unexpected hit to the U.S. economy. Indeed, the real estate professionals in the southern U.S. we regularly contact are already seeing much more traffic to their offices over recent months. The only thing to keep prices from rising in the face of increased demand is if inventory rises to meet it, and we are not seeing that. Those folks who were forced to sell by virtue of their financial situations or health have, for the most part, already put their homes on the market.

        The experience of the real estate office at The Landings, just outside Savannah, GA, is indicative. The office is having its best year since 2006.

        “Pricing remains a mixed bag,” says Bill Houghton, president of The Landings Company, “but the ratio of sold price versus original listed price is at a three-year high.” Home sales at The Landings through mid-November were already double those of the full year of 2009; Houghton says his office’s 108 homebuyers exceeded the total for the full year of 2007.

        According to real estate web site Trulia.com, prices in the popular Asheville, NC, market increased 12.4% year over year during the September to November time period, with the

median sales price reaching $195,000. At Champion Hills, a half hour away in Hendersonville and home to a celebrated Tom Fazio golf course, the average selling price this year is up 8.5%, from an average of $570,000 in 2011 to $619,000 through November. The on-site real estate agency expects to close a total of 26 sales in 2012, compared with just 11 last year and 22 in 2007, when the average selling price was an historic high of $990,000.

        “People have a perception that prices have now hit bottom,” says Prudential Realtor Joe Pelletiere, “and they understand that Champion Hills is member-owned and debt free. You don’t see much of that combination in western North Carolina of safety, [comparatively] low prices and a great golf course.” (For a sample of some of the current 35 golf homes for sale in Champion Hills, click here.)

        Of course, all real estate is local, and not all markets move in tandem with each other. Myrtle Beach, arguably the golf capital of the east coast, continues to suffer from selling prices for single-family homes that are significantly lower than those of 2010 and 2011. For example, the average sales price in 2010 was just under $232,000 through September; the 2012 year to date comparison is just over $215,000. The median price for a Myrtle Beach area condo so far this year is just $104,000, compared with $120,000 in 2010. However, despite the thousands of homes for sale in Myrtle Beach, the culprit behind the soft prices, the total number of homes on the market is still lower than last year, and closed sales of condos in Myrtle Beach are up 8.6% over 2011.

The condos that line the right side of the 15th hole at Pawleys Plantation start in the mid $200s.  Other villas in the popular community are listed as low as $129,000.

 

        If demand continues and the inventory becomes further absorbed, look for real estate prices in Myrtle Beach to rise as well, possibly by the end of next year. Price levels now make even second home ownership look quite attractive.  In the popular Pawleys Plantation, in the quieter south end of the Grand Strand of Myrtle Beach, 21 single-family homes are currently on the market, with prices ranging from $250,000 for a two-bedroom "patio" home to $775,000 for the spacious home on the 14th fairway that was built originally for Jack Nicklaus to use when he built the golf course in the late 1980s.  The 26 condos currently on the market in Pawleys Plantation range from $110,000 for a two-bedroom that would be perfect for visiting golfers to $370,000 for a newer unit on the 15th hole.  For a selection of current properties and golf homes for sale in Pawleys Island, click here.

       We don't think it is ever smart to try to "time the market," but there is a growing sense among baby boomers who have been waiting to relocate to warmer weather that prices have just about reached their bottom.  Those who pull the trigger and head south soon to a life of warmer weather, a lower cost of living and year-round golf could eventually encounter a nice extra bonus of price appreciation.  Please contact us if you would like to discuss your own situation or would like to be put in touch with one of the many real estate professionals we work with in the southern U.S.