[tanbcu]

looking for anyinfo on what to ask an look for . will be revisiting in june. some real facts would be greatly appreciated thanx eddid d

[chuckinca]

Read thru "Nuts and Bolts of the Villages" at the bottom of the "Talk of the Villages" front page.

[GMONEY]

1. Make a list before the visit, think of everything and anything...
2. If you are Thirsty, watch what you drink.... and who gives it to you
3. Make sure you ask the sales rep you are with everything that is on your list.
4. Watch what you are drinking.....
5. Ask people you see here what they think, where they live, and get a idea on what it is really like.
6. If you do have a drink, make sure you smell it first....
7. relax when your here, and enjoy it.
8. By now you had a drink, it was filled with Voo-doo mojo and you have signed a deal. Told you watch in step 2, watch what you drink, espcially if your sales rep offers it to you.. Now your hooked, move on in....

[Army Guy]

Money, you are too funny.

tanbcu, we just bought. Basically the place is REAL that is the hardest part to get use to and over. I mean it is so hard to believe the place isn't made up. It really is as people say, "a bubble".
Once you get over that, you have to decide what size you want. TV offers about anything any style. So it really is, "about YOU and what YOU want". We just told our rep what we wanted and darn if she didn't ake us to exactly that and showed us several to boot. Also have established a price range. Decide about location. Is a view a must? i.e. pond, golf course, etc.cause you will pay more for it. Or, like us, did you want a quiet interior location near both a Rec Center and golf.
So do your home work before your arrive and have a real sit down with the wife and decide the above. That will make it very easy.

Feel free to email or PM me for more detail.

Army Guy

[ChattanoogaTn]

I too agree that location concerning squares, pools, and neighborhoods are a factor. In my haste to get here I am within a few hundred feet of a "Sports Pool" and wasn't aware until after I had signed contract that a "sports pool" is not a "lounge" pool and therefore we are further away from (family/adult) pool that we had thought. We did like the privacy of a "courtyard" Villa but intend to buy a home with LARGER garage once we sell some property (if ever?) in Tenn, rent the Villa we bought and will better learn the areas. Some people can just buy a home within a couple days but after 3 trips down and (after) signing contract on a home here .... I'm still learning

Also have learned to "make sure" that once you get an "inspection" of home you are buying (still wondering if it was worth it?) that you tell your Realtor that you would like to have repairs down (correctly) BEFORE closing as my Realtor never got the point across to the seller that this was suppossed to be done....( and done correctly ) before closing!

Many things you'll learn and as another person wrote.... "Ask people about certain things" as we have learned a lot from The Villages and NOT the Realtors!!

Hope this helps

[downeaster]

Originally Posted by tanbcu

looking for anyinfo on what to ask an look for . will be revisiting in june. some real facts would be greatly appreciated thanx eddid d

Other than the obvious, look for:
Location of:
sewage disposal facilities.
railroad tracks.
principle arteries.
pickle ball courts.
restaurants.
Or anything else you can think of that produces noise and odors.

[rshoffer]

If you decide to move here I strongly recommend you rent for at least 3 mos. Then you can take your time, visit endless open houses, models, locations, lots---new and prev owned. The task is daunting.

[paulandjean]

make sure when you buy that you will be here for many years. selling a pre-owned home in the villages is very very difficult. those who do sell take a very big hit. many homes are sold but way below the purchase price.seems the village staff only pushes new home sales.

[Bogie Shooter]

Originally Posted by paulandjean

make sure when you buy that you will be here for many years. selling a pre-owned home in the villages is very very difficult. those who do sell take a very big hit. many homes are sold but way below the purchase price.seems the village staff only pushes new home sales.

I believe the "hits" people are taking are also a result of the current economy. Prior to the economic slow down pre-owned were selling quite well. I sold a designer in 2 days....in was not very very difficult (then).

[paulandjean]

the hits people are taking are also because new homes are so cheap in price. the days of selling pre-owned homes in days are gone. now months and months are the norm.

[oldguy953]

Hi,I'm a wannabe going to TV this August they say your taxes in FL go lower after living there a year. Homestead act of some thing.......And whats a bond on your home if it's new? do you have a bond if you buy a resale.........I'm from LI would I be able to take the hot summer heat ? Thanks to anyone who replys....................

[TrudyM]

We are not in the villages yet, I am at the data crunch stage. That said we have moved allot. I am analytical by nature and always crunch the numbers. I found allot of info in the nuts and bolts forum.
One big thing is bond or no bond. It will impact your monthly expenses. (If you are an obsessive number cruncher, you can get a life expectancy number for yourself from sites on the web and do the math if you are like me.)
Another is if I am not mistaken the different counties have different tax rates as TV is huge it covers several counties.

Unlike the above poster I believe the inspection is a must. That said it only finds visual problems they don’t open up walls. Subject to inspection and termite report should be in the contract. The punch list of repairs should be put in an addendum to the contract to clear that contingent. We have in the past gotten estimates for the repairs, doubled the amount and then backed that from the price or had that amount remain in the escrow account that they don’t get till the repairs are done. It is amazing how fast the repairs get done when they don’t get their money, especially if you write in that the commission to the realtor isn’t paid until after the repairs hold is cleared.
Unless TV is very different, you do not have to sign the contract as written by the sales person, insert and amend it, to fit your needs.

I went through a copy of the Sun and listed all the groups we might be interested in and then mapped their locations on a TV map to narrow in the zone.

If you figure out something else that would be good in the analysis let me know.

Best of luck.

[BobKat1]

Originally Posted by paulandjean

the hits people are taking are also because new homes are so cheap in price. the days of selling pre-owned homes in days are gone. now months and months are the norm.

It's definitely a buyers market for pre-owned homes. There are some good values out there - Some with bond paid.

The competition with new construction makes it more difficult to sell a pre-owned home in the current economic environment, as there are some great prices on new homes too.

[l2ridehd]

Trudy is right on target. I also crunched information for 2 years before buying. I built spread sheets with a long line for each home I was interested in. Used new construction upgrades for cost factors(reduced by 25%on resales). Like lot premiums and granite and tile and birdcages and sq footage and garage size, and every other upgrade possible. Did a comments section for things that were a challenge to value. Took the price down to cost per sq ft for living area, garage and lot. Covered that information as accurate as I could for recent sales. Determined the area I wanted to live and started shopping. Use the Sumter and Marion county sites to see tax valuation and purchase prices. Use google earth and mapquest to see aerial views of the house. You can get it to the actual home 99% of the time. Look at the pictures and see which side the drive way is on, which type roof the home next door has, what the foot print looks like and you can get it down to the exact home. That way you can see how close streets, traffic circles, other homes behind yours are and other valuable information. Get a Villages map and put in the train tracks and power lines, sewage plants and any thing else that may bother you. That way when you visit, of the 100 homes that fit your size, style and price range, you know the 3 to 5 you really want to see. You know which is the best value and why. And you can do ALL this before you ever get there.

[Yoda]

Originally Posted by l2ridehd

Trudy is right on target. I also crunched information for 2 years before buying. I built spread sheets with a long line for each home I was interested in. Used new construction upgrades for cost factors(reduced by 25%on resales). Like lot premiums and granite and tile and birdcages and sq footage and garage size, and every other upgrade possible. Did a comments section for things that were a challenge to value. Took the price down to cost per sq ft for living area, garage and lot. Covered that information as accurate as I could for recent sales. Determined the area I wanted to live and started shopping. Use the Sumter and Marion county sites to see tax valuation and purchase prices. Use google earth and mapquest to see aerial views of the house. You can get it to the actual home 99% of the time. Look at the pictures and see which side the drive way is on, which type roof the home next door has, what the foot print looks like and you can get it down to the exact home. That way you can see how close streets, traffic circles, other homes behind yours are and other valuable information. Get a Villages map and put in the train tracks and power lines, sewage plants and any thing else that may bother you. That way when you visit, of the 100 homes that fit your size, style and price range, you know the 3 to 5 you really want to see. You know which is the best value and why. And you can do ALL this before you ever get there.

I know where the RR tracks are. I can see the power lines. Where are the sewage plants?



Yoda