WHY SHOULD OTHERS PAY FOR GOLF PLAYERS’ ENTERTAINMENT?

By Jan Bergemann

Published September 6, 2013

   

For years, we’ve heard or read about the lawsuits that occur when associations buy "bankrupt" golf courses from developers, or when associations make golf club memberships "mandatory." Thus, the golf course curse begins!

  

Let’s make no mistake! It happens all over Florida, and these lawsuits, normally, end up being very expensive, costing vast amounts of time and money. And, sadly, they are also costly to relationships within the community: neighbor turning against neighbor.

  

But, we always hear: "It is contract law! You knew what you were getting into!"

 

Which is exactly why the status quo should stay as is! It’s all about the contract!

 

Did the contract state that the community owns the golf course or that membership in the golf club is "mandatory" for all homeowners? Read Carefully!

 

Just because the golf course/club gets into financial trouble is not a valid reason to saddle non-golfing residents, who never intended to play golf or be a member of the golf club, with expenses. To me, common sense dictates that the folks who want to play golf should pay for their own entertainment, not force their neighbors to finance their fun.

Other reasons for so many golf club community lawsuits reside in the facts:

  • Florida has too many golf courses;

  • The cost of maintaining an 18-hole golf course has about doubled in the last seven (7) years;

  • The number of golfers in Florida is decreasing, according to the PGA; and

  • The generation of new retirees, the baby-boomers, is not as eager to play golf as the former generation.

Thus, we can see why so many golf courses are in financial trouble today and are closing their doors.

  

No matter what the proponents of HOA’s purchasing a golf course or making golf club membership mandatory tell you, a golf course is not improving the property values of the homes in the association. A golf course is a serious financial liability; and, in many communities, it is dragging down property values.

  

The former sales incentive that caused buyers to pay extra has turned into a curse! And any board members and golf fanatics who are still "gung-ho," trying to buy a golf course for the community, offered by a near bankrupt developer, have either not learned anything from the past examples, or they just want their neighbors to pay for their entertainment.

  

You’re still not convinced that a golf course is more a curse than a smart investment?

  

Florida’s media reported a myriad of golf course lawsuits: Golf Course Curses. Please read the following articles; you’ll understand the reference to "Curses":

http://www.ccfj.net/HOAartFLgolfcurses.htm 

 

And, as you read, consider the millions of dollars wasted on lawsuits over changes to contracts; lawsuits trying to make neighbors pay for the entertainment of golf players.

 

Just recently, another such case went to the 4th District Court of Appeals. The homeowner won in appeals court. The ABERDEEN PROPERTY OWNERS ASSOCIATION, Inc., named over the years in many lawsuits, once again tried to explain how they could force a non-golfing homeowner to pay for the maintenance of a golf course she did not use. The homeowner prevailed in court pro se, since she could not afford expensive attorneys.

 (http://www.ccfjfoundation.net/CourtOpDCA4Aberdeen.pdf 

 

You love to play golf? Great! Buy a home very close to a golf course, but not in a community that owns a golf course.

  

You don’t like to play golf? Stay away from communities with a golf course attached.

  

No matter what the documents are promising you, history clearly shows that folks who buy homes in golf course communities find out, too late, that playing golf is getting more and more expensive. More importantly, these owners soon learn that the golf club needs and seeks other sources of income: YOU, as a non-golfing owner, are it! Put a target on your back! Thus, the lawsuit begins!

  

And, never forget: If the golf course fails, and your contract states that your community "owns the golf course," or that membership is "mandatory," your home is collateral for all of the debts generated by the golf course/club.

 

Your financial well-being hinges on the financial stability of the golf course/club.

 

Why do I believe that golf courses are really GOLF CURSES? Because others pay dearly for golf players’ entertainment! 

FORE !!!!!!!!


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Jan Bergemann

Jan Bergemann is president of Cyber Citizens For Justice, Florida 's largest state-wide property owners' advocacy group. CCFJ works on legislation to help owners living in community

associations. He moved to Florida in 1995 - hoping to retire. He moved into a HOA, where the developer cheated the homeowners and used the association dues for his own purposes. End of retirement!

  

CCFJ was born in the year 2000, when some owners met in Tallahassee - finding out that power is only in numbers. Bergemann was a member of Governor Jeb Bush's HOA Task force in 2003/2004.

  

The organization has two websites to inform interested Florida homeowners and condo owners:

News Website: http://www.ccfj.net/.

Educational Website: http://www.ccfjfoundation.net/.

   
We think that only owners can really represent owners, since all service providers surely have a different interest! We are trying to create owner-friendly laws, but the best laws are useless without enforcement. And enforcement is totally lacking in Florida !

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