I bought my home using a reverse purchase. put about half down and will not have a mortgage payment the rest of my life. the bank does not own the home you do and if you pass your kids get any remaining equity and if the mortgage is under water by the time you pass at 150 year of age it can not go after your estate to get the difference

Seriously? You must have way overpaid
 

Both you and the former seller must have way overpaid.
I had my home built 18 years ago on a championship golf course north of 466. It is now worth 3 times what we paid. Neighbors who have sold, got 3 times plus what they paid, even homes not on the golf course here have increased 3X+ up to 4X their original value, so you are totally miss-stating values in general north of 466.

The Villages sales agents are highly incentivized by the developer to sell new homes instead of resales. Not a criticism, just a fact. Of course they’ll say that preowned homes north of 44 will soon drop.

I just checked Zestimates on homes of friends and family in Idaho, New Mexico and Southern California. They have actually increased in valuations since the beginning of the year. Now those as most of you know are Zillow estimates, for whatever they are worth.

Villages agents are of course largely if not primarily working for the developer to sell new homes. They are there to sell all of the new homes it builds as fast as it can build them. In my experience they may put a spin on things to sell new homes.

i think the best people to answer your question would be from the villages real estate

Some Villages agents are better than others. The agent we used when we moved here was honest about preferring to sell us a new home but was fully supportive of us buying a preowned home. Unfortunately for her, the house we bought was through the MLS and she didn’t make any money from us. We felt bad but she understood.

I’ve heard stories from friends where the agent refused to show them any preowned homes.

get inside the bubble. full of useful information about the villages. did you know in 2008 they sold over 2200 homes and in 2009 over 2100. good to know

I've been a real estate investor so I know a little about the game.

I found what I wanted here both in size and, more importantly, in _location_. And bought it two years before I moved here permanently. I did not rent it out.

I overpaid for it after getting into a bidding war. And while I could be happy just about anyplace in TV, I am 'happier' here.

You've heard of the time value of money? There's also the money value of time.

Borrowing to buy stocks sounds riskier than buying real estate. Be careful. The market is more volatile than at any time in our lifetimes.

Not saying we made money, and that was not my point. Was referring to the quick, inflated appreciation for two years, and how quickly it seems to be deflating. And you are assuming we used a realtor and paid a commission.

My first Villages agent evaded showing me even one preowned home.

With the serious situation in the NE and Midwest and C19 I would think the demand for homes here will do nothing but rise on through the Summer (recession or not). FL is a very desired State for many reasons but we have so far weathered the virus pretty well here. My biggest concern is people coming here from the North to rent in the Summer just to get away from those hard hit areas and then bringing the virus down to us.

I wasn't picking on you. I was pointing out "the big question" commonly gets answered with you won't go wrong with real estate. Then the examples come as to I sold my house for twice what I paid. I put myself as the example this time. I happened to buy my house here in TV Jan 2012. It is now worth more than double. Double in eight years (without counting expenses = many) I consider that a poor investment. Don't lose sight of I purchased at rock bottom of the market and we are at peak and the OP was asking should I buy now. I give myself a failing grade if my purpose was investment. I rented here for five years prior to my 2012 purchase. The problem was the insecurity of not knowing if you could have the same place next season. I didn't have to pay taxes, lawn guy, bug guy, amenities fees, homeowners insurance, utilities, on and on. I negotiated with the landlord and cut one check which most times included a golf cart. Money wise I believe the renting was a better deal - certainly less responsibility. This response I predict will get a lot of static because no one I ever met here in TV has made a bad investment except me.

Since I'm not looking at a new home and I've heard from several people that the sales people for The Villages are encouraged to push the new construction on the other side of the freeway harder than resales, I'm not sure they would be the "best people" to make a guess. I'm pretty sure it would be hard to find a single one of the TV paid salesperson that would suggest I should wait, versus "you need to hurry and buy now."

Unless there's some new construction north of 466A and that's not on the far eastern edge (or next to the old garbage dump), that I'm not aware of.

The person who mentioned in a previous post, about having both a TV salesperson and an independent Realtor to hear the pros and cons of each, seems to make the most sense to me.