The International Golf Community Buyer's Guide

The Short Version: Buying a Golf Home Abroad

Here is the guide in brief, no form required. It is January, the greens back home are under covers, and owners at Diamante, Casa de Campo and Punta Mita are teeing off in seventy-five degrees. That is the case for owning abroad. What follows is everything the sales presentation tends to skip.

Owning a Home Is Not the Same as Living There

How you plan to use the home changes almost every rule in this guide. A second-home owner who spends a few weeks a year in Los Cabos never needs a residency card. A seasonal resident who stays three to six months may bump into tourist-stay limits. A full-time relocator to Panama absolutely needs residency, healthcare, banking and a tax plan. Decide which buyer you are first.

Then take the partner test. In our experience the strongest predictor of whether an international home works out is whether both partners are genuinely enthusiastic, not one excited and one along for the ride. If it is the second, it tends to surface by year two.

Where Americans Are Buying Golf Homes Abroad

1. Los Cabos, Mexico. The deepest international golf real estate market by a wide margin: Diamante, Chileno Bay, Querencia, Cabo del Sol, Quivira and Palmilla. Inside the gates it is no longer inexpensive, and Hurricane Odile in 2014 is why construction standards deserve scrutiny.
2. Punta Mita and the Riviera Nayarit, Mexico. Two Nicklaus courses on a gated peninsula, including the optional par 3 Tail of the Whale to a natural island green. Exclusivity shows up in the dues.
3. Riviera Maya, Mexico. Mayakoba and El Camaleon headline, with Cancun one of the best-connected airports for Americans. Hurricane exposure, seasonal sargassum and a wave of risky pre-construction near Tulum are the trade.
4. Dominican Republic. Teeth of the Dog at Casa de Campo, plus Corales and Punta Espada in Punta Cana. Foreigners can hold title directly, but title disputes have been more common here, so a full title search and title insurance are not optional.
5. Guanacaste, Costa Rica. Fewer courses, remarkable settings at Peninsula Papagayo, Reserva Conchal and Hacienda Pinilla. Liberia airport is the convenient one. The rainy season runs roughly May through November.
6. Panama. Chosen more for residency and the U.S. dollar than for golf depth, with Nicklaus courses at Buenaventura and Santa Maria. Year-round heat and a long rainy season.
7. The Bahamas. Albany, Lyford Cay, Ocean Club and Baker's Bay. No personal income tax locally, a 10 percent VAT on purchases by non-Bahamians, and squarely in hurricane territory.
8. Puerto Rico. Dorado Beach and Grand Reserve, with no passport, no immigration process and Medicare that still applies. Plan on a whole-home generator.
9. Portugal and Spain. Quinta do Lago, Monte Rei, Valderrama and Sotogrande. The real estate golden visa is gone in both countries, and becoming tax resident can mean local tax on worldwide income.

Saint Lucia, Barbados, St. Kitts, Scotland, Ireland and Canada are covered in the full guide too, along with a candid note on places that make every retire-abroad list but have very little golf worth the move.

How Americans Hold Title, Destination by Destination

Golf depth, price ranges and flight times for each destination are in the full comparison matrix in the guide. Visa thresholds and property rules change often, so confirm current requirements with local counsel.

Buying the Home May Not Include the Golf

This is the most common surprise for American buyers abroad. In some communities membership conveys with the residence. In others it is a separate purchase with its own initiation fee. In others, owners just get preferred rates at a resort course, and in a few there is a waiting list.

Then ask the resort guest question. At resort-community courses, owners and hotel guests often share the tee sheet, and in February with the hotel full that can mean no owner tee times before early afternoon. Ask how tee times are actually allocated in peak season, and ask current owners, not the sales team.

Pre-Construction Is Where Buyers Get Hurt

Most international golf communities are financed partly by selling homes before they are built. Many buyers do well this way. The ones who do not tend to meet the same four problems: two-year projects that become four-year projects, a finished home that does not match the rendering, a second course or beach club that stays a future phase forever, and a developer that runs out of money while holding your installments. Use escrow tied to milestones, and if an amenity is only in the brochure, it is not a commitment.

Rental Income: Ask for Actuals

Rental income shows up in nearly every presentation, and it can carry a real share of your carrying costs. It is rarely the return the pro forma suggests. An even split of net revenue is common in resort and branded programs, before management, housekeeping and reserve charges. Your peak season is everyone's peak season, which is also when you will want to be there. Ask for three years of actual results on comparable homes. A program that will only share projections is telling you something.

The IRS and Medicare Do Not Move With You

The United States taxes its citizens on worldwide income wherever they live. Owning abroad adds reporting, and a local bank account for the housekeeper and utilities usually triggers an FBAR. The Foreign Earned Income Exclusion covers wages, not Social Security or pensions, so it rarely helps retirees. Foreign property also passes under local law, not your U.S. will.

Medicare generally ends at the border. Puerto Rico is the exception. Everyone else needs international or local health coverage, and medical evacuation coverage if the community is an hour or more from a hospital that can handle a cardiac or stroke emergency.

The 30-Day Test

The single most valuable piece of advice in the guide: rent for at least 30 days in the community before you buy, ideally once in high season and once in low. Play the course on different days, time the drive to the hospital, fly in and out at the times you actually would, and spend a rainy day there. At the end, ask your partner candidly whether you can see yourselves there. The full guide includes the test-stay checklist.