Economic Downturn
 

How, if at all, will the economic downturn affect The Villages and how will it affect the Central Florida retirement communities, in general?

Busniess will slow down, products get more expensive. The Villages building is already starting to slow down...

I had two separate couples that had me send out a rental agreement. They called me back the next day when it was a day that the DJIA dropped 500 points and they said they were going to hold off. The one guy admitted it was because of the stock market.

jeffy

I am in upstate NY now. One friend from here has bought a pre-owned house in the Villages for a steal ...price was so low. Owners took a hugh loss.
Owners were desperate to sell because they had lost so much in stocks.

Real Estate Prices Coming Down
 

If you need to see evidence of a big change in attitude, take a look at Milford Leedy's real estate website where he lists the 20 most recent price reductions in TV. A house selling just this week for $795K was reduced to $629K, one selling for $279K was reduced to $239K, and even a smaller dollar value house, selling for $164K was reduced to $134K. It's definitely a buyer's market, and should continue that way for some time to come.

The unemployment rate in Sumter County is..
 

half of the rest of the state.
Retirement communities like TV usually have a higher than average income (TV is supposedly approaching $80,000) most of which is fixed SS, other retirement plans...hence they tend to be more recession resilient.

There will always be a certain percent like the ones who canceled because the stock market is down. I guess I never looked at the stock market to determine if I was ever going to take a trip or buy something. If they had to sell stock to make the trip maybe that is a problem....shame on them...bad planning.

The only thing housing prices have done is returned to reality.

BTK