Quail West Golf & Country Club

Quail West Golf & Country Club is a community of detached houses, each on its own lot, wrapped around 36 holes of golf. The Quail West Foundation is both the master association and the club, so there is one rulebook here and one bill. Houses run from about 2700 to about 11200 square feet, with 3 to 6 bedrooms, and new ones still go up alongside the resales.

Settle one thing before you tour. Club membership isn't optional here, and the requirement is attached to the land itself, so it passes to every new owner. Joining costs a six-figure sum, paid once, outside what you pay for the house.

Do I have to join the club at Quail West?

Yes. The lowest tier is the floor rather than a choice, and there is one membership per home. The club's published fee schedule calls House membership the "Minimum Mandatory Requirement for Quail West Property Owners". Full golf is a separate tier with a much larger entry cost again.

A few long-standing owners are exempt, and that exemption dies with the sale. No new ones are issued, so the purchaser takes a full membership.

Where a seller holds one of the older transferable memberships, it can pass to the buyer for a transfer fee, a fraction of joining outright. The club stopped issuing them, so one only comes from a seller who already has one, which is why so many houses here are marketed with one attached, and otherwise you pay the full cost.

Buying comes with an application to the club. The Foundation's membership agreement has the applicant acknowledge that it may run credit and background checks, and that acceptance rests with the Foundation, so allow time for it. A transfer fee on the house itself falls due at a resale, a percentage of the sale price and separate from the membership.

What are the monthly fees at Quail West?

Budget around $900 a month for the community fee, as a planning figure rounded up rather than down. It is a single flat amount, identical from one house to the next whatever its size or street.

Can I rent my house out?

Only on terms that rule out anything short. Three limits appear in more than one document:

• No tenancy shorter than 180 days.
• A maximum of 2 tenancies each calendar year.
• The whole house, not a room or a wing.

The owner files 30 days' written notice on the Foundation's form, with the proposed lease and the tenant's references, and the Foundation may run credit and background checks. A request it doesn't answer counts as a refusal, not an approval: the declaration and the rules both treat an unanswered lease as disapproved. File early and get the approval in writing.

Holiday and seasonal letting is off the table, so don't buy here counting on rental income. A tenant using the owner's club privileges takes them for the term, and the owner still pays the dues.

Can I keep a dog at Quail West?

Yes, and the rules set no number and no weight limit. They say, "Only common domesticated household pets may be kept, in reasonable numbers as determined by the Foundation in its sole discretion". The count is the Foundation's call, so with several pets, ask the Foundation first. Breeding, commercial use, livestock, reptiles and poultry are all out.

One breed is barred flatly: "Under no circumstances shall a pit bull be permitted in the gates, residing with a member or visiting with a guest." A separate rule keeps animals out of the club: "Dogs or other pets (with the exception of service animals assisting persons with disabilities as required by law) are not permitted on or in the Club Facilities." Dogs are fine on a leash on parts of the grounds, such as the seating area outside the Marketplace.

What does the club have?

Two courses, The Lakes and The Preserve, 36 holes between them, each playing 18. Arthur Hills designed both in 1992 and Drew Rogers renovated them later. The clubhouse runs to 100,000 square feet, and fitness has a building to itself: 2 stories and 12,000 square feet, with physical therapy, Pilates, barre, TRX and spin studios. There are 8 Har-Tru tennis courts, plus pickleball, basketball, bocce and a playground. Dining is in-house: the Marketplace for coffee and grab-and-go, Cypress Grille for casual meals, and the Mahogany Room, with live music out on the Mahogany Terrace.

House membership does not buy unrestricted golf. The club marks golf as restricted for house members and describes both golf tiers as subject to availability, so golf is not guaranteed with a purchase. A golf-in-waiting route lets house members lock in the upgrade cost on entry. Ask the membership office where that stands.

What else should I know before I look?

Sold prices here start around $2.1 million and reach around $11.5 million. The midpoint sits around $4 million, so the bottom of that span is nowhere near the middle of the market. Access is controlled at the gates, with a barcode decal for members and a separate construction gate for vendors and contractors. Two enclaves inside the community carry their own names, La Caille and Escala.

And the lakes are for looking at. The declaration forbids boating, swimming and drawing water from them, so a lakefront lot buys a view and a setting rather than water to use.