When Do You Buy Your Home?

[Jetakai]

I know most people say come down and try it out, but basically when I retire I must leave Alaska. Winters are getting too hard. 3 years, 9 months, 21 days.

So when would you buy a house? The end of 2022? I don't want to have to fly back and forth. Can you just come down once, pick out everything and then just do paperwork by mail? How long does it take to build a home? When does the loan close? After you take possession?

I retire in about April of 2023 but I want to drive from Alaska to Florida with a lot of meandering so I may not be there until June. I am looking at a small house, with the Vineyard floor plan (I don't want to retire to clean). Can you hire a management company to take care of the place. I have heard that there are issues with squatters and you can't kick them out, or is that just something for myth busters?

One final question, where is the best place to be for 1gb Broadband and who is the best provider?

:doggie:

[manaboutown]

Why don't you arrange to rent a house short or long term before buying one?

[Dond1959]

I agree that you should seriously think about renting for 6 to 12 months. That way you can answer all your questions and make sure this is a good fit for what you’re looking for in retirement. Do you want to build, buy a spec house or buy a existing home? What area do you want to be in? Can you take the heat if you are going to be full time? These and many more questions that will come up can be answered if you rent before taking the leap. Good luck!

[tophcfa]

Rent and get to know the Villages. Look at lots of homes and sort out things up north. When things feel right and you have experienced different areas of the Villages, you will know when/if you found the right place. Don't hurry and make a hasty decision you might come to regret. We still are going back and forth from our Northern home to our Villages home, but we are in the Northeast. I would not want to do that from Alaska.

[rjm1cc]

Rent and take your time. VH4R Home Rentals in The Villages (http://www.villagershomes4rent.com/)

[VApeople]

I agree with the other comments.

Keep it simple. Finish up in Alaska, get the money in the bank, then come to Florida and rent. Then decide what you want to do.

[queasy27]

You may be feeling some pressure to buy before prices rise and rise, but measure those possible increases against the cost of maintaining a vacant house for three years, or even the hassle of renting it from so far away. It's doable and there are some wonderful rental management companies, but perhaps not ideal.

I think we'd all be willing to bet there will be still be new villages and of course plenty of pre-owned homes in the coming years. Final build-out still seems to be but a gleam in the developer's eye, and newer villages are getting some lovely amenities.

This may also change, but currently 1gb Broadband is not readily available.

[thelegges]

We bought our first home a patio villa 7 years prior to retirement. Originally we bought for our parents, sadly for health reasons they never used the home.
We Found a good home watch, and rented on our own unfinished for four years.
Long term unfurnished rentals are hard to come by and you have many people to choose from. You can also use a well established agency to do the same thing. If there was a problem, it not like we were going to drive 18 hours to fixit, that’s why you use a good home watch.
When one of us retired we found our current home, and sold our villa in 3 days.
Going to rental web sites for TV you will find many who do the same with little to no effort.
As far as renting before you buy, you should at least visit not just TV, but other retirement communities.
TVs winter weather can get chilly compared to southern parts of Florida. But you are coming from Alaska and this will be a heatwave even on the coldest days.
However no one on this site can give you advice better than your financial advisor, and personal experience as to where you want to live.
TV is a large community, still growing, with many things to offer, for some that is the biggest drawback. Too Large.

[charmed59]

You could come down here and rent for a few months while you have your house built. It is pretty easy to get a 6 month rental from June to Dec if you are reasonably sure of the dates. Three years is a long time in Village building years. We have no idea what home models and villages will be added by then.

[Schaumburger]

If you have never been to The Villages, if possible, I would suggest doing a Lifestyle Preview Visit for 6 or 7 days. These visits are arranged by contacting The Villages sales office. You won't be able to see or do everything during that time, but it might be a helpful "dipping your toe in the water" for you. Maybe coming during the summer months to get a taste of what a central Florida summer is like. And I agree with the others, if possible rent a home in The Villages for at least 6 months once you retire to see what area of The Villages you like the best.

[Dan9871]

Right now it looks like it is about six months to build a house. That's 3 or 4 months after you buy a lot to get a design appointment and 2 or so more for the build. But that timing changes all the time.

Comcast Business offers 1G internet in some places in the Villages; you need a specific location to know for sure. It costs around $300 a month.

If you are going to build, then you are going to have to come down here for the design process and then wait about six months to move in.

There are always lots of resales available though.

As far as closing if you are buying new, The Villages has a tight requirement, but it would be best to talk to a Villages salesperson for all the details of the timing of things.

When we came to the Villages for the first time on a Friday, bought a new, already built, house on Saturday, and moved in a month later. We're still the same house seven years later.

The problem with taking your time is that you can't. Once you see a house or lot that you want if you don't buy it, then it will be gone in a month or maybe a day.

The question you have to answer for yourself is, do you want to move to central Florida or The Villages. A vacation to the area might help you make that decision. If you are sure, then buy it as soon as you are ready.

[JerryLBell]

We lived in North Carolina until we retired and were able to come down and visit The Villages a few times (a luxury I know you don't have). However, we never did the Lifestyle Visit, we never rented a house for a month, we never researched which would be the "right" neighborhood for us and we never bought a "starter" home, thinking we'd move into our "real" home later on. Instead, we picked out a house we really liked in a new neighborhood and bought it essentially over the phone with the realtor we'd met. We didn't have to be here for our closing. We bought about a year and a half before we retired and moved and used a local property management company to find somebody to rent the unfurnished house out to for a year (and did that entirely by phone). Because we weren't here for the closing on the house, we didn't do a walk-through with the builder until almost a year after we bought the house (and did catch a couple of very minor things to have repaired). When we finally moved in, we risked having the house be really beat up by the renters, of not liking our neighbors and of not having chosen the right neighborhood. Instead, the renters had treated the house gently, the property management company's cleaners made the house look like new, our neighbors have turned out to be great friends we simply hadn't met yet and we love the neighborhood. The whole thing worked out well for us. We'd never owned two homes at once before and that was a little scary but the rental income, while not making us any actual money, did give us some tax breaks and allowed us to buy at the prices we first saw rather than the price houses in our category were going for a year and a half later (and prices only go up here). No regrets here.

Right now you can only buy "new" houses in the new areas to the south that are expanding so rapidly. We've thought that we're glad we're in an area with nearby town squares (Brownwood and Lake Sumpter Landing for us) and other established retail. There's just not enough of that in the new areas for us. My niece bought down in Fenney despite our misgivings and absolutely loves it. She revels in the constant growth, bicycling trough ever expanding neighborhoods, golfing in newly opened courses, playing pickelball in new rec centers and swimming in new pools. She knows that retail and dining and such takes a bit more to get to now, but that it's all coming her way.

There are definitely companies who will watch your house if it is empty (our property management company did that before and after the renters lived there), ones that will do your yardwork (if you have a yard) and pretty much any other service you can think of.

As far as 1 Gb broadband, I'm not sure if there are any here yet (I looked initially because I moved from an area where Time Warner offered 700 Mb and both AT&T and Google offered gigabit). I'm getting 130 Mb DL from Spectrum. I download a lot, stream a lot (including 4K video), play games online and I can't come close to hitting my theoretical maximum download speeds. There are some faster vendors than that, but check to see if they have data caps. What good is gigabyte speed if you can hit your data cap in a week? Also, keep in mind the selection of internet providers is predicated on which neighborhood (aka "Village") you live in as The Villages is so big that it is serviced my multiple vendors.

[Chatbrat]

Honestly, time is the most important commodity--man makes plans & God laughs--if you think you can square route your future you are kidding yourself, smell the roses , before its too late--

[Toymeister]

We bought five years early to take advantage of leverage.

Let's say a 300k home, 20% down. 8k in misc costs and 4k annually in costs not covered by renters. Three years advance purchase.

80k all in. 300k with 5% annual housing price increases = 347k home. 47k appreciation on 80k investment in three years.

Yes, yes, yes! There are risks, it can be a hassle, housing costs might not increase 5%, nor am I including the principal reduction. No I am not including opportunity costs of the 80k expenses. The point is leverage can work handsomely for the OP.

It has worked well for us. Renting can be easily handled and does not require hiring a property manager with the associated 17% commission on rent.

[Two Bills]

I would hang on where you are.
Listenining to all predictions regarding Climate Change, by 2022 when you are due to retire, Alaska will probably be warmer than Florida.
I know last winter here in TV. we had days when we were colder than Anchorage.
Polar bears were sighted on several golf courses!:icon_wink:

[Two Bills]

We bought five years early to take advantage of leverage.

Let's say a 300k home, 20% down. 8k in misc costs and 4k annually in costs not covered by renters. Three years advance purchase.

80k all in. 300k with 5% annual housing price increases = 347k home. 47k appreciation on 80k investment in three years.

Yes, yes, yes! There are risks, it can be a hassle, housing costs might not increase 5%, nor am I including the principal reduction.

It has worked well for us. Renting can be easily handled and does not require hiring a property manager with the associated 17% commission on rent.


I bet you use the Bryson DeChambeau method when you play golf!

[charmed59]

Right now it looks like it is about six months to build a house. That's 3 or 4 months after you buy a lot to get a design appointment and 2 or so more for the build. But that timing changes all the time.

Comcast Business offers 1G internet in some places in the Villages; you need a specific location to know for sure. It costs around $300 a month.

If you are going to build, then you are going to have to come down here for the design process and then wait about six months to move in.

There are always lots of resales available though.

As far as closing if you are buying new, The Villages has a tight requirement, but it would be best to talk to a Villages salesperson for all the details of the timing of things.

When we came to the Villages for the first time on a Friday, bought a new, already built, house on Saturday, and moved in a month later. We're still the same house seven years later.

If the OP is looking for a brand new Villa the lead time might be much less than six months, as they aren’t buying a lot and picking a model, the houses are more or less built to spec.

That said, we too bought a pre owned home. Closing was 30 days and then it was ours to move into.

[John_W]

I moved from the suburbs of Baltimore that had a population of about 200,000, Bel Air & Abingdon, Maryland. We actually had two Kohls stores, one being a 2 story store, so it was decent size towns and we had eveything we really needed. I never went into the city unless to see a ball game.

The Villages was about 35 square miles before the new construction started south of SR44 about two years ago. I would guess it's got to be about 40 square miles now including the new areas, that about twice the size of the towns I came from.

With the area so big and spread out, as mentioned, renting is a really great idea. If you know you would only buy new, my home here was my eight and everyone was new, so that would narrow your choices a lot and maybe negate renting. If you're eager to live in the established areas, which is the 35 square mile area, then renting might be a great idea.

[Packer Fan]

We bought five years early to take advantage of leverage.

Let's say a 300k home, 20% down. 8k in misc costs and 4k annually in costs not covered by renters. Three years advance purchase.

80k all in. 300k with 5% annual housing price increases = 347k home. 47k appreciation on 80k investment in three years.

Yes, yes, yes! There are risks, it can be a hassle, housing costs might not increase 5%, nor am I including the principal reduction. No I am not including opportunity costs of the 80k expenses. The point is leverage can work handsomely for the OP.

It has worked well for us. Renting can be easily handled and does not require hiring a property manager with the associated 17% commission on rent.

I agree a good investment, but I totally disagree with one part of your calculation - You will make more than enough to cover all your costs without throwing in $4k - the only way you would have to throw in money is if you use one of those high priced management companies. I have 2 rentals and they both cashflow positive, even with a mortgage. Jan-April, October and November are a lock, December and May are a bit tougher but rent about 80% of the time. I have even rented the summer months about 50% of the time. Villagers homes 4 rent is the secret. You won't get rich, but they appreciate every year. Easy to track that since there are always lots of each model for sale. The house I bought for $245K in 2014 is now easily worth $310, probably $320.

[Toymeister]

I agree a good investment, but I totally disagree with one part of your calculation - You will make more than enough to cover all your costs without throwing in $4k - the only way you would have to throw in money is if you use one of those high priced management companies. I have 2 rentals and they both cashflow positive, even with a mortgage. Jan-April, October and November are a lock, December and May are a bit tougher but rent about 80% of the time. I have even rented the summer months about 50% of the time. Villagers homes 4 rent is the secret. You won't get rich, but they appreciate every year. Easy to track that since there are always lots of each model for sale. The house I bought for $245K in 2014 is now easily worth $310, probably $320..

It really depends how honest you are with yourself. Homes are not furnished for nothing, the used golf cart you provide cost 5,000 (or more). Most owners simply don't include these costs, to not amortize these is misleading.

Over time, with increasing rent, it does become a more favorable calculation. It is worth noting that the average owner rents just under five months a year.

How do I know? I reversed looked up 26 homes on VH4R and tracked those back to water usage to calculate occupancy rates. It was a interesting exercise.

[DAVES]

I know most people say come down and try it out, but basically when I retire I must leave Alaska. Winters are getting too hard. 3 years, 9 months, 21 days.

So when would you buy a house? The end of 2022? I don't want to have to fly back and forth. Can you just come down once, pick out everything and then just do paperwork by mail? How long does it take to build a home? When does the loan close? After you take possession?

I retire in about April of 2023 but I want to drive from Alaska to Florida with a lot of meandering so I may not be there until June. I am looking at a small house, with the Vineyard floor plan (I don't want to retire to clean). Can you hire a management company to take care of the place. I have heard that there are issues with squatters and you can't kick them out, or is that just something for myth busters?

One final question, where is the best place to be for 1gb Broadband and who is the best provider?

:doggie:

No one can answer these questions for you. Alaska to Florida?
Certainly a radical climate and life style change.
Issues with squatters? I never heard any such thing. Are you saying you plan on buying a place and renting it? I heard an ad the other day for a place that will manage a rental property.
They claim that they take 8% of the rent. Can't kick them out?
This is not New York. If, you have a tenant not paying the rent the sheriff tosses them out on the curb with all their stuff.

Committing now to a four year plan for a move to the Villages?
A lot can and will change in four years. Assuming you own a home in Alaska. Ability to sell it may be quite different in four years

[thelegges]

.

It really depends how honest you are with yourself. Homes are not furnished for nothing, the used golf cart you provide cost 5,000 (or more). Most owners simply don't include these costs, to not amortize these is misleading.

Over time, with increasing rent, it does become a more favorable calculation. It is worth noting that the average owner rents just under five months a year.

How do I know? I reversed looked up 26 homes on VH4R and tracked those back to water usage to calculate occupancy rates. It was a interesting exercise.

If your financial guy is not making sure you are tracking all your expenses you need to find a new guy, Keeping a separate account for rentals is a must, keeping even the cost of a evac filter. You do however have the ability to just write off the structure, not contents, again your financial advisor can give you guidance. Renting unfurnished, long term.. Only expenses are taxes, amenity, water, insurance. Making profit at the maximum.
We have friends that use multiple sites, what I did find on most sites, calendars are not kept up to date, and are rented more than what site says.
We found this on multiple rental sites when looking for high season homes prior to buying. However long term rental postings are usually kept up to date since home only comes open rental every 1 to 5 years.