[GERALDINE]

[quote=az2fla ]
Hi Darbyduff,

Just spoke with a colleague who is moving to TV within the month (or so). Like you, he will be purchasing a new build from the developer. He had his Realtor, in fact Realtors, show him many resales. He checked out both VLS and MLS and determined that the resales were currently very overpriced due to the discounts being offered by the developer. Until those with houses to sell price them to market conditions, they will have strangers marching through their homes for quite a long time only to see the buyers doing what you did.....BUYING NEW.
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REGARDING THE ABOVE QUOTE: I have to jump in here and put in my 2 cents worth regarding resales. You talk about resales being OVERPRICED and emphasized that until the resellers get real they'll have a lot of strangers through their homes....On behalf of most of us who ARE those resellers, let me say that MOST of us have put a considerable amount of time, money and effort into improving our homes and lots from what the developers sells. We basically bought a "shell" and have had to bring it up to our personal standards at great time and expense. Do we want to recoup those expenses???? You betcha!!!! In NO way do I think the resales are all overpriced. I hope that all you people out there buying the "good deals" new from TV developers can see through all the hype and realize that you NEVER get "something for nothing"...ie: FREE furniture!!!! Consider the costs of putting in even DECENT landscaping instead of the cheap weedy crap that comes with the house, blinds on the windows, fans, painting all of the concrete (ALL concrete in TV is stained when you buy and gets worse over time...no warranty covers concrete), flooring & upgrading in your lanai (or you'll be overrun by bugs and geckos taking up residence there...and INSIDE your house when you leave the doors open), painting (white is sooooo blah and institutionalizing), upgrading all the flooring in the house to something that doesn't fall apart, re-caulking any area where water is (ie: all ceramic areas)....I think we're up to the $10K + now that we've put into our house since moving in. NOW...consider the BONDS on the new homes. I'll bet you dollars to donuts that any of you who have recently purchased a NEW home in TV or are about to are looking at a bond in the neighborhood of $28,000.00 !!!! Right???? The bond on homes built and sold in 2005 is in the neighborhood of $10,000.00 to $12,000.00. NOW we're up to about a $24,000.00 difference in price from new to 2 year old pre-owned AND that's NOT putting a price on the hassle of all the calls to Home Warranty and Contractors to come and do the work...and then come back and re-do the work...and then you call again and get a message that says, "...I'm sorry, the number you have dialed has been disconnected..." WHOA, surprise, surprise, the guy has gone out of business and all your expensive, long awaited for, new landscaping is dying. Oh well, back to the phone and checkbook???? No, I don't think so.

To ALL future Village Homeowners: THINK about ALL your options and ALL your expenses, BEFORE you buy new. Remember the ole "Caveat Emptor" or in plain English..."Buyer Beware".

I'm definitely NOT saying that The Villages is not a WONDERFUL place to live, because it is...I'm just saying that what all the Realtors and Ads say is true..."You are buying a LIFESTYLE". In order to provide you with all the amenities of that "Lifestyle" something has to give and that "something" is a quality home. Soooooo check out a previously owned home and buy peace of mind and your free time and quality upgrades from a previous homeowner who loved living here and who has already put in all the quality and upgrades that you're going to have to put in within the first few months plus, you won't have to put up with all the hassles of getting it done.

Are pre-owned homes overpriced????? No, I don't think so...in the whole scheme of things...THEY are the TRUE BARGAINS here. Consider that you're getting all the extra "owner installed quality & upgrades", and the fact that a lot of them even come furnished (free furniture?) AND with a golf cart (free golf cart?)...now THAT'S a BARGAIN!!!!!!!

AND...don't forget that in the case of "most" previously-owned homes...they are previously-LOVED homes. Some of us are selling because of reasons beyond our control...like ailing & dying family members (parents) up north that we have to go back to and take care of. We put the extra money and care into our homes thinking we were going to be "Frogs" (here till we croaked!!!) We're not out to make a $$ killing...those were the people who sold & moved OUT 2 years ago...we're just trying to recoup what we've spent (MINUS the sales commission even).

God Bless and Good Luck to all of you.