[eweissenbach]

Originally Posted by Advogado

In my view, Lauren Ritchie performs a valuable service for Villagers since she reports on stories, like the IRS investigation, that the Daily Sun either buries or distorts. The problem is that, while her articles tend to get the basic facts right, the articles sometimes misinterpret those facts.

For example, in this article:

Ritchie criticism: The price of the Villages homes does not include the use of amenities and the cost of infrastructure. Therefore, Villagers are paying twice for those when they pay their amenity fees and the bond amortization/interest charges.

Legitimate criticism: True, the price of the new houses does not include the infrastructure costs or use of amenities. However, mathematically, we clearly are not paying twice for those, and Ms. Ritchie is flat out wrong on this point. The legitimate criticism in this regard is the lack of disclosure by the Developer.

Nobody reasonably expects that the price of a home anywhere is going to include the free use of neighborhood amenities, and Ms. Ritchie is being disingenuous when she implies otherwise. However, the Developer does not, in his advertising, disclose the existence of the infrastructure bonds, which are unique to The Villages, amount to about 10% of the price of the new homes, are a lien on the property, and an obligation of the buyer. No other business could get away with understating the real price of its merchandise by 10%.

In fact, some buyers of new Villages homes apparently don't find out about the bonds until they have already contracted to buy a new home. In addition to those buyers, such unethical advertising also prejudices both (a) the Villagers who are trying to sell their pre-owned homes in competition with the new homes and (b) the independent realtors who represent those Villagers. In fact, it is surprising to me that the realtors haven't lodged a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission.

I am in agreement with all of this.