Best Villages Agent For Pre-Owned

[maryanna630]

We are interested in buying a relatively new pre owned designer. My husband plays tennis at Glenview so we can't be too far south. While we do have a Villages agent he only seems to want to show us new models. These are much too far from the tennis. We have looked at some homes with an MLS agent but most were very old and very dated. We have concluded that the Villages must have the best/newest resales. Is this true? Can someone recommend the best Villages agent for resales? We are here for a month looking and are exhausted and discouraged. If it wasn"t for the tennis, we would just buy new.
As an aside I will say that I cannot believe the prices for older, dated,tired homes.
We looked at a foreclosure today, built in 2006, beautiful neighborhood;mold outside AND inside, dead cockroaches in many places inside; it was in a lovely neighborhood and was 249,000 dollars!!! Say What and Boy Howdy!!!
Can anyone give us some helpful information here? Have any of you bought a pre-owned which was a good value and updated to todays standards? Has anyone a recommendation for a villages agent who is willing to work with resales?
As always thanks for any and all information. Without you guys, I think we would just give up but we do really like it here.
Maryanna

[Lbmb24101]

We worked w Steve Lazdowsky from The Villages
He showed us new houses, but 2 days later we decided to look at pre owned.
He showed us those and we bought pre owned.

[graciegirl]

We are interested in buying a relatively new pre owned designer. My husband plays tennis at Glenview so we can't be too far south. While we do have a Villages agent he only seems to want to show us new models. These are much too far from the tennis. We have looked at some homes with an MLS agent but most were very old and very dated. We have concluded that the Villages must have the best/newest resales. Is this true? Can someone recommend the best Villages agent for resales? We are here for a month looking and are exhausted and discouraged. If it wasn"t for the tennis, we would just buy new.
As an aside I will say that I cannot believe the prices for older, dated,tired homes.
We looked at a foreclosure today, built in 2006, beautiful neighborhood;mold outside AND inside, dead cockroaches in many places inside; it was in a lovely neighborhood and was 249,000 dollars!!! Say What and Boy Howdy!!!
Can anyone give us some helpful information here? Have any of you bought a pre-owned which was a good value and updated to todays standards? Has anyone a recommendation for a villages agent who is willing to work with resales?
As always thanks for any and all information. Without you guys, I think we would just give up but we do really like it here.
Maryanna

Hi Maryanna.

Fairly new is relative here in The Villages. The homes around Glenview were built about ten years ago. They get younger as you go south. If I were you I would ask my realtors...both kinds; rep for The Villages, and MLS agent, to show me homes in Belvedere, Caroline, Mallory, Sable Chase, and the Villages south off of Buena Vista and south of 466.

Don't completely rule out new or newer. I know he likes to be close to Glenview, but I take my golf cart all over this place to play on courses and I don't limit them to location. I know JoJo plays a lot of tennis at Glenview and gets there from Amelia. The further south you go, the newer the houses become and I would keep an open mind...and do my own looking. When we were looking at resales we asked Jim McLaughlin to show us homes that we, ourselves located on the computer or in the paper. I am turned off by a lot of other peoples choices in things not cheaply changed, appliance color, tile, wallpaper, etc.

Rethink about buying new or newer. It is less maintenance and has all the new light fixtures and faucets and tile, things that make a home look, well new.

I hope you find your dream home. We bought a spec home in Hadley in 2008 and built a new home in 2011 and we looked at a lot of resales too.

Kindest wishes,

Gracie

[bdabob]

Beth Pope or her husband Todd.

[maddie101]

Yes, Resales are not a bargain. They were selling before we even got to see the house and selling at high prices. If we were going to spend top dollar we decided to get exactly what we wanted and bought brand new. That being said, Christie Truluck was our agent in TV who showed us Resales and our new home. You would be very happy with her.

[PaulCRNA]

Highly recommend Mike Fink. 352-391-0050. He really listened to what we were looking for and goes way beyond what one would expect. He went out past 7pm on a rainy night to video tape a house for us. He emailed the photos to us and it's the house we wound up buying after we arranged to see it the next day! He also is helped us with every question and need since. He is also one of the nicest people you could ever work with. Give him a call. You won't be disappointed!

[buggyone]

I suggest ERA/Tom Grizzard agency or Realty Executives agency. MLS agents cannot show houses listed by Villages Properties and viceversa.

I bought a resale in 2009 that was built in 2002 near Glenview CC and was able to negotiate price and there is almost no bond. Lots of upgrades were already in so no extra money for those. It came with a 1year warranty.

Villages agents only want to sell the new homes.

Glenbrook, Mallory, Caroline, Summerhill, and Chatham are all great places to consider.

[gocubsgo]

I suggest ERA/Tom Grizzard agency or Realty Executives agency. MLS agents cannot show houses listed by Villages Properties and viceversa.

I bought a resale in 2009 that was built in 2002 near Glenview CC and was able to negotiate price and there is almost no bond. Lots of upgrades were already in so no extra money for those. It came with a 1year warranty.

Villages agents only want to sell the new homes.

Glenbrook, Mallory, Caroline, Summerhill, and Chatham are all great places to consider.

I agree! You are SO limited on what you can see with the Villages realty.

[graciegirl]

I agree! You are SO limited on what you can see with the Villages realty.

I respectfully disagree with the premise that villages agents push new homes. Jim McLaughlin showed us many resales at our request and new specs at our request and vacant lots at our request. The Villages agents do not push new in my very humble opinion.

I like to be the one to say...show us this one. My fingers doing the walking allow me to call the shots and Sweetie too. Together we eliminated a lot of things we didn't want, and found something entirely different than what we THOUGHT we wanted. We bought new. We have followed the same pattern most of our lives. No one knows what YOU like better than you yourself. I say find the home, the resale, the new lot, the spec lot, and tell the person who can book the appointment to do so, be it The Villages rep or the MLS agent.

With the internet at our fingertips, agents are not in control anymore. WE are. I like that.

[De Lis]

I suggest ERA/Tom Grizzard agency or Realty Executives agency. MLS agents cannot show houses listed by Villages Properties and viceversa.

I bought a resale in 2009 that was built in 2002 near Glenview CC and was able to negotiate price and there is almost no bond. Lots of upgrades were already in so no extra money for those. It came with a 1year warranty.

Villages agents only want to sell the new homes.

Glenbrook, Mallory, Caroline, Summerhill, and Chatham are all great places to consider.

We bought a pre-owned from the Tom Grizzard agency and now live in Glenbrook. We looked beyond the dated interior, but really liked the structure itself. Had painting, tiling, and wood floors put in. Bought it for an amazingly low price and still came out ahead of what new homes sell for!! Also, NO bond.

[Portia]

I second Todd pope or his wife beth.. from the villages realty both great to work with!!!

[CHESTERFIELDROSE]

We just purchased a MLS home and would definitely recommend going with the Village listings. Reason being they are more informed on the inner working of the Villages and will make the process less stressful. If I had to do it again I would have used Jim McLaughlin. Good Luck!

[gmcneill]

Lyle Gant, an outside agent who is VERY knowledgeable about all things Villages. He is a frequent TOTV poster; check out his posts and his website.

[BobnBev]

Chris and Carol-Ann Wyatt get my vote. They are the best of the best.

[bknight]

Highly recommend Kevin Sullivan.

[Dirigo]

Lyle Gant, an outside agent who is VERY knowledgeable about all things Villages. He is a frequent TOTV poster; check out his posts and his website.

We bought a house using Lyle Gant. Wonderful fellow and has the best website for resales: The Villages (http://lylesellsfla.com/)

Lyle is the best!

[eweissenbach]

We bought a house using Lyle Gant. Wonderful fellow and has the best website for resales: The Villages (http://lylesellsfla.com/)

Lyle is the best!

We have looked at homes with Lyle several times over the last three years and he is excellent. He has a terrific website with lots of Villages information besides listings. He will a ask you what you are looking for and send updates anytime a new listing or price change occurs matching your preferences. Good guy AND he won't bug you to death.

[ilovetv]

"....We have looked at some homes with an MLS agent but most were very old and very dated. We have concluded that the Villages must have the best/newest resales. Is this true? Can someone recommend the best Villages agent for resales? We are here for a month looking and are exhausted and discouraged. If it wasn"t for the tennis, we would just buy new.

As an aside I will say that I cannot believe the prices for older, dated,tired homes...."

If you are seeing these resale homes as being "old, dated, tired", it's probably safe to assume that the people in that neighborhood are also "old, dated and tired" original owners whose homes look old and tired because THEY are too old and tired to fix it up.

A ten- or fifteen-minute drive on a cart or in the car to tennis is well worth living in a neighborhood that has neighbors who are as active as you and your husband are. One of the best things about TV is the neighbors who are young-at-heart and always out doing and planning social and sporting activities and get-togethers. Look in neighborhoods where most people are in your life-stage (recently-retired?) and age group.

And yes, TV does have more of the better listings, because after living here for awhile you see people experiencing the fact that when TV prices a listing, their price is accurate and it sells.

[RETIREDSFW]

My agent was ken weber of era tom grizzard, inc. Ken lives in the villages and knows the answers to all your questions.

[Janet & Carl]

I highly recommend Bonnie Berman of The Villages. She is extremely patient, kind, not pushy, knowledgeable, easy going, always smiling, personable and treats you like a good friend. Took us a year to sell our home up north. Bonnie and I would email each other once a month for current updates. When we visited TV for the lifestyle, we came with a list of homes to see. A year later we came with a short list of 3 homes to see. Saw the 1st one and said this is it. We did look at other homes that Bonnie suggested. Bonnie was never pushy and let us make up our own minds. The realtors know that when TV bug bites, you are hooked. We love our At Ease home in The Village of Sanibel. You can help yourself by going on line and checking out the homes for sale or you can rely solely on a realtor. Bonnie Berman is the best. I wish she could have sold our home up north.
Janet & Carl