While golf has fallen down the list of “trendy activities,” real estate sources say the presence of a course is “still definitely a factor” in helping to attract prospects and move properties, even among those who “couldn’t care less” about the game.” Properties at The Links at Stone Ferry communities in Hollywood, S.C., 30 minutes outside of Charleston, and “off-Kiawah” island locations are proving to be particularly hot commodities.
A hot real-estate market right now in South Carolina’s Lowcountry is out in the country, miles from downtown Charleston, with the majority of homes built away from the water and schools, The Post and Courier of Charleston reported.
While that may sound odd, The Post and Courier reported, even more surprising is that one of the attractions that is making the Stono Ferry community in Hollywood, S.C. a “sales haven”is a golf course.
While golf now falls well down the list of “trendy activities”and greens fees are escalating throughout the region, The Post and Courier reported, The Links at Stono Ferry is still proving to be an attraction for “a certain circle of business people, retirees, working class and vacationers [who] play occasionally to quite often.”The fact that The Links at Stono Ferry also serves as the home course for the College of Charleston’s men’s and women’s golf teams is also adding to its attraction.
Rob Sturm, an agent with Century 21 Properties Plus who markets homes at Stono Ferry, told The Post and Courier that having a golf course “is definitely a factor.”
“Without the golf course, it’s hard to get people,” Sturm said, adding that applies to prospective buyers who are big golf fans as well as those who couldn’t care less about the game.
Tennis courts, a swimming pool and amenities like a steeplechase track and horse stables are still proving to be desirable features of a community like Stono Ferry, Sturm added.
The trouble now, he told The Post and Courier, is finding homes on the market, when there’s a wide-ranging inventory shortage across the region. “I wish we had one to sell,” he said.
What’s on the market at Stono Ferry sells quickly, Sturm said, including seven new houses on the golf course that were scooped up in the past two years. The community also counts 75 townhomes, two new-homes neighborhoods and custom houses priced up to $1 million or more.
“That’s the thing about Stono Ferry,”Sturm noted. “There’s a little bit of everything out there.”
The Century 21 representative is not alone in his upbeat assessment of golf courses and their impact on real estate sales, The Post and Courier reported. The Greater Charleston area now highlights close to 30 courses locally and there are 13 local golf course communities, or neighborhoods built in and around layouts, according to The Keadle Group at Carolina One.
The top localities in the Charleston area for golf communities, The Post and Courier reported, are Charleston, with four neighborhoods and an average home price of $447,610, and Mount Pleasant also with four and a $576,691 average, according to the New Home Source online marketplace.
Zillow, the national Internet real estate researcher, currently cites 266 homes on the market in the metro Charleston area that list “golf course” among their attractions, The Post and Courier reported.
Maraide Sullivan, an agent with NV Realty, told The Post and Courier that there is also an accommodating pattern on Johns Island, notably due to the bevy of courses there as well as on neighboring Seabrook and Kiawah islands, and the ability to join golf clubs on neighboring resorts.
“One of the best-kept secrets among the Charleston County Sea Islands is Kiawah River Estates,”Sullivan said. “There has to be a reason why people move there from Kiawah, Seabrook and other lovely places.”
That neighborhood, Sullivan told The Post and Courier, elicits a sizable draw because it’s “the only community ‘off-Kiawah’ that has the option to join Kiawah Island Resort’s Governor’s Club.'” Also, one of the Kiawah resort’s five golf courses, Oak Point, winds through the tranquil, gated Johns Island community.
Buyers currently have “an abundance of options to choose from” for that location, Sullivan said, including lot prices ranging from $75,000-$355,000; a “charming” Johnstowne model priced at $450,000, houses with golf course views priced up to $599,000, and proposed new construction starting at $668,000.
For The Post and Courier’s full report, go to https://www.postandcourier.com/business/real_estate/homes-sell-faster-than-average-in-charleston-s-golf-course/article_bcc303c8-6dbb-11e8-adb4-538a91368421.html
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