Shared by Deborah Goonan, Independent American Communities
As golf courses across the US go out of business, HOA communities built around them must come to terms with reality. Many of these golf course will be redeveloped, and will not remain golf courses or even green spaces.
James DeHaven, Las Vegas Review-Journal, reports another twist on the common story of another golf course closure. Now some real estate agents are creating a selling-frenzy in golf communities. “Better sell now before your property value plummets!”
Of course, that only makes matters worse.
What’s an owner to do, now that they will have to look out at other homes instead of a fairway? The old adage rings true: fences make good neighbors. So do privacy hedges. In fact, creative landscaping can give you a private oasis, if done correctly. Create your own natural view, and add more privacy.
Time to update the HOA’s architectural guidelines to allow for these modifications.
The truth is, all neighborhoods are becoming more densely populated, golf community or not.
Vegas golf course purchases worry neighbors
One question is haunting thousands of Southern Nevadans who wake up every morning to a fairway view: Am I next?
It’s a question raised by the recent, unexpected sale of two Las Vegas golf courses to different buyers who haven’t ruled out plans to turn water hazards and sand traps into condos and multi-acre mansions.
Development blueprints — yet to be fully revealed to residents living near Silverstone and Badlands golf clubs — have sparked protests, lawsuits and rampant speculation among those who have ponied up for a country club membership in the Las Vegas Valley.
A half-dozen golf course brokers and managers contacted by the Review-Journal said residents have good reason to fear that torn-out tee boxes and paved-over putting greens will wreak havoc on their property values.
Some managers expect as many as five valley courses to change hands over the next two years, so they could hardly blame nervous homeowners who had already started snooping around their courses’ balance sheets.
The managers also recommended that residents review zoning documents and work with homeowners association representatives to see what land uses are already permitted on their course and which might be prevented should it be sold to a new owner.
Real estate experts echoed that advice, noting that losing a backyard golf course view could knock as much as 20 percent off a home’s value. Little wonder then that Realtors report 20 homes on the market in Silverstone, not including seven that fell out of escrow after the course was sold in September.
But what’s perhaps more worrying, one Realtor said, is the number of unscrupulous realty professionals looking to profit off that by scaring homeowners into prematurely pushing their home onto the market.
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Vegas golf course purchases worry neighbors
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