Tony and Natasha Miller spent years on the design and construction of a compound on 10.1 acres at 38 Tehama, a lot Clint Eastwood himself once considered for his own house before choosing a parcel closer to the clubhouse. The home, later marketed as "The Summit at Tehama," was finished earlier this year. Within months, it was back on the market for $32 million, listed by Tim Allen of Coldwell Banker Global Luxury. Not because the Millers had cooled on it. Tony Miller, co-founder and CEO of Austin-based Harbor Health, had to relocate to Texas for work not long after moving in.
That story matters for reasons beyond the price tag. It's a reminder that Tehama inventory doesn't move on the same clock as the rest of the Monterey Peninsula. Homes here rarely come to market because an owner is unhappy with the neighborhood or chasing a market top. They come to market because a career shifted, an estate settled, or a family's plans changed. If you're comparing Tehama to Pebble Beach or Carmel Valley on price per square foot alone, you're missing the part of the story that actually shapes what you'll find for sale and how long it stays listed.
What the Listing Sheet Doesn't Say
Here's the detail that catches almost every first-time Tehama buyer off guard: purchasing a homesite or a finished residence inside the gates does not include membership to Tehama Golf Club. The golf course, the Jay Morrish-designed 18-hole layout that gives the community its name and its views of Point Lobos and Monterey Bay, operates on a separate, invitation-only membership track. You can close on a $4 million lot with a view of the 14th fairway and still have no standing to play it.
This isn't a rumor or a fine-print trap unique to one seller. It's stated plainly across the developer's own materials, the golf club's disclaimers, and multiple brokerage sites that track the community: golf membership at Tehama is by invitation and is not conveyed with a real estate purchase. What typically does come with a homesite purchase is something different: a Social Fitness Membership, which covers the pools, tennis and pickleball courts, fitness center, and dining at Callahan's, the club's restaurant. Some of these social memberships carry their own dues and initiation fees, and the terms aren't uniform from listing to listing.
Two Memberships, Rarely Bundled the Way You'd Assume
The confusion tends to start with the name. Buyers hear "Tehama Golf Club" and assume one membership covers everything the name implies. In practice, the club operates two distinct tracks that only sometimes travel together.
| Typically included with purchase | How you get it | |
|---|---|---|
| Social Fitness Membership | Often yes, subject to dues and fees | Comes with most homesite purchases |
| Golf Club Membership | No | By invitation only, granted separately from any real estate transaction |
| Equestrian Center Membership | No | Facility currently under construction, membership handled separately |
A handful of current listings advertise a "transferable social membership" as a selling point, which tells you two things: first, that the social membership can move with a sale, and second, that its presence is worth calling out precisely because it isn't guaranteed on every property. If golf access matters to you, the only way to know where you stand is to ask directly what's transferable and what isn't, before you're deep into escrow assuming access that was never part of the deal.
Why Homes Here Sit for Months, Not Weeks
As of August 18, 2026, active Tehama listings were averaging 144 days on market, with a median list price around $3.7 million and roughly 16 properties on the market at once. Compare that to the broader Carmel Valley market, where homes have recently been moving in about 17 days at a median sale price near $2.18 million, and the gap is hard to miss. Tehama isn't just pricier. It moves at a completely different pace.
Part of that is simple scarcity. The community is capped at roughly 90 homesites across nearly 2,000 acres, and more than 70 of those had already been spoken for as of recent counts, leaving a shrinking pool of remaining land to build on. But scarcity alone doesn't explain a 144-day average when demand for coastal luxury property on the Peninsula has been strong. The membership structure does more of that explaining than the acreage does.
A buyer drawn to Tehama specifically for the golf course has to accept that ownership doesn't guarantee an invitation to join. That reality narrows the pool to buyers who either already have standing with the club, don't prioritize golf access as a condition of purchase, or are willing to buy the real estate and wait. Sellers marketing a property with golf in the pitch have to work harder to find that narrower buyer, and that work takes time.
Standard disclosure language across Tehama offering documents makes the separation explicit: buyers are directed to review the property report before signing anything, and are told plainly that golf club membership is not included in the purchase of Tehama property, that use of the golf course and clubhouse is at the pleasure of the facility's owner, and that a purchaser acquires no proprietary interest in those amenities. It's not concealed. It's just easy to skim past when you're focused on acreage, views, and price per square foot.
What This Means When You're Comparing Homesites
If you're weighing a Tehama property against other Peninsula options, a few questions do more work than the listing photos:
- Does this specific property come with a transferable social membership, and what does that membership actually cover? Dining and fitness access is not the same as golf access, and dues vary by listing.
- Is golf access something you're assuming or something you've confirmed? If a tee time matters to your decision, ask the seller's agent whether an invitation is realistic, and on what timeline.
- What is the buildable footprint, not just the lot size? Some Tehama parcels run 14 to 17 acres but carry a building envelope of only 1.5 to 2 acres, shaped by the community's conservation commitments. The acreage number on a listing sheet and the acreage you can actually build on are often two different figures.
- Why is this particular home on the market? Given how often Tehama sales trace back to relocation, estate transitions, or personal circumstance rather than market timing, understanding the seller's motivation can shape both your offer strategy and your expectations for negotiation room.
The Land Question Underneath the Membership Question
The membership structure isn't the only place where the number on paper undersells what's actually being sold. Tehama's remaining developer homesites range from about 3.5 to 25 acres, but the community's conservation-minded design means a large share of that acreage stays undeveloped by design, not by accident. One recent 17-acre listing carried a building envelope of roughly 2 acres. Another, at nearly 14 acres, offered about 1.58 buildable acres. If you're picturing a compound that uses the whole parcel, get the building envelope in writing early. It shapes everything from where the house can sit to whether the equestrian ambitions you had in mind are realistic on that particular lot.
A Few Questions Worth Asking Before You Tour
Does every home in Tehama come with a golf club membership eventually, even if not at closing? No. Golf membership is granted at the discretion of the club and is never guaranteed by owning property, regardless of how long you've held it.
If I'm not interested in golf, does any of this matter to me? It still matters for resale. A future buyer who does prioritize golf access will ask the same questions you're asking now, and how you answer them shapes your negotiating position when you sell.
Are Tehama's homeowners association dues public? Specific fee amounts aren't standardized or published the way they are in many HOA-governed communities. Dues and terms vary by listing and by membership type, which is one more reason to get exact figures directly rather than relying on general market summaries.
Is the equestrian center at Tehama open now? It was under construction as of recent listings, with its own separate membership structure once complete, distinct from both the golf club and the social membership.
Tehama rewards buyers who ask precise questions before they fall in love with a view. If you're weighing a homesite here against another Peninsula option, or trying to figure out what a specific listing's membership terms actually mean for your plans, Cheryl Heyermann has spent decades untangling exactly this kind of detail for buyers on the Monterey Peninsula. Let's Connect before you write an offer, not after.
