[Minnesotalyn]

Been talking to realtors up here, and not having sold a house in 22 years and hearing it's going to cost us 6% for a realtor and 3% for the sellers closing cost. That's a big chunk out of our profits. I know I can talk to a realtor down there, but I'm wondering on other peoples experience and what kind of deals they got or asked for in buying a new home though the Villages. Thanks

[herbaru]

Originally Posted by Minnesotalyn

Been talking to realtors up here, and not having sold a house in 22 years and hearing it's going to cost us 6% for a realtor and 3% for the sellers closing cost. That's a big chunk out of our profits. I know I can talk to a realtor down there, but I'm wondering on other peoples experience and what kind of deals they got or asked for in buying a new home though the Villages. Thanks

No deals on new homes, other than the ones listed at a discount on their web site. At least that is what our Villages agent told us in Feb. 2010.

[Russ_Boston]

I don't understand the 3% sellers closing cost.

Could you explain that for me? Do you mean on the house you are selling in Minn? That would be on top of 6% commission for selling the house? Or are you talking about some sort of fee in TV to buy the house?

[snitzel]

I'm not a real estate lawyer. This has just been my experience over the last 9 months in buying a house in TV and selling our house in RI.

Under normal circumstances the seller doesn't incur many closing costs unless they are part of the negotiations with the buyer. We were forturnate enough to sell and close on our house in RI last week. Our closing costs were 5% to the realtor, .4% tax (they call it a document and stamp tax in RI), $550.00 to our lawyer (optional) and the proration of the property taxes from January 1 to April 7.

When you buy a house in TV and pay cash the buyer's closing costs are even less. On a previously owned house you will prorate any of the seller's prepaids, a small amount for recording fees, and an inspection. The real money a buyer pays is to the mortgage company for the loan. That's where they really get you. There are origination fees, attorney fees, recording fees, initial escrow, appraisal fees, inspection fees, mortgage insurance, title insurance (negotiable as to who pays). The list seems to go on and on. And heaven help you if you get an FHA loan.

[Minnesotalyn]

We were told by 3 realtors that the buyers generally want the sellers to pay about 3% of their closing costs, then you don't lower the cost of your house. Another question. Do you have to go through a realtor to buy a new home with the villages, and we would be paying cash so does that help? Thanks

[Army Guy]

Snitzel, you are correct. We purchased our villa in TV with cash, and we paid less then $100 in fees, etc.

Army Guy

[graciegirl]

Originally Posted by Minnesotalyn

We were told by 3 realtors that the buyers generally want the sellers to pay about 3% of their closing costs, then you don't lower the cost of your house. Another question. Do you have to go through a realtor to buy a new home with the villages, and we would be paying cash so does that help? Thanks

You CANNOT buy a new home through a realtor. The new homes are available through The Villages agents...only. They always, repeat AlWAYS sell the home for the listing price. PERIOD. It is so different than what we are all used to, but it works just fine. The resale homes are open for offers.

There is a LARGE percentage of people who pay cash for their homes. We did. Had almost NO closing costs. We bought a new home.

In our history of buying many homes, most of them new, we ALWAYS bought title insurance, but....and you much decide this for yourself, we did not buy title insurance here. We so trust the owners of this place and their history that we figured that the title was clear when they bought the land to build on. We consulted several other people on this forum who we trust, including the smart and sage Village07 before waiving the title insurance on our NEW home in Hadley.

[784caroline]

Depending upon which area of the country you are comming from different local areas are more competitive than others in trying to sell your house. In N Va it was not uncommon for a seller to pay the 5-6% commission to sell the house and then the Buyer would ask for XXXX dollars to assist in the closing costs..which could easily run an additional 10K. As with the commission the closing costs are all negotiatiable, but in todays market if you have a fish on the hook and you have been trying to sell for 10-15 months, are you going to let it go because you will not pay closing costs or at least some closing costs. Selling is not as cheap as one may think...plus you have to add moving expenses into the equation.

[snitzel]

Originally Posted by Minnesotalyn

We were told by 3 realtors that the buyers generally want the sellers to pay about 3% of their closing costs, then you don't lower the cost of your house. Another question. Do you have to go through a realtor to buy a new home with the villages, and we would be paying cash so does that help? Thanks

Outside of TV as anyone knows it's a buyers' market. What you're really talking about is not actual closing costs but is a negotiated price for the sale of your house. That's a different issue and for each area I would take the advice of a realtor you trust. We did and initially set a sale price for our house in Rhode Island low enough to attract buyers and still give us the minimum we needed. As a result our house sold in three days.

No, you are not required to use a realtor when purchasing a house in TV. But remember that if no realtor is involved at all you are limited only to "for sale by owner" properties. When realtors are involved the seller has signed a contract with his realtor. From the buyer side except for "for sale by owner" properties, there is no additional cost to the buyer for using a realtor that knows the area and the properties. As it is, in order to see all of the properties in TV, you will need to work with two realtors. A realtor outside of TV will be able to show you the properties which are listed in the multiple listing and were not listed with The Villages Properties and a Villages Properties realtor to show you their properties which include new homes as well as previously owned.

[Russ_Boston]

Originally Posted by snitzel

No, you are not required to use a realtor when purchasing a house in TV. But remember that if no realtor is involved at all you are limited only to "for sale by owner" properties. When realtors are involved the seller has signed a contract with his realtor.

I thought FLA was one of those states that if a seller finds a buyer on their own without the Realtor's help then all bets are off in terms of contract? I know some states are like that. But I'll admit I have no real clue.

[l2ridehd]

In Florida you as a seller have the right to exclude someone by name from the exclusive right to sell contract. But it has to be by named person. A good example would be if you showed someone your home before listing it and they really wanted to buy it, but had to sell their home first. So you then listed it with a Realtor, signed an exclusive right to sell, but put that persons name as an exclusion. Then if they sold their home and came back, you would be able to sell to them without a commission to the agent. In Florida you also have the right to cancel the listing at any time. However if you canceled and then sold to someone who the agent brought to your home, you still owe a commission. In many other states, the contract is set for a specific amount of time and can not be canceled unless the agency agrees.

[2BNTV]

Thank you to “Minnesotalyn” for asking this question and “snitzel” for a great response.
I’m sorry if my question is high jacking this threat but I am in a situation where I could use some advice from others who are more experienced than I. I have never sold anything before.
The Condo Associated decided for the owners in my complex to assess a loan for all unit owners to run for 15 years for multiple improvement projects, (unit owners were told they didn’t have a vote). The Association Board had their lawyer at the meeting to legally say this is a loan and not an assessment bypassing condo laws). I look at it like they signed me up for a mortgage I didn't ask for and complained that it would make my unit nearly impossible to sell. The bank person said, “That is not true”. I know a baloney story when I hear it.
The real estate agent first told me that we could pass the assessment onto the new owners as the complex would be greatly improved and they would benefit in the increased real estate value. She indicated my unit was Immaculate and would have no trouble selling. My unit listed onto the market in January of 2010. I have had 5 visitors to come and look at my unit. The complex is presently under construction.
I priced my condo for 10 to 15K less than others so it would sell faster. It didn’t. Now my real estate agent advised me to lower the price another 11K for an ad to attract any buyers for an open house as I wanted to sell before the tax credit for first time home buyers expires. The total reduction is 15% of the real value of my condo. I am presently waiting for the phone to ring.
My question is to people who have sold their homes recently. How much of a price reduction did you have to take to get your homes sold? I’m asking for the percentage that you sold your home versus its real worth. I’m not trying to pry into your finances.
We all know that it is buyers market with the economy being in bad shape. I would appreciate any feedback as I am concerned that with the 5% real estate agent fee and other closing cost would reduce the amount of money I would have to purchase a house in TV and would have to continue working to offset this loss of revenue.

Thank you and GOD Bless.

[784caroline]

You raise a very difficult and controversial question.....what did you sell your home for compare to its real worth?

In reality most people think their home is worth much more than what they sold it for but in reality your home is worth for what you sell it for ....no more or no less. Everything else is all talk....like your neighbor asking why did you list your home for so little!! Look at comparables in you neighborhood..both recent sales as well as current listings.....they do tell a story.

WE sold for 20% less than we were originally asking...which we thought was reasonable asking price....even then it took us 20 months to sell. We made price reductions not by the thousands but 10s of thousands....multiple times. But unless you are really tuned to your specific real estate market, the market changes and changes quickly. If you live in yesterdays world ( knowing what you thought the property was worth) you will hold on to your property for a long time. There are and always will be exceptions but once you sell all you can do is look to tomorrow and hope you made the right decision..OF course moving to TV certainly helped and sellers remorse!

[snitzel]

Originally Posted by 2BNTV

My question is to people who have sold their homes recently. How much of a price reduction did you have to take to get your homes sold? I’m asking for the percentage that you sold your home versus its real worth. I’m not trying to pry into your finances.

We sold our house in RI in 3 days. We took a two prong approach. We found the LOWEST priced house in our area that was close to comparable and made sure that we were substantially below it. Second and most importantly we decided what was the absolute lowest price we would accept and raised it about 7% for the final asking price. This gave us a little room for negotiation. When the house first went into multiple listing we got a lot of response because of the price. In this market your house must appear to be a bargain. If you want to sell it has to be priced right. By the way this was in January in all the snow and those other houses are still on the market.

[Army Guy]

Snitzel, I agree with your approach and that is exactly what we are going to do when we sell our Alabama house to move full-time in TV. We owe nothing on it, and only paid, I know hold on to you hats, $48,000 when we bought it brand new several years ago. Plus with property taxes so low here, $380 a YEAR. We will definitely price it cheaper then the rest. Plus we are planning to sell about 90% furnished down to the John Deere lawn tractor in the shed!
So hopefully we will be able to sell ours as quickly as you.

Army Guy