While I was showing homes in Sun City Shadow Hills the other day, my buyer had a concern about who owned the golf course. Their concern stemmed from recent events surrounding the Rancho Mirage Golf Course and Country Club. We learned that the actual golf course was not owned by the homeowners, but an independent company, unassociated with the Home Owners Association of the surrounding residential property, unlike Sun City Shadow Hills.
Rancho Mirage Golf Course has been losing money
If you haven’t heard, the Rancho Mirage Golf Course has been losing money for some time and recently closed. In June, Oasis Ranch, LLC, based, in Beverly Hills, purchased the golf course. At first they were discussing the idea of building a senior assisted living plan on the footprint of the original course, but this was quickly dropped as the surrounding homeowners objected.
Course property was never owned by the HOA
There are 266 homes surrounding the golf course, however, unlike Sun City Shadow Hills, Sun City Palm Desert and other local exclusive planned communities, this course property was never owned by the Home Owners Association. Proper Home Owners Association ownership would have guaranteed direct control of the property by the homeowners.
Oasis Ranch LLC actually offered to sell the course property to the Rancho Mirage Home Owners Association for 3.5 million dollars. This would seem to be the best option for the homeowners concerned about their property values, but to secure the purchase could mean a substantial financial assessment of up to $15,000 per homeowner.
The average current value of a 2,370 square foot home is $337,000, down about $152,000 from pre-course closure
In the meantime, due to the degradation and closing of the golf course, the property values of homes surrounding the Rancho Mirage Golf Course has seen a recent plummet of valuation by approximately 31%. The average current value of a 2,370 square foot home is $337,000, down about $152,000 from pre-course closure.
No current plans offered by Oasis Ranch
Now, having said this there are no current plans offered by Oasis Ranch, LLC. Mayor Pro Tem of Rancho Mirage, Ted Weill stated that he has yet to receive any plans on the development of this property or a rezoning request by Oasis Ranch, LLC. However, according to the Desert Sun, Judge James Latting ruled in favor of requiring Oasis Ranch, LLC to begin watering the golf course to bring it back to the condition when they purchased the property in June of last year. In addition, the chain link fence surrounding the course was installed without proper permits, and was removed by the city
Sun City Shadow Hills and Sun City Palm Desert will never have to deal with these types of issues
We are so fortunate that Sun City Shadow Hills and Sun City Palm Desert will never have to deal with these types of issues in our own beautiful community, as the golf course is in fact owned and maintained by the Home Owners Association.
Written by Penny Jelmberg
The stats for this story were derived from the Desert Sun from an article written by Larry Bohannan.
