And those new homes that the Developer is building in Silver Lake, Orange Blossom Gardens and Country Club Hills are NOT too shabby; not to mention that there is no bond as janmcn posted! But moving to the historic side will likely guarantee that you have mature landscaping rather than minimal new plants/trees; you will not have the traffic and motor vehicle accidents that occur south of the area; you will have to contend with the convenience of close proximity to shopping, medical offices and restaurants; and you will find the lack of hills in those villages does not interfere with a pleasant walk and/or bike ride. The existence of a dog park and brand new park with exercise equipment are other factors that enter into decisions to buy there besides the lack of a bond payment. ;) Good luck with your decisions.

Be sure to do a very detail budget of your expenses. Both housing and living expenses. The bond should just be added to the cost of the house.
Closing costs can run a few thousand, title insurance, homeowners insurance etc. Your salesman should be able to give you a good estimate.

There is no closing cost fee, per se. Just your normal closing costs such as you pay for any property purchase. The bond is separate, on your tax bill. Only if you mortgage and include the taxes on your mortgage is it "included" in your payment for the home, IF the bond still exists and hasn't been paid by the prior owner, or you purchase new. The bond, since it is separate "sounds" like a big deal, but as others have said, it's a price you pay when you purchase any lot/home, just usually not broken out in that manner. It doesn't matter what anyone else pays for their bond, each area is different, depending on where you buy, and the size of your lot, and as mentioned, some of the "older" sections do not have the bond. Pretty much, it's all relative, we found. Being fairly new here, the bond was an issue for us only in the respect that we were advised NOT to pay it, because we wouldn't get that $$ back (by adding to the price of the home) if we decided to move, some say, within 5 years. We may, so we carry the bond on our taxes.
Hope we all helped. Good advice was to speak with your sales rep.

If you buy in Lake County there never was a bond, some of the houses in Sumter county have had the bond paid. there is also a yearly maintenance fee depending on the cdd area you live in, ours is about $550 a year onto the tax bill.

check for a mortgage at Trustco Bank, near Home Depo on 441, you may not have a closing fee or escrow.

for a knowledgeable Realtor call Hope Wilson Remax 352-446-6396

I am buying a new house and my 2 bed 2 bath manufactured home goes on the market Monday.

It is in Lake County and there is no bond.

I talked with citizens mortgage last week. If you are financing a new home ...of course there are closing costs....ours was going to run about $7000.....including escrow which includes insurance and taxes.

I asked for the details of "the bond". It was explained to me to think of the bond as a city tax. It comes on your real estate bill in November. No matter what "city" you live in...you pay taxes for the infrastructure of that city. TV is no exception.

So the ops statement...we can afford to buy a house in tv but we cannot afford the bond....means a lot of things to me.....and I don't understand most of them.

Wrong, that's just quoting the standard line by the developer's sales staff. Think of it (the bond lien against your property) as another 25 or 30 year mortgage, but with principal and interest payments due only once a year, with a annual fee for handling thrown in for good measure. AND it is not tax deductible as are real estate taxes. Part of your real estate taxes and CDD fees are still going to the county and city for infrastructure maintenance and expansion. You are paying off for money spent in the past. None of the original bond money or repayments go for future infrastructure repairs or upgrades.

Remember, if it walks like a duck, sounds like a duck and, tastes like a duck, it probably was a duck no matter what the developer's sales people or its bank tells you.

To not consider the unpaid bond as part of the purchase price is wrong. The bond and the "sales price" of the home is what you actually owe. Which brings up another point about the "appraisal" you get on the new home. They usually come in about $2000 to $5000 over the contract price. If that's accurate, what about the amount of unpaid bond that is liened against the property. So a $300,000 home with, say a $28,000 outstanding bond, is usually appraised at about $303,000. Question: is your new home under appraised by $25,000, or did you overpay for a $303,000 home and lot?:loco: