Quote:
Originally Posted by MplsPete
Okay, let’s get some of the preliminaries out of the way. I did a Lifestyle visit, about 3-4 days, a year ago, in Newell. I spent July in an Airbnb in the northern village of Alhambra. I don’t want to move until I start my Social Security, so sometime after February. Although my wife was smitten with the idea of a new home, the LONG drive down to Eastport made her less eager, and I don’t want the big bonds of the new houses (I know, many say bonds don’t matter for various reasons, but I don’t want a new house bond.)
Maybe I should clarify my original question now:
How do you go about buying a (preowned) home in a community 1500 miles away from where you live?
Thanks to all who share their experiences.
|
Here's how we did it - some background first:
Our northern home was on the market, had gotten an offer, and that fell through 20 days before closing. So we had to put it back on the market, and it sat there for several months. we were running out of money to pay the mortgage while still being able to afford to move, but could get a loan from a relative to cover some of the cost of a new house here in The Villages. Finally, we did have a buyer, and we were down to the wire. If it didn't close, we'd be homeless and unable to afford a new home.
So while still living up north, we got in touch with the Villages Sales rep who had shown us around during our Lifestyle visit. We directed him to just a couple of properties we saw on the Villages website, because we were running out of time. I told the rep why I liked one of them - location, surroundings, proximity to "stuff to do and retail and medical", some features of the house itself. He went to it and called me up and said "I'm standing in your new home."
I flew down a few days later to see it first-hand, carrying a blank check "just in case." I put a deposit on it right away, called hubby, told him we have a home, pending inspection. The inspection part was built into the contract.
The rep handled everything for us. Turns out the home had just BEEN inspected because the homeowners were in a similar situation as us - they had a buyer, and the buyer backed out shortly before closing. So it'd been inspected around 3 weeks prior to me showing up with a downpayment. We accepted that inspection but would still need our own "just in case."
The rep kindly gave us his address for us to send a package (for ourselves) down there, so it'd be there for our new house that day. He was at the closing, even though he wasn't going to make any commission since he wasn't the listing agent. He gave us a gift of a super-sturdy thermal grocery bag too, with towels and Tervis tumblers and free hanging house sign gift certificate from one of the sign companies that serves the area.
Hubby and I each drove back down here separately, with furniture and suitcases and some boxes of dishes and utensils and a laptop. Stayed at a hotel for a day before the closing, stayed at the house the next night. The rep helped make sure we had electricity and water switched to our name so there was no interruption of service. I was able to get internet hooked up the day of closing.
Hubby returned to the northern house and I stayed in The Villages, so he could deal with the closing up there and gather the rest of the stuff to bring down. Some people buy sight unseen. I recommend not doing that. You'll end up disappointed almost every time.
The rep was amazing. He's retired now, otherwise I'd give you his name.