And so the journey begins
 

Hi everyone. I am JoAnn and my husband is Dale. Well after 2 trips to the Villages and what seems like months of fixing and sprucing up our current home we are now ready to go. The for sale sign is up today and we will now go through the joy of showing after showing in hopes that it doesn't take too long for the next owner of our home to find us. We are so excited after talking about it for over a year and a half. I have been quietly lurking on TOTV for a while now and now the floodgates will open. I will have so many questions but from what I have seen there are a great bunch of people on TOTV that will be able to answer my questions and give us their opinions which we will value. One step closer to being a Villager just a few more steps to go. Wish us luck! :MOJE_whot:

The process of moving is one I've found very difficult. If I can help pm me at kittygilchrist. Empathically,
Kitty

May all that you desire come to pass!
Imagine your house with a SOLD sign and see yourself doing the happy dance!
:pepper2:
It worked for us!

Good luck on the sale of your home!

I just went through the process and it's awful showing the house time after time to strangers BUT.........when someone makes a decent offer you can hear the angels singing. I too waited about a year before making the leap to TV. I close on my house in Orlando on 5/31 and on my house in TV on 6/3 with the mover showing up on 6/5. PACKING IS HELL !!!! Good luck to you and hope your house sells painlessly.

Yes Uptown Girl - I am going to go to bed every night with visions of a SOLD sign. I'll do the happy dance, the rain dance or whatever dance I need to do to make it come true. I am on a mission. Thx for the good wishes.

Kittygilchrist - Happy it is in the past for you.:)

Thank you stuckinparadise. We hope to be stuck there soon too:pray:

You're almost there DianeM. I guess that means you wouldn't want to come and help me pack...just kidding. Trying to methodically get ready for it but I am sure it will become a race at the end. Just keep the Villages Home Town song playing while you are packing and think happy thoughts!

hi Whimsey!
One advise :
Getting rid of stuff is hard, but liberating.
Gift, donate, sell cheap.
You do not want to crowd a gorgeous new home w old things. They will drag you down.
Good luck w your move!

It was hard thinking of the end goal as I sweat in my garage this afternoon weeding out all the stuff I moved from NY that I THOUGHT that I needed. (SIGH). Start now if you can. I'm nervous and excited. I'm afraid I'll pass on the packing for now but maybe with the unpacking........

dream of SOLD sign for me, too. Just had a go round with someone who made a ridiculous offer....I tried to compromise but finally told my agent to diplomatically rephrase my answer which was an expletive. so the showings continue....

good luck in the sale of your home!! Once we came South we never looked back (except for the Grandkids :icon_wink:)

I'm glad to see there seem to be a lot of fellow NY transplants. I look foward to chatting about some old familiar things again.

Have already gifted and donated. Doing another yard sale next weekend. I'm ok with getting rid of stuff..my husband not so much but he's coming around. Yes it is liberating.

hope2soon...we are wishing you good luck and a sold sign. Yes we have the ridiculous offers in our area also. Not looking forward to it but we will deal with it as it comes. Sending positive vibes your way.

We are in Pennsylvania so won't be able to chat about NY but have visited New York City many times. Love to hear stories about that place.

Pennsylvania works for me too - I love Peddlers Village and New Hope. We can chat happily. LOL.

Whimsey, just remember one thing, it will be worth it in the end. Just make sure you list your house at a fair, marketable price and it will sell. Keep purging the garage, etc. Don't pay to move something that you are going to get rid of eventually.

It will be worth it in the end. Repeat, it will worth it in the end. Enjoy the ride.

We live in northern suburbs of Atlanta and well cared for homes are selling fast. We got three full offers in 72 hours. Going through the packing and purging phase. Sometimes I find it tough. Garage sale is Saturday.

One bit of very good moving advise. Go to office supply store and see if they will give you the boxes copy paper comes in - the ones with a lid. They are just big enough that you don't over pack. Or find a company that prints statements for gas or electricity company they have tons of these boxes.

We are moving to a rental home In Atlanta (not retirement age yet) and looking forward to our final move to our forever home in The Village of Duval, which we bought last year.

Coming for a week Memorial Day. Save us a seat at Sumter for dancin'. Oh no can't save seats - I am not a rule breaker :)

home sales are picking up

Whimsey, congratulations and good luck with the sale of your home. You will love The Villages.

Whimsey and hope2soon -- Here is hoping your homes sell quickly and that you can become frogs soon. :wave:

Whimsey ~ packing is the worst, but once you get here you will LOVE it and it will all be worth it. We sold, auctioned and gave away so much in Pennsylvania before coming down here and we quickly realized there was so much more to give away, sell, etc : ) but it's all good, this place IS paradise!!! Hope you sell soon !!

Don't despair, hope2soon. We just signed an agreement with a buyer whose original offer was so far below our asking price, that we didn't bother to counter at first. Yet, as time went on and they went up little by little, and we completed our design for our build in TV, got our settlement date, that first buyer hung around through others' offers, and we finally met at a place we were willing to settle. In any event, I've learned a lot through this process, the most important of which is to never blow off any offer or prospective buyer. I do certainly understand the desire to use an expletive!!!

Whimsey:

Decluttering is a freeing experience. It's sometimes difficult to decide what to pack and what to throw away. You get there!!!

Best wishes for the speedy sale of your home. It's starting to be a sellers market. IMHO

Thanks everyone for all the good wishes. We are looking forward to meeting up with you guys at some time in the near future. And best wishes to everyone who is also in the transition. It's gone to be great !

Ditto!! :^)