A buyer comparing listings across Martis Camp, Lahontan, and Schaffer's Mill this summer will find all three sitting in roughly the same price conversation. As of Q1 2026, Martis Camp's range runs from about $4 million for a cottage lot up to $25 million for an estate, with a pair of January 2026 closings landing at $6.2 million and $8.5 million. Lahontan typically trades between $3 million and $8 million. Schaffer's Mill runs $2 million to $5 million, with new construction pushing toward the top of that band. Line them up and a $4 million number shows up in all three.
That number means three different things once you look past the sale price.
A house price and a membership are two separate purchases in most of Martis Valley's gated communities. Only one of them shows up on the listing sheet.
The Homesite Price Includes a Club. The Home Price Doesn't.
Lahontan is the exception here, and it changes the math more than most buyers expect. New homesite purchases at Lahontan come with a Social membership already built into the deal, currently valued at $87,500, which grants access to the club's full amenity list and two rounds of golf a month during non-peak times. Buy the home, and that membership is already yours.
Martis Camp and Schaffer's Mill do not work that way. Purchasing a home in either community gets you the house and the HOA obligations that come with it. The club is a separate transaction, with its own application, its own approval process, and its own price tag that has nothing to do with what you paid for the house.
That distinction is the whole story. A $4 million Lahontan purchase already has social access folded in. A $4 million Martis Camp purchase does not, and the buyer needs to budget for that membership on top of the closing costs.
What Membership Actually Costs, Community by Community
| Community | Q1 2026 Home Price Band | Social Membership Entry | Annual Social Dues | Golf Access |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Martis Camp | $4M–$25M | ~$125,000–$150,000 transfer fee | ~$29,000 | Separate initiation, multi-year waitlist, traded on open market |
| Lahontan | $3M–$8M | Included in new homesite purchase (valued ~$87,500) | Bundled into purchase | 375 total golf memberships, priced ~$105,000 |
| Schaffer's Mill | $2M–$5M | ~$70,000 | ~$13,900 | $10,000 enrollment for residents, $7,418 annual dues |
The gap between Martis Camp and Schaffer's Mill on the social tier alone is roughly $80,000 at entry and another $15,000 a year after that. Multiply the annual dues difference by a decade of ownership and the two communities have drifted tens of thousands of dollars further apart than their home prices alone would suggest.
Martis Camp also carries a 1% conveyance fee on the sale price at every change of ownership, on top of the membership transfer fee, which is worth factoring into resale math separately from the membership question itself.
The Fee Is Rising Faster Than the House
Schaffer's Mill's social membership ran $40,000 with about $9,350 in annual dues as of 2023. By 2026 guides, that same tier sits closer to $70,000 with dues near $13,900. Martis Camp's social transfer fee has followed a similar path, moving from a $125,000 transfer fee tied to 2025 dues figures to closer to $150,000 in listings dated early 2026.
Home prices in Martis Valley have moved too, but not at that pace across every tier. What that tells a buyer is that the membership itself is the scarcer asset. A club can only sell so many social memberships and so many golf slots before it stops selling them at all, and both Martis Camp and Schaffer's Mill are pricing that scarcity into the membership fee independent of what the house next door sold for.
For a buyer weighing two similarly priced homes in different communities, that escalation curve matters more than it looks. Buying into a membership now, even a full year before you plan to use the house, can be cheaper than buying the identical membership after another price increase.
Golf Is the Real Scarcity
Social membership gets you through the door. Golf is where the three communities diverge hardest.
Martis Camp doesn't publish a golf membership price. Golf memberships there are traded on the open market, subject to a multi-year waitlist, and simply are not for sale through the club at any fixed number. A buyer hoping to golf regularly needs to plan around that wait, not around a line-item cost.
Lahontan caps golf at 375 total memberships, currently priced at $105,000. That's a known number with a known ceiling, which makes it easier to plan around even though the price itself sits well above Schaffer's Mill's entry point.
Schaffer's Mill is the outlier on affordability. The most recent published figures put golf enrollment at $10,000 for residents and $25,000 for non-residents, with homesite owners paying $7,418 a year in dues once enrolled. Even allowing for some increase since those figures were published, that structure starts a full order of magnitude below what golf costs at either of the other two communities, which is the clearest reason Schaffer's Mill attracts buyers who want the golf lifestyle without the six-figure buy-in.
Before You Compare Two Listings, Ask
- Does the purchase price include a membership, or is membership a separate transaction with its own approval?
- What tier of membership does the price actually include: social, golf, or neither?
- Is golf capped at a fixed membership count, or sold on an open secondary market with no published price?
- What have annual dues done over the past two to three years, and is that trend likely to continue?
- Does the HOA fee cover amenities separately from the club, or are they the same bill?
You Can't Rent Your Way to Breakeven
A buyer might look at these membership numbers and assume the gap can be offset with rental income during the months the home sits empty. All three communities close that door. Martis Camp, Lahontan, and Schaffer's Mill each prohibit rentals under 30 days, which rules out the short-term rental income that helps some Tahoe-area buyers absorb HOA or membership costs elsewhere in the region.
That makes the membership fee a fixed cost rather than something a buyer can offset through occasional weekend rentals. Whatever the entry fee and annual dues add up to, that's the number a buyer is carrying without a rental cushion to soften it.
The Number That Actually Matters
Home price comparisons across Martis Camp, Lahontan, and Schaffer's Mill look straightforward until membership enters the picture, and then the same price band stops meaning the same thing. A $4 million Lahontan property already has its social membership built in. A $4 million Martis Camp property is still an open question until the buyer prices out a separate transfer fee that may be climbing every year they wait. A $4 million Schaffer's Mill property, near the top of that community's range, comes with the cheapest path to golf of the three.
None of that shows up on a listing sheet. It shows up in the club's own fee schedule, which changes independent of the housing market and which a buyer needs to check before assuming two similarly priced homes are actually the same purchase.
If you're comparing homes across Martis Camp, Lahontan, and Schaffer's Mill and want the current membership numbers modeled against a specific property, The Brassie Group can walk through what a given price actually includes before you write an offer. Explore current Martis Valley listings and pricing by community to see how these bands compare today.
A Few Questions Worth Asking First
Does every home in these communities require a membership purchase? No. Only Lahontan bundles a Social membership into new homesite purchases. Martis Camp and Schaffer's Mill treat the club as a separate transaction from the home, with its own application and approval.
Can I buy just the house and skip the club? In most cases the HOA dues are mandatory regardless of club membership, but the social and golf memberships themselves are optional add-on purchases at Martis Camp and Schaffer's Mill. Whether that makes sense depends on how much of the appeal was the club in the first place.
Which community has the lowest total cost to actually use the amenities? On current numbers, Schaffer's Mill has the lowest entry cost for both social access and golf. Martis Camp has the highest entry cost and the least price certainty, since golf membership there has no published fixed price and depends on the secondary market and the waitlist at the time you're ready to join.
Let's talk about your highest possible return.
