buying a resale through The Villages
 

Question: Does anyone know if one can negociate the price of a home when buying used through TV?

P.S forgive any spelling

Yes and you can add contingencies such as financing, inspections, radon, etc.

absolutely...

We did.

Yes you can. Just went through that selling a place.

thank you!

We did and got one helluva deal. My Pap always said "you can't get if you don't ask" so we made a low offer and moved up to the price we would pay through counter offers.....

And as you will find out, a resale usually is a much better deal than a new home. Much lower bond is first and foremost. The homes that are new and south of 466A have bonds beginning at $25,000. Many resales are paid off or very low.

New homes require extra money for upgrades. Resales have the upgrades in place in many cases. Even a small thing like an outside keypad for garage door opening is optional. Mine came with one as a resale.

Always get a Villages Properties agent AND a MLS agent from just outside The Villages. Neither can show each other's properties and you want as large a choice as possible.

Buggy, I know you love to talk-up resales, and you obviously got a great deal on yours. But don't forget a resale does not automatically equal a much lower bond. If we were to sell our home next year our bond will still be over $19,000 that the buyer would have to assume. We're in district 7 and the house is 3 years old. Originally when we purchased new the bond was $20,550. I think you have to buy in districts 1 through 4, and maybe 5, to see really lower bonds.

I'm also not sure where you're getting the info that all new homes south of 466A have a bond $25,000 plus. If you look at all the amortization schedules for district 9 you'll see they range from approx $19 to $22,000 except for the premier neighborhood which is $40,400.

Resales can be a good deal but just because it's a resale does not automatically mean you're getting a great deal on the bond.

I agree with Buggy that a resale usually is a much better financial deal than a new home. In older areas, (5 years or more), the bond has often been paid in full, or is very low. The owners have made improvements to the property and in most cases, the purchaser reaps the benefit. Plus the fact that some resales are furnished, and many come with a golf cart.

Having said that, a lot of people want the emotional satisfaction of having a new home, and that doesn't have a price tag.

I also have to agree with Buggy. We had a house built new about 33 years ago and wouldn't want to go through the experience again.

Our future purchases were all preowned and we bought preowned here in TV in January and got a good deal. The sellers asking price was more than 10% lower than they paid for and we negotiated an even lower price. That saving alone probably more than compensated for any savings we could have achieved by buying a home with the bond already paid off. If we ever buy again it will be preowned and never new!

Besides some of the things already mentioned regarding negotiation of price, one can also incorporate a sellers concession in a deal. The offer on the house we closed on yesterday had one. The sellers offered the full price with a concession of $9000 give back. They did it because they needed the cash to cover closing and other costs they will be facing, and those needed funds could be incorporated into their mortgage by doing so. Unfortunate for them they had to agree to give us their second born if and when that happens! :eek: (Just kidding of course)

I agree with English Ivy. And I am not saying one way is any better than the other. We have now built eight homes in our lifetime and bought three new ones we didn't build. I like the clean slate of new home. It comes with a warrenty and you do not have to accept or change other peoples choices. It may come with the driveway painted and inlaid tiles but they would almost certainly not be what I would choose and redoing is expensive. EXPENSIVE and sometimes EXPENSIVER than choosing what you want in the first place.

I will say without any misgivings that the building of this house was the most stressfree and the most amazing to watch of any we have owned. We are completely satisfied and if anything comes up that we notice that is not perfect, they are there in 24 hours to fix it. Even the threshold that we were responsible for damaging when we had a new dryer delivered and we told them we had done it. They fixed it anyway.

So almost everyone is having a pretty good experience and it is hard to go wrong. I find the Camellia/Gardenia's are holding their value, as that is the one we had previously, so resales are about the same as new, generally. I keep an eye on that model just to kind of track the prices.

There are only four of the Seabrook model that we now have, so we don't yet know how that model is doing, but we love it...and of course that is the bottom line.

I'm in district 7 which is below 466 and our bond was a little over $13,000, and we purchased new. So I have no idea where buggyone got his figures from.

Great responses. Great wealth of information here. Thank you to all!!!!!!

Hi Missypie,

I doubt it would be accurate to say resales are always a better deal. As Gracie said, if an upgrade has been made, but you would change it anyway, then no value should be attached to that upgrade in comparing costs. Some upgrades, such as solar tubes, attic stairs, garage door keypad, pull-out counters are not style dependent and are definitely of value. Others, such as tile and counter tops, and furnishing and decorations, you might love or you might not.

Just add the price of the home + bond + total price for all the upgrades you plan to do, whether new or resale, and you will have an apples-to-apples comparison of costs for any homes that interest you. Of course, if you want new regardless of cost comparison, that's perfectly understandable and a different story.

If you are considering resales definitely get both a Villages agent and MLS Realtor. Get a written "buyer's agent" agreement from your MLS Realtor. That will legally obligate the Realtor to represent only your interests in the transaction. Resales, regardless of whether listed with MLS or Villages, can be negotiated, so you would need to compare negotiated price/ concessions.

Obviously, there is more choice of location with resale. That might or might not matter to you. Best wishes on finding your dream home in TV. Please keep us posted.