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My wife and I are the latest (potential) imports into your beautiful part of the country. I searched the forums but couldn't find a lot on specifics around golf communities and comparing them. There may be some older ones but I couldn't find what I was looking for. The areas that have caught our eyes are: Landfall, SJP and Porter's Neck and Brunswick Forest (might be missing one or two?).
In trying to give as much detail as possible, we are looking for: private golf community, housing in the $1MM range (or nice lot in the $3-400K range), friendly peeps (had to put it but this is so subjective isn't it!), and then access to town and beach. From our vantage we see the pros and cons as:
Landfall - somewhat exclusive (pro unless subjectivity leads one to saying people are snooty), more expensive (con), great golf(pro), close to Wimington and beach (both pro).
SJP - massive community (pro/con - for us it feels more like a con), more bang for buck (pro), lots of golf (pro), golf courses not as nice as others perhaps (con), beach access/marina (pro), a little further from Wilmington (con). I have a friend building there now actually.
Porter's Neck Plantation - good golf (pro), only one course (con - relatively speaking), further from Wilmington (con), good bang for buck (pro), older houses? (con).
Brunswick Forest - younger crowd (pro and con depending on perspective I suppose), bang for buck (pro), further from Wilmington and beach (con), not a private course (con - but I'm told a great course?).
We are going to line up a realtor in the coming weeks but just wondering if I'm missing anything or have something wrong with my take above. If anyone feels they have a reasonable or definitive take on one community vs the other that may be different than above, we'd welcome that perspective!
....Porter's Neck Plantation - good golf (pro), only one course (con - relatively speaking), further from Wilmington (con), good bang for buck (pro), older houses? (con).
.......
Porter's Neck *is* in Wilmington. There is also Eagle Point Golf Club which is private and gets great reviews. I think you have done a good assesment of the communities close to Wilmington. If you want to stay close to Wilmington, there are lots available in Landfall. In my opinion, the new construction in places like Waterstone are built much too close together. My preference would be an older house on a larger lot.
If you are willing to go to southern Brunswick County, there are Thistle and Sea Trail which are private golf clubs. With your housing budget, there many options available in the upper range.
Last edited by goldenage1; 03-07-2023 at 07:54 AM..
Porter's Neck *is* in Wilmington. There is also Eagle Point Golf Club which is private and gets great reviews. I think you have done a good assesment of the communities close to Wilmington. If you want to stay close to Wilmington, there are lots available in Landfall. In my opinion, the new construction in places like Waterstone are built much too close together. My preference would be an older house on a larger lot.
If you are willing to go to southern Brunswick County, there are Thistle and Sea Trail which are private golf clubs. With your housing budget, there many options available in the upper range.
goldenage, Thistle and Sea Trail are semi private clubs. We golf at Sea Trail and a lot of our neighbours (ORP) have memberships at Thistle anyone can pay greens fees and play at both.
Thanks for the responses so far (goldenage and jerseyj). The "trail" courses are a little too far away we believe, we do want to be closer to a town/city. Being in our early 50's, we need that action close by. Or at least I do Eagle Point by all accounts, is an epic track but might be too exclusive. Looking for more of the country club feel (i.e. Landfall).
Still welcoming any other feedback if appropriate.
You should look at Cape Fear Country Club and the Forest Hills area. Right in midtown and some of the most beautiful homes in Wilmington.
For a lesser expensive option in midtown, you could consider Pine Valley. The homes along the golf course are the most expensive in the neighborhood.
Both Cape Fear and Pine Valley are private. One nice thing about being in this area of Wilmington is that the Muni course is just down the road. The Muni is cheap for Wilmington residents and is a Donald Ross course built about 100 years ago specifically to be a Municipal course. Many folks say the Muni is one of the best Municipal courses they have played and its said that it does as many rounds as any course in North Carolina.
With your budget and preferences I would choose either Landfall or SJP. I live in SJP and my sister lives in Landfall so I am pretty familiar with both. Unfortunately, Landfall is getting pricier by the minute with both houses and lots selling very quickly and still frequently above asking price. However, the issue you may run into with Landfall is last I heard golf memberships have a waiting list and I understand it's a pretty long one, too. If you can find a resell home that has a golf membership already, I believe you can take over that golf membership (as long as you pay for it, of course) - but double check with Landfall Country Club about that.
Thank you pinkjewel. My wife read about the waitlist, it will definitely factor into our planning. We also see the lot prices and our friends that just bought (and are building) in SJP did get better "value". Value being relative of course.
We've also been looking at golf homes in the area and there is a 1yr waitlist at Porters Neck. We love the CC and the neighborhood but it doesn't seem that there are many young kids that actually live there, just members of the club. It seems further out than other locations and with only 1 Target in Wilmington we prefer to be closer in.
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Eagle Point by all accounts, is an epic track but might be too exclusive. Looking for more of the country club feel (i.e. Landfall).
