[2newyorkers]

Originally Posted by kstew43

anyone else remember the line...you must be ready by 5:01 to buy, I can only hold the house for you for 2 hours, then, my fellow sales agent is going to sell it to his client. I need your decision NOW, what are you going to do.....?

That was high pressure...... and we fell for it....

We fell for it and never regretted it because we live in Tall Trees.

[EPutnam1863]

Originally Posted by Kahuna32162

Again, as The Villages expands, it gets closer and closer to other outside elements that will affect the quality of life in the bubble. We recently (6 months ago) moved into our 2nd home in the Village of Chatham, which we love. One of the unique features to this area are the trains that run the length of 301 many times daily and nightly. I'd estimate that we are about 3 miles from the tracks and still hear the horns and the rumbling trains. We knew this before purchasing and it does not bother us at all.

Fast forward to the new Villas and Chatham Acres that are currently under construction, just to the west of the First Baptist Church on CR 42. These new home will be less than a mile from the tracks and there will be no muted sounds as those trains rumble through and sound their horns at every intersection day and night.

I guess I'm wondering what kind of spin The Villages sales agents are putting on this kind of a distraction.

The realtor is not required to make such disclosures unless asked and then she is not permitted to lie. Best to have it put in writing so it will hold up in court. Don't be suckered into believing the "everything is fine" mentality that TVers and realtors seem to have.

[graciegirl]

Originally Posted by EPutnam1863

The realtor is not required to make such disclosures unless asked and then she is not permitted to lie. Best to have it put in writing so it will hold up in court. Don't be suckered into believing the "everything is fine" mentality that TVers and realtors seem to have.

Now wait a minute. It is one thing to get advice from owners of homes here and another to get advice from someone who doesn't live here in The Villages and has never lived here.

I am sure you would love it here Ms. Putnam,but the selling of homes here, this is a total different kind of thing than anyone has ever seen before. There are no offers on new homes. the price is the price and nothing is "thrown in" and no one is forced or coerced or "tricked" into buying anything here by anyone who works for THE VILLAGES. FHA and VA are not allowed on new homes, you must be able to put 20% down on new homes. THAT is one of the reasons why we liked it right away. AND There was NO pressure. Houses aren't hard to sell here. When we first came here, we had to call the agent to show us homes. She did for a couple of hours and we didn't hear from her again, she went on vacation. We found a home we liked by ourselves and then found Jim McLaughlin who ended up splitting the fee with the girl on vacation. Jim Mclaughlin wasn't pushy either and we bought our second new home through him. Nice, decent man, Jim.

[jnieman]

Originally Posted by retiredguy123

I have stopped looking for another house because so many of them have noise from swimming pool pumps. And, even if you find a house without a noisy pump next door, you have no way to prevent your next door neighbor from building a pool or spa and putting the pump near your bedroom. There should be restrictions on these noisy pumps.

Both neighbors behind us have pools. I asked if they could put the pool pump away from our window. The contractor said they always place it on the side where the garage is. This turned out not to be a problem for us but would be if it was near our window.

[jnieman]

Originally Posted by CFrance

It most certainly was the truth. When we chose our house in Tamarind Grove, it was put on hold by another sales agent while we were in our sales agent's office. We had so many hours to put down the deposit. He showed us the hold on his computer. I think it would have been pretty dishonest of TV to make that computer screen up. I mean why would they do that, anyway... the houses were selling like hot cakes.

We absolutely never felt any pressure from our sales agent.

I'm sorry for the people who moved here and found out it wasn't for them, and left. I hope they're not bitter.

When we were looking for a house we put a hold on a house then if we found one we liked better then took the hold off and put it on another house then we went to the next house and liked that better and took off the hold and put it on that house. We did that game for 2 days.

[manaboutown]

Originally Posted by graciegirl

FHA and VA are not allowed on new homes, you must be able to put 20% down on new homes.

The developer's new homes do not qualify for VA or FHA financing. A builder must meet certain requirements to be able to sell new homes with VA and FHA loans. Apparently the developer is unwilling to meet and/or sees no need to meet those requirements. After all, as long as the developer can sell homes it builds why bother?

Warranties for Newly Built Homes | Consumer Information

FHA New Home Warranty Requirements | Home Guides | SF Gate

[justjim]

Good or bad (depending on your opinion) Florida is first and foremost a “Business Oriented State”. By that I mean, generally speaking, the State laws lean toward the Business rather than the consumer. That said, with few exceptions, no matter where you purchase a home it’s buyer beware and up to you to do your due diligence. Being near a railroad track, pickleball courts, swimming pool, limestone mine, busy road or golf balls hitting your yard or occasionally even your house its up to you to do your due diligence.

[kstew43]

Originally Posted by manaboutown

The developer's new homes do not qualify for VA or FHA financing. A builder must meet certain requirements to be able to sell new home with VA and FHA loans. Apparently the developer is unwilling to meet and/or sees no need to meet those requirements. After all, as long as the developer can sell homes it builds why bother?

Warranties for Newly Built Homes | Consumer Information

FHA New Home Warranty Requirements | Home Guides | SF Gate

once again...you are so correct..... only Conventional Loans with a mandatory 20% down on new development. TV does it because they can..... I also think it has something to do with the BOND?

Leaves many new home buyers in the dust. But resales is another story.

[manaboutown]

Originally Posted by kstew43

once again...you are so correct..... only Conventional Loans with a mandatory 20% down on new development. TV does it because they can..... I also think it has something to do with the BOND?

Leaves many new home buyers in the dust. But resales is another story.

Basically people are buying the lifestyle. They are retired and want to get away from brutal winters and high taxes, decomplicate their lives, downsize, play golf, socialize, drive around in golf carts and enjoy the scenery and their remaining years as worry free as possible. I am at that point myself...

[kstew43]

Originally Posted by justjim

Good or bad (depending on your opinion) Florida is first and foremost a “Business Oriented State”. By that I mean, generally speaking, the State laws lean toward the Business rather than the consumer. That said, with few exceptions, no matter where you purchase a home it’s buyer beware and up to you to do your due diligence. Being near a railroad track, pickleball courts, swimming pool, limestone mine, busy road or golf balls hitting your yard or occasionally even your house its up to you to do your due diligence.

you know, I always thought about the idea of being a Home buyers advocate/investigator......

this would work well with the villages home buyers who are usually only in Florida for a limited amount of time and don't get the chance to do all the due diligence necessary for $$$ home purchase.

The buyers could pick the homes they are most interested in and I would be a private investigator.... I could talk to the neighbors, find out all the ins and outs of the neighborhood, noises, smells, residents...and then report back to the buyers, before they make there decision. Then they will have information from a person not in the real estate deal. Kind of like a home inspector, but I would be a neighborhood inspector.

Small fee paid from buyer for being the buyers noisy person.

That might just be fun....


Hummm....

[JimC55]

Originally Posted by retiredguy123

I have stopped looking for another house because so many of them have noise from swimming pool pumps. And, even if you find a house without a noisy pump next door, you have no way to prevent your next door neighbor from building a pool or spa and putting the pump near your bedroom. There should be restrictions on these noisy pumps.

Pool pumps should only run during daylight hours.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[thelegges]

Long ago when we built our first home the tracks were directly behind the home across the street. All children slept without issues as well as us. Built our second home 4 miles from private airport. Only time we notice is when chopper on the way to the hospital flying near our neighborhood, flight path is far enough away we can hear the chopper, but rarely see it.

When we bought our first home in TV a two hour hold was put on it, while we looked at two others.

Same with our second home in TV 2 hour window, while we looked. When we went back to make sure, two couples were in the house with agents who were calling to see time frame of the two hour window. We chose the first house because the second house while had a larger garage, and expanded bedrooms, it was too close to the pickle ball courts.

Our third home was preowned, we put a bid in the day it was going on the market.

[GoodLife]

Originally Posted by Kahuna32162

Again, as The Villages expands, it gets closer and closer to other outside elements that will affect the quality of life in the bubble. We recently (6 months ago) moved into our 2nd home in the Village of Chatham, which we love. One of the unique features to this area are the trains that run the length of 301 many times daily and nightly. I'd estimate that we are about 3 miles from the tracks and still hear the horns and the rumbling trains. We knew this before purchasing and it does not bother us at all.

Fast forward to the new Villas and Chatham Acres that are currently under construction, just to the west of the First Baptist Church on CR 42. These new home will be less than a mile from the tracks and there will be no muted sounds as those trains rumble through and sound their horns at every intersection day and night.

I guess I'm wondering what kind of spin The Villages sales agents are putting on this kind of a distraction.

If you look at google maps, there are quite a few homes in Chatham that are closer to the train tracks than the new Souilliere Villas and Chatham acres.

In April of 2017 there was an article in the online news saying that trains would no longer blow their horns where tracks cross 42, the closest to Chatham. I live in Woodbury and used to hear the horns faintly at night when out on the lanai. Not any more. Here is quote from article.

A “quiet zone” is now in effect at three railroad crossings near U.S. 301 in Marion County.
They are located at:
• County Road 42, 500 feet east of U.S. Highway 301
• Southeast 135th Street, 1700 feet east of U.S. Highway 301
• Southeast 147th Street, 4500 feet east of U.S. Highway 301
Quiet zones are established areas along railroad tracks where train horns are not routinely sounded. These newly approved quiet zones no longer require trains to sound their horns at intersections, unless deemed necessary for safety reasons.
The Marion County Office of the County Engineer, in conjunction with the Florida Department of Transportation and CSX Railroad, upgraded and updated crossing gate arms, medians, signage and warning devices.

[Fredster]

In reading some posts on this thread, I started thinking that when folks come down for a lifestyle tour and are looking.
There is a limited time that they have to check out homes, plus their in contact with others doing likewise.
That kind of situation adds some pressure to act fast,
and curtail some due diligence activity!
I bought a resale property remotely, but I did have friends
that lived in TV that filled me in on the lay of the land.
Did a lot of research myself, had prior house buying
experiences to draw upon.
Also had a great real estate agent, that gave me insight into benefits of particular areas!
Plus a lot of life experience and a mother who taught me “If I don’t catch one streetcar I’ll catch another!

[VillageIdiots]

Originally Posted by manaboutown

The developer's new homes do not qualify for VA or FHA financing. A builder must meet certain requirements to be able to sell new homes with VA and FHA loans. Apparently the developer is unwilling to meet and/or sees no need to meet those requirements. After all, as long as the developer can sell homes it builds why bother?

Warranties for Newly Built Homes | Consumer Information

FHA New Home Warranty Requirements | Home Guides | SF Gate

All true. But, with VA and probably some other loan types, there are closing costs associated that are the responsibility of the seller that might normally be put on the buyer with a conventional loan. I imagine that has something to do with it as well. When I put my current home on the market, we were told to make sure we took into consideration the type of loan being used, if any, and any seller responsible costs that went along with it before accepting an offer. Thank goodness when my buyer finally came along, they had cash.