A buyer touring the Brawley School Road peninsula this summer could reasonably assume that two nearly identical homes, a few hundred yards apart, come with a nearly identical bill. Same lake. Same architecture era. Same drive time to Mooresville. Same sidewalks and mature trees. What that buyer often doesn't discover until title work is already underway is that one of those homes carries a recurring obligation the other simply doesn't have, and that obligation is recorded against the property itself.
The peninsula holds two communities that get lumped together in almost every search: The Point and its next-door sister neighborhood, The Harbour at the Pointe. They share a gate area, a stretch of shoreline, and decades of overlapping history. They do not share a cost structure, and the difference matters more than most listing sheets let on.
Same Road, Two Different Deeds
The Point sits on the peninsula built around Trump National Golf Club Charlotte, an 18-hole course designed by Greg Norman that runs along or over the water for more than two-thirds of its holes. The neighborhood dates mostly to construction between 1999 and 2008, spans roughly 750 to 800 home sites, and includes 18 miles of shoreline and five miles of walking trails. Its commercial core, The Village Square, was built with Nantucket-style architecture and houses a General Store, an on-site bakery, a pro shop, and a ballroom that can seat 350 for a formal dinner.
The Harbour at the Pointe was established in 1994, sits immediately adjacent, and has grown into 336 homes spread across more than 40 acres of common area. It runs its own separate homeowners association, built its own Swim & Tennis Club, and maintains a marina with a boat ramp, gated boat and RV storage, kayak storage, tennis and basketball courts, and a playground. At the end of Bay Harbour Road, residents gather most evenings at what locals call the causeway to watch the sunset over the water, a tradition that predates most of the newer construction around it.
On paper, both communities check the same boxes: waterfront access, sidewalks, a pool, tennis, proximity to Mooresville and I-77. The difference shows up not in the amenity list but in the governing documents.
What "HOA Dues" Actually Means at The Point
Every lot in The Point carries a recorded obligation that goes beyond the standard homeowners association assessment. As of recent listings, the Point Owners Association charges annual dues around $1,355, with additional line items for things like boat slips and septic inspections. That much would be unremarkable for a lake community of this caliber.
What sets The Point apart is a separate, recorded amendment tied to the golf club itself. Every owner is automatically bound to a Social Membership at Trump National Golf Club Charlotte. This isn't a marketing suggestion or an optional upgrade path. It's a legal obligation attached to the lot, and unpaid Social Membership dues can become a continuing lien against the property, the same category of encumbrance a lender or title company treats seriously during underwriting.
Social Membership itself grants access to the club's dining rooms, the Tavern, and invitations to community events. It does not include the golf course, tennis courts, pool, or fitness center. Those require an upgrade: a Sports Membership for clubhouse, pool, tennis, and fitness access, a Health and Fitness tier for a narrower slice of the same, or Full Membership for the golf course itself. Each tier carries its own separate cost on top of the mandatory Social Membership and the standard POA assessment. When these line items show up together on an MLS sheet, they're often combined into a single displayed figure in the low thousands per year, which can understate how many separate obligations are actually stacked into that number.
None of this is disclosed as a defect. It's a structural feature of buying in The Point, built into the community's founding documents when the club changed hands years ago. But it means the "HOA fee" quoted on a listing is rarely the full recurring cost of ownership, and the piece most likely to catch a buyer off guard, the lien language, sits in a recorded amendment rather than in the POA's annual budget.
The Harbour Skips the Club Entirely
The Harbour at the Pointe operates under a completely separate governing structure. Its HOA covers the marina, pool, clubhouse, tennis courts, and common grounds, and nothing in its documents ties ownership to a Trump National membership of any kind. A buyer here is free to join the club voluntarily, since the golf course sits within easy reach, but nothing in the deed requires it and no golf-related dues can attach as a lien against the home.
That single structural difference changes the shape of the numbers. As of mid-2026 listing activity, off-water homes in The Harbour have generally run from the high $400s into the $600s, while waterfront homes there have ranged mostly from the $800s up toward $2 million. Over the same period in The Point, off-water homes have started in the high $500s and moved past $1 million, while waterfront properties have started just over $1 million and climbed into the several-millions range for the largest custom estates.
Line those ranges up and an overlap appears right around the $900,000 to $1.2 million mark, where a buyer could plausibly be choosing between an off-water home in The Point and a waterfront home in The Harbour. At that overlap, the sticker price tells you almost nothing about the annual carrying cost. One path comes with a mandatory club obligation recorded against the title. The other doesn't.
Why This Surfaces Late, Not Early
The reason this catches buyers off guard is timing. A listing agent will disclose HOA dues because Canopy MLS requires it. The recorded club amendment, by contrast, often doesn't surface until a title company runs its search or an attorney reviews the POA's governing documents during due diligence, which can be weeks into a contract. For a cash buyer moving quickly, or an out-of-state relocation client working on a compressed timeline, that's a late-stage surprise that can complicate closing if it isn't flagged early.
A buyer seriously considering The Point should ask for three things before writing an offer:
- The current recorded amendment language governing club obligations, available through the POA
- A written statement from Hawthorne Management, which oversees the POA, confirming current dues and any pending special assessments
- Confirmation from the lender that the Social Membership obligation has been factored into underwriting, since it functions similarly to a lien for title purposes
A buyer considering The Harbour at the Pointe faces a simpler diligence path, since the HOA there has no club tie-in to review, though the same request for current dues and reserve status still applies to any HOA purchase.
The Real Comparison Isn't the View
Both communities offer genuine lake living, mature landscaping, and easy reach of Mooresville's shopping and dining. Either one can be the right fit depending on what a buyer actually wants out of the lifestyle: a club-anchored social calendar built around golf and tennis, or a marina-and-pool community built around getting on the water without a membership structure attached to the deed.
The mistake is treating them as interchangeable because they sit on the same peninsula and show up in the same search radius. They're two different ownership products wearing similar architecture. A buyer who understands that distinction before making an offer avoids a conversation nobody wants to have at the closing table.
A Few Questions Worth Asking Before You Tour Either Community
Can I decline the Social Membership if I buy in The Point? The recorded amendment allows only limited rejection under the club's own Membership Plan. In practice, buyers should assume the obligation applies and confirm the specifics with the POA rather than assume an exception.
Does buying in The Harbour at the Pointe give me any access to Trump National's amenities? Not automatically. Residents there can join the club voluntarily at whatever membership tier they choose, the same as any outside buyer, since proximity doesn't create an obligation in either direction.
Are the two HOAs connected in any way? No. The Point Owners Association and The Harbour at the Pointe's homeowners association are entirely separate entities with their own budgets, boards, and governing documents, even though the communities sit next to each other.
Whether the right fit is a golf-anchored lot in The Point or a marina-and-pool home in The Harbour at the Pointe, the numbers on a listing sheet only tell part of the story. If you're weighing this peninsula against other Lake Norman waterfront options, or want a clear read on what a specific address will actually cost to carry year over year, Christy Walker & Associates can walk you through the recorded documents before you write an offer. Request a personalized Lake Norman market consultation and get the full picture before you're standing at the closing table.
