Bought are pre-own home in 2019 with a Village sales person. Everything went smoothly.

However the first home we really wanted was a preowned open house listed by the Villages. We put in an offer. Our sales person contacted us later that day with news that the selling person already had a deposit but had the open house anyway without telling her fellow sales members.
Very unethical in my opinion.

Buyer beware is very good advice. There are deeds restrictions in the villages. When visiting ''open houses'' I noticed several cases of houses that were in violation because the house that was for sale had landscaping and curbing that was too close to the lot line and if a complaint was made the owner would have to fix it. When I pointed this out to the agent they denied any knowledge of the violation. If you buy a house that has this problem you---the new owner--- are responsible. I feel that the seller or the agent should be held responsible if they don't make the problem known. Unfortunately that's not what happens---so beware.

I dealt with Nitin Khirbat when buying my first home which was pre-owed and on my current home which we bought new. He was great.

I don't know why you would think that dealing with a Villages agent would be risky.

You certainly can use both MLS and VLS but you'll find that VLS has the most homes listed.

Used both
 

As you can see, most folks a somewhat biased as to their choice of a realtor. The issue in TV is that MLS realtors can’t sell properties listed with TV, and vice versa. So, to see them all, you “need” one of each. We bought a home in July from a Villages listing, after looking at a dozen or so from both Villages and MLS listings. Our Villages realtor, and he IS a licensed realtor, is Michael Veri. He had shown us homes over a four year period as snow bird renters. We recommend him heartily.

Message me if you’d like more info.

We had two sales people. One from The Villages and one from MLS. Worked well.

You need to engage with an outside realtor Plus a rep,from The Villages so that you will see all homes for sale in the villages that meet your criteria. We moved here two years ago and first engaged with an outside realtor who had access to the MLS. He was very cooperative and urged us to engage a sales rep associated with the villages so we could see homes that he was unable to show. An honest individual. We wound up buying a home listed wit the villages properties and took the outside realtor out to dinner as a thank you. He was more than gracious.

Don't forget to check online sources like Zillow. I am finding that homes I know are for sale are not listed in the paper--even the open houses. Two in our neighborhood are for sale under smaller realtors and I haven't seen ads, so they must be online. I know one realtor who does virtual tours and no print ads. It apparently is the new way to go. We found our home riding around, so if you have an area you are interested in, drive around and get the agent and number off the signs.

You would be the one saving thousands not the buyer. If you are going go sell by owner for thousands less why not just list it with an agent for 6% higher and get it sold, no need to post it here. The average home is sold in 42 days with TV agents.

Buying a Preowned Home
 

In our case we located a very successful realtor (Lynn Bartlett at ReMax) and spoke with her son Chris to clarify our wishes regarding size, location and amenities of a preowned home. Then Chris added that information to a search and send us daily any possible homes that fit our wishes. The system worked perfectly and saved us a lot of time doing unnecessary searching. (352-817-4024 is the cell for Chris).

What are you looking for,? We have a 3/2 in Osceola Hills at Soaring Eagle. Its on the Villages website. VLS 232161

You are missing fully one-half the listings if you don't use an MLS source. Plus, we found MLS listings contain much more information and many more pictures than The Villages listings, making it easier to pinpoint a house of interest. Just learn to use Zillow, Realtor.com, Trulia, and FSBO.com.

Our family came for a lifestyle visit last Christmas. We are still several years away from retirement and decided to start looking at 55+ communities. We had previously visited three others in the past and had not been able to agree on one. My husband fell in love with TV. As he has never wanted to participate in the building process, we looked at new that was already built or being built. Everything new we saw had carpeting throughout. I have dust mite allergies and need a carpet-free home. Also, I did not want to live in a house looking at a wall or my neighbor. This limited our selections. The Villages real estate representative who was assigned to us for our lifestyle visit was polite and patient. One morning he called with a house that had listed just that morning that met all of our qualifications. My husband did a lot of research and we looked at the house several times before purchasing. We closed in February. We are both attorneys and have bought and sold real estate on our own multiple times and were comfortable looking out for our own interests. I will add that while the house was in good shape, the home inspector (who was recommended by TV rep) did an excellent job and found several issues that had to be taken care of before closing. We were satisfied and would use that rep again.

They can sell it for 3% more instead of 6% and they each save 3%. $200,000 home can be sold for $194,000 & they each saved $6000.00

They can sell it for 3% more instead of 6% and they each save 3%. $200,000 home can be sold for $194,000 & they each saved $6000.00

I recently put a preowned home in the villages and would look in the newspaper for the area I wanted in the type of home I wanted I went through the mls since they can show all homes except those that are been sold by the villages. In the villages does not show homes that are under mls. I personally felt by and a pre owned home was much better deal than buying a new one . My 1st time was a new Hey and then I had to put in everything I liked This rose the cost of the home up And of course having full bond. Find the preowned home I did the bond was very low the homeless exactly what I was looking for and there were a lot of amenities such as back splash.. blinds... no carpet.. enclosed Florida room and low bond. Also updated bathrooms and quartz counters. Depends on what you want.