Lake Tahoe's Premier Private Ski & Golf Community
Placer County, CA • 9616111 active listings in Martis Camp, CA
Martis Camp is a private membership club where buying a home grants access to Tom Fazio golf, Camp Lodge social infrastructure, Northstar ski access, and Lake Tahoe beach privileges.
Martis Camp occupies approximately 2,177 acres in Martis Valley, Placer County, California, adjacent to Northstar California Resort along Highway 267. The community contains a carefully controlled number of residential parcels, a combination of custom-built estates and vacant lots awaiting development, all governed by the Martis Camp Club and its membership structure that sits at the centre of every transaction in this community.
The real estate market at Martis Camp operates differently from every other Truckee community. Membership transfer, club dues structure, and architectural review requirements are not peripheral considerations; they are foundational elements of the purchase process that must be understood before any offer is made. Real Estate Tahoe brings direct transactional experience at the Martis Camp level, with the club knowledge and dual-state licensing that buyers and sellers in this community require.
Martis Camp maintains a small inventory of vacant residential lots for buyers who want to build a fully custom estate from the ground up rather than acquire an existing structure. Lot transactions at Martis Camp carry a distinct set of considerations that differ meaningfully from built home purchases:
Architectural review: Every new build at Martis Camp is subject to the community's architectural review committee, which enforces design guidelines covering massing, materials, roofline, landscaping, and site coverage to maintain the community's visual coherence and property values
Build timeline: Custom construction at this level in the Truckee market operates on multi-year timelines. Buyers purchasing lots should engage an architect and builder with Martis Camp experience before closing to understand the full development process
Lot position: Golf course frontage, mountain view orientation, and proximity to the Camp Lodge social hub are the three variables that drive premium positioning within the lot inventory
Membership requirement: Lot purchase requires simultaneous Martis Camp Club membership acquisition; the land and the membership are not separable
Custom-built estates represent the majority of Martis Camp's transaction activity. These are properties where the land, structure, and club membership combine into a single asset that is evaluated holistically rather than by per-square-foot metrics.
The comparable set for any given Martis Camp listing is thin by design. The community has a controlled parcel count and owners hold for extended periods, which means each transaction is a meaningful market event rather than one of many. Buyers who have tracked Martis Camp inventory know the specific properties, their build histories, and their positioning within the community, a level of market familiarity that makes agent relationships with direct Martis Camp experience non-negotiable at this price point.
Ultra-luxury transactions at Martis Camp follow patterns consistent with other private club communities at the top of the Tahoe-Truckee market:
Off-market activity is significant and consistent. A meaningful proportion of Martis Camp estates change hands through private introductions before formal listing, making buyer and seller representation by agents with active club relationships a practical necessity
Buyer qualification precedes property access. Showing a Martis Camp property requires demonstrated financial qualification and, in many cases, preliminary membership eligibility confirmation before tours are arranged
Hold periods are long. Martis Camp owners who build custom estates typically hold for a decade or more, which means when a property comes to market, the demand response from pre-qualified buyers who have been waiting is often immediate
Lot-to-finished estate appreciation has been substantial over the past decade for owners who purchased vacant lots and built to the community's highest design standards
The Martis Camp golf course is a Tom Fazio design, one of the most celebrated golf architects in the world, responsible for courses that consistently rank among America's finest. The Martis Camp course is private, member-only, and maintained to the exacting standard that a Fazio design demands. It is the amenity that defines the community's identity among golf-motivated buyers and sets Martis Camp apart from every other private community in the Tahoe-Truckee market.
Golf course frontage within Martis Camp commands a premium that reflects both the visual and recreational value of direct course adjacency:
Fairway-facing properties deliver the pastoral open landscape that golf course frontage buyers specifically seek, a combination of maintained green space, mountain backdrop, and the visual separation from neighboring structures that wooded lots cannot provide
Signature hole positions carry the strongest premiums within the golf frontage tier, with buyers paying meaningfully more for proximity to the course's most architecturally celebrated holes
Year-round aesthetic value extends beyond the golf season; the maintained fairways and mountain views that course-facing properties enjoy are present twelve months of the year, regardless of whether the course is in active play
The Camp Lodge and Family Barn are the social heart of Martis Camp and the amenity infrastructure that distinguishes the community's culture from a standard gated enclave. The Camp Lodge delivers resort-calibre dining, gathering spaces, and member services within the community boundary. The Family Barn provides a dedicated family programming facility with activities, fitness, and social infrastructure oriented specifically toward the multi-generational family ownership experience that defines a meaningful segment of the Martis Camp buyer base.
Martis Camp's position adjacent to Northstar California along Highway 267 delivers ski access without requiring ownership of a ski-in, ski-out property. The proximity to Northstar's full mountain infrastructure provides Martis Camp owners with one of the region's premier ski resorts as a functional extension of their community's recreational offering.
The Truckee Tahoe Airport sits adjacent to the community boundary, providing private aviation access that is a specific and material convenience for the buyer profile this community attracts, owners whose primary residences are in the Bay Area, Southern California, or out of state.
Martis Camp Club membership is a prerequisite for property ownership and governs access to all community amenities, including the golf course, Camp Lodge, Family Barn, and the Beach Shack at Lake Tahoe. The membership structure operates at a level of financial commitment consistent with the community's price band:
Buyers should obtain the complete current membership fee schedule, annual dues amount, and any capital assessment obligations before submitting an offer. The total annual carrying cost of a Martis Camp property includes HOA assessments, club dues, and any applicable capital contributions, all of which must be factored into the ownership economics analysis.
Membership transfer at Martis Camp is a structured process with specific rules and costs that differ from standard HOA transfer procedures:
Membership transferability: Club membership typically transfers with the property at sale, but the transfer process requires club approval of the incoming buyer and completion of a formal membership application before closing can occur
Transfer fees: A membership transfer fee is payable at closing. Confirm the current amount and which party bears the cost as a specific negotiation point in the purchase contract
Architectural review transfer: Any open architectural review approvals, active construction permits, or pending design submissions on the property must be disclosed and their status confirmed before closing
Club approval timeline: The membership approval process takes time and must be initiated early in the transaction timeline to avoid closing delays — buyers and sellers should build this into the purchase agreement schedule from the outset
Buyers evaluating Truckee's private luxury communities consistently compare Martis Camp against Lahontan and, in some cases, Schaffer's Mill before committing to a specific address. Understanding the distinction is essential for accurate buyer and seller positioning:
The dominant buyer profile at Martis Camp is the Bay Area technology or finance executive for whom the $5M to $25M+ price band represents a considered allocation rather than a financial stretch. This buyer has typically evaluated multiple private communities across the Sierra and has specific requirements around privacy, golf quality, family infrastructure, and the operational simplicity of a fully managed community that narrows the field to Martis Camp before any other consideration.
A second distinct and growing buyer segment at Martis Camp is the multi-generational family purchasing a primary gathering place rather than a second home. These buyers are acquiring an estate large enough to accommodate parents, adult children, and grandchildren simultaneously, with the Family Barn programming, Camp Lodge dining, and golf course access serving as the communal infrastructure around which extended family activity organizes across the full ownership horizon.
This buyer profile prioritizes lot size, bedroom count, and proximity to the Camp Lodge social infrastructure over golf course frontage or mountain view orientation. They are typically less price-sensitive within the community's range than the golf-motivated buyer and more focused on the functional family compound characteristics of the specific estate.
Selling at Martis Camp demands representation that understands the club, knows the buyer pool, and can navigate the membership transfer process without creating friction that derails a transaction at the finish line.
Club-Informed Pricing: Every Martis Camp listing is valued against the specific membership tier, lot position, course frontage, and build quality of the subject estate, not blended Truckee luxury averages that have no relevance to this community's internal market dynamics
Off-Market Buyer Network: Real Estate Tahoe maintains active relationships within the Martis Camp buyer pool, reaching pre-qualified buyers who are tracking community inventory before properties reach public listing databases
Complete Membership Transfer Package: Every listing is prepared with full club membership documentation, transfer fee disclosure, and architectural review status confirmed before the property goes live, eliminating the due diligence friction that causes deals at this price point to fail after accepted offers
Dual-State MLS Exposure: Murat Gocmen's active California and Nevada broker licenses give every Martis Camp listing simultaneous reach across the full Tahoe-Truckee luxury buyer pool from both sides of the state line from day one of the listing period
Explore more: Lake Tahoe golf communities · Lahontan · Schaffer's Mill · golf club membership costs · Martis Camp vs Lahontan · California listings
Everything you need to know about vacation rental regulations and tax rates
Rentals under 30 days are prohibited (residential community)
Explore in-depth guides for Martis Camp real estate
View the full short-term rental permit requirements, occupancy limits, and tax rates for Placer County.
They sit side by side in Martis Valley, but they serve different buyers. How Martis Camp and Lahontan compare on price, privacy, golf, and membership cost.
Explore more Lake Tahoe real estate in these neighboring areas
Get personalized guidance on buying or selling in Martis Camp. Call Murat Gocmen at (530) 317-0373 or send a message.
Get in Touch