What were the upgrades originally offered for new homes and the cost?

[Hyacinth Bucket]

Hi,

As I look at the homes listed for sale many of them state that some of the items were upgrades and others do not.

If you know of any of the upgrades that were originally offered by TV and the cost, I would appreciate knowing.

Thanks.

Hyacinth Bucket

[JohnN]

Upgrades can also be done after the fact, don't forget,
but this is an interesting question. I think it's been a couple/few years since customization and upgrades were offered. A lot of it would be flooring, counters, and maybe a finished lanai, I'd think

[villager99]

when i had my patio villa built in 99, sprinkler systems and lania's (even just screened) were upgrades. as were changes to basic appliances, carpets lights etc. without doing anything i considered "special" my home price increased from a start of 67 to an end of 75 thousand.

[jtdraig]

We were one of the last to be able to "customize" our house. We were able to stretch the house, lanai, garage. We upgraded the kitchen to granite and really good cabinets. We upgraded our tile, carpet, etc. I think the bill for the customization work was around $55,000. but it was well worth it. They used to have something called "The Street of Dreams" where you quickly found that virtually everything needed to be upgraded from "Developer Chic" to something more acceptable. I renamed it "The Street without Joy".

I personally think the Developer made a mistake by stopping the customization program. I know that many are fine with the sales programs of today but there are many who would prefer to be able to customize their house as it's being built

[llaran]

I think i have the original list of standard items included in the ranch and designer homes. leave a message if you want then and i can email then to you.

[jjdees]

I'd be interested in seeing the list.

[Hyacinth Bucket]

Hi llaran,

I would like a list also. It will make it easier to compare houses.

Appreciate your offer to send this out.

Hyacinth Bucket

[travelstiles]

In the current real estate environment, I would think that TV would be happy to accomodate buyers who want some custom features (granite countertops, ceramic tile, etc.). As we have not purchased yet but plan to within a few months, do any current residents have info on this possibility?
Thanks!

[zcaveman]

We bought in 2001 and the best part of buying a new house was the "shopping" process. We had a few days between the looks good down payment and the actual commitment to look at the layout and decide on TV and Telephone outlets, etc. I even cut out little furniture layouts based on the scale to decide on room settings.

We spent two days going over the upgrades for the interior and exterior of the house. After day one (interior) we went back to our Villa and went over the list of what we added and either added new items or took away items. We then went back and made the changes prior to the day two shopping. On day two (exterior) we did the same thing. On day three we had a chance to meet with both the interior and exterior associate and finalize our house. Then we signed. After that there was a charge for additions or deletions. With the exception of two or three items we are very satisfied with the house we put together.

It is unfortunate that the Villages got rid of this process.

[Hyacinth Bucket]

ZCAVEMAN - do you have a list of what the options were? I have one from 1995 and found it extremely helpful, it was one page. It stated what the house came with and then gave a list of what the extras are you could get.

Items that I had thought were "extras" were part of the standard features of the house.

Hope you have this.

Thanks.

Hyacinth Bucket

[zcaveman]

I have it and it is 58 pages long. It is called the Amarillo Wish book so it might not apply to your house style.