[campy]

Not counting the property, how much more did your home cost above the basic price when you finished adding the extras?
Does The Villages put an acrylic or some type of treatment on the lanai and or garage floor? If you had it done, were you happy with it?

[angiefox10]

There is a lot you can do with the build and there is a lot you might want to do yourself As someone already mentioned.... many of the items can be done after build and will cost less. Not to mention you will pay taxes on the cost of the house.

Yes, they will put something on the floor of the lanai. We opted out as we are doing something else with our lanai floors. We also opted out of the blinds and had 48 hour do that for us. I ordered them the same day we designed the home and he put them in the day of closing.

There will be a lot items you will want done with the build so you don't have to mess with it, but there will be a lot you will want to do after!

One of my girlfriends who lives in TV and hasn't closed yet, has started the process, so when she closes, the contractors will be in place. We on the other hand could only hire a couple of people and are doing much of it after moving. it. But it does seem to be going fast!

Also... Total cost will depend on how much you upgrade your lot.

Trust me.... it all works out in the end!

[bonrich]

Yes we did have the acrylic decking put on our lanai. Looks great. Very happy we did it. Takes care of the bare concrete. Our spray on decking looks something like your ceilings, sprayed on then knocked down. As the previous poster said, some things now and others later on. It's really nice to be able to get into your home with much of the work (add-ons) done, that otherwise would have to be done later on and the search for a contractor and to go through the disruption of the work needed. Hard enough to move in and unpack and set up your home. We did not do a glass insert in the door and only put a plain glass (half) in the sidelight. Will take the time later on to look for that change, too difficult at the design center to make a choice.
Some things that could have waited, yes, but it's done and we are happy we did it.

[buggyone]

We bought a re-sale home and had absolutely NOTHING extra to do. Fully landscaped, lots of options that would have cost extra in a new house, fresh paint, coated floor in garage, solar tubes throughout the house, and upgrades galore.

Believe me, a re-sale is definitely worth looking into before deciding on a new house. Oh yeah, bond is almost zero.

[campy]

Originally Posted by buggyone

We bought a re-sale home and had absolutely NOTHING extra to do. Fully landscaped, lots of options that would have cost extra in a new house, fresh paint, coated floor in garage, solar tubes throughout the house, and upgrades galore.

Believe me, a re-sale is definitely worth looking into before deciding on a new house. Oh yeah, bond is almost zero.

Fully agree with you on this one but we must have been too picky because we have been looking for over a year and weren't able to find a resale.

[Pturner]

Originally Posted by campy

Fully agree with you on this one but we must have been too picky because we have been looking for over a year and weren't able to find a resale.

Hi Campy,
Did you use both an MLS Realtor and a Villages sales agent to find a resale? They do not share listings. So if you only used one or the other, you missed seeing many, many, many available resales.

[campy]

Yes Pturner and two fsbo web listings. We've seen a couple of hopefuls over the years but were disappointed when we actually flew down and saw them. Some of our must haves limited us and we know that.