Pelican Marsh

Pelican Marsh is a gated community in North Naples, and really 26 communities behind one gate. "There are 26 named communities within Pelican Marsh consisting of multi-family/condominiums buildings and single-family homes," says the Foundation of Pelican Marsh, the master association. Inside the boundary sit "133 acres of nature preserves". Shopping and dining are "within blocks", and the beach is about one and one-half miles off.

Which of the 26 a home sits in decides whose documents govern it. The monthly figure swings widely between addresses behind this gate, so the number that matters is the one for that address.

Who runs Pelican Marsh?

Three elected bodies, each with a hand on a different part of the same address. A resident-elected board, the Foundation of Pelican Marsh, runs the Community Center. A second elected body looks after streetlights, sidewalks, landscaping, the lakes and water management. It also provides and maintains the gate houses, their staff and the privacy patrols. The golf club is neither: "Pelican Marsh Golf Club is a private membership facility," as the Foundation puts it.

Is Foundation membership optional?

No. "Membership is required of all property owners of Pelican Marsh," the Foundation states. There is nothing to apply for: "No membership application or certificate of approval is needed," it adds. A buyer is a member at closing, so the Foundation belongs in the sum.

Its own charge is annual rather than monthly. "Billing is in the fourth quarter of each year." It doesn't arrive as a second envelope, though. That assessment "should be forwarded to the appropriate sub-Association management company", so at many addresses it lands inside the neighborhood's billing rather than beside it.

One charge lands only at a sale. "The Resale Assessment Fee is paid by the buyer and collected at the time of closing," the Foundation states. It never appears in a monthly fee quote, so the figure you budget from is the one the Foundation states in writing.

What comes with the house?

The Community Center is the Foundation's: tennis, pickleball and bocce, all lit for evening play, and by its count 6 pickleball courts and three lit regulation bocce courts.

Indoors, a fitness center with trainers and exercise programs, spa services, a library and computer room, and banquet and meeting rooms. Bulk cable and internet service reaches every home through the Foundation, provided by Comcast.

How does the golf club work?

The club is member-owned, the course inside the boundary. "Although Pelican Marsh is a member-owned club inside a private community, residency is not required to join," the club says on its membership page. So somebody living elsewhere can be a member, which settles nothing about the queue an owner joins.

The course is an Audubon Certified 18-hole championship course designed by Robert von Hagge, with a practice facility and Learning Center. Golf members get "seven-day, early access for golf bookings," and under social membership "limited play is offered, with shorter booking windows." If golf is why you are looking here, joining is a separate application with its own price and terms.

Dining is the piece buyers get wrong. "Please note that membership to Pelican Marsh Golf Club and its restaurant is not part of membership in the Pelican Marsh Foundation," the Foundation says in writing.

What if you want to lease the house out?

Two approvals, in order, before a tenant moves in. "All lessees must receive necessary approval needed by each neighborhood association." The Foundation comes second, wanting its lessee approval form, a copy of the lease and the neighborhood's approval before the lease begins. There's lead time in that.

Then the trap. "An Owner who leases a Unit is presumed to have assigned the Owner's amenity use rights to the tenant," the Foundation states. Rent the house out and the Community Center goes with it, unless owner and tenant sign the Foundation's form keeping it.

Keeping a pet here is "a privilege, not a right", say the Foundation's covenants, which allow "a reasonable number of dogs, cats, or other domesticated household pets". The covenant doesn't fix a number, a size or a breed, so a dog owner's answer sits in the neighborhood association's document.

What kind of homes does Pelican Marsh have?

A real mix: low-rise condominiums 48% of the homes, detached houses 44%, mid-rise condominiums 8%. Homes date from 1992 onward, with 2 to 5 bedrooms and interiors from about 1500 to about 9000 square feet.

Homes here have sold from the $430,000s to around $8.5 million. The spread is mostly a house-type question.

Some of the condominium buildings are old enough that Florida requires a structural inspection, with the reserve funded to what it finds. That reserve is the difference between a fee that holds and a bill nobody planned for. Worth pinning down on a specific address:

• The monthly figure for the specific home, and whether it already carries the Foundation's annual charge.
• The capital assessment on a resale, in writing from the Foundation.
• What that neighborhood allows on pets and on leases.
• The last inspection on a condominium building, and whether its reserve is funded.

One gate, 26 named communities behind it, three elected bodies. The gate houses and the patrols answer to one, the Community Center to another, the golf to a club its own members own. What the documents allow inside a house depends on which of the 26 it stands in.