$88K golf condo can yield nice returns

        Last week, a Myrtle Beach area real estate agent told me she had sold a condominium in Pawleys Plantation for $88,000. The bank that held it after a foreclosure had rejected an offer of $130,000 a year earlier.

        Despite news reports about an incrementally improving housing market, buyers still have the upper hand. And even though I am not a real estate investor, I would have bought that condo if I had known about it,

and for a few good reasons. First of all, the price was well below market for the Weehawka Woods unit; the same condos have sold well above $100,000 in the last year. (At our companion web site, GolfHomesListed, you will find two Weehawka condos for sale, one at under $125,000.) Second, Pawleys Plantation, whose Jack Nicklaus golf course is one of the best in the Myrtle Beach area, is a stable community, guarded and gated and a magnet for vacationers in all seasons but winter. The community is just five minutes drive from a beautiful and public Altantic Ocean beach. Attraction to vacationers is a factor in reason #3, rental income. Weehawka Woods units are set up especially well for one- or two-week stays, and they can generate an easy $10,000 a year in rental income. Note, however, that management fees can run to 35%, and of course there are taxes and homeowner association dues, all of which can take a severe bite out of revenues.

Beyond the 16th hole at Pawleys Plantation and the marsh lies the beach homes on the Altantic Ocean.  It is just five minutes from the community's guarded front gate to the island, which makes Pawleys Plantation a popular vacation spot for families in summer and golfers the rest of the year.

        But let’s say that, after all the deductions, you are left with just $3,000 at the end of the year. That amounts to about a 3.5% return on your $88,000 investment, but you will save money on lodging if you use your condo for a personal vacation (up to two weeks per year, legally, unless you spend time fixing up the unit, in which case you can stay for the duration of the fix-ups, plus the two weeks).

        Most “safe” investments don’t yield that kind of return these days. And most certainly do not appreciate a few percentage points a nanosecond after you buy in. While the banks are still asleep at the switch, deals are still available. You can scan GolfHomesListed for some of the better deals available in top golf communities. And if you want us to keep an eye out for them, please contact us with your requirements.

        Footnote: The house that Jack Nicklaus lived in when he supervised construction of the Pawleys Plantation golf course in the late 1980s is currently for sale. See the listing by clicking here.