Preowned sales
 

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age old story......supply and demand.....

as well as....why buy resale when new builds are so much cheaper.....as well as brand new...

best of luck with your home sale......someone will come along.....

Having bought a new home from Properties of The Villages, I never will again. Their homes are nice, but dealing with them is a nightmare. They have rules that no other real estate company in the country has.

If you apply for a loan and don't get it, you lose your deposit.

If you don't get your loan by the closing date that they set, you are fined $250 per day for each day that you are late.

Unless I was paying cash, it will be a resale for me if I ever buy another home here.

In addition, many of the resales have the bond paid off. This is not small matter sometimes adding $25,000 and up to the cost of your home.

I noticed that resales on our street have abruptly stopped after a real surge this past summer. Hopefully things will pick up when "the birds" get here in January-April. Lots of "birds" are more familiar with the advantage of being between 466 and 466A and that should help you.

New homes etc.
 

[QUOTE=Dr Winston O Boogie jr;1324883]Having bought a new home from Properties of The Villages, I never will again. Their homes are nice, but dealing with them is a nightmare. They have rules that no other real estate company in the country has.

If you apply for a loan and don't get it, you lose your deposit.

If you don't get your loan by the closing date that they set, you are fined $250 per day for each day that you are late.

Unless I was paying cash, it will be a resale for me if I ever buy another home here.

In addition, many of the resales have the bond paid off. This is not small matter sometimes adding $25,000 and up to the cost

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Yep you are so right. Well said and true. A lot of folks seem to see it your way. There are plenty of Regular Realtors, also sales by owner and you do have other options. Be happy and good luck, do what is best for your family and move on.
bbbbbb :wave:

Don't know how it is with The Villages with sales but this time of year in other parts of the country, the sales slow way down because of the holidays etc. Things pick up after the holidays, especially once football is done. Best wishes with the sale of your home...hang in there, every home (my opinion) has a buyer, especially if the price isn't outlandish and if it shows well. New isn't always better, just as one person stated. If a home is well kept etc. had isn't outdated, it will sell!

The "Friendliest Hometown?" . . . I Don't Think So!
 

Yeah -- just one more Villages "gotcha" Dr. Boogie. You are correct on all the counts you mention.

Just a couple of the very "unfriendly," not talked about things here in TV.
Sales agents push new vs. resales because that's what they are told to do.

Since Realtors (outside agents) are not permitted to sell new here, existing owners who want to sell will usually get better results overall from an outside Realtor/broker.

Was down this past weekend noticed that there seemed to be a lot of designer homes available - so the market is just saturated with them right now - as was mentioned above, the new homes prices are really. Some like the idea of a new home but they don't realize the fringe locations of many of these new build outs. I'm keeping eyes out on cement courtyards and there's not a ton available in the center section and those that are seem a bit on the slightly high side in regards to price.

Hang in there - I've heard stories of folks moving from their homes in established areas into the newer homes only to move back months later....heading into the peak, after the holidays, things should start picking back up again...

I'm sure your home will sell soon as Virginia Trace is a great location.
I think you decided on a previous thread that it's the lack of a golf-cart garage that is holding you back.
But I'm sure you will find someone without a golf cart that finds your garage large enough.
Good luck on selling your home.

In talking with my Village Sales representative in the spring, she told me that November was a good month for sales. I remember exactly because I questioned November being a good month.

The Villages is no longer selling new homes at the same pace of a couple years ago. That is pretty easy to observe with the discounts they are giving. The homes in Lake County (Pine Ridge and Pine Hills)are not selling as fast as they once thought they would. As you probably know, taxes are higher in Lake County than in Sumter. Most buyers today are pretty "savvy" when purchasing a home. I believe all golf course lots are sold and there will not be anymore north of State Rt. 44. The Villages south of LaBelle are considerably more distance to Brownwood too.

In short, this all adds up to slower sales than in past years---especially the month of November. In some way, it slows resales too if fewer potential buyers are coming to TV. This Year there was a contentious election and some might be putting off moving and purchasing a retirement home until later.

That said, with interest rates heading up, the election over, and stocks headed higher, I wouldn't be surprised that increased sales of new and resale homes in TV will follow. Prices, however, may be a bit lower until demand catches up with supply.

BTY, I am not a Realtor nor currently a real estate investor although I have been an investor in the past. Like most of you I am happy to be a retiree.

Hmmm, we had three courtyard villas in our neighborhood all sell within two weeks of listing in the past four weeks. All for what I thought were very high prices. Might just be a glut of designers at the moment.

That's what new sales want prospective buyer's to think. It's not cheaper when you add in bond and furniture, and all the hidden costs. Just the interest off the bond make it more expensive over preowned with bond paid. Plus you can really score with Fully furnished. Even if they are the same price you still have full bond commitment.

if you think the taxes are high in Lake Co. Marion Co. way higher, Plus two new builds in district 4. one by veterans clinic will probably eventually sale. I bet the one further down CR42 by railroad tracks will be slow due to the noise all hours of the night? It's pretty loud where I'm at off Lopez Golf course.

Amazes me that area got room for Assisted living complex, 17 Premium houses/lots with room for horses, but no room for Recreation center? Go figure. I sure prospected buyers will soon learn the shortage of facilities in District 3 and 4 very quickly.

Guess the kids don't have the same experience as MR. Gary Morse did, somebody said he would never build in Marion county again.

Homes etc
 

[QUOTE=Mrs. Robinson;1324968]Yeah -- just one more Villages "gotcha" Dr. Boogie. You are correct on all the counts you mention.

Just a couple of the very "unfriendly," not talked about things here in TV.
Sales agents push new vs. resales because that's what they are told to do.

Since Realtors (outside agents) are not permitted to sell new here, existing owners who want to sell will usually get better results overall from an outside Realtor/broker.

bbbbbb Good comments here.
When buying here, think of this:
Write everything down, everything and be sure it is all defined, refunds, cancellations etc. even see a Lawyer for the contract. A few bucks well spent.
Be cautious and be very careful, the name of the game here is to make money, and they do it well.
Do not count on anything being done as it was done in Lodi, that is out of the question. Here, the rules may not be rules, so be careful and do not accept a single word of anything if it is VERBAL, forget it, really. Home prices are not negotiable with the Village Sales, that should tell you something. On a resale, you can negotiate. One other item, get a good technician, have him spend 3 or 4 hours looking at everything in the home,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, EVERYTHING. And again, no verbal agreements and when you put down the money, it is spent,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, gone. Does every window, screen, door, cabinet, garage doors, sprinklers etc. etc. work right? Does home have a brass quality shutoff valve for water or one of those plastic toys called a valve?
Check it all out and do it well, do it over, sleep on it, no reason to hurry, there are plenty of places to buy, plenty!!!!

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There are designers......and then, there are designers........

As you look for a courtyard villa, you also might want to think about looking at some of the smaller designers on inside lots.

For instance, a classic, smaller Gardenia can give you a nice open 1887 sq. ft. (or slightly more) with a full 2-car garage and lots of natural light.

The front portico area of the Gardenia can be paved. Pavers in the small backyard, too, will cut down on grass to mow. Hiring mowing done for smaller inside lots is relatively inexpensive.

Even though those designers on inside lots look really close together, you might find that the way the houses are sited sometimes allows for more privacy than you might have thought possible. -- And......if you can find a designer that backs up to a courtyard villa neighborhood, you can get backyard privacy from the villa wall.

May I suggest that as you look at courtyard neighborhoods, you might want to expand your search and see what is for sale behind them. When a designer backs up to a villa wall, you don't have to have a kissing lanai or a street in your backyard -- both of which usually can be helped with landscaping though. -- btw, landscaping is just one of the reasons to go with pre-owned.

I wish you the best of luck as you search for the home you will know is yours. (Just for the record, I think pre-owned homes are often the best choice for many reasons.)

Creating a sense of urgency to buy was once an effective part of TV marketing. Buyers who were not yet retired would often feel that urgency and would buy and then rent their homes until they could be here themselves. Much of their concern was over buildout and the potential for price increases.

I have watched the TV market for more than 10 years, eventually bought, but never bought into that sense-of-urgency thing.

But now, buildout looks far away and prices are not going up so fast. Has that slowed the "buy early" part of the market? -- especially for the new market?

.

Good points
 

Good informed post especially regarding looking at a designer on an inside lot and comparing the classic designer with a two car garage to a Courtyard Villa. If you purchase a Courtyard with a two car garage and three bedrooms, you may end up paying more and overall getting less.

You can absolutely landscape out your "backdoor neighbor" in a designer on an inside lot. If you get unlucky to get next door to a "noisy" neighbor, trust me, it doesn't matter what home from a $800,000 to $250,000 you will have an unfortunate issue. A Courtyard Villa, or any other home in The Villages, cannot guarantee you "no noise". That said, the odds are in your favor for that to not happen here too.

As others have posted, taking your time and due diligence are key factors in purchasing your retirement home. The good news, there is just about "something" for everyone in The Villages.

we have a two car garage with 2 cars in it, a golf cart, and a harley, and a side by side refrigerator

If I were ever to sell my little 2 bedroom 2 bath here in Mira Mesa and go to a bigger one there would be 2 criteria that would guide me.
1. I'd never buy a place with a bond
2. I'd never buy a "new home".

There are so many selections north of 466 that are great, well maintained, and available. I had one gentleman tell me last week that when he purchased through a Villages sales agent the agent talked as if the bond was no big thing. The man said that by the time he pays it off he will have spent over $40,000 in bond and interest. For many of you who have a lot of money and don't care, it would be no big deal. But to many of us that came down here to enjoy the good life and aren't rich, it can be an issue. I've toured several of the new homes... You have to pay extra just for hardware for your kitchen cabinets. That is a bummer.

I see the bond as a non-issue. There is a cost associated with the bond, whether it is paid off or not. If it is not paid off then your annual costs will be higher because you will see the bond payment on your property tax bill. If it is paid off then your mortgage will be higher because the selling price will be higher, but you won't have the annual cost of the bond. The interest rate on a mortgage is probably less than the interest rate on the bond so there may be an advantage with it paid off. Also, the interest on the bond is not tax deductible but it will be with a mortgage on a house with a paid off bond. If the house with the bond paid off won't appraise at the higher price then that would be an issue. A cash deal is a bit different to evaluate.

You have pretty well covered things to think about when factoring in the bond, although I do not think it is always a non-issue. -- The issue often is more nuanced than that. If I may, I would like to add a few specifics...................

We own a house between 466 and 466A. The remaining bond is in the mid-teens which added around $1300 on the recent (annual) property tax bill -- though that amount is not tax-deductible, as you said. The interest rate on our mid-teens total-remaining bond amount is 4.25%.

We choose not to pay off the bond because we probably will not keep the house forever and while a paid bond might be an icing-on-the-cake selling point, I am not sure that the seller can expect always to get the pay-off amount back in the price.

When a thread on the topic of the pre-owned market appears, a potential TV buyer usually can find more information about the ins and outs of the bond than they might have already known.......

I hope potential buyers know to ask about the bond amounts. The sales website appears to list the bond simply as paid or not paid. The property tax office does not know the payoff amount. TV must be called directly for that information on pre-owned homes. But I would think agents would make that information available, though a buyer might have to ask.

The person in Virginia Trace mentioned a pool. I know from experience while this may be an attractive item for the person living there, when it comes sale time it can be difficult. I've seen one home after another sell quickly (in another popular retirement area) on all sides of a home with a pool and asked friends who owned their own brokerage for 37 years. They said pools can present a problem, especially in developments that already offer one or even more pools (like the Villages). Pools raise insurance rates significantly, raise real estate taxes, and (the brokers said) produce on going expenses that only add to home ownership. They told me if a home pool was a life long desire...go ahead, but be informed that like other specialized items, it can have a negative impact at sale time as the presence of a pool really narrows the number of potential buyers as many do not want to even be shown a house with a pool. I have noticed one home in my Villages (not V. Trace) has been for sale now for over a year, while one across the street and one two blocks down sold quite quickly after they went on the market. May be sometime to what I was told about having a pool at home ?

I will construct a simple example, where I will ignore the future value of money. A house with a $23K bond will cost about $1600/year. After 10 years you will have paid $16K and still have a bond balance of $19K. At that time if you wish to sell the house I would suspect you can ask for a price premium of more than $7K (the difference between what you paid in bond payments and what it would have cost you to pay off the bond initially). Factoring in the future value of money will change the equation but I hope you see the point.

I completely understand the math of what you are saying, biker1, but I remain of the opinion that the issue of the bond is nuanced.......

Unlike the cut-and-dried, take-it-or-leave-it, new build market, every pre-owned comes with its own story.......

If a buyer is pretty sure they will stay in the home forever, or at least long enough to recoup the return-on-investment of paying off the bond, that can work out very well.

There are others for whom paying off the bond is simply the cost of sleep because they do not want to owe anything on their house or to pay interest on a house expense that has no tax advantage. I get that.

Then there might be some who see ROI in a different way. Maybe those people are dividend investors who might own stocks that pay a relatively decent dividend. Such stocks might even be on that list known as "The Dividend Aristocrats" which means not only do those stocks pay a dividend but those companies have increased that dividend payout for at least 25 years running, thus often increasing the yield on the original investment.

And there might be some who like to put money in stocks so that they can maybe capture a gain when it is most beneficial to their individual need or want for ROI.

And then there are the bird-in-the-hand people who simply prefer to hold on to the money to spend for other things rather than tying it up in one big amount for the bond pay-off.

Well.......as much fun as I am having thinking up scenarios that create the nuances in individual decisions about whether to pay off the bond or not, I really need to get outa here.......

biker1, I think we are both right. :)

Well, I add the principal of the bond (if any) to the listed price of a house in determining its actual asking price because a bond is a lien on a house and therefore part of its cost.

Pools
 

Revisiting the OP I overlooked the pool and Ladygolfer you are correct that a swimming pool can be a "turnoff" for many looking to buy a retirement home in a retirement community. That said, a pool can also be just what someone is looking for in a home but of the universe of buyers it's a very small number. A pool may actually be a liability instead of an asset. In addition, you rarely get your orginial cost back from a pool.

Sold Gardenia for $27,000 less than listing price after 23 years ownership
 

After eight months on the market I finally sold my beautiful Gardenia for $27,000 less than listing price. Owned it for 13 years and put over $30,000 in updates. Took a real loss and would never use the Villages Agents for anything again..nothing but problems and all they want to do is sell the new homes with their huge bonds.

You are saying you boughtt Gardenia 13 years ago and put in $30k upgrades and took a big loss because of Villages sales? Lets have the numbers, what you paid and what you sold for. Finding this one hard to believe.

I agree. Can't believe that after 13 years of ownership that you lost money.

If a home isn't selling here there is a reason. Maybe it needs a coat of paint inside and out and a little staging? I have been told repeatedly that your best time to sell is the first two weeks and perhaps some folks are going for "the kill". It is wise to pay attention to recent like home sales, keeping in mind the view, the location and the age and the size. Price it fairly, most will still make quite a bit.

I don't sell houses. I am not a realtor. Just an observer.

There are three things and only three things that will sell a house . . .

Condition, Location and Price.

Price encompasses everything. When all else fails, price is king!

You forgot the most important thing. If the wife wants it you will buy it. The other things be damned

Thank you, justjim,

I just spent a little time looking at TV ads and the MLS ads for pre-owned designers. It seems like when a designer is on a corner or on a larger lot or on a golf course, the lot becomes the featured selling point.....

But there does not seem to be any acknowledgment of how well an inside lot, with a smaller designer, can work for potential buyers who do not want the hassle of a lot of yard care.

For those potential villa buyers who might not mind a relatively manageable amount of yard upkeep (which can be hired) smaller designer lots can be worth knowing about, for comparing features and overall costs.

Also, pre-owned designer streets usually have a higher percentage of year-round neighbors for those who prefer a more established neighborhood. -- Even snowbirds sometimes like the idea of somebody being around, even when they are not.

I used to watch the villa market. I looked for a long time, and from afar, convinced that a villa was what would work best for us. But then...........:)

Thank you Ria...Mission Hills is beautiful and so close to Sumpter landing but a bit out of the price range that we are looking. We purchase a CYV in Pennecamp for investment this past June and have rental lined up through until May. We're likely looking for another CYV mainly because of the ease of maintenance and also I do believe these are easier to rent than a designer.

Personally, I love the Gardenia, Lantana, and Iris floorpans and if buying for myself to occupy, I'd want the expanded lanai and birdcage but that won;t be a for a couple more years.

Good luck on your sale. I think I've sen you home listed and if it is the one I'm thinking of, it has a lot to offer!

Boomer - thanks for the incite. I've kicked around the idea of an inside designer as many of these can be had for only $20k-$25K more than the larger 3BR CYV homes and do offer more sq footage. right now, it's a numbers thing. If I was buying for myself, it's the way that I'd probably go but for buying a rental, the CYV makes more sense for us right now.

Mark

Hey Mark. Just a thought. I have done extensive research on rentals and patio villas far outweigh courtyards for rental purposes. Price, convenience, maintenance and rental income make it an attractive consideration. Just thought I'd give you something to chew on before making your next rental purchase. PM me if you want further info. Rae

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Questions About Turn-Key Sales
 

Any thoughts on whether selling turn-key narrows or expands the field of potential buyers?

Any thoughts on the idea that a turn-key house will sell faster if priced to compete directly with other houses of the same type that are not turn-key?

In case you're interested, we have a 3 bedroom, 2 bath, 3-year-old CYV in Fernandina with granite countertops and a large birdcage that we plan to list for sale in January. Let me know it you might be interested.

Turnkey houses have their pluses and minus'. There are a large number of folks that would love nothing more than showing up with a suitcase and starting their life here. There are also some number of folks looking for investment property, and a turnkey property means they can put it up for rental now. That said, if the furnishing look worn, they aren't attracting either of those groups. So to really discuss turnkey, let's assume the furnishings are in fairly new shape, like a model home.

Those looking for investments are less invested in the style of furnishings. It doesn't matter if the house is decorated in rustic, sea cottage, modern, tropical, or contemporary. Any of those styles will rent out equally well. As long as it isn't something very specific, such as a Blue and Green Norte Dame fan theme, people won't shy away.

However, if when you look at the group of folks looking for their own home for either seasonal or year round, even nice furniture can be a turn off. If the couple have their heart set on a beach cottage home, and the furnishings are mid-century modern, they might give pause, even if the bones of the house are perfect for them. If they have to replace the furnishings, and empty version of the same house might be more appealing. However, if the house is priced the same as an empty house, you won't be losing the folks that need to refurnish the house, and you will be gaining those that love the decor that is there.

If a family finds a house where the furnishings are perfect, but they will have to move the furniture to redo floors or take popcorn off ceilings, or make even larger fixes, then an empty house might have an advantage. It depends how in love they are with the furniture.

You might want to add the Lily to your list. Usually wider lot, all bedrooms are spacious. It's like the Lantana (or Iris with bigger bedrooms) and the 2nd bedroom in the front of the house 12x16 makes a great TV room so your LR doesn't have to be dominated by the TV.

We recently bought a new home in Osceola Hills because we liked the fringe location.

When we looked at a map of The Villages, we saw a lot of houses east of Buena Vista and thought how hard it must be for all of those people to get out. We went to the Lake Miona rec center a few days ago and the traffic congestion there was terrible, at least by our standards.