Exploring a golf community for $10 a night

    In every bad market, someone benefits.  In the Great Depression, the relatively few people not over-invested in the stock market had the cash to buy distressed properties and companies and make a fortune.  So it is today, as community developers and builders try to move existing inventory and keep their workers employed and their companies afloat in this horrendous housing market.  If you are sitting on cash, you have some nice options for vacation or retirement properties right now; and if you wait, many experts say, you will do even better.  Yesterday Merrill Lynch predicted the average selling prices for U.S. homes will drop a further 15% this

year and another 10% in 2009 before finally leveling off in 2010.   We might question the predictive abilities of a firm that lost billions of dollars in a few months, but most economists -- in other words, those who don't work for the National Association of Realtors -- agree we are in for another 18 months or more of pain.

    While you are waiting, though, the price of doing a little research to help decide where you might invest that cash is getting cheaper and cheaper.   A few days ago, we received one invitation to visit a community for a cost less than heating our home for a day.  The 1,750-acre Brunswick Plantation, a 17-year old North Carolina community just north of Myrtle Beach, will put you up for just $10 per night if you stay a couple of nights and even less if you hang around for a few more days.  Brunswick includes 27 holes of golf designed by Willard Byrd that are open to the public but are also available for membership (the $25,000 initiation fee is waived with purchase of  property).  I haven't played the courses in many years, and all 27 underwent massive renovations two years ago, but I found positive reviews online, including this rave from last July:  "We played all 3 of the courses and found them to be in really top shape. The greens were really smooth and rolled great!" Green fees are $80.

    The $10 deal is only good until March 7 and, of course, you will have to put up with a tour and sales pitch, but an overnight in a nice condo sure beats a cheap motel with thin walls.  The Brunswick web site also promises a $750 a month "lease-back" program with the purchase of a condo.  

     To check availability and make your reservation, you can call 800-835-4533, ext. 6928.  If you do go, please let us know if you have a good visit, or it the $10 price is too good to be true.