The Wyndham Association and the Club Are Not the Same Thing: What Dues Cover and What They Do Not

The most expensive assumption a buyer makes in a golf community is that the association dues include the golf. In most communities they do not, and Wyndham is the address where we field this question most often.

Two separate organisations are usually involved, with separate governing documents, separate boards, separate billing cycles and separate consequences for non-payment. Confusing them is how a buyer ends up budgeting one number and receiving two invoices.

We are not publishing Wyndham’s dues amounts or club membership fees. We have not verified them from a current primary document, and dues, assessments, initiation fees and membership tiers all change. A figure from last spring is worse than no figure, because you will budget against it. What this post gives you instead is the document that carries the current numbers for the exact address you are buying, and the questions that get you the rest.

The two organisations, in general terms

The property owners’ association

A property owners’ association is created by the recorded declaration for the subdivision. Membership is not optional: it attaches to the lot, and the assessment can become a lien against the property if unpaid. What it funds is common area – entrance features, common landscaping, private street or path maintenance where applicable, common insurance, reserves for capital components, administration.

Golf is generally not on that list. An association’s assessment is calculated to maintain what the association owns.

The club

A club is a separate business with its own membership structure: typically voluntary, tiered – full golf, sports or social categories are common – and priced separately, often with an initiation component as well as recurring dues. Because it is a separate entity, whether a membership exists at a given address, whether it transfers, and whether the seller’s category is even available to a new member all have address-specific answers.

Three possibilities to distinguish: no relationship (join if you wish, on current terms), a mandatory obligation (some lots or sections carry a required membership or minimum charge), and a bundled or transferable arrangement (a membership attached to the property that may or may not pass to you). Assume nothing; the listing description is marketing copy.

Where the real numbers live: the resale certificate

Here is the part worth knowing, and it has changed recently enough that older guidance is wrong.

Virginia’s property owners’ association disclosure packet provisions – the old §§ 55.1-1808 through 55.1-1814 – were repealed effective July 1, 2023 by Acts 2023, cc. 387 and 388. The current law is the Resale Disclosure Act, Title 55.1, Chapter 23.1, and the document is now called a resale certificate rather than a disclosure packet. If you are reading an article that cites § 55.1-1809 for your cancellation right, it is citing a repealed section.

Under § 55.1-2309, the seller or the seller’s agent must obtain the resale certificate from the association and provide it to you, and that requirement cannot be waived or changed by agreement. The association, its managing agent, or a third party preparing it has 14 days from a written request to deliver it; if nothing arrives in 14 days the certificate is deemed unavailable. The association also may not require your name before preparing it.

§ 55.1-2310 sets out the contents, on a form developed by the Common Interest Community Board under § 54.1-2350. Thirty numbered items, and these are the ones that answer the golf question:

• Item 4 – the amount and payment schedule of assessments, plus any unpaid. This is the association number.
• Item 5 – any other fees due and payable by an owner of the unit.
• Item 6 – a statement of any other entity or facility to which the owner may be liable for assessments, fees, or other charges due to the ownership of the unit. Read that twice. This is the provision meant to surface a separate club obligation attached to your lot, and it is the most important sentence in the certificate for a golf community buyer.
• Items 7, 8 and 9 – approved special assessments, approved capital expenditures for the current and succeeding fiscal years, and the reserves held against capital components.
• Item 12 – the current reserve study or a summary. An underfunded reserve is a future special assessment with a delay on it.
• Item 13 – unsatisfied judgments and pending actions that could materially affect the association, the owners, or the unit.
• Item 26 – any restriction on your ability to rent.

Items 2, 11, 17 and 18 give you the governing documents, the operating budget, and board minutes for the last six months plus the most recent meeting. The minutes are where a coming special assessment usually surfaces first.

The deadlines that actually matter

These come from the statute, not from custom. Your contract can specify a different cancellation period, so read it alongside this.

Two details from § 55.1-2312 are easy to miss. Cancellation is without penalty, and the seller must cause any deposit or escrowed funds to be returned promptly. And notice of cancellation must be given in accordance with the contract, with the purchaser bearing the burden of demonstrating delivery of that notice. Send it in a way you can prove, and keep the proof.

The certificate is also current only as of a date stated on it, and either party may request an update. If yours is weeks old by the time you are deciding, ask for the financial update rather than relying on a stale page.

The questions to ask, in order

1. Is there an association here, and is there also a club? Get both names. Two names means two sets of documents.
2. What does the assessment cover, and on what schedule? From item 4, not from the seller’s memory.
3. Does item 6 name any other entity I could be liable to? If it names the club, your obligation is not optional, and you need the club’s terms before your cancellation window closes.
4. Is club membership mandatory for this lot or section? Ask the club in writing. Obligations can vary by section.
5. Does the seller’s membership transfer, and at what cost? Transfer fees, requalification and waiting lists are all possible. A transferable membership can be an asset; an assumed obligation is a liability.
6. What is the club’s current dues and initiation structure, by category? In writing, dated. Not last year’s brochure.
7. What has the board discussed in six months? Item 17. Read for special assessments, litigation and capital projects.
8. How healthy are reserves against the reserve study? Items 9 and 12, where the next special assessment is visible in advance.

If a seller or listing agent answers question 3 or 4 verbally and cannot point to the document, treat it as an open item rather than an answer. Our guide to what to read before you sign in a Richmond HOA applies the same discipline, and our post on what Richmond buyers get and the right to cancel goes deeper on the cancellation mechanics.

Why this matters more in Wyndham than in a standard subdivision

In a subdivision with a pool and a clubhouse, the association owns the amenities and one assessment covers them. In a golf community the most expensive amenity is typically owned and operated by someone else, which creates the two-invoice structure and the confusion. It also means part of your amenity cost is set by an organisation whose budget you do not vote on.

That is not a reason to avoid a golf community. It is a reason to price the total annual carrying cost – association assessment, club obligation if any, and the reserve risk behind both – before deciding what the house is worth to you. What frontage does to a specific lot is covered in our post on buying a Wyndham home that backs onto the course, and the data limits in why the county number is the only honest one for Wyndham.

For orientation, our Wyndham living guide is the starting point. Buyers comparing newer stock a few minutes west also look at Short Pump; both sit inside the Henrico County market. For frontage specifically, our golf course homes search filters for it.

One process note: your agent is licensed and regulated by the Virginia Real Estate Board, and licensing and disciplinary records are searchable through DPOR. The resale certificate form comes from the Common Interest Community Board, a separate body.

Frequently asked questions