I'd never consider a house on Lake Miona ever being worth $2,000,000 with the lake being only 418 acres. You are paying for the view and maybe a little fishing if that's what you do. However, a house on Tellico Lake in Tennessee is a different story. The recreational lake has 15,560 acres of surface, is beautiful and lined with thick foliage and trees. Eventually, we hope to have another home built there as we are boaters and think this is the best place for investment.

You think like I do. There are plenty of places, wonderful locations with a lot to offer, where you'll get more bang for the buck for that level of $$.

As my sweet husband will say, the market sets the price. If people think that the view from that home is one of the best in The Villages and they have the money to buy it, they will buy it, and I am pretty danged sure they will have the money to buy it too.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and worth is established by the buyer.

but I am pretty sure of this too, that home will NOT sell for that price OR anywhere near it unless they have it professionally staged, it does not show like a two million dollar home inside. It could be spectacular, in my opinon. C France's assessment was correct as usual.

I am speaking of it as a commodity now, and mean no ill will to the folks who lived in it and loved it the way it is decorated.

Big fan of HGTV, don'tcha know?

Here is MY guess of it's worth, when staged properly. 1.4million. You can ask anything, what it sells for is another thing.

One thing I know about people with lots of money,, they did not get it by spending it just because they had it. THey got it by being smart with what they spend and on what,,,, A view is a view, but if the house does not dictate 2.4 mil then you have problems.

Exactly. If you take a 400k home and try to sell it for 2.4 mil you are essentially saying the view/lot is worth 2 million. I havent seen one place in The Villages that could make that claim, although our resident sales person will probably argue otherwise.

2 West 67th Street #1213DE, New York NY - Trulia

I ask all of you, which would YOU choose between the house on Lake Miona and this drab place?

I want this one.
3907 Oceanshore Blvd - Palm Coast, FL - Hammock Dunes - MLS 547688 - 386 Real Estate

I mean if you are just throwing views out there..... The house has to be worth the investment, No way is that lot or view worth 1-2 mill. for 2.4 mil, then you are saying that house alone is 1 Mil. Then the lot has to be 1.5 Mill. Not seeing it.

With that being said, The Villages is a great and amazing place. But got to look at the big picture. JUST MHO

In fact the people that live in NYC are outnumbered by about 40,000,000 to 1.

And don't forget, the vast majority of those people living their do not have penthouse views overlooking Central Park.

A home is worth what a person is willing to pay for it.

BINGO!

And not just a home. That is true of everything that we buy and sell.

Yes, some people are able to look at the big picture, and some people are caught up in their little Villages bubble. We all have seen much nicer views, nicer homes, for less money elsewhere. For us, the value of a home has to include a certain level of quality to warrant that type of price. We just haven't seen a house or view with that level yet, not in The Villages.

It would be so much fun for you to go shopping, look for a nice home somewhere.

We who are caught up in the "Little Village Bubble" have among us some of the brightest and most successful by all standards, of people who live anywhere. People who have bought here and choose to stay here are not dummies.

The homes are very easy to sell and to gain a profit from at this point. If someone stays here and that someone is terribly unhappy, that is their choice.

I do not understand the constant negative hammering. I have to believe that we are as satisfied and as happy as our own personality allows us to be. I cannot see how anyone could constantly belittle this wonderful place. I cannot understand.

I agree Gracie, the Villages homes will always be marketable and with the developer still building, there is a relative degree of stability in new home prices. Yes they are rising but not by huge amounts.

Home sales seem to be recovering in FL and prices will always go up as demand increases.

We bought in Kissimmee after the bubble burst. In 2010 we bought our condo (which had sold for $347,500 in 2006) for $63,000 fully furnished, significantly below pre-bubble price. The market had recovered significantly by this past January and we sold for $80,000. Now, I see same size condos in the same community selling for closer to $90,000. The shortage of housing in the Orlando area has been driving prices up.

However, I feel the Villages is different. There does not appear to be a shortage of housing and the increases in prices of new homes are because of other costs (materials, labor etc). And as new home prices increase so do the prices of pre-owned homes.

I think an investment in a property in TV is a sound investment, perhaps not absolutely recession proof, but like any good investment there will be ups and downs in marketability but will any long time owner say their property is now worth less than they paid for it? I would say few, if any.

The exciting thing is that we know people want to purchase a home and live in TV because of what it is, not just for future value.

There are people who bought in 2006 who might disagree with that. And since they were selling 400+ homes per month, there could be quite a few. I agree that the prices probably didn't drop as much as other places, such as Orlando and Naples, and they have recovered pretty well, although perhaps not up to 2006 levels.

If you like The Villages, and want to retire here, fine. If you're looking to make an investment for a profit, there are so many variables in the housing market, experts are saying that housing is a crummy investment.