The Somersett United blogsite has two more blogs and accompanying remarks worth a look for ArrowCreek residents and property owners:
HOAs and Country Clubs – Are They a Good Match?
HOAs and Country Clubs – Are They a Good Match? – Part 2
(Some of the information is a rehash of articles on ArrowCreek411.)
One of the responses on the first part (from Barry) mentions two articles (actually, the first one is a website of a golf consultant.) “in favor” of buying a golf course in today’s financial environment. I only found a few positive articles myself. Most of the literature overwhelmingly warns against doing so! The last article is very worth reading.
The first one is a guy who really wants employment as a consultant to help make a go at being successful.
The second article really sounds a lot like the discussions currently going on in ArrowCreek and details more of the thinking behind some of the arguments. Well worth the while to read and think about for a few moments…
Cast Your Ballots: Trilogy residents face vote for golf course purchase (Rio Vista, CA)
Pay attention to the loan conditions as described as it sounds similar to what may be in the works for ArrowCreek. Article 7 of the ArrowCreek Articles of Incorporation states “Members of the corporation shall not be liable for the payment of any corporate debts of any nature whatsoever nor shall any property of the members be subject to the payment of corporate debts to any extent whatever, except to the extent valid and proper assessments for the corporate purposes provided herein create such liability or subject members’ real property to assessment liens.”
When we bought our lot: the golf course was not an item, the courses are not centerpieces nor that visible from the main drag, I totally don’t see them from my house and high desert is high desert is high desert. If you don’t like high desert, you don’t need to be in Reno. THIS Statement is to counter the statement made: “If you didn’t want a golf course, you can move.” When we bought our lot we had a CHOICE to join the country club. It was not MANDATORY. If it were, we probably would have never bought it in the first place. Even though we fell in love with our lot’s view of Reno and the Truckee River Valley. It is about as far from any golf course as it could be.
And – about the home value comment – maybe at first home values in D’Andrea may have been distressed, but now the “sold” average value percentage is quite remarkable. Twenty to 40% drops in value may be for homes right on a golf course in Florida, but the percentage can drop considerably every 100 ft. (“Does Proximity to a Golf Course Matter?” Kwame Owusu-Edusei & Molly Espey, Clemson University, 2003: http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/bitstream/18812/1/wp012203.pdf **) It all depends on which study or studies you want to consider, if you do not consider any and all of them. And, once memories fade and if the high desert is allowed to take over, it makes no difference at all. The neighborhood is still a nice place.
** From Page 4 of “Does Proximity to a Golf Course Matter?”:
Asabre and Huffman (1996) studied negative and positive impacts of golf courses to homes and found a negative impact on houses proximate to the gate, but positive for houses having frontage on golf courses in Burlington county, New Jersey. Do and Grudnitski (1995) focused on proximity to golf courses and found that the impact on property values did not extend beyond 100 feet. They concluded that houses abutting golf course were 7.6 percent more in value. Hirsh (1994) confirms that, “significant value can be derived from golf course frontage.” Firth (1990) found that golf course frontage may increase residential land value by over $10 per square foot. Other studies have used hedonic pricing models to estimate the effect of different open space types on a house’s sales value or assessed value.
ArrowCreek411 