Pre-owned woes

[iandwk]

We are finally going to be real villagers! My wife and I took the lifestyle preview in Dec of '08. We rented a house in Bonita to celebrate her retirement in Aug and Sept last year. We've been homesick since then. We sold our house in May and have been renting since June 1st looking for the perfect house.

We decided that we preferred a home in the older section of TV. We were kind of starry-eyed about the houses that were for sale, but soon found out that buying in TV was no different than anywhere else. It's a business transaction and one needs to take the proper precautions to protect ones self.

Don't assume that just because it is owned by a villager that everything is great. We put a contract on a house in Mira Mesa and discovered through the building inspector that it needed a new roof. The owner refused to replace the roof, making the contract void. That was understandable and acceptable to us. But the owner also refused to sign a release so we could get back our earnest money. It took almost three weeks and two more roof inspections to get them to agree to do so. We are still waiting for the signed release and a refund. We also learned that you need to put down what you are comfortable with, not what the agent says. We naively assumed when our agent said $5000 would be a good amount that $5000 was the standard amount here in TV. Live and learn. It would have been less stressful to fight to get back $1000.

We learned that just because the contract states that the owner can refuse to make repairs, thereby giving you the right to void the contract, that the owner doesn't have to give you back the earnest money. It seems that they must sign a release, and if not it must go through mediation and/or arbitration, both of which cost money to both parties involved. Fortunately our case never got that far.

We learned that most real estate agent's advice is worth about what you paid for it. They will fight to keep a deal alive when it is not in your best interests. It's all about the commission. The good ones realize that if one deal falls through and they treat you correctly, you will stay with them until another is found. It's not easy to find the good ones.

We also learned that people don't necessarily take good care of their houses in TV. We saw some pretty poor houses. One good example was a house that had a walk-in tub. It looked pretty good, but when we looked in the bedroom adjacent to the bathroom, the electrical hookup was done by running a wire through the wall of the bathroom and along the wall of the bedroom, knocking a hole in the wall beneath the receptacle and hard wiring the romex cable into the receptacle, then amateurishly patching the hole with some mud. Two other houses we looked at had termite damage. Several others had work that was obviously done by the owners. I say obviously because the work was very poorly done, like the walk-in tub fiasco.

Let the buyer beware, as the saying goes.

We did find a great pre-owned home, but it was not as easy as we thought it would be. We will be living in Santiago on Figueroa St.

I can't tell my friends and family the address because I can't pronounce Figueroa.

[graciegirl]

Congratulations and best wishes. I don't know how to pronounce it either, so if I bake a cake for you when I get back and you get settled, will you come and get us?

I think that the tropical climate is hard on the outside of structures here. One really must keep up the cleaning of the homes exterior because anywhere there is not direct sunlight, mold can occur. Fortunately power washing a home is usually only $35-$50.

Good to know about the earnest money. This forum rocks.

[pooh]

Congratulations on your new home and welcome to The Villages! You're right, buying a home here is just like buying a home in any other community. Some people take better care of their property than others might for a number of reasons.

It's " Fig A Row A " at least that's how we pronounced in on the left coast.... :)

Again, welcome home!

[dfn8tly]

pooh has the pronunciation correct. Just remember that the "A" she is showing is soft like in "ah". It's the name of one of the founding families of Los Angeles.

[iandwk]

Congratulations and best wishes. I don't know how to pronounce it either, so if I bake a cake for you when I get back and you get settled, will you come and get us?

I think that the tropical climate is hard on the outside of structures here. One really must keep up the cleaning of the homes exterior because anywhere there is not direct sunlight, mold can occur. Fortunately power washing a home is usually only $35-$50.

Good to know about the earnest money. This forum rocks.


We'll gladly come and get you for cake. We should move in sometime in August.

[bkcunningham1]

See if this works:

http://inogolo.com/audio/Figueroa_2085.mp3

Have your sound on.

[graciegirl]

QUOTE=bkcunningham1;271388]See if this works:

http://inogolo.com/audio/Figueroa_2085.mp3

Have your sound on.[/QUOTE]

Heavens to Murgatroyd, BK, You are one smart cookie!! You can find the answer to almost everything.:coolsmiley::thumbup:[

[Rob Stevens]

Interesting story about the earnest money. Hopefully that was a rare couple that you were dealing with. You are right about buyer beware. Some folks on TOTV think that having unlicensed work done is OK as long as the owner is nice. What you described is not only trashy (as we say on the lower right coast) but dangerous.

[iandwk]

The way the sales agreement reads is that the seller has no choice but to allow the contract to be cancelled under certain circumstances. Repairs totaling more than 1 1/2 % of the sales price of the house can be refused by the seller, but the buyer then has the right to cancel the contract. Other reasons are inability to get insurance and inability to get financing. The wording of the contract is very clear on these things, but the seller still does not have to sign a release for the earnest money. The options then are mediation, but neither party has to agree with the mediator, and they must split the costs of mediation, and arbitration. Both parties must accept the decision of the arbitrator and also split the cost of the fees involved. Since the seller was clearly in viloation of the contract it would have been stupidity to have carried it that far. According to the contract, if I won arbitration I still would have the right to go after the seller for money lost, including extra rental on a house, meals, and so on. I think it was all a matter of us calling their bluff. The house was in a trust, by the way. I suspect it was the children of the owner trying to show they were properly taking care of their mama.

[Annabelle]

Iandwk,

Thanks for sharing your experience. As one who is still in the early phase of searching for a retirement home, it's a helpful reminder (especially to those of us who have not been "home shopping" for many years) to be extra cautious. It's a big decision and the prospective buyer needs to do their homework, which you did.

Glad to hear that things turned out well for you and your wife and I wish you all the best in your new home.

Annabelle

[784caroline]

Your downpayment example was fairly typical of RE agents....and granted $5000 on a $250000 sale does not sound like much but it is not necessary to provide so much simply to present a contract. The larger amount does make the RE agents job a little easier but it also shows a seller your committment to buy the house.

I the number of houses I have tried to buy, I never gave more than $1000 with the contract....made out to the RE company (NOT AGENT or NOT to the seller) who supposidly puts it in escrow. For the RE agency to release this money they need a sign off by all parties involved.

[BobKat1]

Your downpayment example was fairly typical of RE agents....and granted $5000 on a $250000 sale does not sound like much but it is not necessary to provide so much simply to present a contract. The larger amount does make the RE agents job a little easier but it also shows a seller your committment to buy the house.

I the number of houses I have tried to buy, I never gave more than $1000 with the contract....made out to the RE company (NOT AGENT or NOT to the seller) who supposidly puts it in escrow. For the RE agency to release this money they need a sign off by all parties involved.

.....

[BobKat1]

Your downpayment example was fairly typical of RE agents....and granted $5000 on a $250000 sale does not sound like much but it is not necessary to provide so much simply to present a contract. The larger amount does make the RE agents job a little easier but it also shows a seller your committment to buy the house.

I the number of houses I have tried to buy, I never gave more than $1000 with the contract....made out to the RE company (NOT AGENT or NOT to the seller) who supposidly puts it in escrow. For the RE agency to release this money they need a sign off by all parties involved.

Same here. Anytime we put earnest money, as it's called up here, on a house, the check was made out to the real estate agency vs. the homeowner.

[iandwk]

Here the check is made out to the escrow company itself, which is usually, I think, the comapany that does the closing for the transaction.

My wife and will be happy to have all this over with. It will still take a couple of weeks to get our refund. All in all, though, it's a lot of fun and excitement looking at houses in TV. We looked forward to this experience for a long time, as I am sure others have. I appreciate everyone's kind comments and welcoming posts. We will be full timers and hopefully "frogs."

[Pturner]

iandwk, Santiago is a beautiful Village. Congratulations on your TV home and Welcome! You are very kind to pass along your lessons-learned.

When we were house hunting in TV, we were advised by a Realtor friend in Atlanta to be sure to get a signed "buyer's agent" agreement with our MLS Realtor in Florida. It was excellent advice. Without this agreement, the agent who shows you houses is just a "transaction agent"-- basically just someone who wants to get the deal done.

A buyer's agent is legally obligated to represent only the buyer's interests.
Ours was true to her word, noticing problems with several of the houses she showed us and pointing these out to us. She helped us negotiate a contract for well below the asking price. We purchased "turnkey" and she went out of her way to make sure everything that was in the house when it was showed stayed, actually taking pictures of everything-- even in the drawers.

So, I'm passing along the recommendation to others looking at resales. Get a "buyer's agent" agreement with your Realtor.

BTW, iandwk, we are northsiders too, although just part-timers for now. Village of Springdale. Hope to meet you one of these days!

[iandwk]

We are in a rental house through the end of August in Polo Ridge, Villa Natchez. We're just happy to be somewhere in TV. Thanks to all for making us feel even more welcome. We hope to meet some of you soon.

[2 Oldcrabs]

Why not have a home inspection before making an offer? If the seller won't allow it, RUN they are trying to hide something ! The realators will discourage this because they don't want you to know the flaws and if they know of any they must disclose. Buyers agent is a good idea!

[ssmith]

Here in Indiana there is a TV station that has a segment on the news called "21 on your side". I know of an incident where people were not getting their earnest money returned; and when the news station showed up.... all of a sudden the money was returned...Just a thought...might save fees...additional roof inspections...lawyers fees etc. Don't know if this exists there; but may come in handy if someone needs such a thing.

Glad issues seem to be resolved...enjoy the rest of the journey