Coming down to buy a pre-owned house
 

Besides the deposit, what else should I bring?

Time to understand what this place is all about. Not easy now though with so much closed

closing costs. could be $3000 or more

Mask, gloves and disinfect. wipes.

blue pen, deodorant, swim trunks, identification, cell phone, underwear, one for each day, shorts, golfing shirts, and comfortable shoes.

signed,

your mother

toilet paper

If you find that $300,000 house for $150,000 please buy me two

If you will be getting a mortgage, you will need LOTS of documentation, ours was about an inch thick. So IMHO, you should be calling your planned lender and getting the info from them directly. I was really surprised at what was required (2013) as our last purchase was over 30+ years ago and much simpler. You should also have a home inspection so you do not get stuck with repairs, I believe Frank DeAngelo does these, and he is very good. He is an advertiser on this site.
Good luck with your quest.

A compass app on your phone. Don't buy a house with a west facing lanai.

A good map. Don't buy a house that is close to a main road. Too noisy.

If you care about room sizes, get one of those laser measuring devices.

coming down
 

We just bought two weeks ago. Rented a house for a month, got to meet and know a number of people and found a one year old home on the south side. It needs nothing but us and some furniture. Ours was a cash deal and the closing costs were under 2K! Rent for a month or two and look around. It's not a timed event!

give a real estate broker near TV or the Village Sales office a call...going direct is always the best approach

I actually bought my home over the phone sight-unseen. I came for a week on LSV in April 2011 and looked at new CYV's, patio villas and cottages. Previous I had owned 8 homes in my life, everyone was new, I even built two of them myself as contractor. I didn't need to look at resales, not interested, today would be a different story.

I went home to Baltimore and three weeks later I listed my home at 8pm. The next morning an agent called to show the home at 10am. We went outside and people looked and left, at at noon the agent called and said the people had made an offer, which we accepted. They built a new Wegman's grocery store about block away from our house and the manager was in town for 2 days and we were the tenth home she visited. She had a letter from the Wegman's Corp that guaranteed the money, so we had no worries about loans or a contingency.

I called my salesman Tony Trussler that afternoon and told him I wanted to buy a new patio villa in Buttonwood. He said, I have a brand new masonry CYV with a fenced backyard in the same area for only $17,000 more. The website had no photos as yet. I thought for ten seconds and said I'll take it, he then said give me a credit card number for $2500 and I'll put the home on hold. That night Tony and his wife drove over to the home and took photos and emailed them to me. We sent another $15,000 about a week later and then closed upon our arrival about 4 weeks later. We never saw the home in person until we walked in the door.

Have either enough cash for a home or a mortgage pre-approval

Get both a Property of the Villages agent and an MLS agent

Get a rental with a good golf cart for a couple of months

Make a list of the the things that you require in a home as well as a list of things that are important to you. Don’t just focus on what you want in a home, but also the lifestyle you want to live

Know your maximum price, including bond

Make sure your agents understand your list and price constraints so you only focus on relevant properties and don’t wast each other’s time

Look at every home that fits your criteria and take detailed notes of how each fills the criteria on your list

Return for a second visit to the few homes that best fit your criteria

Don’t act too quickly, remember that post Covid buyers have more leverage than before, and remember that price is very negotiable on pre owned homes

Eventually you will know when you found the right home

Hope this helps

EYES WIDE OPEN!

Don’t be fooled by realtors about the bond. It DOES make a difference. The house we bought had the bond PAID. If not, discount the price buy that much to start (it is part of the asking price - KNOW THAT!).

Plan to stay a while to find the ONE YOU WANT, or plan to re-buy soon after moving here. The average Villager buys 3 times here! KNOW THAT.

BEFORE you arrive, make a long list of your MUST HAVES and all your WANTS. Get ALL your MUST HAVES and almost all of your WANTS. Try (I know this is hard) to remove the emotion from the buy.

If you are a couple, you BOTH NEED TO BE HERE. No matter what is said ahead of time, this is a big decision and you both should be happy with the result.

Good luck! - it took us two trips to find our home and that was found WITHOUT the aid of a realtor, but we dragged one along.... long story, too much for here.

Final thought - Keep doing your homework once you arrive. That is how we found our “Happily Ever After”.

Jersey huh? How ya doin? I’m from Manasquan! It’s Exit 98..