Has the value of your homes gone down

[bloisy]

Hi I am a Canadian looking at buying a place in the villages.I have been checking it out on line and on this thread.But my concern is has the value of your homes gone down alot because of the sub prime morgage scandals.Or has it not gone down because most people have their houses paid for.I was in lakeland last year and alot of the homes in the retirement mobile homes were up for sale and not selling.I see alot of units in the villages for sale.Are they selling and are people losing money.THANKS STEVE

[getdul981]

We sold our house in Sept. On the market for 2 weeks before a contract. We did not lose any money on it. I would say that the homes in this area are not depreciating in value. This is about the only place in Florida and possibly the whole country that property values are not going down.

[eweissenbach]

Hi I am a Canadian looking at buying a place in the villages.I have been checking it out on line and on this thread.But my concern is has the value of your homes gone down alot because of the sub prime morgage scandals.Or has it not gone down because most people have their houses paid for.I was in lakeland last year and alot of the homes in the retirement mobile homes were up for sale and not selling.I see alot of units in the villages for sale.Are they selling and are people losing money.THANKS STEVE

If you look at the county assessors websites you will find that many homes are for sale for less than they were puchased for in 2007-08 when prices were at their peak. Having said that, most people are getting more than they paid for their homes earlier than that. The demand, though down from the peak, is still pretty high in TV. The level of houses that are seriously underpriced, short sales, or in foreclosure are nowhere near the levels in places like Naples, Fort Meyers, or Phoenix and Las Vegas. I think there are relative bargains to be had in TV, but not steals like in those other areas I mentioned.

[kentucky blue]

Hi I am a Canadian looking at buying a place in the villages.I have been checking it out on line and on this thread.But my concern is has the value of your homes gone down alot because of the sub prime morgage scandals.Or has it not gone down because most people have their houses paid for.I was in lakeland last year and alot of the homes in the retirement mobile homes were up for sale and not selling.I see alot of units in the villages for sale.Are they selling and are people losing money.THANKS STEVE

Home prices in TV are stable.There are some bargains to be had,but no desperation.Real estate is what i do for a living,so i stay on top of all the trends nationwide.I am very pleased with the price i paid for my home in TV, and have no regrets.Of course, the people that bought in TV 2005,2006,&2007, at the peak of the real estate boom will lose money if they need to sell now.If they hang on and ride out this "government induced and wall street greed" real estate depression, they will be just fine.Can't think of a better place to own a home than TV,come on down and leave that frigid Canadian weather behind:cold: .

[ajbrown]

So much depends on when you bought....

We bought in the spring of 2007 as did many in my 'hood. At that time the DIRT (no homes yet) was in Hadley, the dirt is now in Sanibel.

I am aware of three in the hood that sold in the spring of 2010.

One was $255k in 2007 and sold in 2010 for $225k
One was $233k in 2007 and sold in 2010 for $207k
One was $284k in 2007 and sold in 2010 for $235k

This is just my little 'hood. These numbers fit with most of my investments in life, buy high and hope....

PS. To be fair with full disclosure on these numbers, I live in the best 'hood in The Villages :a20:

[2BNTV]

I think real estate in TV does not follow the pricing to the same extent the rest of the country because it is a Disneyland and in great demand.

You will be buying the lifestyle and its myraid of activities.

IMHO - There are places not far away you will be able to get more house for the money but you will never duplicate what TV has to offer.

One trip and you will see what TV is all about. :)

[Bill-n-Brillo]

Home prices in TV are stable.There are some bargains to be had,but no desperation.Real estate is what i do for a living,so i stay on top of all the trends nationwide.I am very pleased with the price i paid for my home in TV, and have no regrets.Of course, the people that bought in TV 2005,2006,&2007, at the peak of the real estate boom will lose money if they need to sell now.If they hang on and ride out this "government induced and wall street greed" real estate depression, they will be just fine.Can't think of a better place to own a home than TV,come on down and leave that frigid Canadian weather behind:cold: .

kentuckyblue makes a key point. Current market value can be higher......or lower......than what was originally paid. Depends a great deal on when it was originally purchased.

Apples-to-apples, any loss in value a TV homeowner might experience is nowhere near the proportion they would have lost on a home virtually any place else.

Bill :)

[NotGolfer]

We recently had our house appraised....it was purchase 3 years ago and we have increased in value (w/o updates) by $20k If proper updates were made I'm sure it would increase even more. It's as the person who does real estate for a living says!!

[Mikeod]

Some homes that have sold for less than originally paid may have been a casualty of the downturn in real estate elsewhere. We knew of someone who bought here with the expectation they would sell their home "up north" and move here. But the home either didn't sell soon enough, or offers were far less than they needed, so they had to unload the home here as quickly as possible. When selling, they were competing with new home prices and incentives and wound up cutting price to expedite the sale.

[Barefoot]

Hi I am a Canadian looking at buying a place in the villages.I have been checking it out on line and on this thread.But my concern is has the value of your homes gone down alot because of the sub prime morgage scandals.Or has it not gone down because most people have their houses paid for.I was in lakeland last year and alot of the homes in the retirement mobile homes were up for sale and not selling.I see alot of units in the villages for sale.Are they selling and are people losing money.THANKS STEVE


Yes, prices in TV decreased, but not as much as most cities We purchased a CYV in 2007 and sold in 2010 at a loss, especially because we'd added a birdcage, landscaping, etc. But we purchased again in TV in 2010, and of course we got a great house at a great price, less than the owners had paid. We also saved a heck of a lot of rent over the past five years!

One of these days ( or years), house prices will bounce back up, and existing home owners in TV will be the beneficiaries when this happens.

So here is my advice to a fellow Canadian. Buy now, enjoy the lifestyle, and down the road prices will appreciate.

[rustyp]

Per Zillow.com from home values from 2007 to present:

1. The Villages -23.7%
2. Across the U.S. -23.3%
3. Across the state of Florida -50.6%

[jackz]

Per Zillow.com from home values from 2007 to present:

1. The Villages -23.7%
2. Across the U.S. -23.3%
3. Across the state of Florida -50.6%

From my experience with real estate investments both in California and Florida, take Zillow with a grain of salt. They have not proven very accurate in many markets.

Our bottom line, and I think of a number of others, is that the home we build in Sanibel this year is our RETIREMENT home as we will be Frogs. That said, we intend to live in it till the end so whether it goes up or down is not as critical to us. Might be critical to the heirs but not to us. As has been said in this thread, "You are buying the lifestyle as well as the home"....

[The Villager II]

From my experience with real estate investments both in California and Florida, take Zillow with a grain of salt. They have not proven very accurate in many markets.

Our bottom line, and I think of a number of others, is that the home we build in Sanibel this year is our RETIREMENT home as we will be Frogs. That said, we intend to live in it till the end so whether it goes up or down is not as critical to us. Might be critical to the heirs but not to us. As has been said in this thread, "You are buying the lifestyle as well as the home"....

Zillow showed our last house value at 197K. It sold in two weeks for 254K. Zillow helped panic the market in the last few years.

[graciegirl]

The homes around us in Hadley have been selling for about the same or more than when they were purchased. Our house in Hadley was built in 2008. All there were built at about the same time. I know of four sales personally.

[l2ridehd]

Zillow is the most UN-accurate real estate value system ever produced. They are off by orders of magnitude in both directions. And 25 people will respond saying it's "very close in my neighborhood". And if all houses in your neighborhood are all very very close to being the same and you have had very recent sales, they might be correct. Any other combination and they are very wrong. I can show you many homes that have sold for more then 200% of Zillow pricing, and also some at 50%.

[rustyp]

So far 15 responses to the original question - only one with data. Data may not be accurate but sure is a step above emotion.

[kentucky blue]

Per Zillow.com from home values from 2007 to present:

1. The Villages -23.7%
2. Across the U.S. -23.3%
3. Across the state of Florida -50.6%

Zillow is a joke,it is only as good as information it has at hand, and most of the time they don't have all the details needed to make an accurate assessment.There standard deviations can be off from 25%-50%.Wall Street Journal stated that Zillow is "a fun little tool that doesn't bring much to the table."
When villagers, who bought homes in TV during the 2005- 2008 time frame, and tell me they made money or broke even on the recent sale of their home, i have serious doubts.They don't include the cost of upgrades to the home and most had to pay a real estate commission.Bottomline,if you didn't lose money during that time frame,you are one of the very few.In TV, we are all still winners,you cannot put a value on the lifestyle,it's.............................. Priceless!!!!

[jackz]

So far 15 responses to the original question - only one with data. Data may not be accurate but sure is a step above emotion.

And are you providing additional data or expressing YOUR emotions?

[jmac1031]

Ditto on trying to use Zillow as a reliable! Being in real estate in Wisconsin for the past 11 years, I find buyers love to use Zillow to drag seller's prices down, and sellers hate to admit that prices have receded at all when crazy numbers from Zillow are presented. Bottom line, it still comes down to buyers and sellers agreeing on the perceived value based on localized data keeping in mind it still has to appraise!!!

House is sold here and can't wait to build in Sanibel in 2012!

[eweissenbach]

MLS mrket analysis last 4 years, by county

http://root.z57.com/filemanager/uploads/7/9/79f51d71-bd34-a6ba-0c84c158ea553b0f.pdf

[bonrich]

We purchased our CYV in April 2010 and sold it December 2011. It was a model home fully furnished. We added landscaping, tiled the lanai, laundry room cabinets, accent wall painting, etc. We had our home appraised and was told the usual sell price would be approx 96% of the listing price.
We sold in about 28 days and we are happy with the final sale price. You cannot look at the amount you put into your home, because you will not get always get it back, but what it does do is to make your home more saleable and different the other CYV's that are on the market.
We are currently building in Sanibel and will close end of February. We have been happy with the choices that have been made available in TV and look forward to be a part of the new Village of Sanibel.
:)

[graciegirl]

If you want to know the price people PAID for a home that is listed for sale, MOST can be found in sumterpa.com. Click on search and either put in address or just street and/or name.

Note: Do NOT type in second part of street name such as Cookie LOOP...just type in Cookie.

At a certain time here, probably around 2006, homes were selling for higher prices here and also in most of the rest of the country too. If you look for homes built in 2001, you will probably see quite an increase in what the homes are selling for. If you want to know the ages of each village, I THINK you MIGHT find it in search on this forum.

[bloisy]

I want to thank everyone for replying.I was not looking for stats I was looking for response from real people with real experiences.STEVE

[Barefoot]

I want to thank everyone for replying.I was not looking for stats I was looking for response from real people with real experiences.STEVE

As a Canadian, I'm sure you're aware that U.S. immigration laws only allows us to live in the U.S. 182 days in a calendar year. We treasure our 182 days in TV, and we're very happy that we made the decision to purchase here!:sad:

[lightworker888]

and love coming to our CYV in the Spring and the Fall as those are the best times for fabulous weather in TV. Summer in Canada is great weather too so we have from the end of Feb to the end of Nov. in the sun and still manage to be in the US for just 182 days. We rent out our place for Jan & Feb and that covers the majority of our upkeep for the year. Works for us.


LW888

[handyman]

:agree:From my experience with real estate investments both in California and Florida, take Zillow with a grain of salt. They have not proven very accurate in many markets.

Our bottom line, and I think of a number of others, is that the home we build in Sanibel this year is our RETIREMENT home as we will be Frogs. That said, we intend to live in it till the end so whether it goes up or down is not as critical to us. Might be critical to the heirs but not to us. As has been said in this thread, "You are buying the lifestyle as well as the home"....

[rustyp]

Hi I am a Canadian looking at buying a place in the villages.I have been checking it out on line and on this thread. But my concern is has the value of your homes gone down alot because of the sub prime morgage scandals.Or has it not gone down because most people have their houses paid for.I was in lakeland last year and alot of the homes in the retirement mobile homes were up for sale and not selling.I see alot of units in the villages for sale.Are they selling and are people losing money.THANKS STEVE

After some people shot the messenger for replying with data (I was trying to be helpfull) I reviewed your question carefully again. :undecided:I am confused by your question. Are you asking if a house with a morgage (any kind, sub prime included) is worth something different than a house without a morgage?

[Barefoot]

So far 15 responses to the original question - only one with data. Data may not be accurate but sure is a step above emotion.

Per Zillow.com from home values from 2007 to present:
1. The Villages -23.7%
2. Across the U.S. -23.3%
3. Across the state of Florida -50.6%

After some people shot the messenger for replying with data (I was trying to be helpfull) I reviewed your question carefully again. :undecided:I am confused by your question. Are you asking if a house with a morgage (any kind, sub prime included) is worth something different than a
house without a morgage?

I think that Steve was asking if house prices in TV have gone down, based on people's true life experiences.

[KYWildcat]

I am a Fort Myers area real estate appraiser. I report in depth the current market conditions, trends, etc. in my appraisal reports. I perform appraisals for litagation, estates, ERC relocation, private purposes for other than lending and some lending appraisals. I have almost stopped doing appraisals for lending purposes due to the fact that the majority of the lending work is through 3rd parties and they do not want to pay the higher fees that I request. The exception to that is the old established banks that I work as sub contractor. For the majority of my markets in Southwest Florida (Fort Myers, Fort Myers Beach, Sanibel, Bonita Springs, Naples, Punta Gorda, etc) the markets have been stabile for the last 3-6 quarters. The less sought after properties in this area, I would have to do much more extensive research on each market prior to making that statement since the general market is made up of many, many different markets. The median priced home in Lee County sold for $322,000 (realtor assisted) at the market highs in Dec 2005. Today, I believe its $105,000 depending on which monthly data you utilize. I have sold my condo for 3.5% more than I purchased one year ago. There are slight monthly variances but the overall trend is stabile.

I signed a contract on a house in the Villages (Santiago) yesterday and will moving to The Villages on or about March 1. This has been a very planned purchase/ move over the last several months. I have been researching the market in the Villages for quite some lengthy time. According to my data, it is considered a stabile market. I have not reseached when the market highs were experienced but the last 3-6 quarters I have seen from my collection of data, a stabile market does exist. I will say that The Villages probably had less decline in values from the market highs than anywhere else in the state of Florida. The Villages have something that no one else can offer. They are still expanding at the rate of 200/ month new homes and they are not exactly spec houses. There are relative few if any foreclosure sales or short sales. In my search for bank/reo & shorts as a potential buyer, I found less than 10 total with the majority in the lower priced properties. The contract I signed yesterday was for $195,000 which was my offer. And I believe that being an appraiser, I offered the fair market value. (list was $215,000) Looking in the county records on this particular property, the prior sale was 02/2007 for $235,000. The owner also did many upgrades since purchase.

I look forward to my retirement in The Villages now. I might maintain my appraisal business on a very limited basis. I am licensed in the state of Florida.

[KYWildcat]

One thing I forgot to make a point of in my prior postings. When the market was in its steady declines from the high in 2005 in the Southwest Florida area of anywhere from 1-2% per month for the next 4-5 years. You always heard the realtors state..."now is the time to buy" .....(I guess) Too many eskimos eating something or else smoking something funny)

[hedoman]

We bought our house not with the expectations that it would increase in value but that it was the LAST home we would ever buy. We did see that the original price, when first bought, and the price we paid were significantly different. We go one helluva deal in that regard. Do houses apprecite like back in the day? NO.... Do they hold their value better than others? Possibly..

This is not a good time for real estate speculation....that's pretty obvious.

Too late in life for us to buy small and think of moving up...we are FROGS and love our "lilypad"

[keithwand]

I'm amazed at the some of the prices people are asking when they were only purchased from 2009 to 2011.

If you can build the same model home new with the same options: granite, 2+ golf garage, lot view, pool, cage, summer kitchen as a 2-3 year old year old home why would anyone pay the same or many thousands more for the 2 -3 year old home?

Example I found is owner pays 500K optioned as above from the builder in 2010 and asks well into 600's.

Builder quotes about the same 500K with the above options.

Which to buy, new or used?

[aljetmet]

The seller has only one person he needs to impress. You did your homework.
Someone else might not. If you were really interested in the re-sale, as you did, make sure you are comparing apples to apples.

Recently I mentioned re-sale to my wife and she looked at me as if I said a very nasty word. Our new house in TV will be our first new house. Anyway resales IMHO can be advantageous especially in TV. Just have to be very savvy and know exactly what you want. Some people I know just don't agree. :)

Good Luck!

[mrfixit]

I'm amazed at the some of the prices people are asking when they were only purchased from 2009 to 2011.

................why would anyone pay the same or many thousands more for the 2 -3 year old home?


...........IMHO..........Location..Location...Loca tion..

...............My sister gave a Substantial Premium for a home that was near her friends (and me???),
just so she could walk or cart to the locations....

........The kicker was "the home was not even for sale" when she first knocked on their door.

[Bill-n-Brillo]

I'm amazed at the some of the prices people are asking when they were only purchased from 2009 to 2011.

If you can build the same model home new with the same options: granite, 2+ golf garage, lot view, pool, cage, summer kitchen as a 2-3 year old year old home why would anyone pay the same or many thousands more for the 2 -3 year old home?

Example I found is owner pays 500K optioned as above from the builder in 2010 and asks well into 600's.

Builder quotes about the same 500K with the above options.

Which to buy, new or used?

Keith, you might find a difference in the bond amounts of new vs. resale homes.

Bill :)

[keithwand]

The bond would be pretty close for resale or new as we are only considering resale homes under 5 years old.

We are looking at both resale and new. Its just when a resale tries to get more than new with the same model and options and then wonders why its not selling.

We have a bond on our current home in Baldwin Park (Orlando) and just look at it as higher taxes we pay. No reason to pay it off.

[Carla B]

Even if you think the options are the same, there could be many upgrades that the owner installed that go into the higher asking price...i.e., crown molding, upgraded appliances, classier front door, organized closet systems, painted garage floor, attic stairs, driveway resurfacing, custom landscaping, window coverings, etc., etc.

The list is almost endless. If you drive through the neighborhoods where building is taking place, you'll see lots of modifications going on to brand new houses.

[eweissenbach]

The lot premium for a golf or water view can be as much as $150,000 or more. You can find the price the seller paid by going to Sumter County Property Appraiser - Ronnie Hawkins, CFA - Bushnell, Florida - 352-569-6800 (http://www.sumterpa.com/GIS/Search_F.asp) and entering the street address, but that may not include many upgrades mentioned previously.

[Bill-n-Brillo]

Right or wrong, some home buyers elect to pay off their bond immediately or within a few years of the purchase. That would cause a value difference new vs. resale.

Bill :)

[keithwand]

Thanks for all of you thoughts.

The homes we are looking at at only reduced the bond amounts by the few years they have had them. Not worried about that.

Unfortunately when appraising a house; adds like a classier door, pull down stairs, crown molding, painted garage floor and better appliances don't mean much. That was all done at the owners taste and not always saleable. Better appliances in white means nothing if you want SS and have to pull them out and replace. You get the idea.

A brick drive or tile roof if not the norm does. Same would go for a pool and cage if both homes are similar otherwise.

We have priced a "new" home through TV sales ofc. with the same options and the same type of lot and came up quite a bit less than the resales.

We were quoted 200K for a golf lot with a Lantana sitting on it. Ouch.

We really want to stay in the 600K or lower range so no golf view.

[graciegirl]

We looked and looked and looked and looked at homes before deciding which model and then changed our minds. We looked at loads of resales but most of them had upgrades in a style that we would not have chosen. Some smelled funny. Some had smokers, some weren't real clean or would require an all over paint job. There were a couple we would have jumped at, but had to sell our house in Hadley and the one in Ohio...and of course ditto the empty lots that we really loved and could afford.

When we did sell both houses we were homeless and really felt like we had to act. Our landlords rented us a home until October first and that was enough time to build if we started right away. We chose a place near 466 and a poster came on right after we signed and said she would never move to this village because it was close to 466, which caused us some bad thoughts.... and now we love it. We can zip all over the villages and can even hear the faint strains of the music at Lake Sumter Landing when the wind is blowing right.

There will NEVER be the friends we had in Hadley, but we didn't have to lose them, and now we have a bunch of great new neighbors.

I am thinking that new or resale, there isn't a bad choice to be made.

[Bill-n-Brillo]

Keith, I don't think you'll get anywhere with the tile roof concept in TV, short of resales in a couple of existing CYV areas north of 466 that were built with them originally. I doubt those would meet your pricing criteria. Haven't seen any types of home built recently in TV with tile roofs.

Bill :)

[eweissenbach]

Thanks for all of you thoughts.

The homes we are looking at at only reduced the bond amounts by the few years they have had them. Not worried about that.

Unfortunately when appraising a house; adds like a classier door, pull down stairs, crown molding, painted garage floor and better appliances don't mean much. That was all done at the owners taste and not always saleable. Better appliances in white means nothing if you want SS and have to pull them out and replace. You get the idea.

A brick drive or tile roof if not the norm does. Same would go for a pool and cage if both homes are similar otherwise.

We have priced a "new" home through TV sales ofc. with the same options and the same type of lot and came up quite a bit less than the resales.

We were quoted 200K for a golf lot with a Lantana sitting on it. Ouch.

We really want to stay in the 600K or lower range so no golf view.

Not really following your concerns, but here is a new Latana with a golf front for $404K The Villages - Search New Homes & Villas in The Villages, Florida (http://www.thevillages.com/homes/search/)

[keithwand]

Not really following your concerns, but here is a new Latana with a golf front for $404K The Villages - Search New Homes & Villas in The Villages, Florida (http://www.thevillages.com/homes/search/)

Thanks for the heads up. We'll check it out.