Stonecrest resales vs TV
 

Seems to me that sales are slow in Stonecrest, i've been watching a few nice ones that have been on Zillow for over 200 days. I'm looking in the 210,000 price range for 1700 sq feet less than 12 years old. Is there something wrong with stonecrest? It seems like the homes and lots are much larger than in TV. I dont know, are resales slow in The Villages too ? Thanks Bill

Yep really slowing down - you would be wise to wait a while longer, much better deals predicted on the horizon.

Very different developments.............difficult to compare.........TV's are selling hundreds every month.

Money continues to be cheap.

The oldest phrase in real estate, Location, Location, Location.

If you can't live in The Villages, why live nearby. For the same prices as Stonecrest or even less, go buy a resale within 5 miles of the Gulf, with a golf course and country club, with a real gated entrance and less than a hour from Tampa or St. Petersburg. It's only about an hour and 15 minutes from TV.

Heritage Pines - Home Page

Inventory is low right now, I only count 13 homes for sale. Here's a 3BR 2 BA, 1862 SF, 2 car, sold new in 2003 for $168K, now on the market by realtor for $194,900. Heritage Pines in Pasco County, near Tarpon Springs, Dunedin, Clearwater and some of the best beaches in the world.

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Another great place is Viera.

A big difference among all these 55+ communities may be the lifestyle and amenities. Other than these, they are pretty much the same except for the locations such as the beach, etc.

As a general comment I think the resale of newer homes can take a long time. The reason is for maybe a little more money you can buy a new home.
I would think since 12 years old is ok your might find some bargains from people moving North or estate sales. I would not think the problem is the quality of the home. However the amenities' could influence the price. If you can rent in the community so you can see if it meets your needs.

First question to answer; "What do you want out of the location?" I moved to StoneCrest in 2004 and have been happy. I wanted to be on a Golf Course with no one behind me. Could not afford it in the Villages so I bought on the Golf Course in StoneCrest. I have direct access to WalMart out a side gate by Golf Cart. Access to pools, Fitness Gym, etc. Access to enough places to eat on the East Side of 441 via Golf Cart. If I were to buy in the Villages now I would be looking for something in the Historic Side. The Villages are very nice just depends on what you want out of the area.

Just this afternoon I talked to a man and his wife who has lived five years in Stonecrest and likes it very much. There is nothing wrong with Stonecrest or The Villages or Viera or The Plantation at Leesburg or Top of the World in Ocala or any number of Adult Communities in Florida. By now you see my point. Houses in Adult,Communities cost more or less according to amenities, location, quality, size and lifestyle.

We have owned property in The Villages since March 2006. We like The Villages just like the couple I met this afternoon, who is a friend of a friend, likes the Stonecrest community. About sales----The Villages has always sold faster and more homes in a month than Stonecrest sells in a year or maybe two or three. In my considered opinion it's not about the houses it's about the lifestyle.

When talking about homes selling in the villages vs stonecrest you really can't compare because of the enormous size of the villages vs. stonecrest. We all know the difference between the two and that is the opportunity to enjoy golfing for less and all the activities and rec centers available to you, besides the beauty of it all.

There is no comparison between the two in my opinion.

Apparently that opinion is shared by over 100,000 others. Mostly in the last ten years.

May is a prime month for people to decide to buy here.

I think that any Villages home that does not sell quickly. (a month) is not presented well, crowded, dirty, may smell, or is overpriced.

I don't sell Real Estate, never have, but keep my fingers on the pulse of local Real Estate because I find it very interesting.

There are approximately ten thousand baby boomers retiring every day and that will continue for the next 18 years.

Bingo, we looked at stonecrest and you get much more bang for the buck in your house. However the lifestyle was far less for what we wanted. I've said it before, TV is way overpriced for what you get in the physical structure of your house. You pay for the amenities which are better than any other community we could afford. I am thankful that the developer created a community where we could live this life. Don't for a second however think it was for altruistic motives. If Gary Morse could have sold his homes at twice the price and still had the level of sales he did he would have done it.

Well, so would you or me, if we had the great idea, great planning, and absolute genius to do it. He risked his own money again and again and old Mr. Schwartz, his dad, was the originator, the one that started it with a partner with the manufactured homes, but Gary was the one with vision and planning and he could have given us much less. All anyone needs do is look at the décor and the quality of interior design and the furniture at any rec center.

They did it without Federal money or grants and they sold their new homes to people who paid for them entirely or only with conventional mortgages.

I am a huge fan of what they did and they could have stopped and lived with all the money they needed, but continue to build and employ a boat load of people. I love free enterprise. Go Capitalism.

Thank you Morse Family.

The long standing real estate adage is of course location, location, location. People will pay significantly more for one of two houses situated across the street from one another if it lies within the superior school district. The Villages vs. Stonecrest is analogous if instead of the relative merits of school systems one considers the relative merits of the amenities.

Hi capecoralbill,

It takes a little more delving into things to determine the days-on-market for houses listed with the VLS. With Zillow and with some of the local MLS sites, the DOM is clearly listed.

On the "Search Homes" section of The Villages site, following the assigned listing numbers can give you a general idea of the time a home has spent being for sale.

But what you must keep in mind when following the VLS listing numbers is that the inventory is constantly changing. TV might add 100 listings, or more, over a two week period, which will obviously bump those listing numbers along, even though a home might not have been on the market for very long.

If you have not already spent much time on The Villages site, may I suggest you do that because that site will allow you to filter your search quite effectively in order to find what you are looking for. You can then follow listings that interest you and pick up on the rhythm of how the sales go.

As far as comparing Stonecrest and TV, I don't think one is superior to the other. The two communities are paced very differently. I think it simply depends on what you want.

TV is so big that it does not appeal to everyone. During the high season, it can be difficult to get to do things you might want to do. But I do think the momentum of the size of the place also can be a positive in terms of owning a home here.

I have watched the market in TV since the turn of the century, and while I think the heyday is behind us, houses will continue to sell. I think the VLS always does a 6 month listing, but if a home is not getting much activity, the agent and the seller need to get together and figure out why.

I don't know if there are rentals available in Stonecrest like there are in TV. If so, and if you have not yet done so, it might be a good idea to give each community a try and see what feels right for you--especially if you plan to make it your year-round home.

(Speaking of TV agents, I recently stumbled across a part of the TV website that is titled "Meet Our Team." It's the whole list of all those agents, along with their pictures and contact info, and very nice introductory bios.)

...........I just love to talk about real estate so please forgive me if I told you a bunch of stuff you already knew. :)

Well said. Your right TV and Stonecrest are their own entities. They each have amenities and their pros and Cons. It just depends on the buyer and what they want. There are rentals in Stonecrest. Gary and now his son have done a nice job in their development of TV. Gary was a real savvy business man. He basically developed TV on other peoples money. Now that Gary has left us his son and family will carry on. They have a great business going. I believe the only thing that will stop the expansion of TV is the Gulf of Mexico. Stonecrest is just about built out and will end up with about 2400 homes. They are currently looking at expanding some of the amenities like the community center and the fitness center. Whether you live in TV, Stoncrest, Spruce Creek South, Spruce Creek Del Web, Central Florida is just a great place to live.

I never wanted to live in Florida....
 

Stonecrest did not change my mind but The Villages did! it's as simple as that.

Amenities aside, construction quality is far superior in TV then it is at Stonecrest.

How did you come to that conclusion? I've been in both and never saw a real difference. They are cookie cutter houses no matter where you purchase. Both built way to quickly. The concrete slabs poured down here are not cured at all when they start to build on them. The construction standards for wind mitigation are set by the state and very strictly enforced.

One of the things is that the Stucco homes in Stonecrest are stuccoed OVER wood frames.

They both may be built quickly but the homes built in The Villages are built expertly. They have teams that ONLY do

House placement.
Footers and concrete.
Picking and carrying components
Rough framing
Fine framing.
Electrical.
Plumbing.
Window placements
Etc.
Etc.
There was even a team of mostly women who sealed every surface at the end, inside and outside. Along all baseboards etc.

The teams were scheduled in such a manner as to continue working each day, doing the job that they know well.

Both of the head builders of both of our homes had been with the Morses since Gary arrived from Michigan. They don't tolerate anything from their subs they don't like.

We have built a total of six homes in our lives or bought new to total ten homes. We did have ONE used home.

We have had more elaborate homes but none that were built better. They have building planned out to a science.

That didn't keep them from tearing out the tile in the kitchen on the order of the builder. (We really didn't see a flaw, but he wasn't satisfied with it.)

They know what they are doing. Buy in bulk, and have it carefully planned.

Attention to detail is quite evident the closer one gets to each developers houses. Obviously both meet code standards but that's where the quality begins to deviate apart. My wife and I toured Stonecrest and at each house we visited I'd be getting the elbow for pointing out defects in not so quiet a tone. I am extremely detail oriented and see what others can not. TV houses meet my criteria for quality, Stonecrest does not.

Yes some of the homes are stucco over wood. While I'm not a fan of it, built my home with block, there is nothing wrong technically with stucco over frame. Whether the home is frame or block its is still built to Hurricane standards. I based my choice as to what I saw built on the commercial side and what you see is block. The oldest house in Florida is wood. Actually the teams you mentioned are the same for any builder. TV does not have the corner on good contractors. The current builder here likes using stucco over frame but will build with block if you so choose too. I have a friend that does remodeling in the Villages and I hear the stories about what he finds. TV does do a nice job but not any better then a quality builder should. TV does stand behind what they build but has some very tight time lines required from their builders. The bottom line is as a consumer its up to you to do your do diligence and make sure the builder does the right thing. Trust but verify. Once the walls are up you can't tell what the construction is like until you take it apart. I built 12 years ago when you could customize your construction. You also needed to do an inspection at different phases of he build. Having had built several custom homes over the years it was not my first rodeo. My builder unfortunately was a casualty of the down turn. Armstrong has been building in the area for a long time. He's just about finished here. Like most builders, even TV, are putting their home on minimum set backs. They pack them in like sardines. Fortunately I built before they were trying to get 3 homes where there should be two. The Villages does a very nice job, but the additional $100K for the same style home does compute with me. I'm glad I bought here when I did. I also like this end of the Villages better. It is closer to infrastructure. Stonecrest is unique as WalMart is right next door. You will not find shopping that close to any village. I also have the other advantage as this is an actual gated community. If the front gate does not like who wants to come in they can tell them to turn around and go home. It all depends what you are looking for in a community. I have less traffic here and all the amenities I can use. House has been through a few hurricanes and still standing. Good luck where ever you land.

i am sorry but Walmart right next door is not a feature it is a detriment :oops:

Why would you not want shopping right next to you? Walmart is my pantry. Its not like Walmart can get into Stonecrest. Lowes is just a short golf cart ride away, along with Doctors and about 5 restaurants. Aldis is right next to Walmart. I'm no more then 5 minutes from grocery, hardware, restaurant, shopping (Belles), and Doctors. I put gas in the gar once per month. The only reason I use the gasoline is because I need to drive to Leesburg Airport where I fly.

The Florida Communities of Excellence Awards >> 2015 winners

Evening Flight Over Stonecrest October 5 2014 - YouTube

Thankyou everyone for your input. I do not take advantage of all that the Villages offers. So I think I'll go to Stonecrest. Thank you all,
Bill
PS I shop at Walmart, no issues!

Our "Lantana" house is stucco over block, except for stucco over wood on the garage and golf cart garage gables. The stucco over wood failed when the house was eight years old and had to be torn out and redone at our expense. The builder said our failing to have the house repainted when it was five years old caused the problem.

After the repairs, we hired Steve Kling to repaint the house. Sherwin-Wms guaranteed the paint for 25 years, so one wonders what quality of paint the builder uses.

More problems seem to be coming to the surface. Is there a quality problem with the builder ? Perhaps meeting code is not good enough.

According to Holmes on Homes meeting code is merely meeting the minimum required. To me that is like getting a D in school, just one step above an F. It is enough to get by but no more.

Homes age. I was built from good stuff and things are falling off of me now.

Code is good enough to pass inspection and to sell a house. Stuff happens. Many of you aren't realists.

We have always bought new homes. Building a new home or buying a new home is not a greater price like buying a new car. Then you have longer for it to age.

This is done by many Hollywood stars and famous people. They get new mates all of the time, many of them with little age on them.

Yea I tried this once and my Mrs. said go ahead and you'll be living in a new house too.

Well you have some sound advice on your question. In particular from....

A) graciegirl......" Ladies First "

B) JohnW

C) RickyD

I will add to their comments: The one item that wasn't mentioned is Stonecrest HOA/POA..and their " Reserve Fund " that they have. I would strongly advise you to check that out. Extremely important especially long term.

I do know that they they were having problems with the developer with regards to turning over control of the development to the residents. I believe Leland management is now managing the community.

In the past Stonecrest has had multiple builders right now " Armstrong " is the builder.

Walk around the neighborhoods, the Community center, ask various residents questions.

Now comparing the Villages vs Stonecrest honestly there is no comparison...it simply is Lifestyle ( Villages) many, many choices with your free time...Stonecrest ( Retirement Community ) Gated, with Limited Choices with your free time...as for the Shopping, Restaurants, etc. as mentioned by some postings.

The Villages has dozens most are Golf Cart accessible. I could go on but I type with two fingers and loads of information is available by simply using " google " .

Lastly it really is Stonecrest vs Del Webb, On Top of The World (Ocala ) etc. etc. The Villages is unique, The Morse Family have done an amazing job and have made hundreds very happy...they even have a Charter School...with an truly amazing success rate.

When I built I looked at it this way. Block will not rot. Still has to be painted and sealed properly. Its simple things down here in Florida that can cause a problem. I had a section of my front door jam become rotted. The reason, there was a small hole in the lower corner where the door did not seal properly. The cold inside air was meeting with the warm humid air from outdoors. It created condensation right there on the jam by the hole. In about 5 years it rotted a small section of the door jam. Simple little hole to the outside in the wrong place and I had a repair to do. Two ways to fix this without replacing the entire frame. Cut the section out and replace with new wood, or, clean out all the rotted wood and use Bondo to fix it. I used the Bondo. This way it will never rot again. In Florida you just have to continually look for problems and get to it early. When I built I also use steel studs instead of wood. Termites can't chew steel.

Saw some items about Stonecrest: (I live Here so I am Biased but the below are just the facts)

1) The developer is gone and done. The community is run by the residents.
2) The Reserve Fund is over $2 Million and getting larger.
3) The last builder will be Armstrong (Once he's done its done).
4) Amenity fees are $108 per Month For those fees you get 3 outdoor pools and one indoor pool, A Jacuzzi (Which is being replaced with a larger one in the future, Tennis Courts, Two different Pickle Ball Courts (One is Lighted), There is a gym with equipment which is going to be expanded, Soft Ball Field, Dog Park, Shuffle Board Courts (Lighted), Bocci Ball, Horse Shoe bits, Stocked Bass Pond for fishing (Catch and Release). There are a number of social clubs.
5) Two Golf Courses on sight (Privately Owned) one is a 9 hole short course. Many of the Villagers come here to play. It also has a Country Club Associated with it and Restaurant.
6) We elect a board of directors to run the place every year. We have been very fortunate as there are many ex-business owners on the board who have experience in the areas we need, like road maintenance, building maintenance etc.
7) Day to Day Operations are run by Leeland Management.
8) We have two private gates directly into Walmart. You can then get to Aldi, Belles, Lowes, Doctors Offices, about 4 places to eat, and if you buy a street legal golf cart you can get to everything at Spanish Springs and beyond.
9) We are a gated community. We pay for everything inside the gates and is why they have control on who can and cannot access the facility.
10) If I were to build again I would again build with block. If you look at the commercial buildings being done in the area, they are block. There is only one thing I see being done in the area that I like better. I see the Villages are now pouring the walls with concrete. I think that would be superior to block.

I've heard all about the life style for years. The bottom line is Life Style is up to you. Life is what you make of it and has nothing to do with a developer.

Let's cut to the chase - there is only two reasons to live around here:

1. Piggyback on The Villages lifestyle without paying the bucks
2. You have friends or relatives nearby

If not 1 or 2 explain what in this area has attracted you here

So explain what is the Villages Life Style?

There is no question that homes in Stonecrest are going to be cheaper than the same type of home in The Villages. And yes, the Villages has more activities to offer. But you need to ask yourself, are you going to participate in those activities? If all you do is play golf, and mah jong, and take walks in the morning, you'll be paying a huge price to live in The Villages which offers so much more, than you would in another development such as Stone Crest. And the other thing to consider is that the Villages is huge, keeps growing, and traffic is just horrible in the snow bird season. You won't encounter that in a smaller development like Stonecrest.

The close proximity to infrastructure is a blessing but in the peak season 441/27 traffic is really heavy. Another community people forget about is Spruce Creek South. Now the homes in there are all frame. They have access via Golf Cart to everything Stonecrest does since the addition of the Golf Cart Crossing there at the light. If your only going to be a Snow Bird putting $400K to $500K in a house you will use for at most 4 months is not a good use of Capital, my opinion. Florida has so much to offer that people forget there is more going on then what is in your little community. I came to get out of the cold and found that living in the Center of Florida is one of my better choices in life.

I also hear this a lot and am curious as to what this special lifestyle consists of that is on every advertising piece put out by TV.

Its extremely good marketing.

I respect the OP's decision to move to Stonecrest but I would say he will be spending time in TV going to events that Stonecrest doesn't have, i.e. the night life.

More house for the money and some people like a sedate lifestyle but I see Stonecrester's here in TV for it's restaurants, entertainment shows, etc........

Some people like to have their cake and eat it too!