Words to The Wise on Bonds
 

I called in to get a payoff on the bond my realtor said was about 8,000 dollars when I purchased the house 18 months ago.... guess what, the payoff is $16,967! Do not believe what people tell you... get a bond payoff when making an offer... wish I did! You can get a payoff by calling 352-751-3900 (have your tax bill handy for the required numbers)

Is there no disclosure requirement in Florida on the bond lein? Should have been fully disclosed on docs at settlement.

Were you working with a Village realtor or MLS?

I question the original 8K number (by the realtor)...

If you bought your house 18 months ago, there was at least one bond statement that you should have received in between that time and now. I believe they are mailed out around July every year. You could have verified the amount due with that statement.

Even new smallest homes; patio villas. had a larger bond than that as recently as you bought Jimbo. The general bond amount of all home models have been posted on this forum MANY TIMES.


Here is a website, listed before on this forum that gives the amount of bonds by street.

http://root.z57.com/filemanager/uplo...ee546d11b3.pdf

I have had problems with a real estate agent not being truthful. But the situation was different.

I agree, verification is important.

I would think something like that would surface at closing.

buyer beware....eh?

That being said it is just simply too easy to find out the real amount.

If it was a new house there was a statement at the closing.

If a resale by handled by TV there would have been clarity given on the remaining bond.

If a resale by a non TV realtor, first of all it would not happen to me. Second of all iff this is your case, I would immediately go back to the owners not the agent and demand a reconciliation of some sort for errouneous representation......IF it in fact was.

Buyer beware

btk

Gracie,
The link that you gave is EXCELLENT. It is,however slighty oudated. It was printed in October 2012. The payoff amount is slightly lower now.
Here's a link to the Villages website which can be used at any time to determine the origianl bond amount and the current and future payoff amounts.

Village Community Development Districts

my bond was fully disclosed at settlement, plus I found out the balance on my own before purchasing the home. You can also go on the VCDD site and look up the amortization of your bond Not sure why anyone would trust what an agent told them VLS or MLS

nada

Thanks Ray for the web-site, it matches my bill exactly.

My CD'S are drawing on average 1.4%.
Money market .85%
My 30 year mortgage is fixed at 4%
And my bond interest is 6.125%

The default risk on these bonds must be greater than I would have thought.

Our realtor also quoted us a lower amount than was actually owed, however, when we got the preliminary closing statement, the true figure was on there. We had not bothered to verify the amount, but we weren't really surprised it was higher. We just "did the math" based on the age of the house and the bond amount of all the houses we looked at in the same area. Still....irritating that they try to slide that by you!
Our Realtor was an outside MLS agent, not TV agent.

You are being snarky aren't you? Have you seen an open market when these bonds were issued? Rate set by the issuer, bonds purchased by whomever, paid for by homeowners and income tax free to the recipient. I don't know what the rate would be in a competitively bid market and perhaps the rate of 6.125 tax free is fair but it is interesting that the taxable yield on junk bonds is about 6-7% right now which would translate to about 4% after taxes, so these bonds are worse than typical junk bonds, hardly. Rates for municipal bonds today:
10 year bond A rated 3.90, 20 year 4.85 30 yr 5.05
10 year bond AA rated 3.15, 20 yr 4.45, 30 yr 4.80
Now these bonds were issued when rates were likely somewhat higher, but I don't know what the rate on the new bonds being issued for the new developments might be. Anyone know if there is a public market for the bonds at the time of issue?

I'm still a Georgia Realtor working on my reciprocal license here in Fl. Haven't studied FL RE law yet. But in Georgia when one takes a listing you gather paperwork and verify taxes, mortgage payoff, HOA fees payoff amount, etc. Sellers fill out a Seller's Disclosure which (I can only assume at this point would address the bond still due on Villages properties).

When you go to the closing, read every document and ask questions about any item on the HUD or settlement statement (which you have a right to review before settlement and your agent has a fiduciary to be reviewing right along with you, btw) that you might have a question about.

Having said that, agents should not, IMO, offer any "guesstimates" or undocumented $ amounts to entice you to enter into a sales agreement. It's unethical and and gives the rest of us honest agents a bad rep. Always ask for documentation. Lazy agents rely on what the seller represents to be in his/her best interest to get the property under contract.