Villages of Parkwood

[NIXPIX]

Can anyone (especially those with kids) give me any information on this community, other than what I already know - kid friendly, close to all etc. Is the builder reliable, are the people friendly etc. thanks

[784caroline]

The houses offer alot for the money especially the new single level 4 bedroom. However you will pay 2 amenity fees ($100) since that house sits on 2 lots. The New Rec Center looks great BUT have they opened it yet. They advertise it as open but in my drive throughs I have never seen anyone in the pool or the center itself other than people expecting to buy.
Be aware, from what I hear, expect to pay the unexpected at closing. I would drive around the development and talk to some residents and see and hear first hand how closing or the "buying" process worked and ask are they satisfied living there. Parkwood is NOT "The Villages" and never wil be. My friends, who I visit, say the developer is very controlling on all aspects of living in this development....but it does have alot of kids, a rec center and pool for the kids and its close to The Village school(s).

[gemorc]

Parkwood is not a member village of The Villages. It is a housing developement, near The Villages. The same can be said for Bison Valley.

[784caroline]

Agree that parkwood is not part of "The Villages" but I dont know what you mean when you say the same can be said of Bison Valley. Bison Valley is sold, built, and controlled by The Villages. Floor plans for most houses are just like what is being built in The Villages. You cannot bring your own builder to build your house...it has to be a Village Builder. Bison valley also has Golf Cart access but there are differences the biggest being kids are allowed and adults under age 55 are allowed (no 80% rule). Residents DO NOT have a Villages ID card....BUT residents of Bison Valley pay NO amenity fees and NO bonds. The one biggest problem with Bison is that this is a kids friendly neighborhood but there is no rec center or POOL. The Villages decided to leave that up to the HOA and they just recently had their first meeting and from what I am hearing a pool is unlikely to be part of the HOA. So alot of people are just installing one in their back yard.

[gemorc]

Bison Valley is NOT a member of The Villages. Although it is controlled by the Developer, it's residents do not pay The Villages amenity fees and therefore are restricted from using The Villages facilities.

[GMONEY]

While we are not "The Villages" as you so say???? We are owned by The Villages. Most of the people the live there work for TV..
We havent had a HOA meeting yet in which anyone has made mention of doing anything.. There have beeen 2 meetings in which no one was allowed to say anything. While we have to have ARC approval to do anything just like """The Villages"""" decompliance does not control us. So You see we are the Villages also when they want us to be. Got to have their approval for everything, but they do nothing about anything.. Make sense.
And yes we have residents that have sold their village homes and moved in here, and they are all Village Models.

And Parkwood has nothing to do with ""TV".. Although they were telling the people buying in there that they could drive their golf carts down the sidewalk on cr-101 and drive into Bison Valley and use the cart path to TV.. But they have put signs up on that sidewalk coming out of Parkwood that say no Carts allowed..

[otherbruddaDarrell]

Neither should have been built.
imho

[Army Guy]

OBD, don't understand??? Which "neither"?

Army Guy

[GMONEY]

OBD, don't understand??? Which "neither"?

Army Guy

Thats what I was thinking, Guys like me and others that live in Bison are the ones building the houses he lives in and working in the places he probably frequents.

[zcaveman]

Didn't we just cover this subject a couple of months ago?

[784caroline]

Darrell

You just made a very Profound "meaningless" statement based on no facts.

[eremite06]

The houses offer alot for the money especially the new single level 4 bedroom. However you will pay 2 amenity fees ($100) since that house sits on 2 lots. The New Rec Center looks great BUT have they opened it yet. They advertise it as open but in my drive throughs I have never seen anyone in the pool or the center itself other than people expecting to buy.
Be aware, from what I hear, expect to pay the unexpected at closing. I would drive around the development and talk to some residents and see and hear first hand how closing or the "buying" process worked and ask are they satisfied living there. Parkwood is NOT "The Villages" and never wil be. My friends, who I visit, say the developer is very controlling on all aspects of living in this development....but it does have alot of kids, a rec center and pool for the kids and its close to The Village school(s).

Our in-laws bought in Parkwood. Talk about the "unexpected" at closing, how about 27K?!! I told my BIL over and over again to get a lawyer to sit at closing. You know when that developer is lying?....when you see his mouth open! There are innumeral buyers who are very disgruntled. One guy got arrested because he tried to drive his car thru the sales office. We talked to former sales people who never got paid. He stiffs his subs, too! I've bought new construction in the past, but the in-laws' punch-out list was the longest I've ever seen! I've got a RE broker's license and was a General appraiser for years, I would steer clear of Parkwood!!!!

By the way, I'm NOT active in real estate. Retired.

[otherbruddaDarrell]

Darrell

You just made a very Profound "meaningless" statement based on no facts.

No, that is my opinion.

[784caroline]

Exactly, an uneducated opinion based on no facts or knowlewdge of the issue. If you would look into the matter further you would find both Bison Valley and Parkwood provide needed housing to families that in most cases provide services for the Villages...and that includes you.

[dadspet]

Well said 784Caroline. You can't live in a bubble without a lot of support to keep it up, without it the bubble would deflate
The Villages and the business in and around The Villages need a lot of help to keep the Villages what it is today and hopefully tomorrow. Imagine if there was no one to build your house, manage the property of the villages (rec centers, pools. golf courses, landscaping, and thousands of other things), Doctors, Hospitals, nurses, newspaper, entertainment, the list goes on and on forever. The lifestyle of The Villages couldn't exist without this support and most of it doesn't come from the Seniors living in The Villages.

[harleysville]

We bought in Villages of Parkwood last summer and are very happy. The clubhouse opened this past weekend and is beautiful ($1.5 million property). Parkwood HOA fees are $50/mth. Please PM me if you have any questions.

[784caroline]

Glad to hear you are happy with your purchase. Im sure you welcome the opening of the new pool/rec center.

How did your closing go...any surprises ie unexpected costs?? How did the contractor handle any issues that came up during the first year of ownership??

[graciegirl]

[QUOTE=eremite06;258500]Our in-laws bought in Parkwood. Talk about the "unexpected" at closing, how about 27K?!! I told my BIL over and over again to get a lawyer to sit at closing. You know when that developer is lying?....when you see his mouth open! There are innumeral buyers who are very disgruntled. One guy got arrested because he tried to drive his car thru the sales office. We talked to former sales people who never got paid. He stiffs his subs, too! I've bought new construction in the past, but the in-laws' punch-out list was the longest I've ever seen! I've got a RE broker's license and was a General appraiser for years, I would steer clear of Parkwood!!!!

By the way, I'm NOT active in real estate. Retired.[/QUOTE

Correct me if I am wrong, I am always defensive of the developer, since I have not encountered any problems so far of any merit.

Closing costs are usually involved with the borrowed amount, the kind of loan, filing fees, title insurance etc. We have purchased many homes over the years and had a pretty good idea of the closing costs. How did it happen that an amount of 27 thousand dollars was a surprise?

The person who drove his car through the sales office? His right to be angry stopped where his car met the building.

That is just my opinion.

BUT I am old and have never been a Realtor.

[784caroline]

Gracie

I agree when we went to closing on the few house purchase/sales we made, we knew fairly well what closing costs would be before we reached the closing table. In fact, we closed via mail for the Villages Property and it went as easy as it could be. Each developer. every closing is different. People we have encountered in Parkwood who have gone through closing have been surprised at the closing table in regards to monies owed..and $10,000-$20,000 have been figures I heard about. Closing is difficult enough with all the papers to sign (and the check to pay for the house). Maybe the buyers brought it on themselves for not paying attention to details, but a word of caution to potential buyers, is to be VERY viliginat of closing costs and what they include when dealing with this developer.

[GMONEY]

I had talked to some people that also had problems with Parkwood at closing. They wanted to buy in Bison, but could not qaulify for the mortgage and wanted to use FHA, so they went to Parkwood. Now they wish they would have come up with the 20% down.

Each developer is different, and The Villages is unique in how they handle all closings. Even ours for Bison Valley at Mclins was quick and to the point. The lady that did ours from Mclins would not take any BS when it came to the numbers on the paper. We used an outside bank and they had to change things alot before it went thru correctly.

[Jess0175]

I live in Parkwood and I can tell you the people are very friendly and many have children. They recently opened the Club House and Pool which we have enjoyed very much. As far as the builder being controlling, I personally am in favor of that. I have invested in Parkwood and like the fact the builder actually cares about the quality of his community, it keeps the value of my home up. I had no problems at closing as the builder went over everything with me and went above my expectations when it came my relocating. Parkwood is close to everything and it is a great place to live and I would recommended it to anyone looking to relocate to central Florida.

[scs1224]

Where is Parkwood? Can you give me directions on how to get there? Thanks

[784caroline]

From 466 go north on 101 (Road between crispers and Ocala Eye) approx 1-2 miles --- Bison Valley will be on your left...next development on the left.
They have ads in The Village Sun at least every other day.

[scs1224]

Thank you so much...

[GMONEY]

Cant miss it, once you go past Bison, the next big gate on the left. Or when you see the giant BLUE house. And I mean BLUE..

[graciegirl]

bumping this thread since it is kinda about the same issues that Jim Joe is talking about now.