Good afternoon. Let me first thank the members of the EDC Board as well as Tammie Nemecek (Nem’ a check) for inviting me here to share some of my thoughts regarding the Collier County real estate market and its effect on the economic development of Collier County.

The real story of Collier County is, of course, our astonishing growth rate. You are familiar, I’m sure, with the numbers but, for context, let me put the rest of my comments in perspective by referencing the singular fact that our current population of approximately 250,000 is up from only 20,000 in 1960 — and will almost certainly double within the next twenty years to reach a population of 500,000.

From a bucolic seaside hamlet to a half million people…well over a thousand percent growth, in one generation. Perhaps the most amazing thing about this metamorphosis is that, living here, it is actually possible to become accustomed to the continual change around us and forget how exceptional this community really is. We are, however, occasionally reminded, on the front pages of national publications like The New York Times and USA Today that this is an extraordinary place.

The media, as you know, has concentrated its collective attention on the housing prices in Collier County, a subject that I also wrote about recently in a Guest Commentary for the Naples Daily News.

We shouldn’t, I suppose, be surprised that so many people are confused by our local housing market. In historical terms, after all, the growth of high-end resort communities like Naples is a new and relatively unexamined economic phenomenon.

In my editorial, I pointed out that purported experts have taken diametrically opposing views regarding our housing market. Two studies, one by National City Corp. and the other by Global Insight, listed Naples among the most overpriced markets in the country and predicted a serious downward correction. Two other studies, one by the National Association of Realtors and one by Hank Fishkind’s firm, the most respected authority on the Florida economy, contradicted that conclusion and predicted continued though less dramatic increases in home prices.

These conflicting conclusions raise a particularly important question: How can experts differ so thoroughly about the nature of our market? The answer is actually surprisingly simple.

Both of the studies that paint a dismal picture of our housing market rely on data in a form published by the U.S. Census Bureau. Specifically, they used statistics gathered within Metropolitan Statistical Areas, or MSAs, which were established as a unit of locational measurement in 1940. The problem with MSAs is that they were intended originally and specifically to comprise relatively homogeneous and stable populations.

Most MSAs, in fact, started out that way but, over time, some have changed dramatically. As a result, MSAs that experience significant though uneven growth rates, such as the Naples MSA which includes all Collier County, mistakenly combine extremely diverse communities and housing markets.

These hybrid, variegated MSAs were never intended to be used as the basis for the type of affordability studies that paint Naples as “overpriced,” yet that is exactly what has happened. Affordability studies, by the way, are a relatively simple attempt to gauge the ability of a local population to buy local homes based on a comparison of historical housing prices to average incomes.

Such studies are therefore meaningless when applied to an MSA that is no longer homogeneous and stable. This is exemplified by the fact that the other MSA that shows up consistently at the top of the list of supposedly overpriced markets is Santa Barbara, California — an area with extremely rapid growth that has much in common with the Naples MSA.

South Santa Barbara is a location where homes are sold almost exclusively to high income individuals from around the world. These exclusive neighborhoods include Montecito, Hope Ranch and the Santa Barbara Riviera. Home prices in these areas are roughly on par with Naples.

On the other hand, Northern Santa Barbara County includes neighborhoods like Lompoc and Guadalupe where home prices and average incomes are far more modest. This is closely analogous, of course, to the range of Collier County neighborhoods. As a result, affordability studies that compare average incomes to home prices in the Naples and Santa Barbara MSAs yield an apparent but misleading imbalance.

Does that statistical imbalance actually mean that those who are buying homes in Hope Ranch or Pelican Bay cannot afford their homes? Of course not. In fact, a surprising number of buyers in both communities pay cash.

As a counter-example, it is useful to examine a few other high-end exurbs that do not appear in lists of overpriced markets. Two that spring to mind are Telluride, Colorado and Sun Valley, Idaho. Like Naples and Santa Barbara, both of these communities are magnets for wealthy individuals, with a large percent of homeowners spending only part of the year in their second or third homes. Home prices in Sun Valley and Telluride are similar to prices in Santa Barbara and Naples, but they do not show up on lists of overpriced markets. Why not?

The answer is simple. In both cases, the people who work in those high-end resort locations tend to commute in from nearby bedroom communities where housing prices and incomes are much lower. If the Telluride and Sun Valley MSAs encompassed their peripheral communities, they too would be categorized as “overpriced.”

Outdated MSA boundaries are not the only flaw in these widely publicized affordability studies. Even if the various communities within Collier County were separated into their own MSAs, average incomes and historical housing prices in areas like Naples proper and Pelican Bay would tend toward the meaningless.

Some 25 years ago, Pelican Bay was an undeveloped area known as Clam Bay. Fiddler’s Creek was a tomato farm. The notion that historical income levels and housing prices have any bearing on today’s housing market is simply foolish. The engine at the heart of Collier County growth rates has been, obviously, the purchase of high end homes by people from outside the area.

This is, by the way, why Gulf Bay advertises in national and international publications like the Wall Street Journal, Town and Country and Architectural Digest. Even local ads are aimed primarily at tourists, visitors and homeowners from outside the area who have decided to buy a second or third home here.

Local income statistics are misleading for other reasons as well. While the use of average income statistics is relatively useful in a homogeneous middle-class community, they do not accurately reflect wealth in communities with populations whose wealth comes from investments and other so-called unearned sources.

The example I use is that of someone who earns $100,000 annually from low-risk investments, which would require two million dollars in savings assuming a five percent return on investment. This person, however, is treated the same in affordability studies as the salaried earner, making the same amount on paper, even if he or she is deeply in debt. In fact, some investors choose growth rather than income stocks, liquidating holdings only when they need income. Their wealth, if it shows up at all, is categorized as a modest capital gain rather than income.
Despite these, and other, obvious methodological errors in the studies that impugn the Naples housing market, the national media has reported these studies as if they were gospel. I do not, by the way, bring this up merely to defend the reputation of the Naples area market.

Nor do I dwell on these analytical flaws simply to complain about shoddy economics and the journalists who report it as if it were respectable science — though that’s always fun.

Rather, we need to recognize that there are real world consequences for our entire community when the mainstream media encourages the public to believe that housing prices in Collier County are destined to fall by 50 percent or more. These stories do not dissuade the high income individuals who are willing to risk a falling market in order to buy a winter vacation home in beautiful Naples, Florida. It may, however, scare off the professional who is considering a job opportunity in the Collier County school system.

So what should we know about the Naples market? First, as I’ve already implied, it is not the feeding frenzy of condo-flippers that some believe it to be. Rather, the Naples success story is, in large part, the American success story. The last decade has seen an enormous explosion of personal wealth in the U.S., as well as other countries with relatively free market systems.

According to an analysis by the New York Times, based on Treasury Department data, the number of Americans with assets worth more than $10 million, adjusted for inflation in current terms, increased by fourfold between 1980 and the year 2000 when they numbered approximately 1,350,000 people. Estimates by National Review’s Dinesh D’Souza are that more than 5 million American families have a net worth in excess of a million dollars. Conservative estimates are that their numbers will at least double in the next ten years and some have it quadrupling.

This is an amazing story, the American story, and one that doesn’t get enough attention. Some, in fact, don’t seem to want to hear it.

Regardless, the increase in the number of wealthy U.S. families has had an enormous impact on certain sectors of the housing market — especially the vacation home market. To give you an idea of how rapidly vacation home ownership is growing, the National Association of Realtors found that in 2004, vacation homes accounted for 13 percent of all homes purchases, rising almost 20 percent over the previous year and totaling more than a million of the 6.6 million total homes sold. The 2005 numbers are expected to be up significantly over the million mark.

Let me emphasize that vacation homes are, by definition, not investment homes. They are used at least part of the year by their owners. The vast majority are not rented even in the off season by their owners — who do not plan on selling them in the near future. Because these people are not buying their homes as investments for resale, they are not susceptible financially to fluctuations in home prices or interest rates. They’re in it for the long run.

This huge growth in the vacation home market represents, in fact, a new and mostly misunderstood reality in the American economy. For many people, many millions of people in fact, the American dream is no longer the proverbial home with a white picket fence in a safe neighborhood with good schools. Rather, dramatically increasing levels of personal wealth have led to a new American Dream, which is a second home in a perfect resort environment.

As is the case in other products, there are a range of vacation home options. For some, it is simply a cabin near a fishing stream in the mountains, often within a few hours drive of the owner’s primary residence. Wealthier families, however, have gravitated to a relatively few premier resort boom towns that have emerged in the last decades.

While there have always been American Monacos, their growing prominence is a new and relatively unexamined factor in the American economy. This trend has been enabled and encouraged, of course, by computer and Internet technologies that allow individuals to manage their businesses and portfolios from virtually anywhere.

For the first time in history, millions of people have the option of doing business from an office in a city like Chicago or from a house in Naples on the beach or on a golf course.

Which would you choose?

Aspen, Vail, Telluride, Nantucket, Catalina Island, Martha’s Vineyard, Jackson Hole, Lake Tahoe, Sun Valley, Montecito, Carmel, Palm Beach, Pebble Beach and, of course, Naples are among the top choices for those who can afford to live anywhere they choose. All these enclaves, in fact, share certain critical characteristics that have made them magnets for the most affluent.

All have spectacular scenic and environmental qualities as well as outdoor recreational opportunities such as boating and skiing. All have highly desirable winter or summer climates, which is why many homeowners in these exurbs have both oceanside and mountain addresses. Additionally, and perhaps most importantly, the concentration of wealth in these areas has attracted a quality of services that are normally found only in large metropolitan areas — including high-quality health care, a range of airports, up-scale cuisine, shopping and cultural attractions that are not found in other similarly sized communities.

These enclaves also have become the driving economic force for much larger surrounding populations. The nature of the resort economy provides, in fact, a number of positive benefits to their larger communities.

Obviously, these affluent areas have no smokestack industries as they are the recipients primarily of invested wealth earned elsewhere. This environmental consciousness is encouraged by the fact that wealthier populations typically prefer and can afford comprehensive conservation programs.

Additionally, strong tax bases yield high quality schools, libraries, police forces, medical and other services that are available to the entire region. The economies of these areas are also particularly immune to business cycles as they are driven by investments rather than industries that are vulnerable to national or regional recessions.

There is another characteristic of these elite enclaves that also sets them apart from other locations. They’re all running out of space. While demand for homes in this handful of premier locations is increasing, the amount of prime developable space in most, including Naples, is limited severely by both geography and land use regulations.

The increases in Naples real estate prices have to be seen in light of this market imbalance, which can only intensify as Boomers, the richest and most active generation in history, search for up-scale vacation and retirement homes. What happened here and in similar locations, like Pebble Beach and Carmel, has to be seen therefore as an upward market correction as an increasing number of the wealthiest people in America and the world realized that the best locations in the safest and most stable country in the free world were disappearing quickly.

This is not to say that some U.S. housing markets are not overpriced. There are definitely real estate bubbles in certain areas. Alan Greenspan uses the term froth. In Florida, there is froth in the Miami/Fort Lauderdale area, where currently there are some 55,000 to 65,000 units in and about to go under construction. People have been “flipping” contracts and making high returns — a sure sign of a bubble.

In the 25 years I have been involved in real estate development, I have never seen a market, where speculators are driving prices, that has not experienced a severe correction.

I see the same for the East Coast of Florida where the problem is amplified by foreign banks, based in Miami, lending without previous knowledge of the market. These banks are buoyed by an inflow of funds, from Latin American economies exporting oil and other commodities at record prices, before finding its way into the overheated Miami real estate market.

Where speculators are buying homes on credit, especially with exotic new instruments like short-term interest-only mortgages, there is a real danger that those intending to “flip” properties will be seriously hurt. These areas should not be confused with areas like Naples that draw super-affluent customers like the more than half of home buyers in Naples’ Pelican Bay community, for example, who pay cash. Naples, Florida, like Vail and Aspen, Colorado, has a very limited amount of land for development.

Historically, small exclusive communities, limited in size by geographic factors and already populated by the wealthiest segment of the population, have not suffered during national downturns. Naples, Florida is one such place.

Miami’s condo boom, however is almost certainly artificial, and the attempt to create an ultra luxury residential resort atmosphere in Las Vegas, which is in no way environmentally unique, also seems to have failed. In such areas, where prices have been driven by speculators rather than buyers who actually want to enjoy their properties, sharp reduction in prices could take place and, at least temporarily, affect the entire housing market in that locale.

In the long run the fundamentals driving prices in Naples and other similar communities will not only hold but strengthen — for the same reason that great art continues to appreciate in value. //

The Merrill Lynch/Capgemini World Wealth Report has, in fact, pointed out that the dramatic modern increase in the numbers of wealthy individuals has led to price inflation in luxury consumption goods that is running four times that of mass-produced consumer items — a rate that not coincidentally mirrors price increases in high-end real estate. You cannot buy Naples real estate or Gulfstream jets at Wal Mart…..at least not yet!

Those who produce luxury items such as heirloom quality furniture, private jets and luxury yachts have been unable to expand production capacity to keep up with rapidly growing demand, leading to increased prices. The selling prices of new Gulfstreams are at an all time high.

In terms of luxury housing, the shortages have not only been due to difficulties in ramping up production, caused by the scarcities of skilled labor and materials, but by the unassailable fact that there is simply no more prime undeveloped space on the Gulf Coast near high-end services.

This is a truth that is clearly understood among those with the wealth to afford their place in paradise. A survey by The PNC Financial Services Group found that confidence in the value of supposedly overvalued high-end Florida real estate increases with the level of personal wealth. It is in all our interests that others understand this as well.

We have, unfortunately, seen the term snowbird turn into a slur among some, though Collier County’s success has depended from the beginning on the willingness of wealthier individuals to spend here what they earned elsewhere.

When policy makers, politicians and civil administrators make decisions on the kind of information contained in defective economic studies and publicized by prominent national media outlets, their policies are necessarily flawed as well.

Collier is not immune, after all, to the kinds of policy challenges facing other similar, rapidly growing resort locations — and much can be learned by studying what has and has not worked for them. Important policy decisions involving transportation, affordable housing and other smart growth issues will be made whether or not those making the decisions have access to reliable information.

But, we who are part of the Collier County Economic Development Council have an important role in furthering an accurate or real-world understanding of the Naples area economy. Thank you.

Recently a Global Insight analyst listed Naples as the most overvalued housing market in the country. Another study a few months ago, by National City Corp., ranked Naples near the top of overpriced markets.

However, Florida’s pre-eminent economic forecaster, Fishkind and Associates, has just predicted a gentle leveling of Southwest Florida housing prices. Lawrence Yun, an economist with the National Association of Realtors, went further saying, “If there is one region in the country that I am least concerned about the prospect of a home price decline, it would be in the Florida market.”

So how can “experts” reach such divergent conclusions? The answer is that those studies positing a “bubble” relied on Census Bureau Data encompassing extremely large regions called Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) that often include a disparate mix of neighborhoods. Both concluded, in effect, that homes in Naples’ high-priced neighborhoods are beyond the reach of those who live in outlying Collier County. While indisputable, this has nothing to do with the price stability.

The Economic Development Council of Collier County says the country is “widely regarded as having more millionaires per capita than any other area in the U.S.” This is based, in part, on the “fact that Collier County residents, on average, receive more of their income from unearned [non-salary] sources than any other place in the United States.” In other words, the people bidding up the price of high-end homes are among the richest in America. This is not, however, reflected in most housing market studies.

Affordability studies treat the person with a $100,000 investment income, typically requiring $2 million in savings, no differently than a salaried earner with the same income but no savings. Wealthy investors may also appear poor on paper because unrealized capital gains are not counted as income. Or they may not appear at all, if they spend too little time here to be included in county income statistics.

Affordability studies err also by assuming that historical Collier County price data indicates how much current buyers can afford. For good or ill, however, this area has little in common with the sleepy resort and fishing community it was a generation ago. In 1960, the entire county had fewer than 20,000 residents. Half the current population has arrived since 1990.

Yet this error has been made not only with regard to the Naples area, but the other premier vacation and resort boom-towns which have emerged in the last few decades. While there have always been American Monacos, enclaves for the very wealthy, their growing prominence is new and relatively unexamined – driven by dramatic increases in the number of very wealthy Americans as well as technologies that allow them to manage businesses and portfolios from virtually anywhere.

The names of these locations are well known especially to the tens of millions for whom the American Dream has become not just a home but a second home in a perfect resort setting. Telluride, Nantucket, Catalina Island, Martha’s Vineyard, Jackson Hole, Lake Tahoe, Sun Valley, Fisher Island, Montecito, Carmel, Pebble Beach and, of course, Naples – all share characteristics that have made them magnets for the affluent. All have spectacular environmental attributes, and highly desirable winter or summer climates. Additionally, they have attracted healthcare, aviation, cuisine, shopping and culture on a level normally found only in large metropolitan areas.

Luxury homes in all these locations are marketed not to local communities, the focus of affordability studies, but to a national and international customer base. While demand in this handful of premier locations is increasing, prime developable space in most, including Naples, is limited severely by both geography and land use regulation. The imbalance will intensify as Baby Boomers, the richest generation in history, search for upscale vacation and retirement homes. Moreover, the Census Bureau predicts that almost half of all the U.S. population growth in the next decade will take place in three states – Florida, California and Texas. Conservative estimates put Collier County at 500,000 year-round residents around 2025.

This is not to say psychology may not yield fluctuations in the Naples market but price increases in America’s premier resort communities have been the result of a growing realization among those who can afford to live anywhere they want that the best spots are mostly taken. I would love an opportunity, if the local market turns south for a while, to pick up prime Naples real estate at bargain basement prices. Based on 25 years in the Naples real estate market, however, I don’t expect to get the opportunity.

Bonita Bay is a very mature landscaped area which everyone loves when they drive in. The landscape is so full that one is really not aware there is a residential association behind the vegetation. The community is security gate controlled and has about 12 - 15 miles of exercise trails and bicycle pathways, not including the golf cart paths. It is really unusual when you see someone riding a bike or jogging in the streets. Most everyone uses the trail system.

Bonita Bay as an Equity type country club requiring Application and Initiation Fee, regardless of the membership level. Not everyone is a member and it is not required. Bonita Bay is only master planned community in the US to have five (5) golf courses all being Audubon approved. Three courses are within the gates. Several years ago, the developer, sensing membership interest in additional courses, purchased 1400 acres about 20 minutes away … 4 miles east of I-75 on Immakolee Road … and developed the 2 additional courses. There will be no residential development on the eastern site. It will be only for the 2 courses and pristine preserves.

The cost of golf memberships in the Naples / Bonita market can be expensive by anyone’s standards. The key to understanding how the system works in our market is to understand that (1) there will be a refund upon resignation … and further (2) knowing what to expect as to the time required at the back side to getting your initiation refund back. This is critical. Currently (May 2004), Bonita Bay’s initiation for a full golf membership is $130,000 (for 5 golf courses). Refund is 100% of what you paid in … and within 30 days of resignation. The key points here are … 100% and within 30 days.

Aside from the golf club, which includes swimming, tennis and dining memberships, there is also a Yacht Club with direct access to the Gulf of Mexico, a really nice casual restaurant open to all Bonita Bay Residents called Backwater Jacks. There is also a beach access area which is deeded to Bonita Bay. There are costs associated with all these which are most reasonable. The beach access is an automatic for all owners as the annual fees are included in the master association expense. To more fully explain, ‘club’ membership is not a prerequisite to beach access; all owners have equal access to the beach. The community provides a bus-tram system to ferry people to and from the beach so that you are not having to cart people back and forth on your own, which of course would take you away from doing your own thing.

Other Bonita Bay Group master planned communities would be The Brooks, Mediterra, Twin Eagles and Verandah. Each is different from the others.

In their current large tracts in the Naples / Bonita area consist of Bonita Bay, The Brooks, Mediterra, Twin Eagles and Verandah. You can find their major website at www.bonitabaygroup.com.

The Brooks is a very unique community as it is one master community divided in to four (4) sub communities, each of which offers the Buyer something different: (1) Shadow Wood (equity golf), (2) Spring Run (bundled golf - 844), (3) Copperleaf (bundled golf 560) and (4) Lighthouse Bay (no golf).

TOWN CENTER

The Books has a major … let’s call it a … casual commercial area called Town Center which consists of a fabulous / casual restaurant called Rosie Spoonbills, a beautiful state of the art Fitness Center and an “Enrichment Center which consists of meeting rooms, computer center, etc. Town Center overlooks a large expanse of meticulously maintained landscape area and gazebo, connecting lakes and preserve. Frequently they will have concerts out on the lawn such as Blood, Sweat and Tears a couple years ago, sections from the Naples Philharmonic and all the festivities that go along with St. Patrick’s Day.

Additionally, I have to emphasize that Bonita Bay Group is extremely sensitive to resident’s desire (demand !!) for beach access. BB’Group has purchased beachfront areas for each of their different communities. In the case of Shadow Wood, this area is about a 12 minute ride south on 41 / Tamiami Trail … west on Bonita Beach Road to the water … and about a mile north on Old Hickory Blvd. Each area has private parking and all the beach furniture provided.

If one is a Full Equity Golf Member in Shadow Wood, membership is Town Center is included. If the owner is not a golf member, they can become a Town Centre ‘member’ for an initiation fee of about $10,000 (fully refundable … just as for the golf initiation fee) and an annual fee of about $750 if they use all Town Centre amenities. This amount is adjustable if they don’t use the … fitness center, as an example.

EQUITY VS. BUNDLED GOLF DESCRIPTION

If you are a golfer, then The Brooks has something for everyone, even if one has zero interest in golf.

The Brooks has two types of golf, Full Equity requiring an initiation fee and Bundled Golf, where everyone is automatically a full member. A full explanation can be found on my web site … http://www.downing-frye-realty.com/www.larryhalpin.com/naples-bonita-golf-real-estate.html#golfarticle.

In summary, with regard to Full Equity, generally when one applies for membership in a golf club up North, the member kisses the initiation fee good-bye. In the Naples / Bonita area, members who will be paying an amount larger than they are accustomed to paying up North, upon resignation, will be refunded a significant amount back … at some point in time. The key words here are … at some point in time. In some cases, ’some point in time’ can be a significant time later. It would be terrific if other master developers would follow the example set by Bonita Bay Group. In the case of Shadow Wood, the contract calls for 100% reimbursement of the paid initiation to the member within 30 days of the resignation.

SHADOW WOOD

Shadow Wood is the largest of the four communities and is the only Equity golf community in The Brooks. Membership in the Club is a type of membership requiring an Application and an initiation fee. It is a voluntary membership with several categories of membership each with a different fee / annual dues schedule … (1) Full Golf. (2) Tennis and (3) Social / Dining. When prospective Buyers come to me who are interested in equity golf (as opposed to bundled golf), their most frequently asked question is … what club facility offers me the best value for my (significant) initiation fee investment? Shadow Wood offers what I feel is excellent value once everything is understood as to the workings of Equity Golf packages in the Naples / Bonita market place.

Whereas Equity requires an initiation fee, membership is capped at 350 equity members per 18 holes. With only 350 members per 18 holes, access to golf is easy. Naturally, as there are limited number of members, annual dues are higher than with bundled golf. While there are some exceptions in some communities, typically should an owner lease their residence to a tenant, any club privileges are not transferable to the tenant. Membership rights in Shadow Wood are not transferable but may be used by direct family relations.

The current (July 2004) initiation fee for full equity golf at Shadow Wood is $95,000 of which $92,000 is considered ‘Equity’. Shadow Wood has three (3) major golf courses … two within the gates of Shadow Wood and the 3rd course about 5 miles north on 41 in The Preserve at Shadow Wood. There is a beautiful 30,000 square foot club house in Shadow Wood in The Brooks with a smaller but equally beautiful 12,000 square foot club house in Preserve.

Residential styles in Shadow Wood run from 1621 sq ft. 2+den condos … to larger condos … to detached villas to significant estate homes. Current entry level prices are generally in the high $200s and up. There is nothing taller than a two story condo in The Brooks.

SPRING RUN (844)

Spring Run, a sub division in The Brooks, is a Bundled golf community. A full description of Bundled Golf can be found at the web address provided above. In summary, whereas Equity Golf is a fully voluntary membership with Initiation Fee, Bundled Golf says … membership in the club, while requiring absolutely no initiation fee, is tied to … or is bundled together with Title to the property. Thereby, each front door (owner) is automatically a member of the club with full access to all amenities. Whereas, there are more members in a bundled golf community than in an equity community, annual dues will be considerably lower in a bundled community.

Spring Run has about 844 front doors and therefore potentially 844 (not including spouses) people having access to the same tee times. Whereas the advantage to a bundled community is that there is no initiation fee, the disadvantage is that there are far more people attempting to play the course.

Also with bundled communities, membership rights are easily transferable to a tenant with the tenant paying the transfer fee.

All Brooks owners, not being an equity member in Shadow Wood, do have to ‘join’ Town Centre’ and pay annual dues. However, whereas golf memberships in bundled golf communities are transferable, Town Centre privileges are not transferable.

THE KEY TO BUNDLED GOLF IS THE NUMBER OF FRONT DOORS. Rule of thumb says that a bundled community will have approximately 800 front doors. In Spring Run, that number is 844, making for a fairly dense community with many condos and fewer villa type detached residences. Price wise, entry level in Spring Run is about $170,000 for a 2/2 condo with car port and increase to $400 - $550 or so for a detached villa. There are some attached villas in the $300s.

COPPERLEAF (560)

The same basic description used for Spring Run applies to Copperleaf. There are a couple major differences. (Pulte) The builder of Spring Run became sensitive to the density idea and determined to make Copperleaf far less dense. As a result the number of front doors in Copperleaf is 560 making access to the golf course much easier. Also, as there are fewer front doors, there are far fewer condos and far more detached villas and estate homes.

Prices start in the low $200s and go up. As there are fewer front doors but approximately the same overall community expenses, annual dues / maintenance, etc., are proportionately higher.

If I am comfortable with the additional expenses (comparing bundled communities to bundled communities), I am most certainly preferring Copperleaf at 560 to Spring Run at 844 !

LIGHTHOUSE BAY

Lighthouse Bay is an owner’s answer for someone who doesn’t want to play golf or even think that golf has an effect on price. Lighthouse Bay has no Golf. They do have a fabulous club house and major pool complex which is part of ownership in Lighthouse Bay. Prices will start in the low $200s. Residential styles are mostly condo. The key to Lighthouse Bay is proximity to I-75 in particular the direction the lanai faces.