Royal Wood Golf & Country Club

Royal Wood Golf & Country Club is bundled golf in Naples, and the owners own the golf course. Record title to the course and clubhouse sits with the master association, not with a separate club company. About 800 homes fill it: 655 condominiums and 144 detached houses.

Settle what you owe at closing before anything else, because it sits on top of the asking price. Golf membership goes with the home here, which reads easily as the club costing nothing extra. It doesn't. The master declaration is blunt: a capital contribution assessment "shall be paid by the buyer at the transfer of record title to a Living Unit", payable in a lump sum. The amount is reset by the board every year, so get it from the association in writing before you sign.

Does the golf membership come with the home?

It does, and it can't be refused or held back. The declaration caps the club at 800 memberships, one for each home, and it is the home that holds the membership, not the owner. They "shall not be assignable and/or transferable other than through the sale or conveyance of the Living Unit to which they are appurtenant." Sell the house and the membership leaves with it; buy one and it's yours, played or not.

A tenant is a separate matter, and an owner who leases the home can keep the club rights. Where that happens, the renter gets none of it: no course, no clubhouse.

What happens if a seller owes the association money?

It follows the home. Every sum owed to the master association is secured by a continuing lien on the property. Unpaid amounts stay the personal obligation of the owner who ran them up, and the declaration makes them the obligation of each later owner too. Get an estoppel letter showing the account clear before closing. Club access runs on the same rail: the card is issued after closing, and only once what is due has been collected. No card, no charging privileges, no main pool, no fitness center.

How many associations bill an owner at Royal Wood?

Two. The master association bills every home for the golf course, clubhouse and shared grounds. Each neighborhood then bills on its own account, with a budget and a rate of its own. The six are Amberly Village, Amherst Cove, Andover Square, Bloomfield Ridge, Cobblestone Court and Cranbrook Colony, and the detached houses have a homeowners' group instead. Those six names sit behind eleven recorded condominium declarations, several filed in phases. Ask which one a quoted monthly figure represents.

What is the golf course like?

Eighteen holes at par 70, four sets of tees, and a design by Dr. Michael Hurzdan. The club describes gently rolling fairways, large greens and water, and its hole notes return to accuracy off the tee and club selection on the par 3s.

A renovation is planned for 2028, and the association has been raising its reserve contribution to pay for it, aiming to avoid a special assessment. Surplus revenue is held back through 2028, covering operating losses while the course is out of play. The budget warns that reserves "may not be adequate to meet all future needs". If more is wanted, the association can raise assessments, pass a special assessment with member approval, or delay the work.

What kind of homes does Royal Wood have?

Two markets, not one. Four homes in five are condominiums and the fifth is a detached house, and the two hardly meet on price. Sold prices for condominiums start in the $220,000s and reach around $450,000; houses run from the $420,000s, topping out around $1.1 million at the high end. Condominiums measure about 1,050 to roughly 1,450 square feet, houses about 1,800 to roughly 3,100. The six condominium neighborhoods sit close together on price, so the choice that moves a budget is condominium or house.

Building started in 1988, the year the master declaration was recorded, and most homes carry a 1990 build year. Florida requires structural reviews and funded reserves for the older condominium buildings it covers. Six of the eleven condominium associations here have buildings that have completed a cycle, with the next review due in 2033. What a review finds is what keeps a fee steady or brings an assessment.

What should be settled before an offer?

• The capital contribution for the year of closing, in writing from the master association. It falls due as a lump sum.
• Which assessment a listed monthly figure covers, the master's or the neighborhood's.
• Time for approval. The neighborhood runs its own sale application, and the master association has an owner application of its own.
• The lease terms in the neighborhood's documents, if you plan to let the home. Pets are limited to dogs, cats, fish and birds, capped at two dogs, two cats, or one of each.

Racquet sports are split between the club and the neighborhoods. The club's count: "Royal Wood has 8 Racquet Sports Courts, 6 hard Racquet Sport Courts throughout the Associations and 2 Racquet Sports Courts at the Clubhouse." Only the pair at the clubhouse are club courts. The other six belong to neighborhood associations, so the neighborhood decides which courts you may use. The clubhouse covers 16,423 square feet of dining and social space. The master association keeps up the roads, the sidewalks and the lakes, and every utility line runs underground.