Did you buy in TV before selling current home?
 

I realize this is subjective and everyone's experiences will be different.....
We rented a place in The Villages for the month of September and of course really liked the whole concept. We have a house in rural southwest Virginia, which we put on the market mid October. So far have only had two couples look at it. Not a lot of draw here except the proximity to the Blue Ridge Parkway, and it is a wonderful place for a summer home. Very small town, safe and quiet.

We looked at dozens of properties while on our visit, around my husband's work schedule (he works entirely on the internet, so we can be anywhere!) Found a few we wouldn't mind making an offer on. Got prequalified and of course our credit rating is high and debt to income ratio very good, so we could "afford" a much bigger loan than we are even interested in.

BUT, for us, it will be MORE expensive to live in TV. Particularly in insurance for both home and vehicles, and property tax. We can swing buying a place before selling this one but it would be less comfortable.

I am interested in hearing of your experiences....did you buy in TV before selling your current home? Did you regret doing so? Was being in The Villages worth the agony of waiting for your home to sell?

And another option....if we bought something in January, would we be able to rent it out for Feb. March with no problem? That could make the decision easier as well.

Thanks you for your advice...I've already learned so much from reading these forums! Cindi

It depends on your finances and comfort level.
We did a super detailed budget before visiting TV then we saw the house we wanted ( we only saw 6)
We have been maintaining both homes ok fir 4 months now and all is fine
But we did a super detailed budget first, looking at the pattern of credit card expenses, utilities, ALL insurances, all services, and we even budgeted more often more money than less so we would ha " wiggle room' in case of surprises. My advise:
Do not cut it too close w your money situation. Peace of mind is important w happiness. But yes, we did buy in TV before selling our house.

good luck w your decision!

We want to buy in TV also but a financial advisor with Edward Jones (we have 401k money in) told us NOT TO CARRY TWO HOMES in this economy....She told us to SELL our current home FIRST and have a CONTIGENENCY that until we CLOSE on NEW HOME we should buy... So my thought is she is right...

I agree with that generally unless you have a large financial cushion.

Our first home in Hadley we bought and kept our larger home in Cincinnati. It was an emotional burden to have both. We would come home to find that a woodpecker had pecked a hole in our home in Ohio. We would worry about the house in Hadley being unused and unwatched. When we decided to move down here full time, We sold the home in Hadley and the home in Cincinnati and then set down to decide which home on which lot we wanted here. We rented while our home in Laurel Valley was being built.

I am always of the opinion to never get in over your head in ANY situation. That said, there are choices here for (almost) any pocketbook.

That's our story.. Hope it helps.

Yucatan - You should do whatever you're most comfortable doing and ensure it's financially feasible for you as well. Having two homes at the same time adds to the complexity of your life - more things to have to deal with........upkeep and so forth as well as the financial implications.

Some people are the "go for broke" types, throwing much caution to the wind and dealing with whatever happens as they go. Others are ultra-conservative, planning/preparing/allowing for just about every contingency that could possibly happen. And there are those who are in between the two ends of the spectrum. You know yourselves better than anybody - decide on whatever makes you sleep well at night and head down that path. That'll be the best decision for you!

Bill :)

Always had the plan to buy first then sell up north later but that's just us

:agree:

As ususal, Bill hits the nail on the head.

I personally could never carry two homes as putting my head on the pillow and going to sleep is very important to me!!!!!!!

For many years I have used a "sleep at night" test prior to entering into a major financial or otherwise serious transaction. I actually pretend I have made the decision and am living with it. I give it at least a few days to see how much "buyer's remorse" and other anxieties, if any, I develop. This has worked well for me when I have had some time to consider a big decision.

I have owned two homes 800 miles apart for 22 years now. One is for business reasons. Things inevitably go wrong at one while I am at the other. Fortunately I have people who check things out but it is still a hassle and a worry. Most of the time I am in each during a month but occasionally I am not in one for two to three months.

We lived in southeast VA. We actually bought a house here in TV in July 2011 because we found "the" house. Went back home to get our house ready for sale as we were retiring in December. Put it on the market Oct 28th. Came down to Our new home for three weeks. Had to go back to VA because it sold. Great for us but let me say from July when we bought the house I just constantly worried we would be stuck with the house in Va. Things worked out for us. Good Luck to you in selling your house!

Thank you everyone for your insight so far.

I did not mention that there is no mortgage on our Virginia home, however there is a small equity loan, like having a car payment. And the car is also paid for. Interest rates are so low at this time, but I think that will continue for a bit.

I know no one can really answer this question for us and it's a matter of our own financial comfort level, but it's just nice to hear what others have done.......thanks!

Yucatan: What seized me in your post was that your expenses will be higher in TV than where you live. One of the few reasons we moved here was because the costs were less than in Minneapolis. The one consoliation we had is that the Minnesota /Minneapolis taxes were put to productive use so that there was a direct link between taxes paid and quality of life. I do not personally have that same opinion living here. However I am certain that some will disagree.

From a financial standpoint there is so much uncertain with the economy owing to the continual battle in Washington over taxes homeowner deductions etc that have a direct affect on families. For that reason alone it may be worth it for you to rent. In addition you will get a better understanding of the financial implications of moving here and if this is what you really want.

I can tell you that if I initially rented here by the third month I would have been looking elsewhere not because of The Villages but because of my lifestyle which is not conducive with the tempo or politics of TV. Keep in mind many people love it here .

I won't move because I can't make a profit on my investment and even if I break even I will still incur additional cost to move elsewhere. Since being on a fixed income and no longer able to replenish my financial reserve I have learned to adapt.

So do yourself a favor and see if this place fits you as it does so many others it beats having buyers remorse

Hi, we are from upstate NY, we went to other areas and looked and then went to the Villages, and the others could not offer as much to us as TV did, so we bought our lot and went home and put our home on the market, then we went back in two months and met with the designer, and our house was being built and we were able to see our home, the economic is very bad and it took almost 2months and we had to come down, and we are happy to say we have closed on our new home and will be closing on our next week and will be moving, I believe you need to do what is right for you and with us we wanted this move very much. Good luck.

Hi everyone,
Like everyone says it is personal and depends on your pain threshold.
We just got back from our design meeting and bought the house still owning the old house. You need to be comfortable in your own skin.
We will not be selling our original house for at least a year.
However we have a realistic ideas of what the house should sell for and will price it accordingly to expedite the sale.
Good luck and choose wisely.
Bill and Rona
Can't wait for our day in the sun and warmth :pepper2::pepper2::pepper2:

We bought here before selling up north. It worked out fine. We did analyse our finances and found we could handle everything if the house in the north didn't sell in a timely manner. But it sold in four months and everything is good even though we lost $100K on the home up north but it was what we had expected.

Agree with Bill completely. Everyone's situation is different. With no mortgage or debt of any kind, we bought a small vacation home in TV in '09 when the market was down. From Atlanta, it was an easy drive down and with hubby's 8-plus weeks vacation we were able to come often.
Our Atlanta home was not/ is not yet for sale as he is still is working full time-- though thankfully not for long now. When he retires and we are both in TV full time, we plan to sell both the Atlanta home and our Villages "vacation" home and buy a "permanent" home in TV.

If we had not lived so close, could not come down as often, the finances weren't as they were and the housing market not depressed at the time (i.e., was a good time to buy but not sell), we might well have made a different decision. Do I regret it? Not for a skinny slither of a second! But again, conditions were all systems go and we were able to rest easy.

There's a lot to be said for a good night's sleep!