New Home Purchase Question
 

Greetings-
Both my wife and I will be purchasing a brand new home within the next 60 days directly from The Villages ( Fenney )and we are both seeking any guidance you guys can provide:
1. Price of home will be in the 340,000 range and wondering other than the purchase price, what other fees will we be responsible for at the time of closing?
2. As a current Florida resident and homeowner, what will my county taxes amount to?
3. What will the bond amount be?
4. Will we need to purchase title insurance?
5. Approximate cost of homeowners insurance?
6. Approximate days to closing after placing a down payment, total cash transaction?
THANKS Joe & Cristina

Item 1 - you will get a HUD statement from The Villages showing all of these costs.
Items 2,3 and 6 - you should ask the agent.
Item 4 - yes, you should buy an "owners" title insurance policy to protect your interest in the property.
Item 5 - you should call The Villages Insurance and get a quote, and/or other companies. Make sure it includes "sinkhole" coverage, NOT just catastrophic ground collapse coverage.

If it's a new, already built, house you will have to close within 30 days regardless of whether you pay cash or mortgage. You can request an earlier closing and depending on how busy the closing department is you might get on in a few days.

When we purchased we could closed in two or three days but weren't ready to do that so we used the whole 30.

Aren't they building too? As well as offering new homes?

We are buying a less expensive house with a mortgage and our closing costs are about 9000. Title insurance for us is about 1100 but you can turn it down. Bonds are priced different based on type of home etc so check with your sales person. As said, you need to close within 30 days or there is a daily penalty. Our insurance is under 700 with both types of sink hole coverage and as of taxes it is based on various items.

I understand the need for title insurance when buying a resale from a previous owner, in case of unknown liens or unpaid property taxes, etc.. But when buying a brand new home from The Villages, what could go wrong? Enlighten me, clue me in.

Pocahontas could make a claim against your property.

And we would all be dead by the time that claim would make it through the courts. We chose not to purchase the insurance and have no worries about future claims for this little chunk of property.

I thought that closing in thirty days and the penalty was only on new homes from the developer who requires a conventional mortgage. I think each lender has their own closing rules on used homes.

When you buy a new home here, you cannot use VA or FHA because they don't guarantee closing in thirty days. You can use VA or FHA on used homes.

When you begin building here, they give the closing day and time. There is a penalty even if you want to close early. They are a well oiled machine and they do not have to accommodate your issues. However, we found that your aftercare is stellar and we have been very pleased with both new homes we bought here.

Geezze, all the questions you asked can be answered by your agent. That’s what they do for a living.

GaryWT---
e are buying a less expensive house with a mortgage and our closing costs are about 9000. Title insurance for us is about 1100 but you can turn it down. Bonds are priced different based on type of home etc so check with your sales person. As said, you need to close within 30 days or there is a daily penalty. Our insurance is under 700 with both types of sink hole coverage and as of taxes it is based on various items.


Question-

Thanks for your reply, but in my opinion, it appears that paying $9,000 at closing is a high number considering your buying the house for cash from the developer... Could you possible itemize the expenses...
Thanks

When i view the Villages new home Sales site, i don't see the bond amount listed , are they hiding
that fact? Where can it be found? Thanks

I'm sure that's true but it's still informative to see these questions and answers for people whom have not purchased yet or are in the process.

OP says next 60 days in Fenney. As of last night, there are 32 new homes left for sale in Fenney and that's down from 100 just a few weeks ago. So, no they are no longer building in Fenney, and in 60 days there probably won't be anything standing left either.

As for the OP and the original questions, I would take anything you read here as a rough guess and rely only on the actual cost break down they give you that should detail what you are responsible for at closing. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the property taxes, utilities, and homeowner's insurance are very reasonable and very much in line with what I was paying in another state with about the same square footage I have now.

The OP said that they were buying a new home. I think you can purchase new homes only from the developer, so that's where the thirty day closing requirement comes from.

The OP didn't mention building but did say they would be purchasing in the next 60 days so it doesn't seem like that would be possible if they are building.

I didn't know that the builder specifically disallowed FHA/VA loans... it's just that those kinds of don't typically close in 30 days that prevents their use.

However when we sold our house in MA the purchaser wanted to use a VA loan but our broker warned us that can take a months to close in some cases. So as part of the purchase and sale agreement we required the purchaser to get both a conventional mortgage and a VA mortgage. It turned out the VA mortgage ended being ready in less than 30 days to the purchaser ended up using it.

I don't know if the developer would refuse that kind of a P&S agreement.