We set out to buy a new home, but as it turned out, the best value for us was in a pre-owned. The extras added up to a super deal. Here is what we bought and the extras:

A pre-owned six year old Designer Gardenia that came with an extended lanai with wall to wall pavers and a huge built in spa, live landscaping around the spa, very nice mature landscaping in front and rear of the house that includes 6 palms, driveway and front walk done with pavers, BOSE sound system through-out with individual controls in each room, fans in the bedrooms, dinette, living room, den and lanai, rounded corners on all walls, built in full wall desk/work area in den, double louvered doors mounted at an angle as a entrance into the den off the living room, attic stairs and finished storage area above garage, pre-wired for security system, alarm system for all doors leading to the spa, professionally made draperies and window treatments in all rooms, pull-out drawers on all kitchen cabinets including the pantry, AprilAir Filter System on AC/Heating system, 12 place setting of Noritake China in addition to day-to-day stoneware, completely furnished kitchen, beer in the frig, completely supplied linen closets, completely furnished with like-new name brand furniture, three vacuum cleaners, lawn and garden tools, luggage and Christmas Decorations in the attic, and zero bond.

Our neighbors are wonderful and we love the location in Marion County.

Xavier

Wow. Now that is some house, Xavier. :thumbup: Glad such a nice person got such a good deal!!

I feel somewhat cheated now :grumpy:..............;).

Pre-owned or not to be pre-owned
 

We went with the idea of purchasing a pre-owned with the thought that it would be cheaper than new. Full bond was bothering me too. Pre-owned is not necessarily cheaper when the owner put extra bells and whistles. Yes, there is the bond issue but if you consider it as part of the yearly tax, then it is manageable. We initially made a bid on a pre-owned last December but there was a first bidder. If that party did not close on the deal, we would get it. Well, they did so we lost out. We returned in January and looked at new homes this time and decided in two days. When looking for new homes, I suggest you look at spec homes. When the developer wants to sell out on certain streets, the developer add bells and whistles. For example they would add extra feet around the rooms and lanai. They may add a golf cart garage without raising the price. That's what happened with us. Another advantage of getting a new home. All the neighbors are new waiting to make friends. Look what's happening to the posts on Sanibel and Tamarind Grove. With the established neighbors and pre-owned, the neighbors will welcome you with open arms but I have also heard that they have made the group already and might be difficult to get in sometimes. My 2 cents worth.

xavier:

Beer in the frig would seal the deal for me.:) :beer3: Funny stuff. :1rotfl:

Sounds like you got a great pre-owned deal.

Best Wishes

We bought a resale (3rd owners of a 4-yr old house) because location was the most important thing to us, and we couldn't get a new house in the location we wanted.

We wanted to be near Lake Sumter Landing so I could see the water every day. We drew a circle around LSL on the map, and told our Villages agent that those were the villages we were most interested in seeing. She also showed us some incredible brand new homes that we loved, but they were not where we wanted to be. When we saw the fabulous view from a 3-2 CYV in our preferred location we were sold! I can see water (and a golf course) from inside the house!

The villa came with a bond, but we planned to stay here for only a year or 2 to see if something bigger in our location (with a water view) came up for sale. Meanwhile, we've been here for almost 3 years, and I've come to love having a smaller place without much maintenance. It leaves more time for play!

on our 4th visit with snowbird friends in the historic section, and after cruising those neighborhoods and open houses on each of our visits and learning that we did not want to live amongst the hustle and bustle on the other side of the cart bridge...on the day before our planned departure we viewed an unfurnished pre-owned house in a great location [close to webb way adult pool and southside club house] that had just come back on the market after a purchase contract failed to consummate...our friend and retired cost-estimator viewed the property with us and gave it a thumbs-up - so we made an offer.

since it was late in 'the season' and the market was more on the side of the buyer rather than the seller ['tho with prices on the rise from past 'seasons'] it was not an offer that was real close to asking as we really didn't need another house - having a primary residence in nj, a vacation home in maine and a disney vacation club timeshare! we offered what would be a good deal for us - thinking that it was a not-so-good deal for the seller...sure fooled us when the owner took our offer!!!!!

so....3 weeks later having used the assistance from the good folks of totv, and having set up telephone/cable installation and rug/house cleaning appts, we were back in the villages to spend three days shopping for furniture and to close on our new house!

and we have not regretted one thing about our purchase! it didn't have everything that we wanted, so we are tackling the small list of improvements with each snowbird season that we enjoy out of the frozen northeast! it's fun to plan the next reno/addition over the other seasons and gives us something more to look forward to when we arrive at our snowbird nest.

I am hoping to buy a pre owned so we can have more space for the money. Also to have no bond or lower bond. Courtyard preferably. Now will someone please buy our home in Indiana?

we looked at both, and when we stepped into our house, built but not furnished, we just knew it was right for us.
it is the "pearl" in tamarind grove.
2 bedroom, open living and kitchen area and liana straight back.
we thought used, but since we don't live here full time we wanted less headaches with replacement of items, like appliances, roof, carpet.
so new works for us.

We bought a Cabana Villa furnished model home in Pennecamp last spring. My wife had certain parameters for a purchase since we were not looking to buy (sound familiar?), and lo and behold this model had all she was looking for and it was going to be sold that day, since we were number 2 on a list of 3 potential buyers.
So, number one backed out and we did our 3 hour contemplation and bought and are very happy with our purchase. As we get to spend more time in TV maybe we will cast out once again and look at other models.