Wind-down announcedAugust 21, 2026Bakersfield, California
Rio Bravo Country Club at golden hour

The Save Rio Bravo plan

Buy the land. Deed-restrict the grass. Run it as a neighborhood amenity.

California private clubs are commonly organized as nonprofit mutual-benefit corporations. Rio Bravo neighbors already used that structure in 2017. This plan assumes the whole neighborhood shows up, with counsel, and treats foreclosure as a buying window — not a wake.

  1. 01

    Stand up the vehicle

    Form a California nonprofit mutual-benefit corporation or member-owned LLC. Elect a small steering committee with a treasurer, a counsel lead, and a neighborhood captain for each street.

  2. 02

    Map the debt, not the rumor

    Pull title, recorded liens, and the foreclosure notices. We need the note amount, the noteholder, any tax liens, and whether a trustee’s sale is set.

  3. 03

    Pledge the purchase, fund the homework

    Two pots of money. Small donations pay lawyers, an appraisal, and a course-condition walk. Larger capital pledges — conditional on a real deal — show a bank and a noteholder that 200 households can close.

  4. 04

    Make an offer the noteholder can take

    A neighbor bid that pays off secured debt and keeps the land as a golf course/open space is often more attractive than a speculative subdivision fight with 200 adjacent owners.

  5. 05

    Lock it as a course, forever

    Put a conservation or open-space covenant on the golf parcels so the next crisis cannot turn fairways into lots.

Boundaries

What we will not do

  • Take sides in a marriage or pick a favorite owner. The asset is what we are after.
  • Collect purchase money into a personal account. Capital for a bid belongs in a formed entity, under counsel, with an escrow.
  • Pretend a PayPal donation replaces a note payoff. Donations fund diligence. Pledges fund a bid.

Pledge Donate to diligence

Pledge Donate