[Aces4]

Originally Posted by bsloan1960

With the lottery system we were told, "There is no guarantee you'll get a house- Ever". And there is only a window of a couple of hours to say, "Yes" or "No" when you get the call telling you you are #1 on the lottery (beating up to 20 others who were in the lottery for the same house). So if you are 2,000 mile away- like we are when the phone call comes: 1) You feel REALLY lucky that you have gone from "Maybe Never" to "We have a house". There is no time to fly down, so you say, "YES". To make it even more difficult you can only be in 1 lottery for 1 house at a time. I hope this gives people an understanding of why people are desperate to get any house that is offered- and worry about moving, or making a petition later.

You can’t even consult an online map as to locations of services and where the homes were built? Hmmm

[Stu from NYC]

Originally Posted by bsloan1960

With the lottery system we were told, "There is no guarantee you'll get a house- Ever". And there is only a window of a couple of hours to say, "Yes" or "No" when you get the call telling you you are #1 on the lottery (beating up to 20 others who were in the lottery for the same house). So if you are 2,000 mile away- like we are when the phone call comes: 1) You feel REALLY lucky that you have gone from "Maybe Never" to "We have a house". There is no time to fly down, so you say, "YES". To make it even more difficult you can only be in 1 lottery for 1 house at a time. I hope this gives people an understanding of why people are desperate to get any house that is offered- and worry about moving, or making a petition later.

If people like their location good for them but would never buy a lot or house without considering what we are getting ourselves into. Grew up a few miles from JFK airport with planes coming over every 90 or so seconds and taught us to look before we leap.

[OrangeBlossomBaby]

Originally Posted by bsloan1960

With the lottery system we were told, "There is no guarantee you'll get a house- Ever". And there is only a window of a couple of hours to say, "Yes" or "No" when you get the call telling you you are #1 on the lottery (beating up to 20 others who were in the lottery for the same house). So if you are 2,000 mile away- like we are when the phone call comes: 1) You feel REALLY lucky that you have gone from "Maybe Never" to "We have a house". There is no time to fly down, so you say, "YES". To make it even more difficult you can only be in 1 lottery for 1 house at a time. I hope this gives people an understanding of why people are desperate to get any house that is offered- and worry about moving, or making a petition later.

The lottery is if you want THAT SPECIFIC house. It's not the only house in the Villages for sale. If you want THAT specific house and it's on a lottery system, then you're taking your chances. I don't know why you'd do that, but that's your choice and your decision, and you're the one who has to live with the results.

We saw a pre-owned place we liked in the Villages while we were up north, listed on the internet. We called a Villages sales rep. Told him what we liked about it, and what we were concerned about it. Asked them to check it out. He called from the living room and said "I'm calling from your new home."

Did we give him our bank account and routing number? No. Of course not. That'd be stupid. Instead, I booked a flight down and a bus trip from the airport, had the agent bring me to the hotel, and arranged for a visit to the property the next day.

It was lovely. I saw things that concerned me, but weren't deal-breakers. So I put down a deposit, and the sale was a contingency sale, pending inspection.

Since it was a cash sale we didn't have to wait for a mortgage company to sign off on a loan, and we started moving our stuff in the following month. We've been living in it for the past three years.

I would do that for a brand new house, or a vintage home, or anything in-between.

[vintageogauge]

Originally Posted by VApeople

As I'm sure you know, Route 301 is being changed so it will bypass Coleman and go much closer to the Hammock at Fenney.

Good news for Coleman.

Yes but it won't be closer to The Village of Fenney. DeLuna is going to have a big problem too when they widen it. That's several years down the road according to the last report I read but it's coming along with more industry and family housing.

[vintageogauge]

Originally Posted by Aces4

Not such good news for Fenney residents…

Fenney is on the other side of the golf courses no nearer to 301 as it is now, it is not good news for Hammock of Fenney though.

[Marathon Man]

Originally Posted by RICH1

Lack of Due Diligence shouldn’t cost every Villager money… Stop the Madness
Signed,

Jake Brake

This again. I just don't understand why anyone would give a second thought to a petition asking for sound abatement. It's not going to happen. Just ignore it.

[Marathon Man]

Originally Posted by bsloan1960

With the lottery system we were told, "There is no guarantee you'll get a house- Ever". And there is only a window of a couple of hours to say, "Yes" or "No" when you get the call telling you you are #1 on the lottery (beating up to 20 others who were in the lottery for the same house). So if you are 2,000 mile away- like we are when the phone call comes: 1) You feel REALLY lucky that you have gone from "Maybe Never" to "We have a house". There is no time to fly down, so you say, "YES". To make it even more difficult you can only be in 1 lottery for 1 house at a time. I hope this gives people an understanding of why people are desperate to get any house that is offered- and worry about moving, or making a petition later.

Everything in this post involves making a choice. The choice you make is on you. If you allow yourself to act out of desperation, it's on you.

[Plinker]

Originally Posted by Aces4

You can’t even consult an online map as to locations of services and where the homes were built? Hmmm

In my 40’s, I bought a home across from a train station. Imagine my surprise when I put my head on my pillow that first night.
In my 50’s, I bought a home across from an airport. Imagine my surprise when I went to bed that first evening.
In my 60’s, I bought a home next to the power lines across from the turnpike. Imagine my surprise that first evening. I also should have paid more attention to the power lines as, 6 months after moving in, I appear to be growing an extra thumb.
Give me a break.

[bsloan1960]

Originally Posted by Aces4

You can’t even consult an online map as to locations of services and where the homes were built? Hmmm

A portion of my post: "With the lottery system we were told, 'There is no guarantee you'll get a house- Ever'".

This doesn't explain why, even after consulting an online map someone will take any house that's offered to them?

[Aces4]

Originally Posted by bsloan1960

A portion of my post: "With the lottery system we were told, 'There is no guarantee you'll get a house- Ever'".

This doesn't explain why, even after consulting an online map someone will take any house that's offered to them?

Who, when buying their home, would take a chance in a lottery that could put them living next to hell on earth? Maps would indicate what trouble would be in the range of your new home, lottery or not.

[ohioshooter]

Originally Posted by vintageogauge

Yes but it won't be closer to The Village of Fenney. DeLuna is going to have a big problem too when they widen it. That's several years down the road according to the last report I read but it's coming along with more industry and family housing.

DeLuna already has a problem. During the day it can take up to 20 minutes to get to 44. When we bought our house 6 months ago I was thrilled to be so close to 301. Now sometimes we have to go south to Warm Springs to go north, and we are just getting into the busy season.

[Bogie Shooter]

Violins playing softly in the background……………

[LAFwUs]

We had a new construction house in one of the south end villages that bordered the turn pike.
Recently moved to the north end. I am not surprised by one (of many, no doubt) petitions popping up.

When we toured the south end house and the surrounding neighborhood- in person, more than once, we could not hear the turnpike noise, or least it was not noticeable at all.
At night however, when the village quiets down, air temp is cooler, its readily heard, even inside the house!
So, it absolutely depends on WHEN you are outside/viewed the house, if a buyer even had the chance to do so in-person, as we did.

I can also attest that certain blocks of homes within the very same village, one can not hear the turnpike at all, (same with music from Sawgrass) while the next block over, even on a block of homes that is further away from source, it was impossible to miss. Sound can do weird things.

The general lack of trees, bushes, combined with large, flat, open areas, often with zero barrier other than 2 strands of century old chain link "fence", between golf course/homes & the turn pike in many areas, means that the sound of 70mph semi-trucks, tractor trailers, sirens, motorcycles, etc. travel unabated for long distances and can "stack up" coming from different directions.

That lack of any kind of real barrier, also lead to other issues, but I digress...

[ThirdOfFive]

Originally Posted by LAFwUs

We had a new construction house in one of the south end villages that bordered the turn pike.
Recently moved to the north end. I am not surprised by one (of many, no doubt) petitions popping up.

When we toured the south end house and the surrounding neighborhood- in person, more than once, we could not hear the turnpike noise, or least it was not noticeable at all.
At night however, when the village quiets down, air temp is cooler, its readily heard, even inside the house!
So, it absolutely depends on WHEN you are outside/viewed the house, if a buyer even had the chance to do so in-person, as we did.

I can also attest that certain blocks of homes within the very same village, one can not hear the turnpike at all, (same with music from Sawgrass) while the next block over, even on a block of homes that is further away from source, it was impossible to miss. Sound can do weird things.

The general lack of trees, bushes, combined with large, flat, open areas, often with zero barrier other than 2 strands of century old chain link "fence", between golf course/homes & the turn pike in many areas, means that the sound of 70mph semi-trucks, tractor trailers, sirens, motorcycles, etc. travel unabated for long distances and can "stack up" coming from different directions.

That lack of any kind of real barrier, also lead to other issues, but I digress...

Did you talk to the neighbors when you toured? I certainly would have. Odds are they'd have given you the straight dope about the noise at night.

[coffeebean]

Originally Posted by VApeople

Because there are too many things to think about when we buy a house.

We get sidetracked by the little things like the color the tile or the bathroom fixtures and forget the main thing is location.

Sorry, but there is no excuse to not check out the location. Location, location, location is a real estate mantra for a very good reason. For those who did not even see their lot and location first hand, there is google maps. Being close to The Turnpike is one big blaring deterrent to anyone who has good hearing.