Quote:
Originally Posted by Joe V.
Ditch the sales agent on your visit. Explore on your own and talk with people.
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You must of had an awful sales agent. Usually they're not pushy, I believe most successful Villages agents are not like that. I came on a 7 day lifestyle in 2011 and my salesman was Tony Trussler. A British fellow who came to America in the late 70s and if you did a search, he has a lot of recommendations on this website. He is still working although he is close to retirement.
We had spoke with Tony on the phone while still up north before our LSV. We arrived, went to the sales office, they took us to our cottage for our 7 day stay. Showed us the unit, told us the Villages Sun would be in the driveway in the morning. There is a golf cart and 2 bicycles in the garage for our use.
Tony called the next day and said, would like to see any homes. I said yes, CYVs and cottages. He took us in his car and we looked at one CYV community and walked through several units that were for sale. Then went to another village five minutes away and went several cottages. We didn't discuss any contracts, purchases, down payments, deposits, nothing to do with buying. That was it, we were done, and he wasn't pushy at all. He told me he had arranged for a round of golf at Cane Garden and an executive tee time at Heron and how to get to the courses from were we were staying at LSL.
Two days later I decided I wanted to see patio villas, so I called Tony. He took the next day and we looked at both styles of patio villas at that time, took about 30 minutes. Once again we parted ways.
When our seven days were up, we checked out and left. We were so close to the square, we went to the square every night and listened to the bands, ate at restaurants, saw one movie, and drove the golf cart around some and talked to people on our own.
We went back north and listed our home for sale 3 weeks later. We sold the home in 18 hours. I called Tony and told him we had contract with money guaranteed by their employer and I wanted to buy a patio villa in Buttonwood for $140K, and gave him the address. He said we have some masonry CYVs in a community you haven't seen.
All the masonry CVYs villas that you looked at in Amberjack Villas have sold, we have only 2 units left in the next community and we have a 2 BR masonry CYV that has been discounted twice and is only $17,000 more than the patio villa. He said the next villa community has already started selling and that model with the discounts on this villa, the next units will be $25,000 more. He said there is no photos on the website, but I will drive over tonight and take pictures and email them to you, which he did. I said, I want to hold that unit. He said, give a credit card and I will put $2,500 on it, and we hold it for 15 days.
Thanks to Tony, I upgraded from a patio villa to a masonry CYV in a great location 3-1/2 miles from LSL and 3-1/2 from Brownwood and for a bargain price.
You can ditch your salesman and learn half of what you need to know on your own or you can be serious about buying a home and get the inside scoop.