It's just a guess. I have had this happen to me as I was expecting the screen to change and it didn't so I resubmiited the post thinking it didn't go through.

I usually just edit the second post with a dot and the reason being "duplicate post".

Stuff happens. :) Hope this helped.

We have a contract!
 

Our ninth showing came and went without and offer. The ninth person said the house was #1 on her list, but was concerned about the maintenance of our private road.

We accepted that the house probably wouldn't sell before snow flies and we were talking to the fine folks who responded to my post asking for a house to rent this winter.

We decided that money was money whether we paid it for rent and heat and plowing, or took less for our house. I directed our broker to ask the ninth showing to make an offer taking her apprehension about the private road into consideration.

Her first offer was not as low as we had feared:). We thought she might come up a little, so we took a chance and made a counter offer. She came up more than we expected :). I wanted to try one more counter offer, but the advice of all those whose opinions I trust (my wife's, the lovely Diane's, first and foremost) said to take it. We accepted her counter and signed a contract last Saturday.

I was talking to a Villages friend about our contract price in an email and I made the comment that "a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush". He corrected me by saying "a bird in the hand is worth everything, because there are no birds in the bush". He's right...buyers are scarce.

We didn't get as much as we wanted or as much as we felt our lovely home was worth, but we made a profit, we don't have a mortgage, and we can afford a home in TV that we will be happy with.

We have been shopping online for way too many hours ever since we signed and are flying down to TV over the Columbus Day holiday weekend to look at a few houses. There is a house we found that we really, really like the looks of, so we have to act fast as the best ones always go fast. Our deal could still fall apart, we know, but we had these two free airline tickets that had to be used before January 1, 2012 anyways, so off we go to TV this weekend! We may make an offer on a place contingent to the sale of our house. If all goes well we could be living in TV by the holidays!

Thanks to all for listening and thanks for your support.

Maybe our dream of living in TV...this dream we've had for over 12 years...the dream that got us through all those snowy, dark, cold days, and some hard times, and some health problems, maybe that dream is about to come true.

Kinda chokes me up, y'know...?

Congrats on the sale of your home. I am sooooooooooo happy for you.

Best wishes as you start to live the dream. :)

Dirigo - Hope the deal on your current home goes through o.k. Keeping our fingers crossed for you!

Bill :)

That's so great! Life is a celebration, isn't it? So much to look forward to!

Really happy for you, know how cold Vasselboro can be in winter. You're right , a few extra dollars is not worth missing out on one more day in The villages !

OMG, it chokes me up too. I've gotten my hopes up with yours and felt let down when showings didn't bring offers, though not as much as you and the lovely Diane, I'm sure.

Now I have goosebumps.

Please let us know when it closes. I can't wait!

The right one came along
 

You waited until the right one came along, and that's all that it takes. Our right one came after 20+ showings and it was all worth it. We closed yesterday and are headed to TV tomorrow to become FROGS. You will soon be here too.:a040:

At last!
 

Sounds like it is all coming together for you. Congrats! Thanks for sharing your journey.

"Fairy tales can come true. It can happen to you if you're young at heart"-who sang that song? Seems appropriate, doesn't it? Congratulations!

Frank Sinatra!

Congratulations! I know exactly what you are going through. We close in TV in less than two weeks and I can hardly believe it is happening. Years of dreaming of becoming Villagers and now it is happening. WooHoo!:a040:

I will say, "virtual" house hunting on the Internet did not prepare me for the whirlwind of actually shopping for a house in TV. I was overwhelmed by all the options. Before we started we were convinced we would buy a pre owned CYV somewhere between the two town squares We ended up falling in love with a new cottage model home in St James. My advice is look at a variety of models and locations. Have fun shopping and welcome to TV

Oh Dirigo.

I am so happy for you and the lovely Diane. She gave you very good advice and so did your friend telling you about the birdless bush.

We took far less than what our house would have sold for six-seven years ago but we are here and in our new home and loving it.

We sold our home and dashed down here and picked a lot, rented a house, stored our furniture .........here we are.

I now send you all kinds of good wishes because the actual packing and moving was so much harder than we anticipated. Thank heavens our almost 50 year marriage is pretty solid, because that part was a TEST!

Be assured of a warm welcome on this end and our welcome mat is always out. Please stop by for a hug and a snack and some warm conversation.

Lifting my coffee mug to great happiness to you both and every dream come true!!

WOW! What a wonderful morning to sit here and read all your stories of selling your homes! Congratulations to all of you! You've made my day!

Thanks Gracie...you are the First Lady of The Villages IMO. We will stop by when the dust settles and visit with you again. Thanks again...Dirigo

Give that man a cigar!

I am getting tired from lack of sleep I am so excited. The lovely Diane too...

Thanks for your suggestion. We will remember to keep an open mind.

I wonder if this is due to the stipulation if something happens to the person with the loan the property becomes property of the VA and can be sold as a VA property without restrictions. Just a guess.

Congratulations on the sale of your home! :thumbup:

Dirigo, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the sale of your home goes through. Happy house hunting -- hope you find the future home of your dreams in TV. :wave:

congrats
 

I am so thrilled for you, can only hope it will be my turn soon....people keep coming to look but no nips yet....

Sending positive thoughts your way!!!

Location, location, location had been replaced by price, price, price. Price is ALL THAT MATTERS today.

Free advice being worth every penny here's my 2 cents worth. I got my mother's house and our house sold within the last six months using this method.

Ask your broker to print out some very recent sales comparable to your home. You want all recent comparable sales, not just the sales they showed you to get the listing (which were probably too high).

Figure out the sale price per square foot. Multiply the number of square feet in your home by the $ per square foot average. Price your house about 10% above that and be prepared to negotiate down to about 85% to 90% of that number.

Make sure you price below the nearest bracket that people search for on realtor.com. for example, if your calculations indicate that your house should sell for $305,000 price it at $299,000 to catch those lookers that stop at $300,000. And don't price on the nines, like $299,900...today's buyers don't like to be messed with.

Ask your broker to ask every person that looks at your home to "just make an offer"....tell them to "throw a number on the table and see where it goes". Then negotiate up to about 85% to 90% of the final list price.

Your mileage may vary, and, hey, I'm no expert, I'm just telling you what worked for us...twice.

Great news!
 

I was so happy to see you have sold! We arrived yesterday and are just thrilled to be here permanently as will you! As was said so many times before, take less for the home and START LIVING the good life. Adjustments to budgets are easy but getting back time is impossible!
Congratulations for wishes for many many yrs of happiness here!
Peg & Bob:clap2::clap2::welcome:

We argee...100%!

Put your pride aside and get on with it!

This is exactly the advise a competent realtor should give clients. However, many owners refuse to accept a realtor's advice on actual market value, even when shown neighbourhood comparables. Many owners have a "I'm not giving
my house away" mentality.

I agree
 

I agree with Barefoot, and thank you so much for these specifics. I have a document that I started at the beginning of 2011 where I copy and paste all the greatest tidbits from TOTV for future reference. This is definitely going in there!

That was us on the front side of this experience. We had a quality house and we were going to sell to a quality buyer who appreciated the way we kept our house and grounds.

Then reality sets in and you realize that the buyers don't care how lovely your landscaping is, or that you had a housekeeper come in every two weeks since the house was new, or that you maintained your house like it was a temple, ALL THEY CARE ABOUT IS PRICE.

Accept this reality, price it right, sell your home and move on with your life...and make up your loss when you buy your next home.

And based on pricing information on Zillow, you can probably expect to pay 25% less for a home in TV than what it would have cost you in the 2006/2007 peak.

Roger that Ed...roger that.

We are at 33,00ft between Atlanta and Orlando as this is written...! On our way to TV to make a "Deal or No Deal" on a house.

Come on down Dirigo. Come on home!:clap2:

We went through same process. Congratualations and welcome to TV.

Ups and downs...and way back up again!
 

We basically flew down from Maine to TV for the sake of checking out this one cute little ranch in The Village of Ashland that we adored. We went to meet with the Villages realtor this morning after a nice breakfast at Panera Bread in the Veranda building.

She greeted us with a long face and told us the house went under contract Sunday evening. We were profoundly sad. Profoundly sad. We went through the motions...followed our plan and looked at many houses and a courtyard villa, but nothing struck our fancy...we were broken hearted.

We consoled ourselves with a very nice lunch at Sweet Tomotoes, then visited with friends until mid afternoon.

Then I checked my email and had a new message alerting us to a price reduction on a house a little out of our range. It seemed very nice to us so we called immediately asking for an evening showing.

We absolutely loved it, and, deciding we could stretch a little, made an offer on it(still subject the to sale of our house in Maine).

If the seller accepts the deal "subject to" the sale of our house and we negotiate a price, we could still lose out if a buyer comes along with ready cash before we close, and of course our buyer cold get cold feet and bail, but, but, but, it seems we may be on our way to becoming Villagers! :MOJE_whot:

Inch by inch, anything is a cinch!!! - Reverend Robert Schuller.

Looks like your really close.

Hope everything works out for you. Best wishes.

Ta da !
 

We have a signed purchase and sale contract on a home in TV !!!!!!!!!!!!!

We've met the neighbors, hung out at the pool, checked the Rec Center, and checked out the entire 'hood.

Now we just have to close on our house 29 days from now, and close on the house in TV in 34 days...and work full time, and move out of an 1800sf home. Get some sleep? Not much for the next five weeks!

You did it!
 

Wow! You did it! Congratulations!!! :MOJE_whot:

:BigApplause: :BigApplause: :BigApplause:

Great story!
 

Love the adventure!!! What Village did you buy in? CONGRATULATIONS!:MOJE_whot:

Congrats, Dirigo. Details... we want details, please.

Congratulations! I hope everything goes smoothly. You should be in TV before the soon starts flying. :)