We specifically wanted a pre-owned home with a private back yard, either a pool or room to build one, little to no remaining bond balance, and under a certain price point. We used both a VIllages Real Estate Agent as well as a Liscenced Independent Realator, with access to the Multiple Listing Service. This allowed us to search ALL pre-owned homes on the market (except for sale by owners) that appeared to fit our criteria. Our search criteria resulted almost exclusively in homes north of 466, which was our preference anyways. We were careful to select a Villages Real Estate Agent that was previously a licensed real estate agent, so we knew we would be working with someone who had prior experience working for buyers as well as sellers (Villages Real Estate Agents do not work for buyers). We made it very clear to our Villages agent we were not interested in a new home and she never once tried to push us in that direction. We must have looked at 50 houses, about 30 Villages listings and about 20 Multiple Listings by independent Realators. During our home showings we insisted on walking around each home before wasting everyone’s time going through the house. We walked away from about half the showings after seeing that despite the back yard having enough room to build a pool, there would be little to no privacy.
We really liked both our agents, but were hoping to buy a home through the independent Licensed Agent, who represented us. At the end, the home we decided on was a Villages listing. Five years later we have no regrets with our choice. T & D built us an incredible pool/birdcage in our back yard that abuts a beautiful preserve with fantastic sunsets, we came in just under our budget after building a brand new pool, our home has no bond, and we love living right between LSL and Spanish Springs. Hope things work out for the OP as well as it did for us.
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