Buyer’s Market in the Villages
 

With a real buyer’s market emerging in the Villages Florida, you may want to seriously watch any contracts you might be pressured into signing. Be prepared to write contingency requirements on any contract if you do take the plunge on a buy during the fall winter sales seasons when sales are at their lowest point.

Florida leads the nation on CANCELLED CONTRACTS. Neighboring Orlando is ranked number one in buyers cancelling with cold feet before a close.


In Orlando, about 900 home-purchase agreements were canceled in June, equal to 20.8% of homes that went under contract that month—the highest percentage among the 50 most populous U.S. metropolitan areas. Next came Jacksonville (20.5%), Tampa (20.5%), Las Vegas (20.2%) and San Antonio (19.9%).

Note, Florida has the top 3 spots. Make sure you aren’t stuck on the hook for a foolish impulse buy. Prices are taking the plunge right now.


Homebuyers Backed Out of Deals at a Record Rate in June

Anticipation of lower interest rates in the near future. Cash deals which are about half of the transactions in TV are closing quickly.

Cash Talks
 

You can demand almost anything from a seller now and yes, cash is king.

Demand almost anything from a seller? Really?

Well, they are allowed to demand… now whether they get anything, that’s a different story.

For Sure
 

Yes, there are hundreds of other homes for sale if the seller chooses not to offer concessions.

Prices are down and inventory is quite high.

We sold our home quickly, it was not a fire sale price, the buyer made a fair offer and after 7 years we had a "net" gain of 83% after everything we did in improvements, the buyer did not ask for concessions, it is not a buyers market for homes on premium lots,

Have to agree with premium lots
 

Yes, view lots are a whole different ball game. A designer house with a kissing lanai, court yard villa or other average home, has a lot more difficulty on the market than a golf or pond view. With home listings up almost 100% from last year at this time, it makes it rougher on the average home. You still have some who think they can make a quick buck, even though they bought last year and prices are off 2 dollars a square foot from this same time a year ago.

Tell that to the premium lots that struggle to sell. Yes, they exist. I've seen quite a few during the course of the year. Sitting for months and incorporating large price drops. I've even seen one or two taken off the market after a few months.

For houses priced appropriately, they will sell quickly. Appropriate can be an 80% margin on last sell price. But I guarantee you that last sale wasn't in 2022. Is it a "buyer's market"? I don't know, but I can say it's a good time to be a buyer. Lot's of choices.

I don’t have real numbers at my fingertip but there appears to be more resale inventory than a few months ago. Many resales have been overpriced IMHO and prices are trending lower. It doesn’t appear to me that new home sales have slowed much if any. With lower interest rates, new homes and resales will continue to sell well in The villages. All is good.

There is only one 4 bedroom home on water for sale and only twenty six 3 bedroom homes on water for sale via TV agents, they are not struggling to sell. I agree that homes on interior lots are struggling as there are so many of them available both re-sale and new.

I would agree it's buyers market now. Lots of homes for sale.
We just sold our very nice 2 and 2 ranch after being on the market for about 3 months. It was built in 09 and had a new roof. We took an offer that was lower than what we liked but we came out ok. We bought it 2 years ago and did some nice upgrades.
Since we bought it when the market was hot, we were happy to pretty much break even on what we paid. And they were a cash buyer, so we close in 3 weeks.
Our realtor worked hard for us and was doing open houses twice a week every week. Some with very few visitors. She said many of her collegues said they were seeing that as well.

We moved into a 3 bedroom ranch with a corner lot and could't be happier.
We love TV.

Numbers
 

MLS listings this time last year (Sept 4, 2023 ) were at 287. MLS listings yesterday (Sept 5 of 2024) were at 481. Last year the average per square foot in the Villages was 258 dollars a square foot. Last year a square foot cost 260 dollars. Prices are trending lower.

MLS or VLS? You’re hanging your hat on $2 a square foot lower price, LOL

Talk about pushing a narrative based on extremely suspect data.

I don't even understand why some of these current TV homeowners are obsessed about being doomers with the market here. If you already bought, who cares about what the new prices are or how well the new homes are selling? I bought 3 years ago and I personally don't really care one way or the other. That would like like number 1000 of the things that I would care about.