What Mountain High's HOA dues cover, what the public Old Back Nine course costs to play, when the homes were built, and the rental rules that apply.
Mountain High sits on Bend's south side, off China Hat Road, built around a public nine-hole golf course called the Old Back Nine. If you're looking at a home here, the real questions are usually simple ones: what the HOA dues actually pay for, whether the golf course is open to anyone or only to owners, how old the houses are, and what you can and can't do with the place if you don't live there full time. Here's what we can verify, with the window and the sample size behind every figure, plus what the golf course's own site, the recorded HOA documents, and the City of Bend say about the rest.
How many homes are for sale in Mountain High right now, and how many sell in a year?
Right now there are 5 homes for sale in Mountain High. Over the last 12 months, 8 detached homes closed. Mountain High has 188 detached homes total, so 8 sales in a year works out to a turnover of about 4% (8 divided by 188 is 4.3%), a small, slow-moving market where most owners aren't going anywhere.
We don't have a clean, publishable median sale price or median asking price for a sample this size, and we don't have a reliable median days-to-contract figure either, so we won't guess at any of the three. The Mountain High community page carries the current listings with real prices, and that's the number to use, not a memory of what a house sold for last year. If you want recent closed comps for a specific address, reach out and we'll pull them for you.
What do the HOA dues in Mountain High actually cover?
The median HOA due in Mountain High is $210 a month, or $2,520 a year, based on the 45 current listings that report dues. Mountain High is organized into three villages, Alpine, Aspen, and Willow Creek, and the recorded governing documents split the work between a neighborhood-wide board and each village's own committee, which sets architecture, landscaping, and fencing rules for that village specifically. The board can raise the general assessment up to 5% a year on its own, and it can levy a special assessment of up to $250 a lot in a year without a vote too. Anything above that needs 60% owner approval. An unpaid assessment carries a late fee of 5% or $50, whichever is greater, plus 15% annual interest, so dues aren't optional once they're billed.
The documents also rule out accessory dwelling units and splitting a lot, and they keep the community residential only. Inside the gates, Mountain High has a community pool and tennis and pickleball courts. None of that runs through a separate club membership on top of the HOA, the way it does in some golf communities. It's part of what the $210 a month is already paying for.
Is the golf course at Mountain High open to the public, and what does it cost to play?
Yes. The Old Back Nine at Mountain High is a public course sitting right inside the neighborhood, described on the course's own site as tucked "between mature pines," so you don't have to buy a home here or join anything to book a tee time, and an owner doesn't have to golf to live here either. It plays nine holes at par 36, about 2,882 yards from the back tees.
As of this writing, the course's own rate sheet lists 9-hole green fees at $47 before 3 p.m. and $35 from 3 p.m. to close, with a $29 replay rate and $20 for juniors. A power cart runs $12 a person, a push cart $5, and club rentals are $20, or $25 for premium clubs. Like most Central Oregon courses, it closes for the season and reopens each spring, so it's a warm-weather amenity, not a year-round one.
Why is it called the "Old Back Nine," and what happened to the front nine?
The name is a leftover from a longer course. Jan Ward of J.L. Ward Co. built the original nine holes in 1987 and added a second nine in 1990, for a full eighteen. The course closed in 2002 in a dispute between Ward and the City of Bend, and homeowners sued to get it reopened. A Deschutes County Circuit Court ruling in 2006 ordered Ward to rebuild nine holes on the northeast side of China Hat Road, and the rebuilt course reopened in spring 2009 under its current name, using the original back-nine hole numbers, 10 through 18. The front nine was never rebuilt, which is why Mountain High's golf course today is nine holes instead of eighteen.
When were the homes in Mountain High built, and what does that mean for a buyer?
Most of Mountain High's 188 detached homes were built between 1984 and 1997. That's a neighborhood of mostly 1980s and 1990s construction, not new builds, so walking into a showing here, expect original or once-replaced roofs, windows, and mechanical systems on a lot of these homes, and budget an inspection with that age in mind. It also means the lots and the tree cover are established rather than freshly planted, which is part of the setting most buyers are drawn to here in the first place. A build era this consistent is also a useful comp filter: when you're pricing a specific house, you're mostly comparing it against homes from the same 13-year window, not a mix of decades.
Is Mountain High a full-time neighborhood or a place people use part time?
Mountain High is a gated community built around a golf course, a pool, and tennis and pickleball courts, the kind of setup that works for a household living there year-round and for one that's there part of the year. The low turnover, about 4% of the neighborhood's homes changing hands a year, points to owners who tend to stay once they're in, whether that's a full-time household or a second home they come back to on a schedule. We don't have data that breaks that split out for Mountain High specifically, so we'll describe the place rather than guess at who's inside it: three named villages, Alpine, Aspen, and Willow Creek, each with its own architectural rules, laid out on large, mature lots around the course.
What are the rental rules if I want to buy in Mountain High as an investment or a part-time home?
The HOA's recorded governing documents keep Mountain High residential only, with no lot subdivisions and no accessory dwelling units, and they don't spell out a village-specific minimum lease term in what we could review. That means a short-term rental here runs on the same rule as anywhere else in the city. Bend's short-term rental ordinance defines "short-term" as a stay under 30 consecutive days and requires a permit either way. A Type I permit covers a whole house rented infrequently, up to four rental periods or 30 rental days a year, or an owner-occupied home with up to two bedrooms rented an unlimited number of days. A Type II permit covers a whole house rented more than that, and it comes with a 500-foot separation requirement from another permitted short-term rental nearby. Check both the City of Bend's short-term rental page and Mountain High's own governing documents before you count on renting the place out.
What's winter like in a golf community on Bend's south side?
The Old Back Nine closes for the season and reopens each spring, so golf is a warm-weather draw here, not a year-round one, and the same goes for the pool and the outdoor courts. That's the one seasonal fact we can point to directly from the course's own site. We don't have a sourced figure for snow load, road plowing, or winter access specific to this neighborhood, so we're not going to estimate one. If winter access matters to your decision, ask us and we'll help you get a straight answer from the HOA before you write an offer.
How far is Mountain High from downtown Bend and the Old Mill District?
Mountain High sits off China Hat Road, just north of Lost Tracks Golf Club, on Bend's south side, inside the city rather than out toward Sunriver or La Pine. From there it's a short drive, minutes rather than half an hour, to both downtown Bend and the Old Mill District. The golf course markets itself on the mountain views from its own fairways, but we don't have a sourced drive-time figure to Mt. Bachelor from this specific address, so we won't put a number on that one.
What's for sale in Mountain High right now?
As of this writing, 5 homes are for sale in Mountain High, a small list in a 188-home neighborhood, in line with how few homes changed hands over the last 12 months. Rather than post a price snapshot that goes stale the day we publish it, we'll point you to the live listings on the Mountain High community page, where the count and the prices update as the market moves.
Questions
How many homes are for sale in Mountain High?
5, as of this writing. Check the Mountain High community page for the current list, since a 5-home inventory can change within days.
What are the HOA dues in Mountain High?
A median of $210 a month, or $2,520 a year, based on the 45 current listings that report dues.
Is the golf course at Mountain High open to the public?
Yes. The Old Back Nine is a public nine-hole course inside the neighborhood, and no membership is required to play. As of this writing it charges $47 before 3 p.m. and $35 after, per the course's own rate sheet.
When were most Mountain High homes built?
Between 1984 and 1997, across the neighborhood's 188 detached homes.
Can I rent my Mountain High home out short-term?
Only with a City of Bend short-term rental permit. The city defines short-term as under 30 consecutive days and requires a permit either way, with separate rules for an infrequent rental and a frequent one.
What are the three villages inside Mountain High?
Alpine, Aspen, and Willow Creek, each with its own architectural committee under the HOA's recorded governing documents.
Next step
If you're weighing Mountain High against another south-side or golf-course neighborhood, we can walk you through the HOA and rental math with real numbers for the address you're considering, not neighborhood averages. Talk to our team and we'll help you figure out whether this one actually fits how you plan to use it.
