We want to buy this summer and move in the fall.

[jrdonn]

Hi,
I am new to the forum. We are from the Cleveland area and would like to buy a place before I retire in October this year (2014). My mom and dad have lived there for about 14 years. We are so very impressed every time we visit that we would like to make TV our new full time home.
I bought the eBook "Do not even think of moving to the villages without reading this first". The eBook have some very good tips and considerations.
I would like any advice from those who have been there and done it.
I have a home in Amherst Ohio that is paid for, my original plan was to sell our home then put our belongings in storage and look for, and buy a new home.
I am thinking I want to have a place to move into in the fall when I retire. I would like to come down this July buy a new or pre-owned home and take out a mortgage and when our home sells we can pay off most of the new mortgage.
I am changing my original plan for these reasons. We will have an address to send our furniture and belonging to and won't have to put things in storage then have to have it all moved again. If our home does not sell by winter, by the way this has been the most brutal winter I can remember and I don't want to be here for another miserable winter.
If I wait to buy after our current home is sold I would probably save some money on a larger mortgage that I can almost pay off with the proceeds. Also if our current home does not sell by next fall/winter we have a place to live next winter.
What pros and cons do you have for waiting to buy in TV until our current home is sold or should I buy this summer and move in the fall whether or not our old home is sold. I can afford a mortgage on the new home until the old one sells. I figure I will have to have to carry a small mortgage after the old home sells.

[Moderator]

Bump for OP/new member... This thread was stuck in moderation status for four hours.

I'm sure you folks have lots of wisdom to share....

[tippyclubb]

We bought a new patio villa in September and will not be moving down until September 2014. Our house sits empty for a year but we bought because the prices are rising so quickly. It was a good decision because when I look at the TV website homes for sale prices have increased by 20-30 grand for patio villas and most of those are pre owned villas.

[gomoho]

Don't forget - if you are getting a mortgage you have to substantiate an income to support that mortgage. Doesn't matter how much you have in assets you must have regular income i.e. social security or a pension that can qualify you. Some folks buy before they retire so they can qualify for the mortgage with their current working income knowing they have enough in the bank to pay off the mortgage if they wanted to.

[baustgen]

Watch out for cost of storage. We did as you planned and the move cost $5000 and the two month storage cost $4000. I would say buy as soon as possible, prices are going up and move down. $4000 will cover a lot of carrying costs on the home up North

[Birdie Dreamer]

Moved here in August 2013. Stored all the furnishings for a 3/2 2000 square foot home here in The Villages for $285 per month. Check around and storage may not be too high.

[Rickg]

We bought two years ahead of retirement. It gives us a place to go and when we sell up north we don't have to rent. Just move we erythema to TV.

[DougR]

I am also from the Cleveland, Ohio area but I have several more years of my career to finish before reaching retirement. I too plan to sell my home here and I will also sell or give away most of my belongings. They are nice items and are quality "northern" furnishings. The style and colors are not Floridian. I have read several posts here suggesting that you should save yourself the cost of moving and storage of your northern furnishings, because when you get to TV, it will not look right or feel right. Many posts suggest that purchasing "Florida-type" furniture and furnishings is often what people end up doing anyway. Eventually, I plan on having some type of estate sale, home auction, or complete open-house where everything must go...including my house. Of course, there will always be a few items to pack and take with me to my new life in TV, but it will be limited. Good Luck to you!!

[jrdonn]

Wow, some great information. Thank you all!

[patfla06]

We ended up buying and still haven't sold.
Would do it all over again.
We have been moving stuff since and it's really helped make
our current house look good.
We, too, did NOT want to move to storage and then move again.
The price of our T.V. house has gone up A LOT and we are really
glad we bought!

[Olyrain]

Hi,
I am new to the forum. We are from the Cleveland area and would like to buy a place before I retire in October this year (2014). My mom and dad have lived there for about 14 years. We are so very impressed every time we visit that we would like to make TV our new full time home.
I bought the eBook "Do not even think of moving to the villages without reading this first". The eBook have some very good tips and considerations.
I would like any advice from those who have been there and done it.
I have a home in Amherst Ohio that is paid for, my original plan was to sell our home then put our belongings in storage and look for, and buy a new home.
I am thinking I want to have a place to move into in the fall when I retire. I would like to come down this July buy a new or pre-owned home and take out a mortgage and when our home sells we can pay off most of the new mortgage.
I am changing my original plan for these reasons. We will have an address to send our furniture and belonging to and won't have to put things in storage then have to have it all moved again. If our home does not sell by winter, by the way this has been the most brutal winter I can remember and I don't want to be here for another miserable winter.
If I wait to buy after our current home is sold I would probably save some money on a larger mortgage that I can almost pay off with the proceeds. Also if our current home does not sell by next fall/winter we have a place to live next winter.
What pros and cons do you have for waiting to buy in TV until our current home is sold or should I buy this summer and move in the fall whether or not our old home is sold. I can afford a mortgage on the new home until the old one sells. I figure I will have to have to carry a small mortgage after the old home sells.

Consider starting your downsizing now, with garage/estate sales, donations,consignment, Craig's List is terrific etc. Really be tough and keep only the things that make your heart sing or you use all the time. Get a great SELLING R.E. agent now to guide you on what to keep to stage your house for the fastest sale. Less is better when selling and you may need space to bring in some really great staging items. Everyone has brought too much that just doesn't fit or isn't needed to theTV, because it was easier to pack then make a hard decision.
There are terrific resale and consignment stores down here for high quality furniture and decor. I furnished my entire 3 bedroom home from scratch with Craig's List furniture. It was so much fun. The decor is new to us and we saved a lot by not shipping our things cross country. I have a super resonable moving guy who picked up things for me in Tampa, Orlando and Odessa. Let me know if you need his contact information.
Good Luck you will get through this, just bite off a chunck each day. Cheers

[2BNTV]

I would ask a real esate agent for info, on how quickly your old home would sell in today's markt. I would tend to think in a short period of time, as real estate is picking up. Real estate prices have gone up quite a bit in the last six months in TV.

I personally, would only want to move once. It will be much easier for you in terms of wear and tear. Decluttering on what to bring is a difficult task, so once would be enough for me.

I' sure you can get a new home, or pre-owned but fairley new, in a location your desire.

[asianthree]

We bought our home in tv and will slowly bring things down..gives me time to throw lots of stuff away

[jblum315]

After selling my home in New York I rented there for 4 years. Decided to buy a home in TV after a visit to my in -laws. I did lots of online research, came back and picked a home in August, found a mover who would store my belongings locally until I closed in October and that was pretty much it. Easy-peasy.
Prices for new homes are going up weekly and the selection of pre-owneds is diminishing.
Don't wait!

[indianavette]

We are right in the middle of that issue. Not wanting two mortgages (of any size), we sold our Indiana home in December and moved into a smaller rental. We are using the extra bedrooms for storage and that is working out well. We close on 2/25 and will move a lot of the household down in March. I am working until the end of April so my wife will come down in March for 3 or 4 weeks.
What a winter, -7 degrees right now...

[elizabeth52]

We have been struggling with the exact same issue. What is holding me back is having to maintain both homes if the current home does not sell quickly. I have spoken to so many people whose homes have not sold and that is scary to me. If you can comfortably maintain both, than this would not apply to you. It is a good idea to speak with a real estate agent to gauge the market in your area. Good luck!

[LI SNOWBIRD]

We bought two years ahead of retirement. It gives us a place to go and when we sell up north we don't have to rent. Just move we erythema to TV.

We also bought ahead of retirement and used the house as a vacation home while we were snowflakes. We graduated to snowbirds after retirement and loving it.

[alemorkam]

Well welcome to the Villages. Definitely the place to be. If you wanna look at some resales listed by MLS agents take a look at this website. We used it and it is great and easy to use. focusonthevillages.com

[TrudyM]

I am in a similar boat. (not quite on board yet hubby can't decide if he wants to be here) But some people when at sea over this issue were in yachts and some were in rowboats. The qualifying for a loan while still working would be a deciding factor for me. Make sure the loan you take out in Florida does not have a prepayment penalty, they are I believe legal in some states and not others. We have a huge loan on our house in the Pacific Northwest but when sold will have enough equity to buy here without one as the houses in metro areas tend to be pricey even compared to the villages. We are already retired and could not I think get a second loan now with only retirement income as they look at monthly income much more than your debt to equity ratio.
We plan on putting our stuff that we can't do without (lots of art stuff and collections) in a Pod as we de-clutter the house to ready it for sale. We will then decide what of the furniture to sell or keep when the house sells. We will probably do a rental here for six months.
My further concern is as the prices have risen so much in the last six months is it a bubble and will they level a bit later. I can't figure it out.

[TrudyM]

Just looked it up Florida passed a law not allowing prepayment penalties.
Under section 494.00791 of the Florida Fair Lending Act, pre-payment penalties on mortgages are no longer allowed. There are a few exceptions to the rule. If the buyer of the home finds a cheaper option that comes without a prepayment fee then the lender may charge the fee only in the first 36 months of the loan agreement. The borrower also has to be given a written disclosure of all benefits they have received to justify the prepayment fee. This written disclosure must be given at least three days prior to the loan beginning.

Read more: Florida Anti-Predatory Lending Laws | eHow (http://www.ehow.com/list_6885331_florida-anti_predatory-lending-laws.html#ixzz2t2L17j6Y)

[jrdonn]

Thank you everyone, I truly apprieciate all the great information!

[Bizdoc]

Be sure to read some of the old threads about how much stuff to move down. The 4000 pounds of old stuff that you've been planning to look thru once you retire will stay in the boxes while they keep your garage stuffed full. We retired and moved to our weekend house in WV. 4 years later as we prepared to move down here, I threw out 6 pickup truck loads of stuff that had been sitting in boxes which I was going to look thru once I retired... (and never quite got around to)

We bought on a trip where we had no plans to buy (yeah, I know... lots of folks do the same thing). We went back up to WV and told people that we were moving and would be selling our property there - ended up selling the house and 3 of the other parcels before we closed 3 weeks later. Other parcel sold a few weeks after we moved our furniture down. And everyone told us how nothing was selling in our part of WV.

Advice on selling your home - (1) tell your friends first that you are going to sell it. You'll be amazed at how fast word goes around. (2) Be realistic in your price - setting the price at what it is worth, not what you wish you could get. (3) Once you bring in a realtor, be very direct in telling them to price it to sell, not price it to impress you into signing with them. The only thing that matters is that it gets sold.

Good luck. You'll love it here.

[Sanbo]

I would suggest that you buy as soon as possible. The homes have gone up in price since we bought May 2013, and the prices seem to be gradually increasing on a steady basis.

[ukbill70]

We bought a pre-owned home in July of 2012 but didn't move until The end of August 2013.

The housing market was in a slump in Northern Illinois with several foreclosed and short sale homes in our area so we decided to wait before putting it on the market. At the end of June 2013 the housing market seemed to pick up so we put ours up for sale. It sold in one day to the first couple to look at it During the time our home in The Villages was empty we had 'Home Watch' check on it and also contracted for grass cutting,bush trimming, weeding etc. Prices here in TV are rising so Buy now and move later would be my advice. PS we had a mortgage which we paid off when our Illinois house sold.

[jrdonn]

Thank you, good information.

[CraigAC]

We bought about 18 months ago and probably won't retire for at least another year. Best investment we've made. The base price of our home has skyrocketed.

For now, we just use our home as a vacation home and try to get down there about once a quarter. We have a great homewatch company looking after the place while we're away. If you decide to purchase before you can be here full time, call the Village Sitter to discuss what she can provide you in the way of watching your new home while you're away.

Good luck.

[jrdonn]

I would like to see what an outside realtor can show us before I have TV realtor show us the new and preowned homes. Can any recommend an outside realtor? We are tentatively planning to shop for homes the 2nd or 3rd week of March.

[BigB46]

Keep in mind that a new home in a new area gives you more opportunity to create a homogeneous group of friends. You are all in the same boat. Buying into an established area with a pre-owned can be a little more difficult in establishing a good group of pals. I recommend Bonnie Berman in sales at The Villages. She knows the territory. If you must check with an outside agent, get in touch with Paul Carraway with RE/MAX Premier Realty. His number is 352-978-3171. Email is paulcarraway@remax.net. Tell him what you are looking for in detail and he will send you homes to review as an email attachment. Let him know I referred you. Good luck! You are doing the right thing.
Bruce Gintoft

[NJSonja]

We bought our house in June of 2012. We won't be ready to retire full time until 2017. Great investment. It has gone up considerably. We rent it out when we can. I can't wait to live there full time! What am i going to do with my house up here? My son is going to take over the mortgage. Woohoo! That's the plan, at least, and you know what they say about plans!

[KWalters]

We have a 2013, fully furnished, professionally decorated, 2bd/2bth patio villa for sale if you are interested…. pics & info can be sent, thanks.