A buyer scrolling listings in Mandeville's Beau Chêne sees the same line near the bottom of almost every one: HOA dues, then a number. The photos above it show fairways, a marina full of boats, a pool complex ringed by live oaks. It is easy to read that HOA number as the price of admission to all of it. It isn't.
The Beau Chêne Homeowners Association collects a mandatory monthly fee from every property owner in the community. Separately, and under a different corporate roof entirely, a private company owns and operates the golf courses, the pool, the tennis courts, and the clubhouse. A third operator runs the marina. None of these three systems bills the same way, and only one of them is required.
What the HOA Fee Actually Pays For
The Beau Chêne Homeowners Association is explicit about what its dues cover: common-area upkeep, gated entries, street maintenance, and administration of the community itself. Membership in the association is not optional. According to the association's own summary of rules, no property owner is exempt, and dues are billed monthly with coupon books or automatic drafts available.
The current fee schedule posted on the association's site lists dues at $241.40 a month for a dwelling and $77.87 a month for an undeveloped lot. That figure pays for roads, security at the gates, and the landscaping you see on your way in. It does not touch a single hole of golf, a tennis court, or a slip in the marina.
The Golf Course Belongs to a Different Company
Beau Chêne Country Club is not part of the homeowners association. It is a privately owned and operated club, established in 1975 on 351 acres along the Tchefuncte River, and it belongs to a separate corporation, The Earnest Corporation, not to the neighborhood's governing board. The club's own FAQ page confirms this in plain language: golf, the pool complex, the fitness center, and the tennis and pickleball courts require a club membership application entirely apart from anything the homeowners association handles.
The club offers several membership categories, from an Eagle membership with full family access to golf, the clubhouse, tennis, and the pool, down to a Social membership that covers clubhouse and social access but not golf. A Birdie membership exists for members under 40, converting to standard rates once they age out. A Sports membership covers the clubhouse, tennis, and fitness center without golf. None of these numbers appear on the club's public site. What current and prospective members have described over the past several years puts initiation somewhere in the low thousands of dollars depending on category, with monthly dues running from around a hundred dollars for a social-only membership up to several hundred dollars a month for full golf access. Those figures move year to year and the club does not publish them, so anyone seriously comparing Beau Chêne against another Mandeville subdivision should call the club directly for the current schedule rather than budget off a number found online.
The distinction matters because a non-member does not get casual access. The club's own FAQ says a member's guest can play the course only a limited number of times a year, and a Social membership specifically does not include golf. Owning a home inside the gates does not open the fairways. Joining the club does.
A Third Bill, If You Want the Water
Marina Beau Chêne sits on the Tchefuncte River inside the community and runs as its own operation again, distinct from both the homeowners association and the country club. Boat slip rental is a separate agreement, priced and reserved through the marina itself. Some condo listings inside the Marina Beau Chêne section do bundle a specific slip with the unit, but that is a feature of that particular property, not a right that comes with living in Beau Chêne generally. If a boat is part of the plan, that is a third contract to negotiate, on top of the two above.
Here is the same structure laid out side by side:
| Layer | Who Runs It | What It Covers | Mandatory? |
|---|---|---|---|
| BCHOA dues | Beau Chêne Homeowners Association | Roads, gated entries, common-area landscaping, community administration | Yes, for every property owner |
| Country club membership | The Earnest Corporation, operating as Beau Chêne Country Club | Golf courses, pool complex, tennis and pickleball courts, fitness center, clubhouse | No, separate application and contract |
| Marina slip rental | Marina Beau Chêne | Boat slip rental, fuel access, dockside parking | No, separate rental agreement |
Three organizations, three price structures, one gated address.
The Mandatory Fee Itself Has Been Climbing
Even setting the club and the marina aside, the one bill every owner does pay has moved more than most people expect. An earlier version of the association's owner packet, dated 2014, listed dwelling dues at $165 a month. The association's January 2025 owner packet put that figure at $219.45. The rules summary currently posted on the association's own site lists it at $241.40. That is close to a 46 percent increase over about twelve years, with about ten percent of that increase landing in a relatively short stretch between the start of 2025 and the current schedule. None of that movement has anything to do with golf, tennis, or the marina. It is the price of the gate and the roads, and it has not been flat.
What This Means If You're Comparing Mandeville Neighborhoods
Mandeville's overall market has cooled in ways that make this kind of layered math more worth doing, not less. As of August 2026, Mandeville homes were listed at a median of roughly $409,000 and spent a median of about 99 days on the market, a noticeably slower pace than the roughly 65 days reported for the spring 2026 market a few months earlier. Slower markets give buyers more room to ask questions before writing an offer, and a slower market is exactly when a stacked cost structure like Beau Chêne's is worth unpacking line by line rather than accepting the headline HOA number at face value.
Compare that to walkable Old Mandeville or a newer custom subdivision without a private club attached. In those areas, the carrying cost picture is simpler: property taxes, insurance, and in some cases a smaller HOA fee that genuinely does cover most of what the fee is meant to cover. In Beau Chêne, the sticker price of community membership is only the first of three numbers. A buyer who wants the full lifestyle the marketing photos promise, the golf, the pool, the boat, should budget for all three before comparing what a Beau Chêne address costs against a comparable home elsewhere on the Northshore.
Before You Write an Offer in Beau Chêne
A few things worth confirming before you get attached to a listing:
- The current BCHOA dues schedule for the specific property type, dwelling versus lot, and whether any increase has been approved but not yet reflected in the posted number
- Whether the home includes any grandfathered marina slip or club privileges tied to the property itself rather than the buyer
- The country club's current initiation fee and monthly dues for the membership category you actually want, requested directly from the club
- Recent BCHOA financial statements and meeting minutes, to see reserve levels and any history of special assessments
- Marina slip availability and current rental rates if boat access matters to your decision
A Few Questions Worth Asking First
Does buying a home in Beau Chêne automatically include a country club membership? No. The club is a separate corporation with its own application, initiation fee, and monthly dues. The homeowners association fee does not cover it.
Can I use the golf course or pool without joining the club? Only in limited ways. The club's own FAQ allows non-golf members to play as a guest of a member a maximum of four times a year, and a Social membership specifically excludes golf access.
Does a waterfront-facing home come with a boat slip? Not automatically. Some condo units in the Marina Beau Chêne section bundle a specific slip, but that is a feature of that unit, not a standing right for every property in the community. Slip rental through Marina Beau Chêne is otherwise its own agreement.
Beau Chêne can still be the right fit for a buyer who wants the gate, the golf, and the water all in one place. It just isn't one purchase. It's three, and only one of them shows up on the listing sheet.
If you're weighing Beau Chêne against Old Mandeville, The Sanctuary, or another Northshore neighborhood and want the real math before you write an offer, Gina Constantino can walk you through what each community actually costs once every bill is on the table. Let's Connect.
