Old Edwards Club: A Buyer's Reference from a Macon County Agent

Old Edwards Club is the residential club arm of the Old Edwards Inn & Spa hospitality empire, located at Highlands Cove just north of downtown Highlands. The Tom Jackson-designed course was recently named among Golf Digest's Best Golf Courses in America, and the inn-club integration (two heated pools, hot tubs, fitness center, full-service spa, walkable Old Edwards-branded restaurants and shops in downtown Highlands) is genuinely uncommon for a private mountain club.

I'll be straight with you upfront on what I can and can't do here. Old Edwards is invitation-only. I'm a Franklin-based real estate broker with eXp Realty, not an Old Edwards member, and I can't walk you inside the gates as a non-member. What I can do is write the most accurate, plain-English buyer-reference content available about the financial structure, governance, neighborhood adjacencies, and Macon County tax math, because most of the existing content on this club is written by sell-side agents whose incentives lean toward what they want you to feel rather than what's actually true about the carry costs.

If you're considering Old Edwards or one of the adjacent gated communities in the Highlands plateau (Cullasaja, Wildcat Cliffs, Highlands Falls, GlenCove), the rest of this page is the version of the conversation I'd have with you on the phone. Text or call (828) 371-6980 when you want to dig into a specific property.

The community at a glance

• Location: Highlands, Macon County, NC. Old Edwards Inn & Spa main campus is in downtown Highlands; the residential club at Highlands Cove sits north of town.
• Elevation: ~3,800 ft
• Membership type: Invitation only
• Initiation fee (current industry estimates): $150,000+
• Annual dues: $10,001 to $15,000 (per industry directories; verify with the membership office at the published club number)
• Course: Tom Jackson 18-hole, recently honored among Golf Digest's Best Courses in America (2024 cycle)
• Amenities: Two heated pools, hot tubs, fitness center, full-service spa, downtown Highlands Old Edwards-branded restaurants and shops integrated as a member benefit
• Adjacency benefit: Old Edwards Club members can also buy at GlenCove (the second Old Edwards-affiliated property)
• STR policy: Restrictive; the inn-club character is core to the brand
• Demographics: Heavy Atlanta, Florida, and Northeast wealth; deeply seasonal Highlands rhythm (May to October peak)

The Macon County tax math: the real affordability story

This is the line most plateau-club content doesn't bother with, and it's the one that matters most for buyers comparing Old Edwards to a comparable Cashiers-side club.

Macon County's statutory property tax rate is 0.27% per $100 of assessed value, among the lowest in North Carolina. On a $1,000,000 assessed home that's a statutory tax bill of approximately $2,700/year, before any town surcharge or special-district levy. The Highlands median tax bill runs around $2,524 per Wave 2024 reporting, meaningfully lower than identical-priced homes in Buncombe County (~$5,466 effective on $1M) or Rutherford County (~$7,400 on $1M).

For comparison: Wade Hampton Golf Club and Mountaintop Golf & Lake Club, both in Cashiers, sit on the Jackson County side of the line. Jackson County tax math is similar to Macon's (both counties run effective rates well under 1%), but the Old Edwards / Highlands CC pair specifically benefits from Macon's nation-leading statutory floor.

The all-in 5-year cost of ownership on a $1M home at Old Edwards (statutory tax plus assumed $12,500 mid-tier annual dues plus utilities, insurance, and a 1% maintenance reserve) projects roughly $200,000 over five years before initiation amortization. The same $1M home at Mountaintop with full equity-golf membership projects approximately $293,000 over the same five years (per the cost-of-ownership analysis in the broader communities reference). That delta, roughly $90,000 over five years, is real money, and it's the affordability story I make sure my plateau-shopping clients understand before they fall in love with a Cashiers-side address.

This is also part of why buyers who can't get an Old Edwards or Highlands CC invitation often end up considering adjacent Macon County properties outside the gates (Cullasaja, Wildcat Cliffs, Highlands Falls, GlenCove), keeping the Macon County tax math while accepting different club access. If you're modeling the move from Florida, the FL-to-NC tax calculator will show you how the carry cost compares to where you are now.

What buyers should know about the Old Edwards lifestyle

The Old Edwards Inn & Spa is the brand center, and the club is essentially a residential extension of that hospitality property. Members get year-round access to the inn's amenities (pools, spa, fitness, dining at multiple Old Edwards restaurants and Half-Mile Farm). The walking-distance-to-downtown-Highlands footprint is a meaningful day-to-day lifestyle differentiator vs. communities like Wade Hampton where you drive to and from town.

The course itself is the residential club's marquee asset. The 2024 Golf Digest Best Courses recognition is recent, and the course is regarded as a strong member experience without the trophy-hunting reputation of Wade Hampton's Tom Fazio (which sits roughly 12 minutes east on the plateau).

What I tell my clients about the buying process

For invitation-only clubs like Old Edwards, the buying process is structurally different from a typical real-estate transaction:

1. You don't pick the home first. You build a relationship first. Membership invitations come through existing members or through engagement with the club via the inn (staying, dining, attending events). Plan for a 12 to 24 month relationship-building runway before any membership conversation gets serious.
2. Real estate transactions follow membership eligibility, not the other way around. Buying a home in Highlands Cove without first being on a path to membership eligibility is generally not the right sequence.
3. The membership transfer at sale is not automatic. When an existing member sells, the new buyer is typically required to go through their own membership application, sponsor sequence, and initiation. This matters for any seller's pricing math: not every comparable sale will translate cleanly to a new buyer because the initiation fee resets.
4. Resale certificate and recent reserve study are non-negotiable diligence items. I'd want both pulled and reviewed by an NC real-estate attorney before any offer.

Adjacent communities: where buyers without invitations actually land

If invitation isn't on the path or isn't preferred, the adjacent gated communities I work most often in this part of Macon County are:

• Cullasaja: Tom Jackson course, separate club, generally less restrictive on social membership than Old Edwards
• Wildcat Cliffs: older Highlands club, smaller membership, well-established
• Highlands Falls: quieter, more wooded, less golf-centric
• GlenCove: Old Edwards-affiliated; some Old Edwards Club members buy here

Each has its own initiation/dues structure, its own STR rules, and its own membership transfer process. Always pull the full CC&Rs and reserve study before going under contract on any plateau property; see the HOA red-flag checklist (10 categories) on the broader communities reference.

Recent Old Edwards & Highlands plateau activity

Active Highlands area home values per NeighborhoodScout median around $907,000, but country-club properties (Old Edwards specifically and the broader plateau private-club inventory) run substantially higher, typically $1.5M to $8M+. Honest gap-flag: I cannot cite five named, dated Old Edwards Club closed-sale prices at parcel level; the plateau private-club market is reported through Highlands-Cashiers Board of REALTORS / Carolina Smokies MLS rather than in named press articles. Text me at (828) 371-6980 for a current comp set.

Helene impact

Old Edwards' physical footprint came through Helene without significant structural damage. The Highlands plateau elevation (~3,800 to 4,200 ft) was protective relative to the lower-valley flooding that hit Asheville, Yancey, and Buncombe Counties hardest. Insurance market recalibration applies plateau-wide: the NCDOI 7.5% June 2025 plus 7.5% June 2026 mountain rate increases (15% cumulative) affect Old Edwards properties the same as any other WNC property. Verify the HOA's master policy approach with the membership office at offer time. For the county-by-county picture, see my mountain home insurance guide.

When Old Edwards is the right answer (and when it's not)

Right answer when:

• The buyer is on a multi-year relationship-building runway with the inn already
• The buyer values inn-and-spa year-round access more than golf-first amenities
• The Macon County tax math is the affordability hook that closes the deal vs. a Cashiers-side equivalent
• Walkability to downtown Highlands is a genuine lifestyle priority

Not the right answer when:

• The buyer wants to close on a property in 6 months without prior club engagement
• The buyer's primary value is golf trophy-hunting (Wade Hampton's Tom Fazio is the higher-ranked course)
• The buyer wants STR-rental income (the inn-club character precludes this)
• The buyer wants a year-round lively downtown (Highlands is heavily seasonal; many businesses close December through April)

How I help

For invitation-only and heavily-restricted clubs, my role is buyer-side education and adjacent-community placement. If you want a serious read on whether Old Edwards fits, or which adjacent Highlands plateau community fits better given your timeline and preferences, text or call (828) 371-6980. Let's just have a conversation. No pressure, no fine print.