Most Spanish Peaks buyers spend weeks studying the house. Then they sign an offer and discover the second contract, the one that lives beside the deed, has already started counting down. A membership deposit is often due within thirty days of a ratified contract. That is roughly the window in which most buyers are still lining up inspections and wire instructions for the property itself.

The house is what you tour. The membership is what determines how you use it, what it costs to hold, and who is willing to buy it from you later. Getting the second contract wrong is more expensive than getting the first one wrong, and it is easier to do because most out-of-state buyers have never seen a purchase agreement run on two clocks at once.

The thesis of this guide: in Spanish Peaks, the offer is not really about the house. It is about aligning a real estate transaction with a private-club contract that has its own timing, its own approvals, and its own cost stack. The membership is the deal.

The membership sits beside the deed, not inside it

Spanish Peaks Mountain Club is a private residential ski and golf community on Andesite Mountain, purchased in July 2013 by a partnership between CrossHarbor Capital Partners and Boyne Resorts after the prior developer's 2011 Chapter 7 filing. That history matters because the current membership structure is comparatively young, and its terms have evolved. Buyers relying on secondhand summaries from a friend who joined years ago are often working with numbers that no longer reflect the current schedule.

HOA covenants run with the land. When you close on a home inside a Spanish Peaks HOA, you automatically inherit those obligations and any pending assessments. Club membership is different. It is a contractual relationship between you and the club, and depending on the parcel it may be optional, mandatory, or conditional on approval. Some lots and buildings have membership requirements recorded into their CC&Rs. Others do not. The public materials from local buyer guides emphasize the same point: whether membership is required, transferable, or subject to approval depends on the recorded documents for the specific address you are buying.

There is a corollary the club states plainly and that first-time buyers routinely miss: owning a home at Spanish Peaks does not automatically grant access to the Tom Weiskopf golf course. Membership tier does.

Social versus Signature Golf: what "membership" actually buys

The club currently markets two categories. The names sound like they describe personality types. They describe access rights.

Social Membership covers the mountain-club lifestyle almost in full. Ski-in/ski-out clubhouse access to Big Sky Resort's 5,850 skiable acres. Year-round heated pool and hot tubs. Fitness and locker rooms. Tennis and pickleball. Hiking, mountain-bike, Nordic, and snowshoe trails. Fish Camp, the club's private waters with two sleeping cabins. Guided activities, youth programming, and concierge service. Clubhouse lodging rooms and the ability to rent other residential properties within the club. Access to Montage Big Sky amenities including its five restaurants, lobby bar, the 11,000-square-foot Signature Spa Montage, the four-lane bowling alley, and the Rivalry sports simulator room. Golf appears here as "limited golf access for a fee." That is the phrase to underline.

Signature Golf Membership includes everything in Social and adds unlimited access for the member and immediate family to the Tom Weiskopf 18-hole Signature Golf Course and Tom's 10 Par 3 Course with no greens fees. Extended family gets course access on a fee basis.

If summer golf is the reason a buyer is writing an offer at Spanish Peaks, and the property in question is offered with Social eligibility only, the search is either over or the buyer has just added a significant carrying-cost line item that was not in the original underwriting. That distinction rarely appears in listing photography.

The thirty-day clock, and what it means for remote buyers

Listings inside Spanish Peaks frequently include language stating the membership deposit is due within thirty days of contract. A buyer flying in from a coastal city, working through inspection scheduling, appraisal ordering, and lender conditions, can burn most of that window before realizing the club paperwork is a separate track with its own deliverables.

Three practical implications for a remote buyer:

1. Request the current fee schedule and membership application from the club the same day you sign the offer, not the same day you close. Approvals and deposits do not wait on the mortgage timeline.
2. Confirm in writing whether the deposit is refundable if the underlying real estate transaction terminates during due diligence. This is a routine question that is rarely answered the same way twice, because it depends on the current membership agreement and the reason for termination.
3. Ask whether the property conveys with an existing membership that can be assigned, or whether the buyer must apply as a new member. The two paths have different costs and different timelines.

The fractional path has different math

Not every buyer inside Spanish Peaks is buying a whole home. The Inn Residences at Montage Big Sky sell as deeded one-quarter interests, fully furnished, with Spanish Peaks membership included. That structure changes the cost conversation.

A published January 2024 ownership estimate for The Inn Residences broke total annual carrying cost into master association fees, HOA common-property expenses, utilities, and Spanish Peaks Mountain Club annual dues, and totaled roughly $35,100 to $43,100 before property tax. Property tax was estimated separately at approximately 0.4 to 0.7 percent of state-assessed value. Those figures move over time and should be verified against the current owner's budget, but the useful takeaway is the structure. A fractional buyer is signing up for four line items that are billed by four different entities, and any one of them can shift year to year.

For context on the broader club market, the private-club data aggregator privateIQ reports that the average initiation fee at private clubs in Big Sky is approximately $400,000. That is a market-wide average, not a Spanish Peaks-specific figure, and buyers should request the current Spanish Peaks fee schedule directly. But it frames why the membership decision deserves the same rigor as the mortgage decision.

ASPIRE is the next line on the invoice

The club's public Montage page describes ASPIRE as an amenity building under construction that will include two pools, a three-point basketball gym, a restaurant, a pizza kitchen, a fitness studio, and a yoga studio. New amenities are the enjoyable part of ownership. They are also how capital calls get funded.

Club membership agreements typically permit initiation fees, recurring dues, capital contributions, and special capital calls to fund exactly this type of build-out. A buyer signing today should ask two questions before the offer goes firm. Has the club already assessed for ASPIRE, and if so, what portion has been billed to date. Are additional capital contributions anticipated within the ownership horizon the buyer has in mind. The answer will not always be a clean number. The absence of an answer is itself information.

A pre-offer diligence checklist

Before writing an offer inside Spanish Peaks, get answers, in writing, to the following:

1. Which membership tier is available or required with this specific parcel, and does that match the intended use of the home.
2. Does the seller's membership convey and transfer, or must the buyer apply as a new member and receive club approval.
3. What is the deposit amount, when is it due relative to the contract date, and under what circumstances is it refundable.
4. What are the current initiation fees, transfer fees, annual dues, and any recently assessed capital contributions.
5. Are additional capital calls anticipated, including any tied to ASPIRE or other announced projects.
6. For a fractional interest, request the current owner's most recent annual statement showing master association, HOA, utilities, and club dues as separate lines.
7. What rental restrictions apply, and how do property-management and residence-rental-management services work under the current agreement.
8. Confirm HOA status separately with an estoppel certificate that shows current balances and any pending action.

FAQ

Does buying a home at Spanish Peaks automatically make me a golf member? No. Membership access varies by parcel and by tier. Social Membership includes only limited, fee-based golf access. Full unlimited course access requires Signature Golf Membership. Verify the specific property's eligibility with the club before writing an offer.

Can the club approve or reject a buyer? Depending on the recorded documents and current club policies, yes. Approval requirements and timelines should be confirmed for the specific property, ideally before the offer is signed rather than after.

What happens to my membership deposit if I sell the home later? That depends on the current membership agreement in force at the time of sale, not the one in force when you bought. Historical terms have included refund provisions tied to resale, and current terms should be requested directly from the club and reviewed with your attorney.

Spanish Peaks rewards buyers who treat the club paperwork with the same seriousness they bring to the deed. If you are weighing a purchase inside the community and want a broker who works these two contracts in parallel from day one, Mia Lennon at Discover Big Sky is available to walk through the specifics for the address you have in mind.