[Bilyclub]

We looked at both VLS and MLS homes when house shopping. Our Villages person did show us a lot of new stuff down South. We ended up finding a resale between 466A and 44A by riding around and seeing the open house flag. The Villages is a perpetual seller's market so things move fast.

[KRM0614]

Originally Posted by Accidental1

My wife and I are looking at homes in the Villages. Currently we've just been going to open houses on our own and looking mainly at listings offered by The Villages (not MLS listed). We were wondering how others have handled their purchase of pre-owned homes from the Villages. Did you get your own MLS realtor to assist you or did you deal only with The Villages sales representatives? It seems to me that dealing only with The Villages sales representatives (even if the person assisting you isn't the one who is listed as the rep for the home being sold) is risky. In that case is anyone really looking out for the buyers best interest? Would love to know other peoples experiences. If you've bought new homes your input would be appreciated too.

Thank you.

The villages promotion people to sell houses are taking 5% not 6% due to lots of inventory.

There are more sale by owner and when they don’t use an agent they pass on the savings. Stay away from village homes they are always listed too high.

I would never ever use them. Had I known about the bond the fees the prison the 25% increase the quarry the inability to fix all the defects for 14 mos and the fact they own all the vendors I would have stayed away. Don’t use their bank insurance or anything.

As a single woman who wanted safety and access to services I screwed up big time moving here and now I want to sell my place. I’m not a golfer bar fly and don’t feel any sense of security. It’s much more expensive than the outdated list of expenses they provide you - add 30% more and that’s more accurate

[KRM0614]

Originally Posted by Accidental1

My wife and I are looking at homes in the Villages. Currently we've just been going to open houses on our own and looking mainly at listings offered by The Villages (not MLS listed). We were wondering how others have handled their purchase of pre-owned homes from the Villages. Did you get your own MLS realtor to assist you or did you deal only with The Villages sales representatives? It seems to me that dealing only with The Villages sales representatives (even if the person assisting you isn't the one who is listed as the rep for the home being sold) is risky. In that case is anyone really looking out for the buyers best interest? Would love to know other peoples experiences. If you've bought new homes your input would be appreciated too.

Thank you.

Village sales people don’t look out for anyone’s interest they have a sales quota and it’s all about the billionaires who own this place their money and that of the sales person.

[KRM0614]

Originally Posted by John_W

Villages agents are not Realtors, they may have taken the state exam and hold a real estate license and they may not. They are similar to a car salesman working for the dealer selling new and used cars. They cannot show homes on MLS because TV does not belong to the MLS and their agents are not all licensed as such.

Realtors are those who hold a Florida Real Estate License and have joined the Board of Realtors for their county and work under a set of code of conduct. They generally work for a broker who is part of the MLS system and can sell and list homes in that network.

To see all the resales in TV, you need both agents, at anyone time there are slightly more than 200 homes listed with MLS and 200 plus listed with TV Office. All Realtors unless designated a buyers agent, work for the seller whether they took the listing or another MLS agent took the listing. TV sales people generally operate the same, but don't have the same code of conduct.

Actually there are much more than 200 houses that are used. There are villas homes etc there are agents from all realty locations. If you go on Zillow realtor.com and the other sites you will find lots of places.

The sales staff from the villages want to sell but are also told to use the villages title company their insurance their bank etc

I purchased a home not a Villa I’m 2019 cash and still don’t have a legal original of my deed. They sent me a photocopy. After 14 months of work orders warranty never fixed everything. At this point I just want to sell, move out of the community and Florida. Lots of unethical people using the art of omission

[KRM0614]

Originally Posted by bebemary

In Florida MLS agents do not legally work for the seller . True in places up north but not here. Only the listing agent would represent the individual seller

Thanks for telling me that ! I have to say that the listing agents here are so lazy I’m amazed at how little effort they put in and promises made are just verbal! It’s the wild Wild West of real estate here

[KRM0614]

Originally Posted by Jayhawk

Not correct.

"In addition to being licensed Florida real estate agents, our team of over 200 agents receives frequent, professional education beyond the state’s continuing education requirements on customer care, product knowledge, and the latest information pertaining to the lifestyle we all enjoy."


Meet Our Amazing The Villages(R) Sales Representatives

Yes lots of lies from them they are on the cusp of misleading to potential buyers ! That’s why they’re being sued and the realtor being sued has won the right to sell in here and will win his trial.

[72eagleman]

If the Villages has the house listed, you must use a Villages Realtor. After we visited the Villages, we selected two Realtors...One from MLS and from The Villages. We made them both familiar with where we wanted to live and what features were must haves. Our villages realtor called us on a Monday morning and shared a home that was eight months old, was fully landscaped and had a three car garage. that was coming on the market later that day. He sent me about 50 pictures and arranged for a zoom video tour that same morning after he went to the house. We made an offer before it hit the market which was accepted the next morning. All the paperwork was handled easily over the internet and we moved into our new Lilly Villa home in Monarch Grove last week....and we love the house because it has far more features than we expected. PM me if you would like the name of our realtor.

[Captrwe4]

My wife and I found a pre owned on our own and bought it from the owners. No outside relator or anything, maybe we just got lucky buying from the owner.

[KRM0614]

Originally Posted by manaboutown

My big question is can Villages agents be buyer's agents as MLS Realtors can?

I was told yes but that was a lie because it’s verbal. They are mandated by signing a contract with the villages for the villages best interest and will make up a lie if you want to negotiate and they push new sales in areas far removed from local necessities, they represent themselves their profit and that of the villages and will say anything to bag a sale. That is a fact only after you sign and figure out do you realize you’d been had. The bond never goes away, add that amount the 6% interest and after it’s paid off you still pay maintenance as a line item on your property taxes IN ADDITION to HOA fees monthly which are not capped another lie - called amenity - again golf is not free nothing is as we pay for everything at inflated prices even garbage pick up is 20-30% higher.

[KRM0614]

Originally Posted by vintageogauge

We used both and ended up buying through TV. The MLS agent didn't seem to have what we were looking for and the TV rep. did. May have just been a matter of timing. They both seem to sell about an equal number of re-sales per year so I would advise using both. For a new home you have to use TV's agents.

That’s not true. New homes are also sold by outside agencies. No TV folks don’t have to licensed agents but are forced to after they sign a contract. Just take a test and pay a fee. In Florida if you have a pulse you can pass but you can’t sign contracts you’re not a broker or GRE.

[ithos]

Originally Posted by KRM0614

The villages promotion people to sell houses are taking 5% not 6% due to lots of inventory.

There are more sale by owner and when they don’t use an agent they pass on the savings. Stay away from village homes they are always listed too high.

I would never ever use them. Had I known about the bond the fees the prison the 25% increase the quarry the inability to fix all the defects for 14 mos and the fact they own all the vendors I would have stayed away. Don’t use their bank insurance or anything.

As a single woman who wanted safety and access to services I screwed up big time moving here and now I want to sell my place. I’m not a golfer bar fly and don’t feel any sense of security. It’s much more expensive than the outdated list of expenses they provide you - add 30% more and that’s more accurate

It does seem unethical that an agent would not tell you about one of the largest federal prisons and a quarry which still uses explosives within a mile or two.

Am I wrong about this?

[KRM0614]

Originally Posted by vintageogauge

Wrong, the owner can add the cost of improvements to the selling price to recoup the cost of those improvements. You will also have a lesser warranty when buying a almost new home vs a new home.

Won’t make a difference. The second after the closing the warranty is pretty much worthless it’s sold off to a third party. Homeowners insurance covers very little as well.

[Pairadocs]

Originally Posted by eweissenbach

Also, don’t forget to check Zillow.com and FSBO. com for homes that are not listed with either Villages or MLS. We bought our villa from the owner and saved several thousand dollars.

Very excellent advice, we have done the same twice. Excellent experience and we felt much more in control of our own destiny ! Don't know why people get so intimidated about FSBO transactions, we spent a couple hundred on an attorney when selling and saved THOUSANDS we would have handed over, and have felt very protected, again, for a few hundred, by having our own attorney, NOT the "bank's" attorney, the "closing" attorney, etc. Those folks are NOT looking out for you, but some agents will tell you that you don't need anyone, that "there will be an attorney present".... believe me, THAT attorney is not concerned for you. Experience is the best teacher we found. Handed over about 20K in several moves years ago, then learned ! A side benefit I will share, had the experience of an "agent" (not here) who "knew nothing" about the cigarette butts that showed up on our GARAGE FLOOR, even though we knew not a sole who smoked, odd hu ??? Also, an agent who had an open house at our home, allowed people to "wander around", and sure enough a watch and pair of earrings were taken from a dresser drawer. Again, the "agent" was just absolutely sure we had just "misplaced" the items. Also had a contract once that spelled out, NO showings on Sundays, yet, constantly woke at 6 a.m. on a Sunday (after a hard week of working out of town) to "let you know I have a client that I'll be bringing by about 10, they have to fly back this afternoon". Well, LOL, I said, I WILL be in bed resting so PLEASE be very quiet...LOL !
Had so much of this kind of thing, finally went the FSBO route for buying and selling..... it's been a wonderful experience ever since, but an agent will narrow their eyes, look at you, and say WOW, you are so BRAVE, that can be VERY dangerous..... we've actually found it to be LESS of a land mine to negotiate. To each their own !

Originally Posted by NYCAROL

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.

The sellers in our cyv have gone with mls or FSBO and gotten good results. The Villages Realty, I heard, have a higher commission, tend to steer buyers to new homes and have more restrictions. I agree you can get a good deal on a preowned home with lots of choices available. Myself and wife like to live within walking or golf car distance of the squares and that means preowned. There are some great cyv right next to Spanish Springs.

Originally Posted by KRM0614

Won’t make a difference. The second after the closing the warranty is pretty much worthless it’s sold off to a third party. Homeowners insurance covers very little as well.

When we bought new in 2006 the warranty was not sold off to a third party, but if it is now I would think twice about buying new.