Florida apartments in country clubs selling for as low as $1…

Florida apartments in country clubs are trading for as low as $1

You can bet your bottom dollar there’ll be deals in Palm Beach County.

Seller Stephan Burklin just dropped the price of the one-bedroom apartment he inherited at Boca West Country Club from $10,000 to a mere $1.

“My mother passed, and my father is moving to assisted living,’’ says the 51-year-old married father of three. “But it’s just too small for us.”

Shockingly, Burklin’s listing is not exceptional. The South Florida area, which includes the tony enclaves of Boynton Beach, Delray Beach and Boca Raton, has jaw-dropping deals right now, with condos selling for less than $100,000 — many for less than $15,000 — in upscale country clubs where newer or renovated pads boast six-figure asks.

Many owners of inexpensive listings, who bought their homes when these communities were built in the ’70s or ’80s, are moving on to independent or assisted living facilities. Their inheritors don’t want to take over the properties because they are living elsewhere, disinterested in the country club lifestyle or unwilling to keep up with any annual or monthly payments.

But for many in the New York area looking to flee the cold — or buy a second home in a sunny locale with no income tax — there are now bargains that seem too good to be true, particularly when you consider that the median sales price of a condo in Palm Beach County in the fourth quarter of 2018 was $589,130, a 16.5 percent jump over the prior year, according to Douglas Elliman.

One caveat: Most country club communities have hefty membership buy-ins that range from about $40,000 to upwards of $100,000. But when the apartments themselves and their monthly carrying costs are relatively affordable, many buyers can justify the expense. (And Burklin, for one, is offering to pay any buyer’s homeowners association fees for the first year.)

“We have people coming down who have gotten rid of their New York apartments and were able to buy a place with the money they made from selling one bathroom,’’ says Ben Schachter, president of Signature Real Estate Companies, a brokerage that focuses on the South Florida country club market. “There are others who have been able to purchase homes for what they saved in New York taxes, which can run from a few thousand to a few hundred thousand a year.”

In February, Boca West — the country club where Burklin’s $1 apartment is located, which has a $50 million clubhouse, four golf courses and seven restaurants — unveiled a new building with units ranging from $1 million to $4.5 million; the majority have already sold. In addition to a gym and a spa, the club has lectures and performances by big-name talent like Diana Ross, Jay Leno and Chris Evert.

This month, former Manhattanite Paul Green, who worked in media and advertising for 40 years, paid $1 for a one-bedroom home in another part of Boca West with a wraparound terrace overlooking a golf course. The community’s initial membership fee is $70,000 (though the seller is giving him $35,000 to defray that cost).

“The owner of my condo was 92, and his wife just passed away,’’ explains Green, 68. “He was motivated to sell for $1. I think the reason for the low prices is that people get scared off by country club fees. But the truth is, if I spend about $2,000 a month here, I can live the same luxurious lifestyle as someone who paid over $1 million. There are a lot of people moving down here from the north now.”

Newly single Green sees it as an ideal bachelor pad. “It came with everything, down to the glassware,” he says. “All I need is a mattress.”

A 30-minute drive north, at the swanky Hunters Run development in Boynton Beach — complete with three championship golf courses, tennis, pools, on-site restaurants, a fitness center and a spa — are other steals. Golf pro Jonathan Margolies, 41, relocated there from Greenwich, Conn., last year. First, as an investment in 2016, he bought one condo for $2,000 and just flipped it for $80,000. He then paid $14,000 for an updated 1,800-square-foot unit into which the owners had put a $100,000 renovation before they moved to a larger home. “They were eager to sell,’’ he explains. “My property taxes are only $200 a year, and I spend about $1,700 a month in total. My friends are wary of the [pricey] club fees, but they are renting for $2,000 or $3,000 per month and I own my home.”

Another younger Hunters Run resident lured by modest price tags is Christina Fasciana, who bought a two-bedroom condo for $1,500 in 2016, when she was 45, via Bobbi Brodie of Realty Home Advisors. “They waived the first year of golf membership for anyone under 62, which saved me $15,000,’’ says the academic tutor, who is dating a 35-year-old Hunters Run renter. “I was training for a triathlon and I run 5Ks here. There is a saltwater pool for laps right downstairs . . . I don’t have a mortgage. I have a lifestyle.’’

“People from the Northeast would buy a second or third home in a mid-rise and then upsize,’’ says Matthew Linderman, Boca West’s president. “Those smaller units are now the new entrance for buyers. There have always been great deals in South Florida, but recently more of these homes are coming on the market because original residents are up in age. Sales and membership in general are definitely on the rise.’’

For some new residents — some of whom split their time between colder climes and the Sunshine State, even spending just one day longer down south to avoid taxes — landing a home in these communities is about more than a deal.

“It’s like being in summer camp all year. I love it!’’ declares Lynda Newman, 56, who moved from Milburn, NJ, to a $33,500 two-bedroom at Gleneagles Country Club in Delray Beach after a recent breakup. Initiation was $40,000 and monthly expenses are under $1,500. “I wanted to clear my head and start fresh. There are so many amenities — Pilates, yoga, everything you could want — and it’s very easy to meet people.’’

Newman’s buy looks extravagant compared to Beverly Wexler’s Hunters Run condo, which sold a week and a half ago for its asking price of $1. The 91-year-old plans on relocating to an assisted living facility due to her husband’s recent passing. Their children, who would have inherited the place, now live in California and Massachusetts and have no desire to use a home in Florida. “My husband really loved it here. If he were alive I wouldn’t be doing this, but now that I’m alone, I’m going to do what I want,’’ Wexler says. “I’m in my 90s, so I can’t wait a few years to sell. I figure that offering it for a dollar is the quickest way to get out.’’

The Wexlers installed tile floors, added an elevator and enclosed a porch with a view of the lake and golf course with floor-to-ceiling windows.

The supply of $1 pads is not endless, warns Rhonda Scott, an agent with Keller Williams in Boca Raton. “There are still a number of these unbelievable opportunities in communities that also have homes for $2 million and $3 million,” she says. “But people are starting to recognize them and there are just a limited number available.’’

This winter, temperatures dipped into the single digits at David Bluestein’s White Plains, NY, home. But 1,300 miles away, the retired packaged-goods manager enjoyed an 80-degree day on the patio of the Hunters Run condo that he and his wife Carol bought last year for $1. Surveying a pond and trees surrounded by manicured grass, the 73-year-old had just finished a round of golf. When his wife Carol was done with her water aerobics class, they jumped in the Jacuzzi before heading to a happy hour at the clubhouse.

Bluestein’s friends had raved about Hunters Run’s resort-style amenities, so in 2018 he contacted Carolyn Liss at Signature Real Estate Companies to find a rental in the gated community.

She sent him an attractive listing for a fully furnished two-bedroom, two-bathroom unit. One catch: The owner would not rent, only sell — for less than the price of a candy bar. The owner’s wife was ill, they hadn’t used the home in three years and he didn’t want to continue paying to maintain the apartment.

“It was ridiculous to pass up, so we jumped at it,” he says. “The place came equipped down to the linens and silverware. And the bedroom furniture was so beautiful I would have picked it myself! All we had to buy were some rugs.’’

The Bluesteins had to pay a one-time initiation fee of $45,000 as well as club fees of about $1,500 per month.

“My friends jokingly asked, ‘You didn’t negotiate? You could have gotten it for 50 cents!’ ” adds Bluestein. “But people who want to get out from under expenses just want out.’’