08/11/2026
One of the most expensive line items in an Arizona second home never appears on the settlement statement.
I have spent 21 years in this market, and the conversation I have most often with financial advisors goes about the same way every time. Their client is looking at a home in a North Scottsdale golf community, the numbers work beautifully, and nobody has modeled the club.
A private golf membership here is a parallel financial commitment, not an amenity. Initiation fees across the area's private clubs currently run from roughly $60,000 to $500,000. Some of that is equity, a share in a member-owned club that may come back to you, partially, whenever a new member fills your spot. Some of it is simply gone. Then come monthly dues, capital dues, a food and beverage minimum, and the assessments that arrive when a course needs rebuilding or an irrigation system needs replacing.
Add it up and the annual carrying cost of a membership runs from under $15,000 to well over $50,000 depending on the club. Across a ten-year hold, that is a six-figure variance that started life as a rounding error in the original conversation.
None of this is an argument against a golf community. It is an argument for underwriting one properly.
If you have a client considering Scottsdale, Paradise Valley, or Cave Creek, the club structure belongs in the model before the offer, not after it.
If you have a client heading this direction, send them to us before they call a club. One conversation saves them months, and it saves you a phone call you did not want to field.
