Move furniture, or leave in VA

[Boudicca]

shrandell
My husband and I will be visiting The Villages on the Lifetstyle plan in March. IF we decide to buy in The Villages, is it more usual to sell all our furniture with the house (we live in VA) and start over at TV's? It seems it would be expensive to move current items, which actually are not at all current! Advice?

[Mikitv]

It's a hard decision and some people just want to start over with all new stuff. I decided to bring some of my better pieces since the cost to replace them would be more money and I couldn't sell mine for what they are worth. So our move will include bringing some of the old and getting some new. While you are visiting the area visit the various furniture stores and that will help with your decision. Be careful drinking the water because it can cause you to buy and move to TV. We just did our second visit in December and our house will close in March. Good luck with you visit and decision. You will have a great time in The Villages.

[graciegirl]

We have completely outfitted our "first" house in TV and it is kind of beachy, cottagy, ...etc.

HOWEVER...The furniture could not blend with what we have in our Cincinnati house. Very traditional. I spend a lot of time mentally decorating a house with some of this furniture. We couldn't bring all of it. How can I make it fit and have a little tropical flair when we move down full time?

It is the kind of problem I enjoy, I admit.:mornincoffee:

[RVRoadie]

When you are here, spend a couple of hours at Southern Lifestyles (villages furniture store at Sumter Landing). Prices are pretty reasonable, and you can get an idea of which way you should go.

When we sold our last house I made an inventory of all the good stuff we wanted to sell with the house. I put pretty reasonable prices on each item. Then I gave it to the buyers and told them that if they buy 50% of the stuff they could take off 10%, 75% get 20% off and 100% get 30% off. They thought about it for several days, making various lists of what they wanted. In the end, they just took everything.

[SteveFromNY]

We didn't even give this much thought. Some pieces were coming, some weren't worth it. For instance, dining room set was old and very traditional. Not something we wanted in a Florida home. We ultimately donated it, along with a chair and a desk, to our church. We sold a large sectional and a television to my nephew at a very reasonable price. We gave away some stuff, threw out more, and brought 1 larg POD full of stuff.

[BeeGee]

but it was difficult, ended up selling/donating/giving some items when we got to the new place, wished I had just started over or, at least culled a few more items. This time when we move to TV (and it can't be too soon for me) we plan on "getting rid of most everything" - liked the idea of offering buyer of house an option on items. We've also got some things specifically that we want our daughter to have - plan on leaving some of the things she particularly likes to her anyway. But we'll do that before we move, she'll get to enjoy them longer and we'll be free to decorate our new home in TV as we like. And it's been true for us in our moves that the furniture in the old house doesn't always "fit" the new - I don't want to go tropical crazy in Florida, but the whole Florida feeling is much lighter, casual and our dark heavy furniture, although we love it here, just won't fit. That's just our opinion and it may not work for all. Hope you make the right decision for you. And congrats....we'll be joining soon!!! :a040::a040:

[Pturner]

Hi Shrandell,

No need to worry about what's typical. It varies. If you look at fully furnished pre-owned homes in TV, you can get some ideas of what works well from "back home", and what might not.

If you're already mentally moving here,-- (i.e., "IF we decide to buy...")--wait 'til you get here! You might as well start packing your bags. I love it! :wave:

[gary42651]

We picked out our house on line and had settlement thru the mail, bought all new furniture on line. Arrived in the Villages around 11 am and saw our house for the first time, the furniture store arrived at 12 noon and the house was completed from top to bottom by 4pm. I could not believe how well things worked out. I bought my new golf cart over the phone and it was delivered around 2pm the same day, and by 6 we where eating dinner and Katie Bells. The easiest move I ever had.

[784caroline]

More Important where in the h_ll is Goochland County Va....Gotta be down by Roanoke or Lynchburg. We are from N Va......... country no one knows about. So please give us some geography.

We came to TV with the furniture pieces we liked...and no one can take home away from you wherever you are from. The new stuff is fine and we have alot of it...but it is the "stuff" that brings back memories that is worth the most.

You will enjoy TV beyond belief!!

[golfnut]

we brought no furniture from up north, sold the house basically turn key (used it as a bargaining tool to get our price) used furniture is really not worth that much in the grand scheme of things. like others have said we went with the florida light and bright theme down here and are very happy with our decision, makes it seem like a whole new life (which it is)....gn

[bkcunningham1]

FYI, Goochland County, Va., is located between Richmond and Charlottsville on the James River. It was founded in 1728. This is being posted by a Tazewell County born Virginian. Tazewell County was founded in 1799 and is within an hour's drive of the states of West Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky and North Carolina.

We just closed on a house in TV Jan. 6. We are going to be part-timers. Furniture will be brought from home (currently in NC) and bought in TV.

[JMarkle]

We had to follow a paycheck to another town (two hours away) in NC. We called a mover to get an estimate and found it would be cheaper to buy new, so we hired an auctioneer and sold everything that wasn't nailed down. Of course, we kept the items that meant a lot to us. Then we drove the check over to our new destination (so much easier to unpack).

That was two years ago and within the next two years, we hope to make TV our final destination. I expect that we'll do like another poster and make a list of furniture, etc and offer to the next buyer at a price they can't refuse.

[Talk Host]

We had to follow a paycheck to another town (two hours away) in NC. We called a mover to get an estimate and found it would be cheaper to buy new, so we hired an auctioneer and sold everything that wasn't nailed down. Of course, we kept the items that meant a lot to us. Then we drove the check over to our new destination (so much easier to unpack).

That was two years ago and within the next two years, we hope to make TV our final destination. I expect that we'll do like another poster and make a list of furniture, etc and offer to the next buyer at a price they can't refuse.

We did the same thing when we moved to The Villages. Problem is, as with all auctions, you see $200,000 worth of sell for $12,000.

[champion6]

We picked out our house on line and had settlement thru the mail, bought all new furniture on line. Arrived in the Villages around 11 am and saw our house for the first time, the furniture store arrived at 12 noon and the house was completed from top to bottom by 4pm. I could not believe how well things worked out. I bought my new golf cart over the phone and it was delivered around 2pm the same day, and by 6 we where eating dinner and Katie Bells. The easiest move I ever had.OMG! You are my hero. I wanna grow up to be just like you. That's an incredible story. I hope our move will go just as smoothly.
:pepper2:

[JMarkle]

We did the same thing when we moved to The Villages. Problem is, as with all auctions, you see $200,000 worth of sell for $12,000.

Some things sold for less than we hoped, many sold for more than we expected. It was all good. In the end, it was still more economically feasible than paying a moving company too much. :thumbup:

[graciegirl]

They offer interior design courses at the LifelongLearningCollege on how to "Islandize" your home using traditional furniture.

When we bought our Camellia last year, it was fun to use a lot of white furniture along with medium maples and shoreline colors on the wall to produce a sweet vacation getaway.

But...I think eventually we will sell it furnished and bring down some of our traditional stuff. You can make it look lovely. I have two friends in Bonita who have done just that.

I WISH there was just a decorating forum. I love seeing how each home is made the owners own given that the interiors are pretty similar. I like to hear who found what, where, and how they added it to their "look". Bargains and Treasures is a lot of fun to shop.

[wlou]

Hey There Goochland neighbor!,
My hubby and I bought in TV in 2007 but currently live in Mechanicsville VA ! We are putting the VA house on the market this year and we plan to move nothing but our clothes! Having a big "estate sale" when we get the Va house sold, ..
FYI>...We currently have our Village home in the Property Mgmt program there in TV. They keep it rented Dec, Feb and March, so we had to have it fully furnished to keep it in the rental program...

[faithfulfrank]

When we bought our Florida home 3 years ago, it was empty. I had 3 weeks to buy everything it needed, furniture, dishes, kitchen stuff, vacuum cleaner, toilet plunger, TV's, golf cart, garage stuff, towels, all this bedding stuff I never even heard of, (like duvets, dustrufflesomethings, sheets, blankets, pillows, my God it seemed way more complicated then I thought), lamps, pictures, art, fake plantstuff, dustcatcher nicknacs, etc, .....everything.

The payback is now when we move there, only a very few pieces of furniture, only one or two items my wife wants will come down there. Most furniture does not "fit" the new lifestyle.

Many of my tools, (that the kids don't try to take), my laptop, a few pictures, and my wife.........(not in that order) is all that will come down with us. Just one small ABF Relocube delivered. I'll just drive down in the Prius and that's it.

The 4 wheel drive Jeep and the snowblower are staying up here.

Frank

[rshoffer]

here's my opinion: I would only bring those items that have a high emotional value. Moving furniture is pretty expensive and the homes here are quite unique. The many local furniture stores have a well stocked inventory of pieces that look great in these style homes.

[Don H]

We're planning on leaving about 60 percent of the furniture in New York while taking only necessary desks and such. During our LSV we dropped in on the furniture store at Lake Sumpter Landing and liked the light style. We didn't have time to visit other furniture stores in the area. I think the temptation is to "start over". :)

[SteveBressi]

I bought a courtyard Villa last year and plan to move to the Villages next year. Because I am renting it, I had to completely furnish and equip the home. If you decide to buy, I found good quality and good prices at the Southern Lifestyles in Sumpter Landing. Also, I found some good pieces at Babbett's in Leesburg. Actually, had I gone to Babett's first - I would have bought quite a bit more there.

I will get rid of most of my furniture and hiusehold items in Virginia. However, there are a few pieces that I like allot and have saved room for at the Villages. The question is that I am not sure whether it will be cost effective to hire movers for just a few pieces of furniture. I understand your question quite well.