Villages Sales vs. Realtor

[Imagine701]

Looking to list our house for sale in Fernandina. Has anyone used The Villages realtor to sell house and if so why? Villages wants 6% vs. 5% for outside realtor. Any suggestions would be helpful.

[retiredguy123]

I would use The Villages. I think they are more professional. The outside agents don't even respect The Villages rules for sign size and location. I had a neighbor who was charged $300 because she cancelled her listing with an outside agent who was doing a lousy job. Whoever you hire, I would get a written agreement stating specifically what they will do to market the house, and that you can cancel the listing if you lose confidence in them. Also, I would only provide a 90 day listing.

[Toymeister]

If it is all about price you can get a MLS listing for 2.5% or do a FSBO at no cost.

Realistically service at 5 or 6% is identical.

[Stu from NYC]

Interview at least one of each type and see how they would market your house

[queasy27]

I listed my house with an outside realtor because he was the person I bought it from. It was on the market for almost 50 days and had two offers fall through. I switched to The Villages and the agent recommended I raise the price a bit. She quickly scheduled a caravan and it sold in a week. I think TV agents have a wider reach and more buyers contact them first.

[Cobh521]

I would list with an MLS agent. The Villages charges 6% and will definitely charge you for all of their advertising if you decide to cancel your contract. You will have more exposure with an MLS agent I recommend Katy Kelly from RE/MAX Premier Realty

352-355-7982

[JimJohnson]

We listed on Zillow for free and sold. Saved $25,000 dollars in fees.

[villageuser]

Looking to list our house for sale in Fernandina. Has anyone used The Villages realtor to sell house and if so why? Villages wants 6% vs. 5% for outside realtor. Any suggestions would be helpful.

I would personally never again use a Villages realtor to sell a pre-owned home. To buy a new home, yes. But not to sell one.

I have personal knowledge of using them twice. The first time to help out my parents who wanted to sell their house in 2002 so they could move closer to me. In over a year, they had no one even come to the house to see it. We ended up moving here then to be close to them. In 2019, I tried them again, thinking things had changed and they were more amenable to selling previously owned Villages home. No. Again, no one came.

Also, the contract insists they can not have any online presence, unless it is on the Villages page. The majority of the people outside of this area are searching Zillow, Realtor.com,. Trulia. In order to sell you need online exposure. I paid the fine to get out of my contract and got a realtor who was not associated with the Villages but has sold a lot of Villages home. I had people looking constantly every week and she sold that house within a couple of months.

[Bridget Staunton]

Use an outside realty, would not use TV. Also interview the realtor when you make your decision. I had better results outside TV

[Fisherman]

Looking to list our house for sale in Fernandina. Has anyone used The Villages realtor to sell house and if so why? Villages wants 6% vs. 5% for outside realtor. Any suggestions would be helpful.

I recently listed and sold my house with an outside realtor. I used Executive Realty, Amanda Fincher who exceeded all my expectations! Expensive drone videos online all across the country. Scheduled open houses. She came well prepared with recent comparables. Also,I think if they sell your house, they work with reducing your listing fee. The house was sold by ReMax. It sold in six days for far more than I expected. I wanted to interview both an outside and Village realtor. The Villages realtor kept cancelling due to health issues, but never offered to send someone out in his place. So, I interviewed another outside realtor. The problem with The Villages is that you are competing with the developer. When I first moved here, the first Village realtor kept trying to sell me her spec house under construction which I felt was unethical. As many times as I told her what I wanted, she did not listen. Switched Realtors and the second Village Realtor took me to the models & we built right away. Never offered to compare or show used homes. They have their own listing system called VLS....it does not reach out like MLS. The buyers went through ReMax in their state where they lived. They were referred to a ReMax realtor here who showed all the MLS listings they were interested in. BTW, it was a qualified buyer, cash sale for over $750K. After selling my house with Amanda, I bought a house listed by The Villages. It did not matter who was listing it, it was about the house, location and price. Selling is a different story. Your are bound by a contract. Interview 3-4 realtors and you will find the right one! Good luck!

[ldovermiller]

l'll will never use the Villages to sell my home, here's why. I listed my first house with the Villages, they took a $1,000 deposit, even
though I thought was not enough. The agent told me he thought it was a sold deal, the prospective buyer needed to transfer money
and I would get another $10,000 deposit within 10 days. On the tenth day, the realtor call and the deal fell thru. The Villages kept
HALF OF MY DEPOSIT!! When I asked the realtor(they aren't really state approved like outside agents) , he told me to read my contract....really arrogant about it. I would stay a mile away from these guys!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Mosca82]

I just finished posting my comments when I read the one above. The statement about TV realtors not being "state-approved" ( Realtors are not approved, they are LICENCED) is not true. They have to be by law.

[Northerner52]

If you both sell and buy within a certain tine from The Villages they rebate you 1%.

[Bill32]

We use James Mathew group (Remax). You get national plus international exposure with MLS, Realtor. Com, Zillow etc. Village agents aren't allowed on those sights. May be able to use their service for less than going rate
352 552-2752

[Tsalla Apopka]

I just finished posting my comments when I read the one above. The statement about TV realtors not being "state-approved" ( Realtors are not approved, they are LICENCED) is not true. They have to be by law.
If a person works for the developer/owner of the property and sells just on that property they do not require a real estate license. The home, any home, is actually sold by the Broker.
Most on-site sales people are licensed but don't have to be.
You want a Licensed person so they can sell MLS listings or new.

[msilagy]

Keeping 1/2 of a $1000 deposit doesn't sound right to me - I think that is not accurate. VLS agents take you to new homes because their commission is larger 1.5% vs 1% for used homes. Plus they do not show you comps like MLS agents do. In TV people pay whatever they want as it's a lot of cash buyers so the home doesn't have to appraise for a bank. One of the courtyard villas I bought in TV on the same street a few doors apart, same size, same model, in one years time.....$195k, 236k, 217k. Mine was the 195k fully furnished - the 236k and the 217k unfurnished, white walls. These were purchased within a 4 month time frame all from VLS agents.

[jimbo2012]

One issue I thought of is how the TV brokers dominate the ads in the Sun newspaper,
how can a MLS agent afford those ads when they work independently.

Secondly, When a new buyer arrives here aren't they automatically going to the TV broker

I listing my home soon but torn who to use (new build due to complete late Sept)


.

[PJackpot]

Which realtor gave you a 5% rate?

[diva1]

I listed my mother's house when she passed with a Villages realtor...house located north of 466. Couldn't get anybody to come look. Villages Realtors are very focused on selling new houses. When that expired I listed it with an MLS agent at Realty Executives and it sold. Happy with the experience. I agree with those here talking about getting an agent with heavy presence in the digital technology world so interviewing agents is important.

[KRM0614]

Looking to list our house for sale in Fernandina. Has anyone used The Villages realtor to sell house and if so why? Villages wants 6% vs. 5% for outside realtor. Any suggestions would be helpful.
They charge 6% and they do not work for you. They tell you to pay the buyers fees like title ins which is not true and they are not on MLS.
Do not trust them. Sell yourself on Zillow.

[Bill1701]

They charge 6% and they do not work for you. They tell you to pay the buyers fees like title ins which is not true and they are not on MLS.
Do not trust them. Sell yourself on Zillow.

If I see a FSBO house, I expect the price to be less. If they are not paying any realtor fees I expect to get part of that savings.

[Toymeister]

If I see a FSBO house, I expect the price to be less. If they are not paying any realtor fees I expect to get part of that savings.
I had someone approach me with this same logic. Didn't even acknowledge them. Sold it five days later.

My efforts to market my home are my costs which I expect to be paid for. If a realtor has these costs I pay them. In other words the home has a value of X and it doesn't matter who sells it.

[Debbraham]

The village real estate agents do not belong MLS or to the Fl State Board fo Realtors, so they can not be called realtors. They are agents. You have to comply with a list of standards to belong to the board and be called a realtor.

[Pbthrockm@msn.com]

I would go with MLS. You have national coverage and less fees. They work equally as hard to sell.

[manaboutown]

When I first moved here, the first Village realtor kept trying to sell me her spec house under construction which I felt was unethical. As many times as I told her what I wanted, she did not listen.

I had the same experience with the first Villages agent I contacted. He evaded showing me anything but spec houses.

BTW, Villages agents are not Realtors so are not held to Realtor code of ethics.

[Boilerman]

If we were selling, I would try FSBO on Zillow and then list it with an MLS agent if it didn’t sell.

Villages sales agents are highly incentivized to sell new homes over pre-owned so they are steering all their clients away from your home.

And so many people use online sites like Zillow these days for their search, you lose all that when you list with the Villages.

[Villagesgal]

Have sold 2 homes using the Villages. Interview as many as you need to to find an aggressive one. We signed a 90 day contract each time with the same realtor, Donna Zimmerman. First home sold in 3 weeks, second one sold in 1 day. We did our own comps and went higher than what realtor suggested and both sold for higher prices. Do your homework. We would use the Villages again.

[Emmakrock@yahoo.com]

They are sales agent working for the villages not licensed realtor

[Stu from NYC]

When we rented last Summer we had no idea as to the difference between the two and saw both types and liked the MLS people better.

We wanted to buy end of last year and saw MLS ones for sale and they didnt have what we wanted so called Village people and he showed us other houses including the one we purchased.

Think it depends on the agent you work with.

[NavyVet]

I think using TV agents are the safest bet. We had great luck. There is a reason they have the largest volume of sales. We have bought 3 times and sold 2 homes in TV and every agent we had was excellent and the process went smoothly. If you list your TV home for sale with the same agent you're buying the next home with, you get a discount on the commission. Ashley Enos is wonderful and was amazing to work with. She found our dream home with our parameters within a day and sold our previous home for more than we expected.
My parents also bought and sold 2 resale homes in TV through TV. The one time they listed with an outside MLS realtor (father thought he could save a few bucks,) the house sat for 90 days with few showings. I convinced them to not renew the listing and listed with TV and the house sold in a couple weeks! It's a no brainer for me.

[KathieI]

STAY AWAY FROM VILLAGES REAL ESTATE PEOPLE!!!
OK, glad I got that out. Obviously I have very strong feelings about this. Listed my home overlooking a pond, Lantana, in 2014, about the time Pine Ridge was selling. Listed it in March, had a contingent offer on May 1, which I accepted but asked the realtor to continue showing it since it was a contingency. He refused. May 30, Listing fell out of escrow, buyer backed out, TV sales person didn't even know, the Water company told me. Fired him, got another TV sales person, poor guy became ill, so nothing was done with the house. Bottom Line: House was listed for ONE FULL YEAR, I carried 2 houses lost a ton of money. I even followed TV agents taking viewers from my house over to Pine Ridge to look at new places. Contract finally expired, I hired Realty Execs in Feb. 2015. House sold in one month. Excellent service and expertise by that company.

[Knighterrant]

I just sold my house using TV. I personally think it is the best option at this time.

I think it is difficult selling FSBO now due to the season and pandemic related issues. I have a neighbor listing his house FSBO, and he has not had a single scheduled showing in almost 3 months. He is engaging TV now after the sale of my house.

I think the vast majority of sales in TV are facilitated by TV (buyers have to purchase new homes through them). Our buyer was considering both new and used properties. So they purchased utilizing TV.

TV does not share commissions with outside Realtors. So Realtors aren’t going to show TV listings, and TV doesn’t proactively show homes listed with outside Realtors. So you almost have to choose one or the other when listing. Listing with a Realtor may get you more exposure with buyers contemplating central FL as a destination. But I think listing with TV gets you more exposure with buyers who know they want to buy in TV. Which I viewed as more important.

[kathyspear]

Keeping 1/2 of a $1000 deposit doesn't sound right to me - I think that is not accurate.

No, it is accurate. We sold our previous home through TV and it is stated in the listing contract that if a deal falls through they get 50% of any forfeited deposit. Hubs wasn't thrilled with that, especially in cases where the deposit is many thousands of dollars.

There are other differences in how the two listing services deal with issues found during the inspection.

That said, our TV agent (Gail Evans) was great. Our house (which was atypical and needed a buyer with special requirements) was under contract in a month. We had it listed with an MLS agent for 90 days prior to the TV listing. I think she did a good job, too -- brought lots of people through, etc. -- but just didn't find the right person.

kathy

[merrymini]

I sold a house through the Villages. The buyer gave a $15,000 deposit and then decided they could not go through with it and pulled out. The Villages kept half of the deposit. We read the contract thoroughly and saw nothing in it but, after all, it is written by their lawyers and it was buried in there. Would never list with them. Relisted with Remax and Tammy Freilich and her son took the most beautiful pictures of any house and it sold In about three weeks. I think the developer is more interested in selling the new stuff. That is where their money is.

[manaboutown]

I sold a house through the Villages. The buyer gave a $15,000 deposit and then decided they could not go through with it and pulled out. The Villages kept half of the deposit. We read the contract thoroughly and saw nothing in it but, after all, it is written by their lawyers and it was buried in there. Would never list with them. Relisted with Remax and Tammy Freilich and her son took the most beautiful pictures of any house and it sold In about three weeks. I think the developer is more interested in selling the new stuff. That is where their money is.

In today's world one of the best things a seller can do is get great professional photos taken of their home, inside, outside and any views. People shop for homes on the internet and that particularly applies to a community such as The Villages where people are moving in from distant locations.

My daughter moved from CA to MD and bought her house sight unseen from photos of it she saw on the Internet. She did make her purchase contract subject to her local Realtor going through the home which she did while videoing it with her iPhone so my daughter could virtually go through it with her. My daughter of course put the usual subject tos into her contract for inspections and so on.

The last two sentences of the quoted post are so true. Village agents are motivated to move the developer's new product over resales in my experience. After all, that is how the developer, who does a fantastic job of building, stays in business.

[donfey]

Looking to list our house for sale in Fernandina. Has anyone used The Villages realtor to sell house and if so why? Villages wants 6% vs. 5% for outside realtor. Any suggestions would be helpful.

I just bought a house in TV after using both outside realtors to see homes I researched myself, and a Villages Agent that has been showing me houses for 3 1/2 years. So, from a buyers perspective, I'd say use Properties of The Villages. My realtor took ALL the unknowns out of the equation for me, making dealing with TV seamless. This ain't my first rodeo, either - bought and sold 5 others. I don't know that an outside realtor can do that, perhaps they can, but I am totally satisfied, and glad I used TV.

[Stu from NYC]

I sold a house through the Villages. The buyer gave a $15,000 deposit and then decided they could not go through with it and pulled out. The Villages kept half of the deposit. We read the contract thoroughly and saw nothing in it but, after all, it is written by their lawyers and it was buried in there. Would never list with them. Relisted with Remax and Tammy Freilich and her son took the most beautiful pictures of any house and it sold In about three weeks. I think the developer is more interested in selling the new stuff. That is where their money is.

Had no idea TV would keep half of the deposit? The seller is the one who is mostly inconvenienced.

[C-Pet]

Looking to list our house for sale in Fernandina. Has anyone used The Villages realtor to sell house and if so why? Villages wants 6% vs. 5% for outside realtor. Any suggestions would be helpful.
The sales people who work for The Villages are NOT Realtors. Realtors are a member of the Board of Realty and subscribe to their code of ethics. They work for you. The people who work for The Villages are licensed Sales Agents who work for the Developer. Whose interest do you think they put first? The Developer makes a lot more money selling you a new house than a resale.

[beckyallen]

We bought our pre-owned home from Mitzi Terry, who has years of experience with The Villages Realty and she showed us both new and pre-owned homes. We had our offer accepted the next day and it closed in less than 30 days. She really listens to what you want. Would highly recommend her!

[Marathon Man]

We sold our house in three days with Properties of The Villages. We got our asking price, which was $6,000 above what I hoped to get because that is what the sales agent recommended. Profesional pictures were taken. Advertising was great, although as it turned out, not needed. Lots of traffic during those three days. Did not even need an open house.

That is the result of hiring a "team".

I absolutely recommend them.

[stadry]

' the realtor call and the deal fell thru. ' the villages' sales force are NOT Realtors - they are licensed real estate brokers &, as such, are licensed by the state of fl. obviously not all licensed brokers are Realtors !

another point - some real estate sales people do not have to be licensed if they are a straight employee working for a state licensed real estate broker.