Clint Tasset found a place to surf with his family. Los Cabos, Mexico, famous for its coastline. He put $600,000 down last year on a $1.8 million lot. Then comes the twist. He doesn't plan to surf the ocean. His $3 million house will face a lagoon with a wave machine, across the street from the beach.
Tasset is 46, lives just north of Denver and founded a digital marketing company. He wants waves on demand, as big or small as he likes, with no sharks, rocks or crowds. He'll surf with his wife and two kids, ages 13 and 15. He's far from alone. Nancy Keates reports in the Journal that man-made surf lagoons are the new golf course. Developers in Texas, Utah and Arizona are building whole communities around them. Tyler Mezin, 51, a hotel manager who lives on Oahu's North Shore, plans to spend about $2 million on a lot and house at Waco Surf in Texas. He'll live there full time after he retires.
The waves come with a bill. At Zion Shores in Washington, Utah, a $130 million project, half of the 56 lots have sold in a year. Each house pays a $500 monthly homeowners association fee, the HOA. Surf time is extra, $30 to $200 an hour. At other clubs, members pay $1,000 to $10,000 a month for priority access. The public pays $60 to $250 an hour. Brett Parkinson, 51, a Park City attorney, bought a $1.5 million lot at Zion Shores anyway. He has seven children, ages 10 to 24, and controlled waves mean they can all surf together. Paying for waves takes some getting used to, he said.
Nothing is finished yet
Here's the part a buyer should read twice. Worldwide, more than 30 of these surf pools are running, and about a dozen more are being built. But no U.S. community where owners buy lots and build homes beside one is complete. The first are set to open next year. One lagoon with a surf deck, parking and food costs $38 million to $350 million to build, analysts say. "Getting these things funded has been difficult," said Doug Sheres, whose DSRT SURF in Palm Desert was supposed to open in 2021. Austin Surf Club in Texas, slated for 2027, has halted construction. County records show liens for unpaid construction bills. Famous members and a Kelly Slater wave machine didn't prevent that.
Our read
This is a Housing and Cash Flow story, modules M6 and M5. A house by a lagoon is really two purchases. The first is the lot and the build. The second is the amenity, and that one never stops billing. At Zion Shores it's $500 a month before anyone touches a wave. Add surf time at up to $200 an hour, and a family that surfs often pays for the lagoon twice. The amenity also depends on a developer staying funded. If the lagoon stalls, you own a lot next to a very big hole.
If a second home is in your plan, or a retirement move like Mezin's to Waco, put the carrying cost in before the deposit. HOA, surf or club fees, insurance, taxes, and the flights to get there. Then ask one more thing of the developer. Proof that the money to finish is in hand, and what you get back if it isn't. The deposit is the first number everyone sees. The monthly fee is the one that follows you for as long as you own the place. Check the gutters before the rain, and the funding before the lagoon. If you'd like us to run a second-home cash flow with you, that's a short conversation.