The real estate agent for a waterfront Florida estate is marketing the property to affluent golfers, and not just because the home is a strong tee shot across from Tiger Woods' mansion on Jupiter Island.
The $10.4 million listing in Tequesta, a mile north of the Palm Beach County line along the Intracoastal Waterway, is close to dozens of 18-hole courses, some designed by another legendary golfer, Jack Nicklaus, and renowned architects. The next buyer could also be a boater drawn to a 25-foot elevation, a dock and two lifts that can handle a variety of yachts.
"You can put a 70-foot boat in your background," Brian Coffey of One Sotheby's International Realty said in an interview. "That's rare, even in Florida."
The 5,116-square-foot home has four bedrooms and six bathrooms, according to the listing on Homes.com. At the current list price, a buyer putting 20% down would pay more than $53,000 a month in principal and interest on a 30-year mortgage, Homes.com data shows. Not that Coffey expects the buyer to want or need a mortgage.
"Anybody looking for a $10 million home already has another $10 million home," he said.
The original owner, Craig Vollhaber, was a University of Notre Dame graduate who co-founded an air conditioning equipment manufacturer’s representative business in Minnesota in 1967. He and his wife, Donna, retired to South Florida and built the house in 2001, a decade before golfing great Woods moved across the water.
Vollhaber and other neighbors were thrilled when Woods built his house, Coffey said.
"That was pretty cool," he said. "That helped raise everyone's property values, for sure."
The Vollhabers' son, Todd, and his wife, Sheila, inherited the estate and lived there after his parents died. Todd and Sheila are not boaters and have plans to move to Arizona, Coffey said.
The interior is freshly painted, and the home's layout offers plenty of room for entertaining friends and extended family, according to One Sotheby's. The kitchen has a breakfast nook, while the main living area has 25-foot ceilings, a waterfront balcony and unobstructed water views north and south.
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Hurricane-resistant glass protects the windows. The property, with a pool, spa, sea wall and patio, is in the gated community of Rolling Hills. A buyer could choose to renovate, but it's not necessary, according to Coffey.
"There's always something that people want to do, but with this house, there's nothing anybody has to do," he said.
The home was listed for sale the week before Thanksgiving in an effort to get a jump on the winter buying season. Though the six-week window from mid-November through New Year's Day is considered the slowest time of the year in residential real estate, Coffey says the home will already be in position to draw interest quickly after the holidays.
"It's like by Dec. 27 everybody says they're finished with Christmas and ready to look at houses," he said. "I expect we'll be busy in January."