[Fuzzyjourneyfan]

We put an offer on a house in The Villages. My real estate agent suggested using Citizen's First Bank for the mortgage. I've looked online--the rates look pretty similar. Have any of you used this bank for a mortgage? Do you think it's a good choice or should I keep looking? Also, we are going to need a good home inspection company. Suggestions? We currently live far away from Florida, so we appreciate any help that you have to offer.

Originally Posted by Fuzzyjourneyfan

We put an offer on a house in The Villages. My real estate agent suggested using Citizen's First Bank for the mortgage. I've looked online--the rates look pretty similar. Have any of you used this bank for a mortgage? Do you think it's a good choice or should I keep looking? Also, we are going to need a good home inspection company. Suggestions? We currently live far away from Florida, so we appreciate any help that you have to offer.

I hope this helps; If I were a senior and wanted to retire w/o a mortgage payment, I would at least consider an H4P. This gov't backed program allows you to buy a bigger, better home and never make a mortgage payment. I work for Mutual of Omaha and live in the Villages, and it is one of the least used, best mortgage programs out there. Realtors don't really get it. You tell me how much you want to put down, let's say $200,000, and we match it, then some, and now you're buying a home for $400,000 plus and never have to make a payment. Again, a seldom used, guaranteed program only for seniors at least 62 years old.

[pollysue]

We also live far away from Florida and just purchased a house in The Villages. Our realtor also suggested Citizens Bank, which we did use. They were very helpful. We closed online. Their rates were very competitive. However, when we were about to purchase a golf cart using manufacturing financing we were turned down. The bank had listed our house payment as $30,455 PER MONTH! They apologized and corrected the error. But we would not have known about it if we hadn’t wanted to finance the golf cart. This error showed up on both our credit ratings. Just a FYI to check your credit ratings.

[Marathon Man]

Yes. We have used Citizens First twice. No problems at all. They do a lot of mortgages here.

[Malsua]

Originally Posted by Fuzzyjourneyfan

We put an offer on a house in The Villages. My real estate agent suggested using Citizen's First Bank for the mortgage. I've looked online--the rates look pretty similar. Have any of you used this bank for a mortgage? Do you think it's a good choice or should I keep looking? Also, we are going to need a good home inspection company. Suggestions? We currently live far away from Florida, so we appreciate any help that you have to offer.

We did our first TV mortage through Quicken/Rocket since it was easy to do entirely over the phone/internet

As for inspections, we used Tom Comer of Comer Inspections for both of the homes we bought in TV. He's very thorough and you get a great report. Home Inspection Ocala 352-323-5715

[Bill14564]

We used Citizens First and were very happy with the process.

One thing to consider lately is estimated time to closing. Once we owned the home we attempted to get HELOC from a credit union and then found out it would take 75-90 days to get to closing. We contacted Citizens First and were told it would take only two to four weeks there. I have no idea if initial mortgages are also taking a long time at credit unions but it might be a good idea to ask.

[Brad-tv]

Home Inspection
The number one Company in the Villages Frank Dangelos
The most thorough and meticulous company in the area. Family owned and operated always there with great advice and service. The reviews speak for themselves. He did my house, dads, uncles and hundreds of our customers will not disappoint.

[dtennent]

When we first purchased a home here, we used our credit union from our home town. At that time, their interest rate was about 1.5% lower so our savings were considerable. The credit climate is much different now. (My home credit union reports an average rate of 2.875% - could be higher or lower depending on your financials. Insight Credit Union which has an office in this area has rates as low as 2.5%.) In any case, our closing was smooth as ever. If you don't belong to a credit union, explore credit unions in your home area, down here, or use Toymeister's suggestion. I would also consider on of the other many banks down here but check their consumer ratings.

[cj1040]

Citizens and Chase are not competitive with on line rates. Better.com and Amerisave are both A rated with the BBB. Shop around.

[John_W]

You might do better with someone else, but Citizens is owned by the developer, so it's like the money is going from one hand to the other. It makes things flow smoothly, so if you think there is problems such as income verification, or whatever, Citizens might be good. Otherwise, look at credit unions next.

Also Citizens also offers reverse mortgages, I know because I have one. About once every month or so during normal times they'll have a reverse mortgage orientation at Palmer Country Club. The poster who mentions buying more than you can afford, is for real, it's a reverse mortgage purchase. They'll will talk about that as well. When you get a reverse mortgage under the new laws of 2017, you can only get about 40% of your homes appraised value. All they do is add that on at the beginning and you can a home worth more, because you're getting that extra money and might not have to make any mortgage payments. You will both need to be age 62 and live in the home fulltime.

Originally Posted by John_W

You might do better with someone else, but Citizens is owned by the developer, so it's like the money is going from one hand to the other. It makes things flow smoothly, so if you think there is problems such as income verification, or whatever, Citizens might be good. Otherwise, look at credit unions next.

Also Citizens also offers reverse mortgages, I know because I have one. About once every month or so during normal times they'll have a reverse mortgage orientation at Palmer Country Club. The poster who mentions buying more than you can afford, is for real, it's a reverse mortgage purchase. They'll will talk about that as well. When you get a reverse mortgage under the new laws of 2017, you can only get about 40% of your homes appraised value. All they do is add that on at the beginning and you can a home worth more, because you're getting that extra money and might not have to make any mortgage payments. You will both need to be age 62 and live in the home fulltime.

Hey John, I am happy you have knowledge about the program, but please allow me to make a couple corrections if I may. (This is the "poster" you mentioned who does Reverses in the Villages)

1st, Citizens doesn't do them any longer. They stopped in Jan 2020. Also also in Oct 2017 Ben Carson did reduce the amount one qualifies for, they get much more than 40%. The older one is, the more they get. I just did one yesterday as a matter of fact and they received right around 61%. Lastly both do not have to be 62 years old. Only 1 person does. I'm currently processing one where he is 67 and she is 51 (soon to be 52). I hope this helps, and thanks for your knowledge on the product.

[Mendy]

Originally Posted by Fuzzyjourneyfan

We put an offer on a house in The Villages. My real estate agent suggested using Citizen's First Bank for the mortgage. I've looked online--the rates look pretty similar. Have any of you used this bank for a mortgage? Do you think it's a good choice or should I keep looking? Also, we are going to need a good home inspection company. Suggestions? We currently live far away from Florida, so we appreciate any help that you have to offer.

We have used Citizens for two home purchases and would recommend them. Easy to work with, responsive and straight forward. The only negative is that they are swamped and can't close too quickly. 5 weeks out from our closing date, and one week after setting the date, we tried to move the closing up 3 days and they could not do it.......too many loans.

[Garywt]

We bought new and went through Citizens. Everything worked out and they met the 30 day requirement. It was a second home for us so it was a little bit different but we got it done. Since the house was new and under warranty we did not have an inspection. We closed through the mail.

[cj1040]

Keep looking for a better rate..we got 2.75 with no points for 30 years on line with an A plus rated company. As of last week Citizens cannot match it. Your realtor should be able to rec inspectors .

Originally Posted by cj1040

Keep looking for a better rate..we got 2.75 with no points for 30 years on line with an A plus rated company. As of last week Citizens cannot match it. Your realtor should be able to rec inspectors .

Being in the biz for almost 40 years, I can tell you that you got a pretty good rate.