[Timothyimitchell]

Seems like buyers closing costs from a lender are higher in the villages. What type of experience have you had if you chose a conventional loan here?

[davem4616]

When we decided to buy in TV, we just wanted to get the deal done and paid whatever the going rate was for closing costs to whomever the Villages sales people steered us to 4+ years ago...we were happy we found a house we liked and wanted to get on with our lives.

I could have gone with an out of state bank, but why...we were going to pay the whole thing off within months anyway once some paper matured

when you add everything together, closing costs are a very small % of the overall cost of moving here

Every state is different...I didn't try to compare what I may have paid in another state in prior years to the closing costs in FL...remember we don't have to pay an attorney in FL

[DAVES]

Originally Posted by Timothyimitchell

Seems like buyers closing costs from a lender are higher in the villages. What type of experience have you had if you chose a conventional loan here?

Closing costs like most of this stuff seem to be deliberately confusing. Points for example you pay upfront to get a lowered interest rate on the loan. How do you pay? It is in the closing costs.

We are the first owner of this home. Excellent credit etc etc etc. I checked about renegotiating the interest rate. Same bank. They wanted to charge us 4,000 in closing costs. Legal theft. Charge for title search. As the lender on our home if there was a lien placed on the property they would be notified.

Banks, it is a business. They are tightly regulated. As much as they CLAIM to like you when you untie the math you will discover the cost is very close except for thing like VA loans.

[DAVES]

Originally Posted by davem4616

When we decided to buy in TV, we just wanted to get the deal done and paid whatever the going rate was for closing costs to whomever the Villages sales people steered us to 4+ years ago...we were happy we found a house we liked and wanted to get on with our lives.

I could have gone with an out of state bank, but why...we were going to pay the whole thing off within months anyway once some paper matured

when you add everything together, closing costs are a very small % of the overall cost of moving here

Every state is different...I didn't try to compare what I may have paid in another state in prior years to the closing costs in FL...remember we don't have to pay an attorney in FL

My OPINION. You may not need to pay an attorney in Florida, I'm not sure you are forced to anywhere. However, reality, the sales person works for the seller, unless they are a buyer agent. The bank, works for the bank. The seller, well they work for the seller. The only one working for you is the attorney. As far as an attorney, if you took a mortgage part of the closing costs is the buyer, you, paying for the bank's attorney.

As far as paying off your mortgage. Wise? Mortgage money is about 3%. Long term stock market returns are 7-8%. People do not tell the truth as far as money. The past 15 years have been better than normal.

Inflation? Published information the dollar has lost 6% of it's value this year. CPI, consumer price index is up 5%. A mortgage, unless we have deflation, last time was the depression of the 1930's you pay your mortgage with depreciating dollars.

For most of us it is like my stepping in the ring with a professional boxer.