Home Hunting Advice Needed
 

My wife and I are going down to TV in the Spring for the first time to look at homes and are looking for non-biased advice. Any recent home buyers or others have advice regarding:
- where to look?
- MLS vs. TV real estate agent?
- new vs. preowned?
- where to stay while there?
- cost of housing- going up or coming down like the rest of the country?
- homeowners insurance- has it gone up dramatically like the coastal areas of FL?

Thanks for any advice.

Re: Home Hunting Advice Needed
 

If you are new to TOTV, you probably don't know about the search button on the black bar above. It took me a while to find it!

You can search any topic. The past records are chock full of helpful information on every single topic you mentioned. Best of luck with your search.

I am definitely biased. As are most people who live in paradise. lovehorse lovehorse

Search...Good Suggestion, Barefoot
 

Just for the heck of it, I opened the Search box and typed in "MLS". Holy cats! I got enough hits from previous postings on TOTV to keep busy reading for a whole day!

I agree, use the Search tool on the black bar above. All your questions have been discussed and responded to ad infititum. The answers are all there for your questions, mneumann02.

Re: Home Hunting Advice Needed
 

There's a guy in the VHA who says that in his many years in TV, the questions about future development, operations, CDDs, traffic, financing, etc., never change. It's the same questions year after year. However, all too often, the answers do change.

Re: Home Hunting Advice Needed
 

Depends on what you are looking for in a home.

If you're leaning towards new construction,than you have to use a TV agent

If you're looking for resale than you should use both a TV Agent and MLS agents.

We worked with both but ended up buying new.

What ever you decide, you'll love it here.

Re: Home Hunting Advice Needed
 

Everyone wants to downsize. Just be careful that you don't downsize to much or you'll find yourself buying your second or third village home.

Re: Home Hunting Advice Needed
 

All you TV oldtimers have been reading the newbies' questions (like mine) and are probably BORED with replying so many times to the same old stuff. But, if the newbie (like me) goes directly to SEARCH and finds all those old answers........... it might answer the question but it does not benefit all the new newbies and all the lurkers who might want to learn the answer relating to current time.

Does that make any sense? It does to me ;D ;D

Re: Home Hunting Advice Needed
 

MMC24 had some good advice about the realtors,

and I'm fairly new here, I went back to read the interesting old real estate threads,

it doesn't take that long , really, and well worth your while

spend one day and you'll get TONS of info

Re: Home Hunting Advice Needed
 

PS - don't go through search, just drift through the first 6 pages of threads or so on the Villages and non-Villages discussion pages and read the real estate/interesting ones,
not the parade ones LOL

Re: Home Hunting Advice Needed
 

- where to stay while there?
- cost of housing- going up or coming down like the rest of the country?
- homeowners insurance- has it gone up dramatically like the coastal areas of FL?

A lot of folks like to stay in the life style preview :http://www.thevillages.com/youreinvi...ureinvited.htm

Cost is generally going down - see recent threads on this

Insurance - we pay about $650 for a 1750 SF home with $500K Liab., Hurricane ($500 deductable), Wind and sink hole coverage. It has gone up $100 in the last three years.

Re: Home Hunting Advice Needed
 

1. We preferred and bought new because
a) Most reseller homeowners prices do not reflect the lower market prices as responsively as the developer does. I believe the developer is more motivated to sell than 95% of the resellers are. That is not to say you will not find good resale deals. But your efforts will need to be much greater. Unless you're lucky, several days of morning to night searching with and without a realtor will be required. And then you have the several days of back and forth negotiation.
b) We wanted a clean, new slate to work from.
c) Most of the neighbors move in within a few months of one another - instant things in common for new friends.

2. Know what you want. Learn and know what part of TV you want to be located in. Near a Town Center? Which one? Near daily conveniences like a Publix Market? Near a neighborhood rec area? Near a regional rec. center? Secluded away in the back of a subdivision? Closer to immediate access to Odell or to Morse Blvd or to Buena Vista, etc. Corner lot? Interior lot? How much privacy do you want? Do you want a view? Gas or all electric? (certain neighborhoods don't have gas)

3. Prices: Most street talk is that we have not reached bottom, or at least have not begun to rise from the bottom...that we will be in the market doldrums at least another two years. That is not a reason not to buy in my opinion. We have less than 10 to 15% of our life left to live if we are lucky. Time is of the essence, so to speak. Unless you are on an extreme shoestring, another $10K to $30K difference between now and next year isn't that important in the bigger realm of things. And in three to four years TV will be built out, or nearly so, and "new" options will become very limited. In 5 to 6 years you are likely to fully recoup (and then some) no matter what price you paid.

4. Scope out areas under construction to get a feel for any homes that may be located, situated, oriented, and contain features you may want. Then ask your saleman to advise you as soon as it is "released" - followup with him/her when you think it may be completed just in case your salesperson gets preoccupied.

5. My experience, after having spent time with 2 or 3 TV agents and one highly recommended independent resale agent was the TV agent is more up to date on current costs, fees, etc. My resale agent was quoting outdated prices, fees, programs for new homes to compare with resales, which was very misleading. For example, he said the buyer of a new home had to pay upteen thousand dollars in impact fees. The developer began including those fees in the price of new homes many months ago. (BTW, my new home agent was John Stamper. Very professional, responsive, knowledgable, pleasant, and low key.)

6. Get on the mailing list for the price reductions and special offers (e.g. $20,000 for furniture or $15,000 off the price of X house.)

7. I've found the price of homeowners insurance quite reasonable...low $700s/year for a home valued in the low $200,000's. Inland costs are MUCH lower than insurance within a mile or two of coastal areas. In Destin, FL we paid $2,800 per year for a home priced not much higher than our new Villages home.

Good luck and happy hunting. :welcome:

Re: Home Hunting Advice Needed
 

How do you get on that mailing list? Thanks.

Re: Home Hunting Advice Needed
 

I don't see any link on the TV web site for this. The most direct way is to phone TV sales and ask to be e-mailed their promo lists.