[Nevinator]

If financial concerns are truly the issue, then move forward with the lot purchase and get a bridge loan.

[shut the front door]

Originally Posted by thelegges

Our first house was with our bank, developer is not happy. Closing Department had an upgrade on their system previous day of our closing. The program would not send paperwork to our bank, we sat at our bank until 8pm waiting for them to fix.

Finally closing department, said it was our bank, not them, if we would have used Citizens this would Not be a problem. Glitch fixed at 7am following day (two days off work) along with the Penalty.

Our bank took it upon themselves to pay the penalty instead of us.

6 days after closing I received a phone call berating me that “we should have paid the fine, it was our fault for not using citizens.
“Our bank should have not intervened”. My reply, the reason they are my financial institution, is because they Value their customers. A closing department mistake should never be pass on to customer.

Yeah, they flat out don't like it if you don't use Citizens, happened to me, too. Hopefully, now that they are getting out of Citizens, that will change.

[RoseyRed]

I would recommend a "bank" appraisal not something the sales agent is giving you. You will have to pay a few hundred dollars for a bank appraiser to evaluate your house, but it will give you piece of mind!

[RoseyRed]

Originally Posted by shut the front door

Yeah, they flat out don't like it if you don't use Citizens, happened to me, too. Hopefully, now that they are getting out of Citizens, that will change.

Curious, did you go through what 2 other posters went through where they had to pay a penalty for closing a day late due to developer issues?

[asianthree]

Originally Posted by RoseyRed

I would recommend a "bank" appraisal not something the sales agent is giving you. You will have to pay a few hundred dollars for a bank appraiser to evaluate your house, but it will give you piece of mind!

How does a bank appraisal over MLS or VLS, give you piece of mind? The seller has the final say on sale amount.

Either way the bank appraisal isn’t going to sell the house faster or at all.

[RoseyRed]

Originally Posted by asianthree

How does a bank appraisal over MLS or VLS, give you piece of mind? The seller has the final say on sale amount.

Either way the bank appraisal isn’t going to sell the house faster or at all.

Bank appraisal will give the value of the house in the current market and will also give one the ability to reject a buyers offer if it is not up to market value.

[MandoMan]

Originally Posted by Hifred

I am interested in opinions. I own a home in The Village of Charlotte and am considering building a larger home in The Village of LaGrange in Eastport. I am confused... With the bidding process for lots and potentially purchasing a lot and then not being able to sell my home for the price I need to complete a build that I would want. There are two options: 1) I sell my home first and then when the lot I am interested comes up to enter the lot lottery or 2) Purchase the lot and then try to sell my home. The issues are if I sell my home and rent then I may not get the lot in the area I would like to live since the lots have multiple people trying to purchase. But if I purchase a lot and then try to sell my house if it doesn't sell then I must move forward with the build and that could cause me problems financially. I have spoken to TV sales department and they are very positive that my house will sell which is what I would expect from the sales department. If anyone has had recent experience with this process can you tell me how it went for you? My current house is in very good condition but with all of the new houses for sale in the south I am thinking my house may not sell for what TV market appraisal is. I looked on line and my home would be the 10th pre owned sale sorted on price and square footage. However there are more than 18 new homes that are less expensive based on price and square footage. Your thoughts are appreciated.

In my experience, agents here will tell you they will get what you want for your house, and they will usually tell you that you’ve chosen a good price. After all, they want to be your agent and make money from selling your house. I put my house in Tierra del Sol South on the Market at $600,000. (On the golf course, pool, lots of upgrades.). I was counting on my equity to pay off a 1200 sq ft courtyard villa to which I was downsizing at $310,000. My agent said it would sell fast at that price. Just then interest rates went up, and I ended up selling it for $525,000 after six months on the market. I had to take money out of my retirement savings to pay off the new house and pay for a new HVAC system and new flooring.

My nextdoor neighbors’ courtyard villa is 1600 sq ft (3 bedrooms, 2 baths, slightly bigger living room than mine, and a lot more hallways). They offered it at $465,000, which I thought was outrageous given that mine was still estimated to sell for $310. Six months later, the price has been lowered to $375,000, and it still hasn’t sold.

So, if the price you want is at all wishful thinking and not based on comps in your neighborhood, you might not get what you need and you may pay mortgages on two homes for months. Housing prices are forecasted to drop 1% in the next year, not go up. It’s a buyers’ market. Don’t count on your improvements actually adding to the sale price. What they do is make it more likely that your house will sell instead of someone else’s.

As for funding it, go to Citizen’s First and get a Bridge Loan for whatever you need to buy the lot and build. They are easy to get, and their purpose is to give you the funds to buy the lot and build the home you want. You can arrange the money in advance and not repay anything until after your first draw on the funds. That’s what made it possible to buy my downsized house, as I couldn’t pay for it until my previous house sold. I was paying for my original mortgage and for a $310,000 Bridge Loan until my first home sold—about four months. It wasn’t easy! I’m so glad that I now have no mortgage, though. Do you REALLY need a larger house?

[BlueStarAirlines]

Originally Posted by HappyTraveler

-- I very much doubt there are multiple people bidding for lots, in general. That claim is a marketing tactic. There could be a small few of unique lots where that's the case but, mostly not so. Particularly in this sluggish market.

Tell me you've never bid on a lot without telling me you never bid on a lot.....

The lots in Eastport have just as long or longer than the bidding of lots during COVID. There was a lot a little more than a week ago that had 60+ bids.

[Travelhunter123]

Originally Posted by VApeople

Sell your house first.

Then find a place to rent for a short time.

Then buy a lot and build your new house.

That is what we did in 2016 and the whole process was very enjoyable.

SMART
So many houses are being built eventually you will get one that works

[Rocksnap]

Originally Posted by Carolynp4

I personally know of someone who didn’t win the lottery over 70 times for view lot. He finally won!

The flip side. We bid on 1 golf course view lot only, first time ever, and got it.

[thelegges]

Originally Posted by RoseyRed

Bank appraisal will give the value of the house in the current market and will also give one the ability to reject a buyers offer if it is not up to market value.

If you’re just going to reject offers until you get the money you need, why spend the money on bank appraisal?

However in todays market there are hundreds of preowned or new homes for sale, exactly the same. Today is the largest preowned inventory we have experienced in TV.
Owners that need to sell are considering $50,000-$100,000 less than asking. Yes that’s true, because we have made those offers with little pushback.

One of our village had 9 homes for sale all same model, all within $500,000 range. The 3 homes that finally sold took $75-$95,000 less than the asking price. The rest of the homes are still on the market after 11 months.

There is a big difference on want to sell, need to sell, and desperate to sell. That bank appraiser isn’t going to give you piece of mind unless he’s buying the house that he appraised the dollar amount for.
It’s a huge gamble for some to continue to reject offers because the bank appraiser said your house was this much money. Unless of course they have a half $1 million in the bank and then it’s not a big deal.

[elle123]

Originally Posted by Hifred

I am interested in opinions. I own a home in The Village of Charlotte and am considering building a larger home in The Village of LaGrange in Eastport. I am confused... With the bidding process for lots and potentially purchasing a lot and then not being able to sell my home for the price I need to complete a build that I would want. There are two options: 1) I sell my home first and then when the lot I am interested comes up to enter the lot lottery or 2) Purchase the lot and then try to sell my home. The issues are if I sell my home and rent then I may not get the lot in the area I would like to live since the lots have multiple people trying to purchase. But if I purchase a lot and then try to sell my house if it doesn't sell then I must move forward with the build and that could cause me problems financially. I have spoken to TV sales department and they are very positive that my house will sell which is what I would expect from the sales department. If anyone has had recent experience with this process can you tell me how it went for you? My current house is in very good condition but with all of the new houses for sale in the south I am thinking my house may not sell for what TV market appraisal is. I looked on line and my home would be the 10th pre owned sale sorted on price and square footage. However there are more than 18 new homes that are less expensive based on price and square footage. Your thoughts are appreciated.

Sell your home first or have it under contract, with a "contingency" that your house must sell fo you to purchase the subsequent property. Since a contingency is "not" possible on a lottery lot, then you must sell the house first "unless" you can easily carry the expense of two properties Btw, it's a buyer's market.

[Angelhug52]

Originally Posted by Hifred

Exactly - That is what I was wondering. We would not want to give up our home unless we could purchase a golf course lot or a lot with trees/view. I don't want a postage stamp lot like I have. That is why I am concerned if I sell my house if I will be able to get the type of lot I want.

Not too many lots are big with a view. Look at the big premier homes already built. You can still see and hear the neighbors.

[Ptmcbriz]

Originally Posted by HappyTraveler

-- I very much doubt there are multiple people bidding for lots, in general. That claim is a marketing tactic. There could be a small few of unique lots where that's the case but, mostly not so. Particularly in this sluggish market.

-- Second bolded above - I think you answered your own question.


-- Third above, in this down-sloping market and given appraisals are based on prior sales, this is a fair bet.

My friend is wanting to build in Eastport. They have lost 3 lots now due to losing the lottery on the lot they chose. These are the lots on the $200K to $300K price range on a championship or a lake. It takes time to get your lot due to so many others wanting them.

[lawgolfer]

Originally Posted by Hifred

I am interested in opinions. I own a home in The Village of Charlotte and am considering building a larger home in The Village of LaGrange in Eastport. I am confused... With the bidding process for lots and potentially purchasing a lot and then not being able to sell my home for the price I need to complete a build that I would want. There are two options: 1) I sell my home first and then when the lot I am interested comes up to enter the lot lottery or 2) Purchase the lot and then try to sell my home. The issues are if I sell my home and rent then I may not get the lot in the area I would like to live since the lots have multiple people trying to purchase. But if I purchase a lot and then try to sell my house if it doesn't sell then I must move forward with the build and that could cause me problems financially. I have spoken to TV sales department and they are very positive that my house will sell which is what I would expect from the sales department. If anyone has had recent experience with this process can you tell me how it went for you? My current house is in very good condition but with all of the new houses for sale in the south I am thinking my house may not sell for what TV market appraisal is. I looked on line and my home would be the 10th pre owned sale sorted on price and square footage. However there are more than 18 new homes that are less expensive based on price and square footage. Your thoughts are appreciated.

Your concerns can be solved with a bridge loan. It will cost you some interest and points paid upfront but it will resolve your concerns.

If you have an IRA or SEP retirement account, you can make the loan to yourself. The are limits on the time within which it must be repaid. If not repaid within the time allowed, it will be treated as income for tax purposes.