Two condos go up for sale in Bay Harbor the same week, roughly the same square footage, roughly the same price. A buyer comparing them on paper would call it a coin flip. It isn't. One sits in an association with dues near the low end of the range. The other sits in a building where dues run closer to triple that. Neither number appears anywhere on the listing sheet, because in Michigan, association dues are disclosed in the condo documents, not the MLS price field. The buyer finds out during due diligence, if they know to ask.
That gap between what a Bay Harbor property costs to buy and what it costs to hold is the thing worth understanding before you start comparing this community to Harbor Springs, Petoskey, or Lake Charlevoix on price alone. Bay Harbor isn't one homeowners association with one fee schedule. It's a federation of roughly thirty-two distinct neighborhoods, each with its own board, its own reserve fund, and its own dues structure. And layered on top of that is a second tier of cost that has nothing to do with owning property at all: private club memberships that give you access to the marina and golf courses everyone associates with the name Bay Harbor, but that you have to buy separately, even after you've closed.
What $1.9 Million Actually Buys You
The clearest example right now is Village Heights, the newest development in the community. Groundbreaking happened in July 2025, and the first building delivered in January 2026, developed by Holcomb Development Co. in partnership with the Elhart family. It's twenty-five units across five buildings, priced from $1.9 million, with floor plans running 2,361 to 2,845 square feet. It sits on the highest elevation in Bay Harbor, three blocks from the Village, with views of both Lake Michigan and the harbor.
It's also a useful illustration of the exact pattern this piece is about. Developer Jeff Elhart described wanting to design around how people actually get around the community, telling a community publication that
GEM cars and NEVs have become the most fun, popular, and efficient way of transportation here
which is why each unit gets its own dedicated NEV-only garage, in addition to standard parking. That's a real, thoughtful design choice, and it tells you something about daily life in Bay Harbor. What it doesn't tell you is whether your $1.9 million buys a slip at the Yacht Club marina down the hill. It doesn't. Marina access, like golf, is a separate membership, purchased and paid for on its own track, regardless of what building you live in or what you paid for it.
Bay Harbor Is Thirty-Two Associations, Not One
If you're used to house hunting in a single municipality with one tax bill and one set of rules, the Bay Harbor structure takes some adjusting to. Monthly association dues across the community's various neighborhoods generally run from $400 to $1,200, and where a given property lands in that range depends on the building, the amenities that association maintains directly, and the age and condition of the shared infrastructure. A newer building with elevators, structured parking, and full landscaping crews will sit differently than an older, simpler association with fewer shared systems to fund.
This matters for the comparison shopping every buyer does. A per-square-foot number that looks competitive against a listing in Petoskey or Harbor Springs can shift meaningfully once you add twelve months of association dues on top of the mortgage payment. It's not that Bay Harbor is more expensive to own than those markets. It's that the ownership cost is split into two line items instead of one, and only one of them is visible on the listing.
The Membership That Isn't Included
The Yacht Club is where this becomes most concrete. Bay Harbor Yacht Club is a private, member-owned club with more than 700 members, built around a deep-water marina with over one hundred slips that can accommodate yachts up to 185 feet. Joining as a property owner requires a $45,000 initiation fee, and recent published figures put annual dues in the range of $6,000 to $7,000 on top of that. Membership itself is structured in tiers: Annual membership for property owners who want year-round access, a Winter membership for seasonal access from October through May, and a Reciprocal category for visiting members of other clubs, who pay a resort fee of $125 per day or $750 per week to use the amenities during their stay.
None of that is bundled into the price of a home or condo in Bay Harbor. You can own a unit two blocks from the harbor and never set foot on club property unless you apply and pay to join. The golf side of the community works the same way. The Quarry, the Links, and the Preserve, the three courses that give Bay Harbor its reputation among golfers in the Midwest, operate as a private club with its own membership structure, separate from anything on your closing statement.
Here's how the layers actually stack:
| Cost layer | What it covers | Where you find it |
|---|---|---|
| Purchase price | The unit, lot, or home itself | MLS listing, purchase agreement |
| Association dues | Landscaping, exteriors, shared infrastructure; typically $400 to $1,200 per month depending on the specific association | Condo bylaws and disclosure documents, not the listing |
| Yacht Club membership (optional) | Marina slips, clubhouse, member events; $45,000 initiation for owners plus annual dues of roughly $6,000 to $7,000 | Separate application to Bay Harbor Yacht Club |
| Golf Club membership (optional) | Access to the Quarry, Links, and Preserve courses | Separate application, not tied to property ownership |
For buyers who don't boat and don't golf, that separation actually works in their favor. You can buy in Bay Harbor, pay your association dues, and skip the other two layers entirely without paying for access you'd never use. The community's arts anchor, the Great Lakes Center for the Arts, works on a different model still: it programs theater and music that anyone can attend, membership or not, so that piece of the lifestyle doesn't depend on which club rosters you're on.
Why the Structure Exists This Way
None of this is an accident of paperwork. Splitting the marina and golf clubs off from the real estate itself lets a developer advertise a lower entry price on the units, since the club costs don't need to be baked into the sale. It also means the clubs can control their own membership numbers independently of how many units get sold or resold, which is part of how a 100-plus slip marina and a three-course golf operation stay usable rather than overcrowded as the community has grown from a reclaimed limestone quarry into one of the more recognized addresses on this stretch of Lake Michigan.
For a buyer, the practical upshot is that the real comparison isn't Bay Harbor's price against Harbor Springs' price or Petoskey's price. It's your total first-year cost in each place, association dues included, club memberships included if you actually want them, against your total first-year cost anywhere else you're considering. That number takes an afternoon of phone calls to assemble. It's also the only number that tells you the truth about what you're buying.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I have to join the Yacht Club to buy property in Bay Harbor? No. Club membership is optional and separate from real estate ownership. You can own a home or condo in Bay Harbor and never apply for Yacht Club or golf membership.
Do association dues vary by building, or is there one flat rate across Bay Harbor? They vary. Bay Harbor is made up of roughly thirty-two distinct neighborhood associations, each with its own board and dues structure, generally landing somewhere between $400 and $1,200 per month depending on the building and its shared amenities.
Can I find out a property's specific HOA dues before I schedule a showing? Yes, and you should ask for it upfront. Association dues and the current reserve fund status are part of the condo disclosure documents, which a buyer's agent can request before you tour, rather than waiting until you're deep into a purchase agreement.
Numbers on a listing sheet tell you what a property costs to buy. They rarely tell you what it costs to live the way that property implies you will. If you're comparing Bay Harbor to another Northern Michigan lakefront community and want the full picture, association dues, club costs, and all, Pat Leavy can walk you through it property by property. Schedule a free consultation before you run the comparison on price alone.
