[kofficer]

We have been to the Villages twice, and are sure it's where we want to land, but have found ourselves needing to work a couple of extra years due to recent economies. My 66th birthday comes first, 1/8/2012 and we had planned to have me work but draw SS and bank it. We have decided, as we have enough for our down payment, to start looking for a house then, and purchase, and use the time to do any decorating we want to do, and use it on weekends and vacations, and holidays till we can move full time. As we are in Tampa, this is very feasible. We are in an area that has many foreclosures that need to be "moved out" before our house is even going to get to a break even point again. Background over, to the questions: Has anyone had to replace a roof and what did it cost? Does anyone use a service to take care of their house because they are not there all the time, or do you feel getting ADT and contracting for lawn services separately, would be all we would need? We didn't like our Villages rep, how can we change him?

I will thank you in advance for any and and all recommendations. We recently talked with several "Villagers" while on our Western Caribbean cruise. It's seems the softball group was with us on the ship!!

Lee and Richard in Tampa

[downeaster]

Originally Posted by kofficer

Has anyone had to replace a roof and what did it cost? Does anyone use a service to take care of their house because they are not there all the time, or do you feel getting ADT and contracting for lawn services separately, would be all we would need? We didn't like our Villages rep, how can we change him?

Lee and Richard in Tampa

There may have been roof replacements on the historical side due to age but most of the homes are not that old.

Most people I know who are not permanent rely on neighbors or hire a local to keep an eye on the house. Most of us use a lawn service. As you are living in Tampa and plan to weekend here you shouldn't have a problem.

Don't like your rep? I am sure the management would like to know. Just tell them and tell them you want another. You can also deal with Multiple Listing brokers. They cannot sell Villages listings but there are a ton of ML listings for pre-owned.

[Pturner]

Hi kofficer,
Another recent poster did not like her Villages rep and did call and get a new rep.

However, unless you are considering only a new TV home, you should work with a both a TV rep and an MLS rep, not either-or. They do not share listings, so you will not have an opportunity to see all the available resales that might interest you unless you use both.

We use a lawn service and a house watch service. However, it you will be in TV every weekend, you might find you can take care of house and lawn yourself. Of course, you might want some leisure time while you are in TV to enjoy all the amenities.

I recommend Redwitch if you decide to use a house watch service. Let me know if you want contact information.

I wish you all the very best as you navigate what to do. Whenever you get to TV, get here if you can!

P

[SALYBOW]

We did not like our first rep and as God would have it I called to get information one day and a young man named Bobby Gulati answered the phone. The angels smiled on us that day! He was attentive, understanding, and the thing he liked most was helping us find our dream home in our budget range. He scouted out lots for us before we came by looking through the neighborhoods. When we came down we agreed with him and put the lot he found on hold. On July 23rd we will be closing on our "Little bit of Paradise" on Valley Oak Street in the Village of Buttonwood. I think this will shape up to be a very nice neighborhood.
Again, we cannot stop saying enough about Bobby. He is not pushy and is incredibly knowledgeable. My husband came down dead set agaist building and Bobby talked with him long enough to allay his fears without crowdeing him. That alone is a miracle! Call the welcome center and leave a message for him. Tell him Sally and Gary recommended him.

[Skip2MySue]

Originally Posted by kofficer

We have been to the Villages twice, and are sure it's where we want to land, but have found ourselves needing to work a couple of extra years due to recent economies. My 66th birthday comes first, 1/8/2012 and we had planned to have me work but draw SS and bank it. We have decided, as we have enough for our down payment, to start looking for a house then, and purchase, and use the time to do any decorating we want to do, and use it on weekends and vacations, and holidays till we can move full time. As we are in Tampa, this is very feasible. We are in an area that has many foreclosures that need to be "moved out" before our house is even going to get to a break even point again. Background over, to the questions: Has anyone had to replace a roof and what did it cost? Does anyone use a service to take care of their house because they are not there all the time, or do you feel getting ADT and contracting for lawn services separately, would be all we would need? We didn't like our Villages rep, how can we change him?

I will thank you in advance for any and and all recommendations. We recently talked with several "Villagers" while on our Western Caribbean cruise. It's seems the softball group was with us on the ship!!

Lee and Richard in Tampa

We were lucky enough to hook up with Conley Hall as our sales rep who babied us the whole time we were there. We looked forward to his efforts to show us as much as he could about Village life and the variety of different homes that were available "IF" we were interested. If not that was fine too. You can't go wrong hooking up with this fine young gentleman.
Skip & Sue
P.S. 1776 Ashwood Run in Pennecamp is rising and will quickly become ours.

[kofficer]

Thank you all so much for your posts. Our rep did not really make us feel welcome, more like we were trespassing, and even though I sent emails asking for information on prices, etc. his answers were very narrow. He never seemed to have done his research, I think he thought we were just "grazing" as we lived close by in Tampa, and that is really far from the truth. I have put the two young men mentioned in my spreadsheet I have started for information. We were looking pretty hard at a stretched Jasmine and that still may be in the mix. But we want to investigate resales with pools also, as we have one now. I can't imagine being without at least a small pool or swim spa.

Hope to meet everyone at some point!

Thanks again for posting.

Richard and Lee

[Pturner]

Originally Posted by kofficer

Thank you all so much for your posts. Our rep did not really make us feel welcome, more like we were trespassing, and even though I sent emails asking for information on prices, etc. his answers were very narrow. He never seemed to have done his research, I think he thought we were just "grazing" as we lived close by in Tampa, and that is really far from the truth. I have put the two young men mentioned in my spreadsheet I have started for information. We were looking pretty hard at a stretched Jasmine and that still may be in the mix. But we want to investigate resales with pools also, as we have one now. I can't imagine being without at least a small pool or swim spa.

Hope to meet everyone at some point!

Thanks again for posting.

Richard and Lee

Richard and Lee,
Our Villages rep. was Nanette Tolleson. Our MLS agent was Linda Sears with Morris Realty. They were both terrific. We ended up purchasing a resale home that was listed on the MLS.

[Mudder]

We also live in Tampa area, started looking in Villages 5 years ago with a Villages rep. He has hung in there with us the whole time, liked him very much. His name is Gerald Bowles. We finally came up for a 6 day visit and bought a resale with an outside realtor. gerald understood, was gracious, etc...was glad we finally will be at TV in early June.

We are leaving our house in Tampa unsold and off the market til things pick up. It will be difficult for awhile, but living in TV is worth it to us ! We bought small, maybe will buy bigger when house sells, we just want to be in TV.

[cats12470]

We did not like our Village Rep.... she was rude and we just did not "click"... they assigned us a new Rep.... he has been very kind.... has a good assistant and we hope to find our dream home...we also hooked up with a MLS agent... we wanted to see "everything" we could to compare.... we are close to making our decision... our Village Rep is "T" Mr Potter... our MLS agent: Ardith Schmidt with Coldwell Banker... she has been great...good luck in your search... we hope to be in the Villages by end of Summer... we are going "resale"...