The Key Number Most Buyers Miss

The biggest mistake I see buyers make at Old Palm is focusing only on the purchase price. The membership structure is part of your total acquisition. Here are the numbers that have to go into your math before you talk home price:

Membership is required — not optional. Every home buyer at Old Palm pays it at closing. The $175,000 equity membership is 80% refundable when you sell the property, which changes the analysis (it functions more like a capital deposit than a sunk fee), but the cash leaves your account at closing either way.

The $22,000 annual dues are ongoing — roughly $1,833 per month in club dues alone, on top of your HOA, taxes, insurance, and everything else. When you see an average sale price of ~$5.8M, that's not your full cost. Build the membership and dues into your acquisition math before you decide what you can afford here.

What Old Palm Actually Is

Old Palm is a private, gated community built around a tournament-quality golf course in Palm Beach Gardens:

With only 294 home sites on 650 acres, Old Palm has one of the lowest densities of any golf community in the county — larger lots, more privacy between homes, a level of exclusivity that few communities can match. The course is designed by Raymond Floyd (former PGA player, World Golf Hall of Fame member), and the 33-acre practice facility is one of the largest in South Florida.

The 43,000 square foot clubhouse was renovated in 2024, adding a casual bistro, outdoor pool bar, and a sauna and cold plunge recovery area. That renovation is part of what justifies the membership structure — the club isn't a static asset, it's actively being upgraded.

The Four Neighborhoods

Old Palm is organized into four well-differentiated home tiers, each with its own lot size, square footage range, and price profile:

• Golf Estates: ¼ acre lots, 3,400–5,000 sq ft homes — course-view residences at the entry point
• Isle Estates: ⅓ acre lots, 4,300–6,800 sq ft homes — properties on the islands within the community
• Grand Estates: ½ acre lots, 4,800–7,000 sq ft homes — larger residences with more lot privacy
• Custom Estates: 1+ acre lots, 7,000–15,000+ sq ft homes — fully custom builds at the top of the range

Each neighborhood has its own price profile. Lot position within a tier also moves value — course view, lake frontage, or interior lot can mean significant price differences within the same neighborhood.

Pricing Overview

Old Palm pricing runs from around $1 million for the smaller, older Golf Estates inventory to $15 million or more for the largest Custom Estates builds. The average sale price of ~$5.8 million reflects how heavily Grand Estates and Custom Estates dominate recent transactions.

Add the $175,000 equity membership at closing (80% refundable) plus $22,000 in annual dues to the home price, and the true annual carrying cost on a $5.8M average home easily exceeds $200,000 once you layer in property taxes (with CDD), insurance, HOA, and club dues. That's the real number — not the listing price.

Old Palm vs Mirasol vs BallenIsles vs Admirals Cove

Buyers compare Old Palm to the other elite golf communities in Palm Beach Gardens and Jupiter. The differences:

• Old Palm — smallest and most private (294 home sites on 650 acres), single Raymond Floyd course, mandatory equity membership, highest average price point per home
• Mirasol — larger community, more residences, two courses, broader range of amenities beyond golf
• BallenIsles — multiple courses, larger membership base, multiple membership tiers/levels
• Admirals Cove — yacht + golf, waterfront access in Jupiter, multiple amenity profiles

Old Palm is the most private and membership-driven of the group — and it's the one where the mandatory equity membership structure makes the decision sharpest. If privacy, exclusivity, and a fully member-driven culture are your priorities, Old Palm wins. If you want more amenity variety, lower-density social options, or waterfront integration, one of the others may be a better fit.

CDD — What You Need to Know

Old Palm has a CDD (Community Development District) that adds an annual fee to your property tax bill. This is separate from your HOA and your club dues — and it's the cost that buyers most often forget to verify before closing.

The CDD funds community infrastructure (roads, drainage, common areas) and is collected annually as part of your property tax bill. The amount varies by property. Before you go under contract, request the current full tax breakdown for the specific address to see the CDD line item separately from the base tax. We verify this for every Old Palm client before contract.