Buying a home.
 

Hello People.
I will be a retired history teacher.
my wife and I paid a visit last year and we are thinking of buying a home.
She likes the "Court yard Villas"..
Any thing we should look out for before we buy?

Rex

Rex, Welcome to TOTV. Keep reading TOTV and post questions and you will learn a lot about TV. Do you and your wife want to buy a new CYV (courtyard villa) or a resale? Read up about bonds on TOTV if you want to buy new construction. Resale CYV's will have a lower bond balance than new construction, or no bond balance left as the previous owner has paid off the bond. If you want to see the greatest number of home for sale, you will have to get both a TV sales rep. and a MLS realtor/real estate agent as they don't share listings. You may want to consider renting in a village or two before you buy to see what location you would like to be in. I'm sure TV veterans will post suggestions and feedback for you. Good luck to you and your wife. :welcome:

Rent first and get a feel for the Villages.

Advice
 

First welcome to TOTV! You will get a lot of great advice here.
Mine is:
Keep your checkbook handy.:welcome:;)

WELCOME--yes do have that checkbook ready. We bought less then 48 hours after we got there on a first time visit and we bought a beautiful new Anna Maria CYV. The dogs own us and so we really wanted a fence for both their safety and no one wants me see me first thing in the morning out on the lania drinking coffee. There have been lots of posts about using those underground fences for dogs, but while they may keep your dogs in, they don't keep anything out..I did see a dog running in the streets and some folks have posted about seeing coyotes. SO, if you have 4 legged kids, do consider that. A lot of these wonderful folks here disagree with me about the underground fences, so I just wanted to mention the drawnbacks.

CYV are wonderful in our opinion. The only drawback would be the curved driveway. We have only one car...a town and country van and it is tricky to get out of the garage and onto the street withou running over about 3 inches of our neighbors lawn. I was worried about that, but hubby, ever the practical one, said that it looked like most people were doing the same thing and it was real likely our neighbor will do the same thing to his neighbor and the other one will do it to us and I would not care one bit.

Rex:

First of all, :welcome:to TOTV.

If you haven't done so already, I would suggest you read the "Nuts and Bolts'
section as it provides a lot of useful information.

Every village is a good place to live. You have to decide new vs pre-owned.

Both have their advantages. Renting for a while is a good idea.

Best wishes.

Thank you
 

Thanks folks.
We will be heading out for a look see this summer.
If we like it and the wife does : ) we may well settle in.

Take care
Rex

Cyv
 

We went to an open house at a resale CYV in Briar Meadow 2 weeks ago. It was beautiful!! They had some exceptional upgrades. We orginally thought we wanted a CYV, but ended up buying a ranch. This is the only place I have seen since that I mighted have traded for! Good luck and enjoy the process!!

Kind of overwhelming
 

It is good advice to rent before you buy...even for a month.

We had visited about twice a year for the previous four years to visit my husband's cousin.

We came down over Christmas vacation 2009 to look and possibly buy. I spent hours researching places that I wanted to see. Spent two days with The Villages real estate sales agent. It is overwhelming!!! Husbands are not as thrilled to be dragged along. I wish I had brought my girlfriend along and scoped out the places first.

We ended up purchasing a place before we spent time with the outside agent. It was a wonderful neighborhood in Hemingway. However, I was never satisfied with the small one car plus golf cart garage on the cottage home. (We had looked at a villa, but I grew up on a farm and my last house was on 3/4 acre with a creek behind it...so I wasn't used to the cooped up feeling I got when we were on the Lifestyle visit the previous July. Also my husband kept running over the neighbors bushes on the curved driveway).

We wish we had listened to the advice to purchase a pre-loved home with lower or no bond, and all of the amenities already added (gutters, blinds, attic stairs, garage door opener, etc.).

We ended up buying a home in Bonita (another new one because I wanted a Jasmine) and we love it and the neighborhood....even with having to go through the whole process again of adding the items not provided.

All neighborhoods are great and every person finds the piece of heaven that they love...just take the time to make sure it's what you are seeking! Good luck hunting!! We know you will love it.

;)

My husband and I are planning to move to tv as soon as we have sold our home in the Chicagoland area.

I remember reading about a formula to gauge the amount of money you would need to live in tv. I sure wissh I could remember what it was. Does anyone have any idea about this>

Thanks, Judy

Rent before you buy is good advice, but, I offer a corollary to that. Don't lock yourself up in too long a rental that you can't get out of. I know of several people that did 6 month or 1 year rentals only to find the perfect house to purchase within the first month or so. Then, they were either stuck with multiple payments or having to negotiate an early exit payment on their lease.

Look in the Nuts and Bolts section at the bottom of TOTV. I think that will help.

Make sure you use a Realtor as well as a Villages Sales Person. You owe it to yourself to see everything there is available before you make up your mind.

We really think we want a courtyard also. We have cavachons. But I am also worried that after having a wonderful view, I may regret my choice. I stayed a week in a patio villa and loved sitting on the lanai looking up and down the road. I am a people person. We will rent before we buy, as I have heard this message for many years , prior to my husbands early retirement. Good Luck. Everyone at TV is so helpful. This site has been awesome too ! :agree:

Hi grr rex,
Welcome! Here is a link to the must-read Nuts and Bolts other posters have mentioned.

All best wishes in finding your dream house here.

Some of the CYVs also have views. I know the villas behind our home have beautiful views and the folks there are very social.

Judy, This was posted by ZCaveman, In Nuts & Bolts of The Villages Part 1,
Living Costs. Hope it helps. By the way, there have been many people from Illinois posting on TOTV in the past few months that they are planning on moving to TV within the next few months or within a year. By this time next year I should have the roads to myself.

Living Costs
There are a number of posts out in TOTV requesting the monthly costs for living in TV. The numbers vary between full time residents and part time residents. I am a full time resident with a 3 bedroom ranch on a base lot. Some of the numbers are close to mine. Some are from some of the other posts. This is an attempt to try and put them in one place. Remember, as with many of the other items in this post, this is just an estimate. Actual numbers will depend on your life style and size of residence. The numbers are monthly except where noted.

Water/Sewer (depends on size of yard) $40-80
Garbage $16.92
Electric $80-225* - annual average $165 (added 3/22/2011)
Gas $23-80* - annual average $42 (added 3/22/2011)
Telephone (CenturyLink – landline/Full service/ No LD) $46
Telephone (AT&T – Cell phone) $35
Cable (Premium/Digital – No HBO, etc) $93.85 (Comcast) Updated 3/22/2011)
Internet (broadband) $50.95 (Comcast) Updated 3/22/2011)
Amenity Fee $135 (as of this writing)
Property Taxes $200-400 ***
Homeowners Insurance $600 and up per year
Automobile Insurance $500 and up per year
Golf Cart Trail Fees $142 per year
Lawn Care (mow and edge) $45-80 (depends on size of yard)
Weeding/shrub trimming $50 (depends on # of shrubs)
Daily Sun $48 per year
Orlando Sentinel (optional) $28 (13 weeks)
Dining out (for 2 – no liquor):
Lunch $25-35
Dinner $25-$$$

* This is an average. Electric will be higher in the summer and lower in the winter. Gas will be higher in the winter and lower in the summer.
** Cell phone costs should be about the same as you are paying now. It depends on the plan.
*** Florida resident with Homestead Exemption. No bond. This depends on the appraised value of your home. You can get the millage rate from the county appraiser. In 2007, this included the non-Ad Valorem (CDD4 ($371) / fire ($120) / water/waste ($68) charges.* If you have a bond, it will be included in your taxes. It is a 30 year bond at 6 or 7%.* You will have to calculate that number yourself.
**** Some insurance companies have monthly payment options.

Good luck in your upcoming move.

Judy:

This was posted by DickY on 12/2/10.

My Patio Villa, 1190SF costs run (costs rounded up)
Taxes with homestead $2200 annual (includes bond)
Home owners Ins $ 690 annual
Pest control, lawn fertilize $500 annual
Newspaper Subscription $53 annual
Amenity, sewer, water, trash $ 200 monthly, $ 2400 annual
Cable, phone $150 monthly $1800 annual
Lawn mowing $40 monthly $480 annual
Electricity $90 monthly average $1080 annual
Powerwash siding $45 annual

The formula can be found by going to wwwthevillages.com and at the bottom left there should be an icon that you can click on that gives you basic expenses.

I hope this helps.

How can you have a view if there are walls all around? Are you talking about the ones where there is a low nonsolid fence around the front or are there CYV with lanais in the front? Personally, I like the privacy the walls afford, as well as keeping the furry kids safe.