[l2ridehd]

Being a newbie to the Villages and already have bought our second home (long story) but was able to do almost all of it on the internet.* I know many of you do lots of research and planning this way as well.* So thought I would share my experience and get those of you who have also done this to share as well and hopefully help those who are trying to buy this way.* And me if I should do it again.** ;D

1.* Determine what you want to spend for your home, number of bedrooms, space, and any other must have items.* Using the Villages web site view all new and used homes + or - 10% of that price range that meet your needs.* I look at + or - 20%, but have found through looking at listings and final sales price that The Villages prices homes at 96.8% of what they actually end up selling for over the past 6 months.* MLS listings I do use the 20% as they tend to sell at about 90% of asking price.* Seems the Villages prices better to market.*

2.* Build a spreadsheet with all the available data you can gather.* Price, square footage, features, home model, address and other critical information.* Using the county web sites get lot square footage, when it was built, what it originally sold for and I even print out a sketch of the footprint.* Print out floor plans and model information from lylesellsfla.com

3.* I assign a value of 65% of sale price to the living space, 25% to the lot and 10% to the size of garage so I can better compare total home values.* This gives me a square foot cost of each.* This does vary for golf course lots, but is a close rule of thumb to compare homes.*

4.* I than use mapquest Aeriel view and locate the home, the star is often not on the actual home so you need to match it exactly.* Using side of driveway, foot print sketch, lanai location, birdcages, roof style and color, I have ALWAYS been able to locate the exact home with just the address.* That way I can see things like "private back yard means it backs up to Morse Blvd or a shopping center.* Or it really is a good location with adequate space.* Low price when compared usually has a reason and I want to know what it is before looking.*

5.* I then rank them using cost per square foot, add and subtract features to be able to compare home or home very accurately.* Things like, if you want granite counters, than what is that worth to you if a home already has it?* Tile floors has a value over a home with rugs, etc.* I can share what I use for each, but everyone needs to decide that for themselves.*

6.* Get the list down to a small number that meet all your requirements and fly down and go see them with all your notes, camera, and any other information that places value on the home you really want.*

7.* Go buy with confidence your getting the right home for you.*

[Hyacinth Bucket]

12, this is an excellent easy way to compare houses accurately. Kathie does this also, I think she adds another column to her spread sheet - her personal feelings about the house.

Thanks for taking the time to post this.

HB

[starflyte1]

Good topic!

In your reasearch, did you find a place that gives all MLS listings? llyesellsfla.com does not have one particular listing that some cindysellsflorida.com has. I am the type that wants to see all, so wonder if a complete list is available.

Now, I think I need to learn to do a spreadsheet.

[l2ridehd]

No I was not able to find them all.* I got on a couple different realtor mailing lists and that worked pretty well.* Realtor.com seems to have most of them but not 100%* and they also have a couple week delay.* In this market not so much an issue, but in a hot market, the good ones are gone by then.* So a couple decent realtors who email you every new listing gets about 98% of them as they send everything that is listed vs just their listings.*

I also found that MLS only had about 25% of the total inventory and VLS had the other 75%.* At least in the space I was looking.*

[Sidney Lanier]

12ridehd: That is terrific and extremely useful! Great job!!!

We arrived at TV last year Labor Day to visit friends who themselves had just moved in, and that lightning bolt went off inside my head, resulting in our sitting with a Villages salesperson the next day. (Also a long story....) However, we were on our way to a trade show in Orlando and didn't have more time to spend, so we booked flights to come back six weeks later.

In the interim, my wife did a TON of research using the Internet to find even more information (tax records showing house sale prices from the past as an example), the point being that there is such a huge amount of information available 'out there,' and it is just a matter of ferreting it out, sorting what's useful and what isn't, and proceeding. We ended up with our Villages salesperson, plus a MLS salesperson, plus a list of FSBOs put together from ads in the Daily Sun which, unfortunately does not post them on their website, so we had to find another way to get them.

In the end, after all that, we ended up buying privately, though the house we bought was listed with TV; however, FL law allows a seller to end his/her listing with a phone call. The one thing we didn't do was work up a formal spreadsheet, but we have seen others do this and it looks very helpful.

Thanks again!

[l2ridehd]

I received some PM questions about assigned values. These are what I used because that is what they were worth to me. May not be the same for everyone, so assign what you value most.

Larger lot, like a cul-de-sac. Some value is added because of % assigned during square footage valuation stated in first post. Premium on new homes is 20 to 25K. Here I added 15K

Granite counters 5K
Corian counter's 3k (I know they cost almost the same, but just a personal preference of ours.

Birdcage $20 a square foot, maybe $25 for a really nice one

Solar tubes $500 each. Can buy th small ones for less, large ones more, but at least these are installed and not leaking.

Oversized garage. Some adjustment in square footage, but this space is important to me so I added 10K for a 4 foot extension and 10K for a golf cart garage.

Tile floors. If just in kitchen and laundry area added 3K and if in living area as well added 7K

If home had things like upgraded faucets and appliances and door handles, would add another 2-3K depending on the extent of these.

Downsides.

I would subtract 20k for homes backing directly to a road and another 10K for a standard size garage. Again my personal choices.

There are others, but these are the major ones.

[bestmickey]

Wow, very useful information! THANKS!

Of course, now I have to learn how to do spreadsheets and how to target a specific house from outer space. But, I've got a number of months to work on it.

[JohnN]

This is a very well thought out process, l2ridehd

I did add a column for orientation/direction of the lanai, which was important to me,
and a column for notes if there was something special to consider (ie: nearby rec center, etc)

[l2ridehd]

Thanks Johnn

I also had a column for those things that added or subtracted from value that didn't fit anywhere else. Things like golf cart included, or near a town square I liked, entry closet, or had all gold fixtures, or anything that might be a value consideration.

I tried to value and note the lanai as well. But I really can't figure out what is best. My guess would be dependant on weather your a full time resident or a snowbird. Also do you have or plan to have a pool. As an example, snowbird always, probably West or Southwest. have a pool, West, Year round no pool, North or North West or East. This one was difficult for me to determine. And also if I have a pool and am a snowbird, I want West for pool heat, but also want to add some type of shade screen if I am every there in the summer. So to many variables for me. would be interested in your thoughts on this.

[JohnN]

l2ridehd , well,
Mrs JohnN and I don't like a lot of sun, and we'll use the community pool. So I wanted shade and didn't put in a value of $$$$ per se, but instead as an "emotional" plus to a property. I'd choose an east/north lanai over a west/south one.

Emotional factors, not financial, is where I was coming from.
Also side comments about neighbors or decor or street access (ie: Oak Forest)

thanks for the tips, bud

[starflyte1]

I was going to post this in the Computer Forum, but think it should be ok here. I want to use a spreadsheet, but have no idea where or how to start. l2ridehd and Kathie said they both used spreadsheets to keep track of properties at TV. Do you have any suggestions about how or where I could learn? Don't know if it makes a difference or not, but I have a Mac.

[KCinBAMA]

Originally Posted by starflyte1

I was going to post this in the Computer Forum, but think it should be ok here. I want to use a spreadsheet, but have no idea where or how to start. l2ridehd and Kathie said they both used spreadsheets to keep track of properties at TV. Do you have any suggestions about how or where I could learn? Don't know if it makes a difference or not, but I have a Mac.

A couple of free spreadsheets can be found at
Google Docs http://docs.google.com/#all
Open Office http://www.openoffice.org/

[l2ridehd]

I use microsoft office suite which has an Excel spreadsheet tool that works great. There are a few free ones out there, but not sure how good they are or if they work the same way. If all else fails just use the old old version as in a pad and paper. Make some columns with the headings and write down all the details. Use a calculator to figure the square footage costs. A decent spread sheet can be set up to do all that automatically for you, but unless you have used them might be a little hard to set up. In mine, I just put in the home price and all the rest of that is done automatically.

Good luck with it. Let me know if you need any more information or help.

[poromo]

l2ridehd,
Could you share your spreadsheet and data with the board?

[l2ridehd]

Let me work on that. I am not sure if its possible to post an attachment on here. And I need to remove all but a generic house as some are still on the market and I don't want to hurt or help any seller.