How lucky were you in finding your home?

[Toymeister]

What is your story on how you found your special home?

I'll go first, we were the third in line offer. First was accepted and backed out after a few weeks. The agent did not reach out to the other offerors. We located it again on the web and purchased it for less than our first offer.

Bottom line: sloppy agent = buyer's opportunities

[Nucky]

It was a little luck, a little work and the Sale of The Century.

Our Villages Agent went away for the weekend and we made an appointment with an MLS man that I had been speaking to from NJ for about a year. On the first day with each agent, they tried to upsell us. I gave the MLS agent a list of four houses and we bought the second one we looked at. We have had some thoughts about moving but for now, we have the Primo set up and are perfectly happy. Our neighborhood is just about perfect.

So after New Appliances, New A/C, New Hot Water Heater, Paint inside and out by Steve Kling and a New Roof. We also put in a New Garage Door and an Opener and feel good about our living quarters. It's a Manufactured Home. This is not what we came here to buy. Funny how things work out When The Price Is Right!

Lots of studying and the website of Lyle Gant were helpful. Lyle will be the next Agent we use for certain. Should have used him the first time but I felt some loyalty to the MLS Dirty Mutt that we used. I will never publically say his name.

The only way we will move is into a 2BR/2BA - 1-1/2 or 2 car CYV. Time will tell. On any basis, we love it here!

Oh yeah, a really great bunch of people but one who is very knowledgeable helped me with a Generator Decision. It just makes us a little more Comfortable. Thanks to the OP, a good egg!

[Bay Kid]

6 years ago I decided to buy. Made a cash offer on a property thru TVs. 3 days later still no reply.

Went for a cart ride and saw a seller putting a FSBO sign. Loved it and wrote a contract on a paper bag!

Point is I was lucky to have a bad agent or I would of owned something I could never like as much as what I bought. Agent did call back the next day. He was so sad.

[zmarkp]

I've been involved in real estate since the 70s so I've been around the block, so to speak. What is most important to me is always location. My sister was visiting in 2017 and found a CYV within walking distance of a town square. It had been languishing on the market for many weeks so I thought: "Ah hah! I'll get a deal!" Unfortunately, two other parties discovered the deal and I got into a bidding war. I made a preemptive bid and got what I wanted.

Since then my home has appreciated well over what I paid. Plus, I cannot imagine ever moving again.

I know some people value neighborhoods because of the great neighbors, but I chose TV because of the 130,000~ population, plus the incredible array of clubs and activities. I have great neighbors myself, and I wave to them everyday as I head out the door for another day packed with fun somewhere in the Bubble.

[Chatbrat]

Back in 2010 we were living in Cary,NC--decided to get away for a few months during the winter and rented an ocean front condo in Palm Coast, while we were there a top floor end unit (8 fl) became available and during the financial crisis it was a bargain 60% off--we bought it --everything great-till spring break- then short term renters descended and the pool & rec areas turned into a zoo

The admiral saw a notice of a polo match in TV and we went--bought our house the next day after looking @ 3 houses, major low maintenance lots of tile, ripped out all the carpeting and put in wood floors before we moved in -3 weeks later -sold the Palm Coast Condo to a young female doctor for what we paid-

Life is to short to endure mistakes--TV is OK for our lifestyle-- we've had better and we've had worse--

The absolute best was when we lived and cruised on our own boat for 6 years--the worst was when we lived in a community controlled by an out of control, corrupt POA--lots of animosity--neighbor vs neighbor

[Topspinmo]

What is your story on how you found your special home?

I'll go first, we were the third in line offer. First was accepted and backed out after a few weeks. The agent did not reach out to the other offerors. We located it again on the web and purchased it for less than our first offer.

Bottom line: sloppy agent = buyer's opportunities

Maybe, they didn’t take the other two offer’s and you’re offer was lookin good after the two lowballs?:duck:

[Tom C]

We were very educated buyers (more than 18 months of research and “looking” on line at VLS, MLS and FSBO homes). Visited The Villages for 10 days this past early summer (rented a house), spent 5 long days looking at all 3 types of homes... found nothing that met our Needs and most of our Wants.

One night we simply went for a walk through a couple neighborhoods, spotted a home for sale (sign on the garage door). Discovered (on line that night) that it met all our Needs and 95% of our Wants. Also learned the owner was a motivated seller.

The Bond was paid off (although the home was just 2 years old). Offered and owner accepted 74% of the asking price in less than 2 hours.

Lucky? - Yes to find the home without help of any realtor amid the many many homes for sale. Well educated in the market allowing us to make the right choice and not rushing or being pressured into the wrong decision - NOT LUCK.

[John_W]

I grew up in St. Petersburg, Florida and also had lived in Pensacola for a few years and Savannah, Georgia, so I was familiar with the south and Florida but was living in Maryland in 2003 when I first heard of TV. One night I saw an infomercial on the Golf Channel and called and got the packet which came with a VHS tape at that time. Every couple of years I would call and get an updated packet and finally by 2010 I had called and talked to an agent.

In 2011 all was right with a move back to Florida, so we took the Autotrain from Washington to Sanford, Florida and a seven day LSV in April 2011 and our agent Tony Trussler showed us patio villas in Buttonwood, CYV's in Pennecamp and cottages in Tamarind Grove. These were the newest areas all along St. Charles Way and were in our budget of $190K.

We returned to Abingdon, Maryland and 3 weeks later listed our home one night and sold it by lunch time the next day to the new manager of Wegman's, they had a built a new store across the street which opened August 2011, the third one in Maryland.

I called Tony and said I wanted to buy a new patio villa and pay the bond off in Buttonwood. It was a Cabot Cove with vaulted ceilings and white cabinets.

Tony said just for your information, the CYV community that he showed us in Pennecamp have sold out (Amberjack) and they are selling just as fast in the next two CYV communities, and one of them is almost sold out. Tony said the CYV is a greater value for resale when compared to the patio villa. Tony said in Tamarind Grove the Southern Star villa community was masonry CYV's and only 4 were left out of 80. He said he had a Woodlawn that had been reduced twice and the name was being changed to a Durham and would have a higher price in the future. He showed me the unit on the website and it was only $17,000 more than the vinyl sided Cabot Cove patio villa and bond was only $4,000 more. The next villa community across St. Charles (Montbrook) the homes were being sold under the new name of Durham and the same model was $20,000 higher. We decided on the masonry CYV with a fenced yard in Southern Star and put $2500 down on the credit card to hold right then. The homes were sellilng so quick, they hadn't even had time to put photos on the website, so Tony and his wife drove over that night and took photos of the inside of the home and the backyard and emailed them to me. We've been here now 8 years last July.

Current photo after Oscar has repainted the home from pale yellow to green

https://scontent-mia3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/73315110_1433001576864370_6490335998239571968_n.jp g?_nc_cat=100&_nc_oc=AQlWU73X4I0iMCMLksFQSje81aPk3L9Gw__uLAtLbTm VS3aFrcDI37JbCXP-R3jOCBU&_nc_ht=scontent-mia3-1.xx&oh=75b0cbdf89a7ed21f4e589e9f90106d4&oe=5E5A62BD

[Blessed2BNTV]

Hubby wanted a pool, I wanted to stay in same village.

Went knocking on doors (in our Village) to see if homeowner was planning to sell in the next 6-12 months. The first door we knocked on were packing and planning to put house on the market within the next three months. We had a contract signed within 3 days and helped them pack and move.

We sold our previous home to a gentleman that worked with my mom 30 years ago and didn’t know till we closed on the sale.

My TOTV name fits me perfectly.....so very blessed!

[vintageogauge]

We came down to look at re-sales that had 4 bedrooms and were on water. TV had only a few available and the MLS had only one. They all needed too much work and we felt the asking prices were too high. The next day our agent drove us to Fenney, it only took about 30 minutes for us to find the almost perfect home, it had almost everything we wanted and more, the only thing we gave up was a east facing lanai, ours is northwest which ended up being okay as we don't usually go out there in the afternoons. There were less than 30 homes sold down here when we bought ours and the deals they were giving were unbelievable. Not only did we get a great home on a great lot in a great community with great neighbors, we got a really great price compared to the re-sales that we looked at. No regrets.

[VILLAGERBB]

Incredibly lucky...came from California on Lifestyle Preview and then returned as renters for a month. Agents (Jack & Maureen Wilson - Sellstate Real Estate) are the BEST!

[Velvet]

I’ve been coming to TV since 1996 to visit my parents and looked forwards to having my own home here some day. My husband did not know TV, has never been, never heard of it. But he said he would look, we went all around Florida, especially the coast, and I showed him TV too.

We came to a Lifestyle at the end of February and drove all over and saw as many open houses as we could. There were a few houses in our price range near the book store, and met most of our other criteria too. None were perfect.

We made a list of which houses to make offers for, one at a time, and started with the one we now have. Hubby seemed to like it. That was really important for me, I got the location, ie. TV. He got to choose the house. Our first offer, although quite below listing price, was accepted. Very happy. Both of us.

[JerryLBell]

We stopped by The Villages two years in a row and always came away impressed. Thinking we could find similar amenities at perhaps lower prices in a less imposingly large community, the next year we toured several retirement communities in northern central Florida. All were nice enough and some had some advantages over The Villages. While stopping through at The Villages during this third-year tour, we came to an open house for a model that it turned out we liked a great deal. On the drive home to North Carolina, we weighed the pros and cons of all the communities and decided that for us, none came close in our minds to the total package that is The Villages. We also decided we would buy a house of that model. We got home, searched online and found a dozen instances of that model. We did the whole Goldilocks thing of "this one has cabinetry that is too dark, that one has cabinetry that is too light" and decided that one met all of our needs. It turns out it was the very unit we had toured. It turns out it was one of the last remaining houses for sale in its new neighborhood and was being offered at a 5% reduction in price. Since we'd learned The Villages don't haggle on prices, we jumped on it. We did the entire purchase remotely and it went very smoothly. We couldn't retire for another 18 months or so and were afraid that by the time we retired and moved here that the neighbors near us would have closed ranks and formed a tight social circle that we wouldn't be able to enter. Fortunately, we were totally wrong on that. They welcomed us and now we have a circle of good friends as neighbors. We've been living here for 2 1/2 years now and still want to pinch ourselves when we wake up to be sure we're not dreaming. Maybe we would have been happy retirees just about anywhere we might have moved to but we are ridiculously happy living here in The Bubble.

[Doro22]

Informed work on our part combined with luck. We’re from S. Fl & were two yrs away from retirement, & have relatives who have a small ranch just 20 miles away. That was in 2009. We were up here visiting them & decided to stop by on way home. We were very surprised not to be pressured into a hard sell. We kept coming back for the next two years doing Lifestyle visits, staying at Waterfront, visited relatives etc. We got to know the neighborhoods and the different villages. Our sales rep knew we weren’t ready for almost two years, but he was patient. We were also. When the time came for buying we sold our S. Fl home and bought our Villages home one week later in April, 2011. Purchased a pre-owned for less than the original price, & got lots of extras included. We got the facing of sun we wanted and a great lot layout. (No kissing Lanais). Good luck takes a lot of informed knowledge and leg work.

[billethkid]

In 2003 we found the lot we wanted exactly where we wanted to be. Then built the exact house we wanted.

I guess we were lucky to be able to do so!

[RobertWR]

We had visited my wife's family for several years who lived in The Villages. We looked around at other retirement communities similar to TV and none really compared in our evaluation. Our goal was to have a home here this year, 2019. We had planned a trip in April to search and I cancelled due to work commitments. We found two houses we wanted to look at and came to look at both without planning to come in June, our realtor threw a third house in which was the one we bought.
We feel very fortunate the way things worked out. Could not be happier. Snow birds for now, looking forward to the future when we are full time.

[bern916]

My husband's parents have lived in TV since 2012. We had visited multiple times and knew we would one day have a home down there. I was constantly watching Zillow and other sites and found a home for sale in Polo Ridge that seemed perfect … it was turnkey, came with a golf cart and the bond was paid. I reached out to a realtor agent friend of my mother-in-law and asked her to check on it for us. It already had an offer. <<sigh>> A week later we were in Toronto for a short weekend trip to see the Cleveland Indians play the Toronto Blue Jays, and I texted the agent to check on that same listing again - to see if there were any updates. It was going to be back on the market! Yippee!! The home needed a roof and the previous buyer didn't want to wait for one to be put on. We put our offer in (that included a new roof) while we were still in Toronto … just seeing it in pictures … and it was accepted. We closed on the loan up here in Ohio about 6 weeks later and scheduled a trip to TV two weeks later. I can't even begin to tell you what walking into our home for the first time felt like …. what an AMAZING feeling!!!

[PennBF]

No Luck. just hard work. Lived 3 hours south of Villages. Had 3 Hurricane's on beach and wanted to move. Came to Villages on a drive, liked it..Spent two years looking at Real Estate on Internet and rented for 2 months one year and 1 month another and found the location we wanted. Watched for a home in that area and one came on market and we made an offer. It was accepted and we purchased. Have been here between 12 and 13 years and could not be happier. As they say, LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATIOIN. We continue to believe we have one of the best locations in The Villages and could not imagine ever moving. It is a sizable investment and only research and being patient will result in a solid decision. :ho:

[ladyarwen3]

We have been on 3 different shopping trips to FL ... starting in Naples and working our way up the coast. I was reluctant to move to TV because of the small lot sizes but when you realize the lifestyle, there are no comparisons anywhere else we have looked. Lakewood Ranch, Naples, Sarasota, Fort Myers, Cape Coral ... just didnt have anything for us to do! So we made an appointment with a MLS agent on our way north last spring and we did a new home tour with TV agent... I had found several homes on Zillow that I liked. THe MLS was NOT my favorite realtor and we didnt find what we wanted. I kept searching Zillow and I downloaded all of the floor plans in a .pdf i found using Google. I knew what I wanted and I knew what I didnt when it came to floor plans.
In May we booked a 2 week stay in TV; i made appointments with a Villages agent AND an MLS. Both were very lovely people, but after a lot of consideration we decided we liked the older neighborhoods north of 466. The MLS agent had many more homes to show us. We found the one we liked; homeowners had health issues and were no longer living in the home, and while it needs some serious updating it was in great shape.
Our agent Doug Lange managed to get us a terrific deal at almost 10K below asking. We also had a terrific home inspector Called Integrity First.
We need to do a lot of work-new flooring, new appliances, new countertops and sinks everywhere. Almost every room needs painting, but we enjoy doing the work ourselves when we can. The homeowners replaced the roof as a condition of sale, and made most of the more expensive repairs. They also gave us a generous flooring allowance. Overall my home was purchased for $20K less than my budget. I have great neighbors; I am close to church and hospital and shopping. My home is outdated, but sound and give me time! It is getting updated one room at a time!