Use TV sales people or a Realtor?

[rhart]

I would love to get opinions on which way to go.

[MikeV]

You don't mention if your buying or selling or if you want resale or new. If you are buying and want new you will have to use TV Sales. If you are buying resale you can use any Realtor. If you are selling then you can use whichever you like. I would use TV just because that is their focus.

[Boomer]

If you are buying pre-owned, use both. That keeps all your options open. We ended up buying through the MLS. We were in no hurry, actually not really knowing if we would buy or not, but an extremely professional MLS agent knew what I wanted and found it.

[rhart]

Looking to buy resale. Of course I would look at both but was curious if there was some advantage to one or the other.

[asianthree]

Looking to buy resale. Of course I would look at both but was curious if there was some advantage to one or the other.

The advantage is findin the right house. Both represent houses the other cant. We used a TV rep, but did look at houses with MLS. Just didn't have what we were looking for

[Boomer]

Looking to buy resale. Of course I would look at both but was curious if there was some advantage to one or the other.



Although I know there are many highly professional TV salespeople, be aware that there are some who will try to steer you strictly to the new houses.

I would not be saying this had I not personally heard it.

A few years back, a TV agent implied that I would not have any friends unless I bought new. :ohdear:

Another time, we were out and about one day and decided to stop by a brand new area. The sales guy on duty there actually said to me, "It would be so much better to buy this house instead of one of those overpriced pre-owned."

I did not engage in dialogue with him. We had just bought a lovely, well-maintained Gardenia with upgrades, in the middle part of TV. I knew the TV market pretty well and we were happy with our MLS deal that was fair to both buyer and seller. So I just smiled to myself and thought it was a highly unprofessional, condescending, and just plain stupid thing for him to say. I tend to read between the lines, and beyond, so I had to wonder if this guy had any pre-owned listings and if he was using those Open Houses to steer potential clients to new.

Like I said earlier, use both, but make sure you get a recommendation for a TV agent that sells lots of pre-owned homes and has the kind of numbers that mean they do not have to chase whatever internal reason there may be for steering potentials toward new.

There are posters on here who have bought and sold pre-owned through TV and can recommend someone who knows a sale is a sale and will be completely professional, as I imagine most of them are. I just happened to attract a couple of stinkers I guess. :)

[graciegirl]

The Villages sales people don't have to SELL you anything. We the people who live here are a marching army of selling tools.


There is no arm twisting and no need to finagle anybody. If you don't want the property, someone will and soon.


Both times we used Jim McLaughlin from The Villages to buy a new home, one was built, one we had built. We sold our home with no realtor and used McLin Burnsed to close. They handled everything perfectly and the buyers and us split the $700 fee.

[Jim 9922]

[QUOTE=Boomer;1159647]Although I know there are many highly professional TV salespeople, be aware that there are some who will try to steer you strictly to the new houses.-------QUOTE"

There is a reason that's the fourth question out of the mouth of almost all TV salespeople. 1. "What's your name?"; 2." Where are you from?"; 3. "Do you live here?"; 4. "Have you seen the new houses?", or "May I show you new houses?"

It is a far simpler sale with probably a much quicker commission. One or two neighborhood choices, the house is as is - take it or leave it, fixed price, no negotiation points, plain vanilla interiors, standard fixtures and appliances, no wild furnishings or decorating schemes to overcome, what you see is what you get, no inspections, immediate occupancy, individual seller personalities and wants are not a factor, houses are available for immediate inspection, the inventory is all in close proximity with minimal driving around, The Villages standard procedures and forms supporting you, the full bond is there for you to assume requiring no further explanation, and special spiffs from time to time to encourage new home sales.
In short it is generally easier to sell one "off the shelf" than an existing home in a neighborhood, both which have real personalities.

[goodtimesintv]

[QUOTE=Boomer;1159647]Although I know there are many highly professional TV salespeople, be aware that there are some who will try to steer you strictly to the new houses.-------QUOTE"

There is a reason that's the fourth question out of the mouth of almost all TV salespeople. 1. "What's your name?"; 2." Where are you from?"; 3. "Do you live here?"; 4. "Have you seen the new houses?", or "May I show you new houses?"

It is a far simpler sale with probably a much quicker commission. One or two neighborhood choices, the house is as is - take it or leave it, fixed price, no negotiation points, plain vanilla interiors, standard fixtures and appliances, no wild furnishings or decorating schemes to overcome, what you see is what you get, no inspections, immediate occupancy, individual seller personalities and wants are not a factor, houses are available for immediate inspection, the inventory is all in close proximity with minimal driving around, The Villages standard procedures and forms supporting you, the full bond is there for you to assume requiring no further explanation, and special spiffs from time to time to encourage new home sales.
In short it is generally easier to sell one "off the shelf" than an existing home in a neighborhood, both which have real personalities.

Far, far off-base. Literally hundreds of Lifestyle Preview Stay people are here for the first time and are not ready to buy. Probably 70% are not even close to being ready to buy.

Sellers of homes listed with TV would be exceedingly aggravated if the sales reps brought 10 preview stay people a day for showings, traipsing thru their homes they cleaned, exited and took their dogs out of, only to find out the shoppers don't know a Premier from a Ranch from a Patio Villa, and "Oh, by the way.....we won't be able to retire until 2019 and we'd have to sell our house of 30 years first". Sellers expect real buyers to come for showings, not dozens of people "just kicking tires".

They are shown new homes to familiarize preview stay people and those just browsing, with the varying floorpans and pricing levels. New homes are empty and a homeowner-seller is not being inconvenienced and led to believe these are people ready to buy.

[rhart]

Boomer's sales person must have had a room temp IQ or thought he did. Pretty shoddy techniques. Both Boomer and Jim make good points. Thank you
I like older over new. More for the dollar and vegetation is way better. Having taken a quick look at $/sq.ft prices of 50-70 or more homes on the market it seems that most FSBO's are priced 20-30% more than TV or realtor priced homes. Greed is good.
Next time in I'll speak with Gracie's guy.

[Boomer]

-------

There is a reason that's the fourth question out of the mouth of almost all TV salespeople. 1. "What's your name?"; 2." Where are you from?"; 3. "Do you live here?"; 4. "Have you seen the new houses?", or "May I show you new houses?"

It is a far simpler sale with probably a much quicker commission. One or two neighborhood choices, the house is as is - take it or leave it, fixed price, no negotiation points, plain vanilla interiors, standard fixtures and appliances, no wild furnishings or decorating schemes to overcome, what you see is what you get, no inspections, immediate occupancy, individual seller personalities and wants are not a factor, houses are available for immediate inspection, the inventory is all in close proximity with minimal driving around, The Villages standard procedures and forms supporting you, the full bond is there for you to assume requiring no further explanation, and special spiffs from time to time to encourage new home sales.
In short it is generally easier to sell one "off the shelf" than an existing home in a neighborhood, both which have real personalities.

Actually, Jim, I do understand all that you are saying here in response to my earlier post. And I truly have no problem at all with an agent saying, "May I show you new houses?" That is a perfectly professional question. (I kind of like that word may.)

I just did not like the insidious approach I heard -- trying to create doubt and/or insecurity, tearing down something else. Seemed so lazy and oily.

I am not ripping on TV agents in general. Most are fine I am sure. In fact, before we ended up finally buying through the MLS, I had found a TV agent I really liked. She had a ton of experience and did not get to where she is by being snide. Had she found what I wanted, we would have bought through her. In fact, I think she did ask us that "May I show you" question, but it was not even a blip on my radar because it was done professionally.

What you say here makes perfect sense. I understand completely. I know I tune in to nuance which can be kind of hard to explain sometimes. Maybe I can use this quote.......

.......from Maya Angelou who said, "I have learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."

Anyway, thanks for the dialogue. I think we are actually close to being on the same page.

PS: Just to clarify......the guy who was sliding around in his own oil-slick was not our agent. We just happened upon him on duty in an Open House. That was a couple of years ago.

[rhart]

[QUOTE=Jim 9922;1159671]

Far, far off-base. Literally hundreds of Lifestyle Preview Stay people are here for the first time and are not ready to buy. Probably 70% are not even close to being ready to buy.

Sellers of homes listed with TV would be exceedingly aggravated if the sales reps brought 10 preview stay people a day for showings, traipsing thru their homes they cleaned, exited and took their dogs out of, only to find out the shoppers don't know a Premier from a Ranch from a Patio Villa, and "Oh, by the way.....we won't be able to retire until 2019 and we'd have to sell our house of 30 years first". Sellers expect real buyers to come for showings, not dozens of people "just kicking tires".

They are shown new homes to familiarize preview stay people and those just browsing, with the varying floorpans and pricing levels. New homes are empty and a homeowner-seller is not being led to believe these are people ready to buy.

Excellent point. I was there last week and I told the sales person that I need to do more homework before putting anyone out esp. since I won't be buying til next year. Like every thing in life there are good and bad people. Sales of TV are no exception obviously.

[Barefoot]

Looking to buy resale. Of course I would look at both but was curious if there was some advantage to one or the other.
We bought two resale homes, one in 2007 (too small) and the second in 2010.
Both times The Villages salespeople showed us resales with no attempt to switch us to new.
Deb Parks is a very professional, excellent Villages sales rep.

[VApeople]

If you don't want the property, someone will and soon.

Based on what we see on Zillow.com, it looks like a lot of houses in The Villages are not selling well. We have seen quite a few that have been on the market for six months or more and have undergone multiple price reductions.

[OpusX1]

If you are looking at resale you need both agents. One to look at MLS listings, about 50 percent of the market and the Village Agent to see the other 50 percent. New properties are 100 percent Village Agents.

[CassieInVa]

The main thing to understand, and has already been mentioned above, is that you have to use or should use both a regular MLS Realtor and a Villages Realtor if looking for a resale home, because one cannot sell the other . So in order to see every resale home on the market, you have to work with two different Realtors.

[Barefoot]

Based on what we see on Zillow.com, it looks like a lot of houses in The Villages are not selling well. We have seen quite a few that have been on the market for six months or more and have undergone multiple price reductions.

With information on the internet available, Purchasers have become very knowledgeable.
Overpriced houses don't sell, or houses that are undesirable for other reasons.
Many purchasers find a noisy location or a house with smokers not to their liking.
Many sellers overprice their home, thinking the "right purchaser" will see the value. This leads to multiple price reductions.
Well priced houses that show well tend to sell quickly at this time of year.

[goodtimesintv]

Based on what we see on Zillow.com, it looks like a lot of houses in The Villages are not selling well. We have seen quite a few that have been on the market for six months or more and have undergone multiple price reductions.

Those are MLS listings and they were priced wrongly.

The Villages listings--priced accurately--are not shown on those MLS sites.

[Barefoot]

Those are MLS listings and they were priced wrongly. The Villages listings--priced accurately--are not shown on those MLS sites.

Good point. I agree that listings by Village agents are usually priced more accurately than MLS listings. IMHO.

[rubicon]

If I were selling my home it would not be through The Villages realtors whose first priority is to sell new and only secondly if the seller is selling so s/he could buy new in The Villages. In other words if you are selling to move out of town your listing is always going to go to the back of line with TV realtors . I'm sure they would deny it but what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas

[twoplanekid]

60% of the resale market and 100% of the new is controlled by the Villages sales staff. As such, anyone would be foolish not to work with then as well as independent sales agents. Our Village sales agent showed us both new and resale. On the face of things, the prices of new look much better then resale until you consider the bond, upgrades and other amenities added to a resale. However, we did purchase a new house.

And the following from page 43 of the SLCDD 9/10/2015 Agenda PDF


The information appearing herein regarding The Villages and the Developer has been furnished by the Developer.
..............

Historical annual home closings and historical annual average sales prices (home and lot) in The
Villages are as follows:

Year Homes Sold (Home and Lot) Average Sale Price
1986 511 *
1987 543 *
1988 517 *
1989 542 $ 74,000
1990 502 79,000
1991 430 81,000
1992 562 87,000
1993 567 93,000
1994 686 98,000
1995 700 106,000
1996 753 115,000
1997 1,054 119,000
1998 1,321 129,000
1999 1,544 139,000
2000 1,776 151,000
2001 2,074 156,000
2002 2,260 163,000
2003 3,329 168,000
2004 3,955 204,000
2005 4,263 232,000
2006 3,935 257,000
2007 2,403 251,000
2008 2,236 231,000
2009 2,115 229,000
2010 2,208 231,000
2011 2,307 241,000
2012 2,850 244,000
2013 3,419 271,000
2014 2,601 304,000
2015** 1,319 304,000

___________________________
* Not applicable.
**Seven months ending July 31, 2015.
The Developer employs six general contractors who subcontract all of the home construction of the single-family, site-built homes. The Developer also supervises outside engineering firms and contracts all of the development site work.

On average, the Developer believes that approximately five percent of the existing homes in The Villages resell in any given year. The resale of existing homesites are facilitated by a real estate brokerage firm affiliated with the Developer and other unaffiliated realtors and are not included in the above table. The Developer believes that this real estate brokerage firm has an approximately 60% market share. As of July 31, 2015, the real estate brokerage firm affiliated with the Developer had approximately 352 resale home listings.

[RickeyD]

60% of the resale market and 100% of the new is controlled by the Villages sales staff. As such, anyone would be foolish not to work with then as well as independent sales agents. Our Village sales agent showed us both new and resale. On the face of things, the prices of new look much better then resale until you consider the bond, upgrades and other amenities added to a resale. However, we did purchase a new house.



And the following from page 43 of the SLCDD 9/10/2015 Agenda PDF





The information appearing herein regarding The Villages and the Developer has been furnished by the Developer.

..............



Historical annual home closings and historical annual average sales prices (home and lot) in The

Villages are as follows:



Year Homes Sold (Home and Lot) Average Sale Price

1986 511 *

1987 543 *

1988 517 *

1989 542 $ 74,000

1990 502 79,000

1991 430 81,000

1992 562 87,000

1993 567 93,000

1994 686 98,000

1995 700 106,000

1996 753 115,000

1997 1,054 119,000

1998 1,321 129,000

1999 1,544 139,000

2000 1,776 151,000

2001 2,074 156,000

2002 2,260 163,000

2003 3,329 168,000

2004 3,955 204,000

2005 4,263 232,000

2006 3,935 257,000

2007 2,403 251,000

2008 2,236 231,000

2009 2,115 229,000

2010 2,208 231,000

2011 2,307 241,000

2012 2,850 244,000

2013 3,419 271,000

2014 2,601 304,000

2015** 1,319 304,000



___________________________

* Not applicable.

**Seven months ending July 31, 2015.

The Developer employs six general contractors who subcontract all of the home construction of the single-family, site-built homes. The Developer also supervises outside engineering firms and contracts all of the development site work.



On average, the Developer believes that approximately five percent of the existing homes in The Villages resell in any given year. The resale of existing homesites are facilitated by a real estate brokerage firm affiliated with the Developer and other unaffiliated realtors and are not included in the above table. The Developer believes that this real estate brokerage firm has an approximately 60% market share. As of July 31, 2015, the real estate brokerage firm affiliated with the Developer had approximately 352 resale home listings.


Whatever happened with the urban legend concerning the new Fruitland Park houses. The one that broadcasted the minimum house price would be 500K. It died without so much as a whimper. [emoji849]

[VApeople]

Good point. I agree that listings by Village agents are usually priced more accurately than MLS listings. IMHO.

We have also been looking at new homes for sale on Thevillages.com website, and many of them have had large price reductions. When we look at the houses on a map, most of them appear to be on undesirable lots.

My guess is that all of the new homes on good lots have already been sold and The Villages realtors have decided to cut the price on the remaining houses just to get them sold.

It is kind of like department stores having an after-Christmas sale.

[VApeople]

Many sellers overprice their home, thinking the "right purchaser" will see the value.

I think you are absolutely right.

When we look at resales on the computer, we see many houses where the owners have made 'improvements' that they must believe increase the value of their houses. For example, we saw one house that had been on the market for a year and had multiple realtors listing the house.

I bet the realtors have lots of frustrating stories to tell.

[rhart]

Good point. I agree that listings by Village agents are usually priced more accurately than MLS listings. IMHO.

...and as usual FSBO's are often overprice since they don't have an agent to talk sense into them

[goodtimesintv]

I'd leave behind the ways of looking for a home we all used in our past states/cities/towns.

There, we wanted a home in certain areas because of the school district, commute or no commute to work, neighborhood with lots of families sending kids to school on the bus, good shopping, property taxes, police effectiveness, low crime, etc.

We also wanted substantial square footage for the price because of raising a family and we all need some space to ourselves--like a nice big finished basement family room plus guest bedroom and bath.

Here, it's different. We wanted (and got) a place that is centrally located with access to all 3 town squares, great neighbors doing lots of socials, and a house that is 1/3 of the size we had for our family. But the house is "just right". Not too big, not too small, and we both have our own den/mancave/getaway rooms. We are gone a lot during the day and evening, so the house doesn't matter so much here.

Before, the house was important. Now, our location and neighbors are far more important. We all stick together and help each other out if the car needs to be in the mechanic shop; we're going away for a week or two or a few months; dog sitting each others' dog in its own home; loaning our golf cart or golf clubs to friends having guests; helping recently widowed or divorced people get back on their feet and socialized again.

Socialization is super important for both couples and singles who are moving away from "home" and network of relatives/friends in other states. Neighbors close by whom you know and can trust become very, very important to a happy, healthy life as we grow older.

With that, it becomes important to be with neighbors who are young enough to want to socialize, and healthy enough to help each other.

[manaboutown]

I would go both ways, so to speak; utilize both MLS Realtors and TV agents (who, as I understand it, are not Realtors). Based on my experiences in the past one never knows where and how the home one ultimately purchases will turn up.

I have heard that TV's agents are paid higher commissions for the sale of new homes. After all, any developer stays in business by selling its inventory. My personal experience with a TV agent reflects this belief. Therefore, if a person wishes to pursue looking at TV's resales I suggest he/she seek out a TV agent willing and able to show and sell resales. Check their track record for selling resales.

[baustgen]

The thing to keep in mind is that if you buy a new spec house from the villages there will be about $10000 in add on's that are not normally in spec houses. Stairs to attic, gutters all around, additional landscaping, power attic vent, window treatments, and inside painting. These are normally already done in used houses adding to the cost. And if the bond is paid your taxes will be considerably less.

[biker1]

Power attic vents (power ventilator through the roof) are not such a great idea - lots of links on the internet to studies. The rest of the things, for sure. Don't forget the obligatory epoxy garage coating ;-)

The thing to keep in mind is that if you buy a new spec house from the villages there will be about $10000 in add on's that are not normally in spec houses. Stairs to attic, gutters all around, additional landscaping, power attic vent, window treatments, and inside painting. These are normally already done in used houses adding to the cost. And if the bond is paid your taxes will be considerably less.

[HimandMe]

Keep all options open. mls By realtors, TV sales people and private sellers. A good buy on something you love could come from any of them. If you have a list of what upgrades cost to put in, that too will help but if the upgrades are ten to fiften years old, discount them accordingly and with new homes, remember the codes have changed so things have also been upgraded that come with a 2o15 house and so on. It takes some thinking but lists definitely help the process. Also remember resale value.
We bought new but only because we wanted a privacy wall and the bigger second bedroom the Lily offers to make a Decent tv room so that the television didnt dominate the home. It was the best deal with these at the time. Everyone has their own criteria.

[rhart]

Power attic vents (power ventilator through the roof) are not such a great idea - lots of links on the internet to studies. The rest of the things, for sure. Don't forget the obligatory epoxy garage coating ;-)

You made me look the subject up. Wow. I had no idea. Very interesting!

[2BNTV]

I personally preferred a MLS buyer's agent that looks out for the buyer's interest. Most people prefer to have both agents, VLS and MLS.

I used Linda Sears and John Mello, MLS agents, 352.205.0713. Very knowledgeable and thorough. They helped negotiate a fair price for the home I bought.

Don't forget that any home you would buy will need to be modified to your own taste. Make a list of "must haves" and "would like to have" for the home you are purchasing.

BTW - Most sellers thinks their home is worth what they are asking. All VLS agents try to get the seller to list their house at a fair price. All new homes don't have a negotiated price. It is what it is!