Moved a little too fast
 

I have been enjoying the posts in TOTV for a couple years but have never taken the time to post one myself. Now, after making what probably will be an expensive mistake I need to vent, so I thought of TOTV and maybe get a couple sympathetic ears or maybe not so sympathetic.

My wife and I have been to The Villages four times. Like everyone else we fell in love with the place. Our long range plan was, after retirement in 2013, get our house in Connecticut ready to put on the market, sell it and then look for a home in TV. Well, if you want to make the good Lord laugh tell him your plans for your future. My company offered an early retirement package, which I accepted in February. After getting over the shock of not having to go to work any longer we decided to visit TV just to look around at the homes and the many things offered. Well, during that visit we got a little carried away and put a deposit on a premium lot and now have an appointment with the Home Design Team the end of October. Well, when we got home we realized we moved a little too fast. It will take a little time to get our house ready to put on the market and after talking to a Realtor we probably won’t get as much as expected. Now, what to do? We're am not allowed to sell or transfer our purchased lot so we have ended up in a “do it or loose it” situation. Not too smart. We’re working on trying to continue to move forward with the deal but it doesn’t look too promising, we’re about a year ahead of schedule.

Well, thanks for listening. I was wondering if there is anyone else out there that has gotten themselves into a similar situation.

When you say premium do U mean view?

You can I think switch lots, they don't want to lose a buyer, I heard they will give a 6 month extension after a deadline on anther lot or new or resale, but that is verbal not in writing.

We did something a little similar to your situation. We plan to retire and move in 2013 but bought our lot in June 2012 with the intent to start building a year from that date. We got the 4% discount last February, so we started the build then and closed in April. Our house in Alabama had been on the market for almost 11 months and we were very concerned about having two mortgages. Luckily, we finally sold our house in June. It can be very scary, but in the long run I'm sure things will work out for you. Good luck on getting your house sold. I prayer everything works out.

Well, perhaps all is not lost. You can CHANGE lots within a year (though it wouldn't be a premium) and take the extra time you need to sell without losing your deposit. OR you could give up the lot and move your deposit to a spec or pre-owned home within a year of when your original contract is. But if you really are set on that particular lot, you must start your build within the allotted time in the contract... Not sure if that helps at all, but your agent can explain it better. Also, you need 20 percent when you sign your design contract, but have 2-3 months til closing to come up with the rest. So if your house were to sell, you would be fine. The other option is to take out a construction loan if possible and pay it off when CT sells...

First, don't panic
 

Firstly, don't panic because you are going to have a stroke and never get here! Secondly, get in touch with your realtor and the Sales Office and ask to speak to someone in a supervisory capacity. Lay out your concerns and your fears and see what they can come up with. They know you want to buy, you have made that abundantly clear, so it's just a matter of trying to sort this minor problem out - and it is a minor problem.

If push comes to shove, you could build the house, put it back on the market, sell it and start over.

We ended up with three houses, yikes, three houses and no income coming in other than retirement ............ it all worked out for us and it will for you.

But what happens if he puts the 20% down, doesn't sell, the bank says too much debt to carry two houses, can't close.

You have 20% out of pocket on the house, it's is scheduled to close, no mortgage......now what?

What does TV do?

what about building the villages home and renting it out until you can get there? rental income can offset the cost of the build!

The first question is can you afford to do both for a year. Work on selling the old home and build the new one. You'll need enough income to cover whatever loan to income ratio's for both of the houses. We actually jumped a little too soon as well. I took out a loan on my 401K to cover the gap. We'll pay that back in about a year and then, we'll be back to normal.

If you can't cover both, one or the other has to go. I heard if you decide not to take the lot you reserve, the down payment money goes back into a holding account and you can use it later for another lot. There will be more lots coming. More neighborhoods and maybe even something better for you.

If you don't want to do that and can't keep both, fire-sale the existing house. Get a comparable price for your home and then put your sale price to be even less than that. Price it to sell fast. You'll take a loss, but later when you're in The Villages for good, you will be HAPPY.

To keep from having 2 at once, we sold our house in AL (on the market for a year) at repo price. It was a 6 yr old custom, large, with tons of extras. We lost all we had put into it and dipped into our pockets for xx,000 just to get on with our lives. That may be an option ... We would have been better off, money wise, to walk away, but we have never ever gone back on a deal. Sooooo, we bit the bullet and did the right thing and moved on. We are here and sleep well at night.
Don & Kaz

Rent out your current home and move down to TV. Beats taking a loss selling your current home at way below market prices, get tax benefit of rentals, and allows you time to wait until market improves for selling.

That's exactly what were doing, showing the home for the last two weeks, picking good tenants is the hard part, checking credit etc.

But you're correct we don't take the hit on today's market value.

Start our build hopefully Jan/Feb

Sounds good, but what guarantee is there the market will ever improve to where you need it to be? There is a lot more to this renting than just "waiting for the market to get better".
True rentals provide a wonderful tax incentive and maybe some positive cash flow, but
remember you are now maintaining 2 homes, one of which you are not living in. I have 3 rentals and in the past couple months have shelled out almost $5000 on repairs and maintanance. Yep, holding on till the market improves - if that ever happens.

But those rentals were completely separate from my move to TV. Fortunately was able to sell my residence in a short time for an acceptable amount to enable my husband and I to enjoy everything TV has to offer. I can only say knowing what I know now, and I have only been here 3 months, I would move heaven and hell to get here. Yes, it is that wonderful!

Don't Panic
 

CT2TV: First, whatever your thinking DON'T PANIC and make another hasty decision. Without knowing your overall financial situation its difficult, if not impossible, to give you specific advise. For example, is your current home paid for? Can you handle the mortgage or mortgages within your current income etc. etc. If you have a financial adviser or CPA/Tax Adviser you have worked with over the years, I would sit down with him/her and get advise on what your finances can handle without immediately selling your home. If you purchased a premium home site, I assume you are planning to spend several hundred thousand (300,000-500,000) on your new home in TV when everything is included. I do know you can trade your lot for another lot and also trade your lot in on a Spec. house. There are many new designer Spec. Homes for sale in the 225,000-275,000 range and many have nice discounts. You might trade your lot in on one of these Spec. Homes that you like and thereby reduce your total mortgage or cash outlay considerably. Later after your current home sells, you can then build your dream house and you will have two houses but both of them in TV. where you can more easily manage. Believe me, it is no fun renting a home out when you are many miles away. From experience, I would advise you ,if you rent your current home out, to turn it over to a reliable management company who can monitor the situation and be close by to handle any problems that occur. In summary, you have many options as I have mentioned and others have posted. Again, don't panic and you will come through this bump in the road and figure out your best options and soon be enjoying TV. By the way, congratulations on your early retirement and good luck.

we have our home north with small equity have a PV half paid and are about to put a bid on a preowned, yep we are nuts but found the house we love so here we go..... three houses

Were in the same boat. Found the lot we liked and had to wait till the house sold to get going. It was very stressful. In other words a new Village mortage and a near MTG payment for a rental home for 7 months. Having to move from our home to a rental home then to Florida in 12 months was not fun.

All I know is that there are lots around us that have been turned back in on twice and the original buyers were allowed to relocate to another lot. They may have lost a first choice nice view or are now in a area that has a higher bond, but they are not forced into a design team money down lets go situition.