The condo at 7 Stratford Drive East, Unit C, in Boynton Beach, Florida, could use an upgrade to its bathrooms and a new kitchen, says listing agent Richard Ralston of The Keyes Co. The eventual buyer might also want to repaint the green walls in the primary bedroom.
Still, the hard-to-beat asking price of $1,000 is expected to attract interest.
The ownership group, a family trust, is pricing the condo so low not because the two-bedroom unit in Palm Beach County is unlivable as is, but instead to entice a buyer to pony up steep monthly and annual dues on top of a mandatory, one-time Hunters Run Country Club buy-in of $128,000, according to Ralston.
That, more than the needed upgrades, is probably why the 1,388-square-foot unit with a golf course view has sat untouched for nearly 50 days. Admittedly, the buyer pool may be shallow, Ralston said, but it's not bone dry.
"It'll definitely sell," he told Homes.com. "There's still demand for that country club environment. It's a great lifestyle. It's camp for adults."
The condo, built in 1980 as one of the first homes in the 1,649-unit Hunters Run community, is on the ground floor of a two-story building. That means the structure isn't subject to Florida's new condo safety law that requires inspections and possibly expensive repairs in buildings at least 30 years old with three habitable stories or more. The law took effect July 1.
Annual memberships cost at least $20,700
Some Florida condo owners in buildings requiring repairs have slashed prices, hoping to sell to avoid expensive assessments. The price cutting is likely to continue, analysts say, because the market has already slowed and buyers remain skeptical of older buildings that fall under the law's purview.
Aside from the six-figure Hunters Run buy-in that must be paid at least three days before closing, the condo's next owner will have to ante up for a social, tennis or golf membership ranging from $20,700 to $23,700 a year, in addition to monthly homeowner's association dues of $1,503, according to Ralston.
A social member would have access to six restaurants, a fitness center, spa and salon, a golf shop, entertainment and other activities, the agent said. A tennis member would have all that, plus tennis. A golf member would have access to everything, including three 18-hole golf courses.
The resale value in mandatory-membership country clubs may be limited, but owners who have bought there don't necessarily care about that, according to Terry Story, a broker at Keller Williams Realty Services in Boca Raton, Florida. They're looking for a lifestyle, she said.
"In a lot of people's minds, they're getting much more house," Story said.
Country clubs popped up across South Florida in the 1970s, '80s and '90s as the Miami metropolitan area experienced explosive growth. At the time, many of the club fees were modest and affordable for middle-class residents, said housing analyst Jack McCabe, head of the McCabe Research & Consulting firm.
'That could sit for a long time'
But fees have shot up in subsequent decades due largely to inflation, necessary maintenance repairs and planned renovations that make the clubs more attractive for residents, according to McCabe. But he says mandatory-membership country clubs remind him of the timeshare business model that looked so inviting years ago but now has buyers eager to divest of the hassle.
"That could sit for a long time," he said of the Hunters Run condo. "Who's going to justify that with all these properties that have been built since then that don't have obligatory fees?"
Another issue particular to Hunters Run is that owners no longer will be able to recover their buy-in equity that they were promised when they originally moved there, Ralston said.
Last year, the residents voted to ratify a board decision to eliminate the equity, or refund, according to a media report. The board said the development needed that money for upkeep instead.
That led to some owners listing their Hunters Run units for less than $10,000, hoping to encourage speedy transactions so they could comply with a Nov. 1, 2024, deadline to sell and recover part of their buy-in, the report stated.
The development currently has 52 active listings, including 27 priced under $100,000, according to Ralston said. Setting the hefty fees aside, the trust priced 7 Stratford Drive East, Unit C, to compete with other Hunters Run listings asking $9,500 or $15,000, he said.
Condo peaked in value at $100,000
The original owner paid $84,900 in 1980, and the unit sold three more times in the low- and mid-$80,000s before the fifth owner bought it for $93,500 in 1988, public records show.
It peaked in value when it sold for $100,000 in 1995. Bernice Waldorf paid $91,000 in 2002, during the run-up to the nation's housing boom. The unit was transferred to a family trust in 2021.
Ralston declined to discuss specifics of his commission agreement, but suffice it to say he and the buyer's agent each would take home more than the price the condo eventually sells for.
Most people interested in the unit would, and could, pay cash for a $1,000 condo. But let's say the buyer puts 20% down and gets a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage at 6.72%. The principal and interest payment would be a whopping $5 a month, according to Homes.com data.
The trust may have to wait out the sticky summer doldrums. Ralston said would-be buyers from afar eventually will descend on South Florida, looking for deals before the busy winter tourist season begins in earnest.
The listing describes the ownership group as "motivated." Would Ralston's client consider a lowball offer on a lowball asking price?
He said he can't legally discuss what the trust would accept, but he remains confident the condo will trade soon.
"Gut feel: By the end of August or September, it'll go," he said.