Deeds and Weeds

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Cher's Hualalai Home Sells for $8.7 Million

The entertainer Cher sold her house on the golf course of the Hualalai Resort on the Big Island of Hawaii this week, and she didn't do too badly.

The house -- on .75 acres, with 8,800 square feet, six bedrooms and a view of the Jack Nicklaus designed layout (which is hosting this week's Champions Tour event, the Mitsubishi Electric Championship) and the Pacific Ocean -- sold for $8.7 million. Reports had it valued at between $8 and $12 million.

The Honolulu Advertiser has the story here.

-- G.R.

Golf Houses For $100 Million

Now this was kind of a fun article, even if it has no basis in reality -- at least not my own. TheStreet.com, using figures provided by the real estate website Zillow.com, has a list of homes in the U.S. for sale for the staggering price of $75 million and up.

Two of them have a golf connection. 

The first is "Tranquility," a 10,000 square-foot on 210 acres near California's Lake Tahoe. Built by Joel Horowitz, "one of the co-founders of Tommy Hilfiger," the house has a staircase modeled after one that was on the Titanic, a cigar lounge inspired by one at New York's St. Regis Hotel and -- outside -- a two-hole golf course. Asking price: $100 million.

The second is Albemarle House in Charlottesville, Va. The house has 45 rooms and more than 25,000 square feet, and it is the centerpiece of a 300-acre property with three ponds, guest cottages and -- ta-da -- an 18-hole golf course designed by Arnold Palmer. The catch is that the course hasn't actually been built yet, which -- in our opinion -- makes the $100 million price tag seem a little steep.

-- G.R.

Arizona Update: 'Getting Hit From All Sides'

The Arizona Republic starts the new year with an update on the overall golf market in Phoenix and the surrounding suburbs. In summary: golf course owners and developers aren't noticing any rebound, at least not yet. Some, uh, highlights:

Many private clubs have opened their courses to the public, even for just one or two days a week, in an effort to increase rounds and revenue.

Many facilities are negotiating green fees. One golfer talks about having played the Arizona Biltmore for $55, and guesses it would have cost him twice that much a year ago.

Arizona officials estimate that "only" 5 percent of the state's approximately 340 golf facilities are in dire economic condition, compared to 15 percent nationally.

The story said there were no golf course residential developments opened in Arizona in 2009 -- startling news (economic troubles notwithstanding) considering how "white hot" the state's golf market was as recently as five years ago.

You can read the complete story here.

-- G.R.


Jordan's New Home is a Castle

Michael Jordan is building a home on a golf course -- specifically, the Bears Club in Jupiter, Fla. -- and according to this story, it's going to be quite a doozy.

First, the basics: Jordan bought two adjoining lots at the golf club (Jack Nicklaus' most recent south Florida golf project), with a total land space of three acres, last year for $4.8 million. To date (the story says) the basketball legend has paid slightly more than $150,000 in permits and legal fees to get the project started. 

The house will be 37,942 square feet, about 26,000 of it air-conditioned. (It will also have a cottage and a security gate.) Most of the houses in the Bears Club are in the 10,000 square-foot range. Chez Jordan will be two stories, with 11 bedrooms and an as-yet-undetermined number of bathrooms. The approximate construction cost: $7.627 million.

As you might imagine, Jordan's plans are drawing a variety of reactions, not all of them positive.

The story quotes Joane Davis, described as a local "growth management specialist, who asked, "Who needs that kind of a footprint? It’s insane, a waste. ... I can't imagine anyone needing anything like that, except to show off."

To paraphrase Jordan, if you can afford it, it isn't showing off. Or something like that.

--G.R.

Couples Sells Home For $9.56 Million

Fred Couples has sold his house in Montecito, Calif., which is near Santa Barbara. The selling price for the nine-bedroom, seven-bathroom structure (which also has a 2,300-square-foot guest house) was $9.56 million. It was originally listed at $12.5 million. Details in this story in the Los Angeles Times.

Couples, who lived in the house with his second wife, Thais (now deceased), currently resides in La Quinta, Calif.

-- G.R.

Shark's Florida Estate For Sale: $60 Million

Greg Norman has re-listed his eight-acre estate in Jupiter, Fla., for $60 million. He originally listed the property two years ago for $65 million and eventually dropped the price to $47.5 million, but it never sold and he took it off the market. Now it's back on. Maybe the Shark sees a real-estate recovery in our future.

Details here.

-- G.R.

New Resort Community Opens in Monterey

It's been quiet on the new golf development front lately. Until today.

The former Fort Ord courses on the Monterey Peninsula, Bayonet and Black Horse, were recently re-opened after a $14 million renovation -- a good friend of ours played the Bayonet last week and said it was terrific -- and now comes word that a resort and residential neighborhood that is part of the project is set to open.

The Enclave at Cypress Grove is a 400-acre planned community that will eventually include homes, condominiums and a 330-room resort and spa. The first phase of the development is a parcel of 29 homesites, which have just been released for sale. Details are in this release here.

We wish them luck. Maybe they won't need it -- Monterey is Monterey, after all -- but it can't hurt.

-- G.R.

For Sale: Two Amazing Houses at Hualalai

In this economy, good deals on golf houses are to be found everywhere: even at Hualalai, the four-star golf resort (Four Seasons Hotel) and community on Hawaii's Big Island. Check out this story, which announces the upcoming auction August 10 of two homes at Hualalai, which had been originally listed at $10.3 million and $9.1 million, but didn't sell.

We were going to describe the properties ourselves, but then figured we would let the story do that for us:

"The first property, 72-151 Lau'eki Street, is located on 25,000 square feet of land. It contains a 5,900-square-foot residence with 4,600 square feet of air conditioned living space including five bedrooms, five baths and one half-bath, and more than 1,300 square feet of covered lanais including a 590-square-foot dining lanai.

The second property, 72-155 Lau'eki Street, is on 21,000 square feet of land, with 4,416 square feet of interior living area and more than 1,200 square feet of lanais. It includes four bedrooms, four baths and one half-bath, and a two-plus car garage.

Both homes feature a custom-designed swimming pool with infinity edge and integrated spa, covered entry with zen garden, outdoor kitchen, and a private outdoor shower garden. The interiors are offered with furnishings and include an expansive kitchen with high-quality stainless steel appliances, media room with 50-inch plasma television, and an integrated music speaker system."

The story never even mentions what would matter most to a potential buyer/golfer: the Jack Nicklaus designed golf course at Hualalai, which serves as the annual host of the Champions Tour's Mitsubishi Electric Championship.

-- G.R.

Is the Housing Market About to Hit Bottom?

Lots of news the last couple of days about the housing market, led by today's report that housing prices suffered their biggest quarterly drop, year over year, in the 21-year history of the S&P/Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index. According to the index, U.S. home prices are at levels similar to the fourth quarter of 2002.

Also today, Bloomberg.com had a comprehensive story on the housing market in which a survey of analysts predicted a bottoming of the housing market in June (good news, sort of) and an unusually slow and sluggish recovery (bad news):

"The slump in the U.S. housing market that caused the median value of homes to decline 24 percent since 2006 may bottom next month without any prospect of a rebound for another year, according to estimates from chief economists at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the Mortgage Bankers Association and national realtors and homebuilder groups."

The full text of the story, including a number of golf related anecdotes, is here.


-- G.R.

BofA Exec Cuts Price of Spring Island Home

Life hasn't been a bowl of cherries lately for embattled Bank of America CEO Kenneth Lewis. The latest sour fruit: According to this story from the Wall Street Journal, Lewis has cut the price on the vacation house he has been trying to sell at Spring Island, S.C. (home of the very fine Old Tabby Golf Links, designed by Arnold Palmer), for the last two years.

Lewis bought the 5,700-square-foot home with Dennis Thompson, founder and CEO of Firebirds International, in 2002 for $3 million. Current asking price (after the reduction): $3.3. million. The story includes a nice slideshow of the house.

-- G.R.
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