Back to buy
 

We are back on Tuesday to buy a property. Although we would prefer a new furnished Patio Villa, it seems they turn over quickly and we hope there is one in our price range available on Tuesday. The alternative of course is an unfurnished property, but we have limited time in Florida this time around (2 weeks) so furnished is our preferred route. Our budget is $150,000 including all furnishings.
For those who have bought a new patio villa and bought their own furnishings, what is the typical cost for a 2/2 villa for all furnishings, small appliances, linens etc? Is there a service company locally that can receive and set-up furnishings for new owners, if they can't return immediately for closing on the property?

If you buy from Southern Lifestyles, I have heard they will deliver and sit up your furniture. BUT it would be less expensive and just as much fun to furnish your home from one of the terrific resale shops here.

Are you in a hurry because you want to live in it, or rent it?

Many of us have " camped" in our bare homes with an air mattress and a card table and chairs and went about furnishing this second home in a few weeks...or months, or on each visit.... and found it kinda fun.

Either way, good luck and welcome.

There are many people who do all kinds of tasks for pay here from moving heavy furniture to unpacking. If you ask for specific things they will send you PMs.

Hi Murray,
There is a patio villa in Rio Ponderosa, fully furnished. Think they are asking 134,000. It is on Lozano Ave. Another one a block over just went for 138,000 fully furnished.

Go to www.thevillages.com to see the homes.

BTW - I am not the sales agent. This site is for prospective buyers.

I agree. I just went and typed in Rio Ponderosa under village and there are several. One unfurnished is listed at 118K. Let's see if I can link the one on the preserve, furnished, but it says PENDING. It looked lovely. Furnished WITH a golf cart,134K.

I don't sell houses or work for anyone.



Properties of The Villages

Also, by buying a resell in an area such as Rio Ponderosa, or any area north of 466, you will save a lot because the bonds are usually paid off or have little balance remaining.

try Focus on The Villages and you can search all villas in the MLS. Villas that cannot be shown or sold by the villages sales reps. Good luck.
We had good luck with that website.

Not including the house...Furniture, pots pans, towels everything $10872.27 I did buy from southern lifestyles, Tvs $700.00 and Lanai furniture $500. golf cart $6000.00. I had four days total to furnish our patio villa and two days of it was drive time of 18 hours each way. Arrived at 8am started shopping at 10, finished at 9pm...put away things i bought waited next day for all deliverys, and out the door next day at 4am...When i shop i know in my head what i want and where i am going to buy, and a list of everything i needed.....so it can be done

We are in the final stages of what you are doing. Bought new patio home three weeks ago in Fernandina (missed the furnished one). Furniture for all rooms, kitchen utensils, bedding, washer dryer, fans, lamps, television, wall decors will end up at about $16,000. We went. To Showcase Direct for the furniture, mattress firm for the mattresses, best buy for the television, Kohls ect. For the rest. Did most of it in two days, but we need to wait for closing a week from Monday to have delivered. Fun to furnish a house in two days!

Our Villages Agent is going to show us some pre-owned homes as well as new.

As we only have a short (18 day) visit this time, we know there would not be enough time to close a purchase and furnish a property in that short window.

We are going to rent it over the summer and early fall as we won't be moving down for the winter until December 2013- April 2014.

My wife retires in November, so we want to have the home bought now and not in December, so we can move right inwhen we arrive in December.

With buying a furnished home, it would mean we don't need to be here for closing and I beleive the Villages Rentals people will make sure everything is ready to go for rentals, after closing.

I am now completely and totally in awe of you. I always thought you were ONE SMART COOKIE...or three smart cookies. But now I know.

You go girl! WOW!:clap2::MOJE_whot::thumbup::highfive:

We only had seven days and are closing by mail. We will be part timers but figure we won't rent it until beginning in December. We will be back for a week the end of march then two weeks April/May then two weeks in November. It will be ready by December first to rent. We will keep January for ourselves.

I have been looking at whole home packages for two bedroom homes and even though they start in the $8,000 range, I think for better quality we would realisitcally be in the $12,000-16,000 range as well.

We realize that if we get a pre-owned unfurnished property in the mid-$130,000's with the cost of furnishing it would be about the same cost as a new furnished home.

So, looking at the cost of a new patio villa at $143,000, a fully furnished home for $149,000 seems to be a real bargain, with only $6,000 added to pay for furnishings! Or am I missing something?

We did overspend on the mattresses ($4000+) but those are the places that you may wish you had a choice. Just a thought.

Yes these were pricey. We bought three queen mattress sets from Sears here in Canada five years back, for a total of $3,000 and we have been more than satisfied with them in terms of quality and comfort.

However these are pillow top mattresses and having recently slept on memory foam top mattresses, we think that they are now the way to go.

We are spending two days at the Villages on Tuesday - Wednesday and should we opt for a pre-owned property we will use the Wednesday to look at furnishings.

When we set up our condo in Kissimmee two years ago, it was already furnished, but we replaced all linens and towels. Those alone cost well over $1,000

You still need kitchen. ..bath...tv and some lanai...and golf cart. About 2 to 3 thousand for that and linens cleaning snd stuff

Just one more question. Should we elect to buy a pre-owned furnished property, how quickly is it possible to close on a cash purchase? Could it happen in 2 weeks or less? We have had a three week closing in the past.
I realise not all closings are the same, but as it is being handled through Villages sales, on a Villages property, I assume all of the history is well known.

A resale is not the same as new. The sellers may have a closing date in mind.

I know this because I am an avid fan of House Hunters on HGTV.

Does anyone know if Southern Lifestyles and Showcase direct have "package deals" that can be chosen to furnish your entire home.

I have checked out some companies:

Hudson's Vacation Interiors | Turnkey Furniture Packages | Complete Condo Furnishing | Florida Villa Furnishings | Rental Property Furniture Packages in Altamonte Springs. They quote $12,000 for a complete two bedroom 2 bathroom turnkey

Furniture packages - Florida. in Kissimmee. They only show a 3 bedroom for $13,000 but they will quote on a 2 bedroom, probably $2,000 less

Florida Furniture Packages in Championsgate no prices on the web site

Welcome to Florida Home Furnishings in Orlando. They have 3 bedroom packages starting at $14,000 so 2 bedroom should be $2,000 less

RE: Service company to furnish new home in the Villages:

I recently furnished a home in the Villages with gently used furnishing from listings on TOTV, estate sales, and consignment shops in the area. But before choosing that route I checked out other options.

One company, Furniture Packages USA http://www.furniturepackagesusa.com/designideas.php says they can handle all the details to furnish a home (new furnishings) in the Villages if the homeowner is not able to be there. They have a web site with furniture links, and supposenly all can be done online/phone. When I called to find out about their services I was told that you pick out what you want- and they can paint, deliver and even put artwork on the walls for you. I do not know anything about their quality or reputation, as I decided to take some time and do it myself, so this is NOT an recommendation. It is just being offered to give you an option to check out if this type of service is what you are looking for. Good Luck.

Thanks for your responses. We will have to decide if it is worth bringing our furniture(I would rather not)buy new or gently loved.

In January 2013 hubby and I spent 2 hours at Target to scan all the other items needed for a furnished, not turnkey home. Bedding (1 king and 1 queen), towels, all kitchen items including small appliances totaled $1,620.

Simple answer: Yes.

They are generally very reasonable in their prices. We chose to furnish our CYV on our own. Purchased 95% of the furnishing from Southern Lifestyles. They delivered it for free and set it all up. They gave us a list of what is required for rentals as far as the other stuff goes. We had the time and purchased it all after got down here.

Unless you can't help yourself, DO NOT PAY TO HAVE FURNITURE SHIPPED DOWN HERE. You can furnish any home for about the same price as shipping -- maybe even less.

Roomstogo.com is a good resource to check out moderately priced furniture. Their ad says "order it online today and have it delivered tomorrow", and they are constantly having sales. The closest store is in Ocala.

Back to buy, is now Bought!
 

We have bought! Closing tomorrow on 3063 Nutwood Ave in Pinellas at Cedar Grove (Perdido Villas)
This is a furnished Patio Villa 2/2. As for the extras, we are going to be close to $3,000. $850.00 for washer and dryer. $650.00 for 3 TV's (1x39" and 2x24") and dvd player all linens, kitchen tools, pots pans etc are about $1,200.
Patio set $300.

This moved a lot faster than we anticipated, which is great as we get to stay in our new place for a few days before heading back north to the snow arrrgh!

My wife retires at the end if December, then we head back for the winter, January until end of April. But we will have some family usage in the meantime. As well we will be renting it out until the end of December.

Do all of the rental management companies have the same strict and expensive
contracts as The Villages Hometown Properties? We really don't want to have to pay 20% of rental cost to stay in our own property, especially In January through April ($550 a month)

Where is your summer address?