[GERALDINE]

Diskman:

No way do I think buying a re-sale is the only way. You're all right in saying that "many" of the re-sales are overpriced and not necessarily in any way upgraded. All I'm saying is that anyone considering buying and moving to The Villages, needs to compare "Apples to Apples". ie: Look at a new house in the style you want and then look at a preowned in the style you want. Now set down and make a list of what the pre-owned has that the new doesn't have and compare, compare, compare...add up prices of adding things to the new and again, compare, compare, compare.( Also....have your real estate agent give you a list of the true closing costs you will be paying on the new house. In a lot of instances ( 2 friends who purcased since the "free" furniture thing came out) there are a lot of "hidden and unexplained" (ie: Admin fees, look-up fees, etc.) "funny" charges that show up on the final closing docs that could be a way to make up for what the developer is giving away in "free" stuff.

FYI...also, I checked with Property of the Villages and they said they are NOT selling houses with no bond attached. They said ALL CDDs...of which there are many in the state of Florida...MUST disclose the amount of the bond on any property sold. NOW...here's the catch...IF it happens to be a house or property that for whatever reason is not selling and is, perhaps in an undesirable location or style (I'm NOT necessarily referring to TV or to the person in this forum who said they bought a Designer with no bond so don't send me nasty emails!!) the developer COULD opt to pay the bond off for the prospective purchaser. They said, bottom line is that EVERY house comes with a bond attached but anybody can pay it off.