[Stu from NYC]

Originally Posted by Jandj1987

You NAILED it!

I’m 57 and I visit TV as much as possible, which is 2-3 times a year. My husband and I still work full time. My parents have owned a home there for 15+ years. We’ve been looking into buying a home there. One thing I may add is a concern that my children (30 and 34) worry about and that is the fact that baby boomers are dying and the generations below them can’t afford to do what even my parents did (own 2 homes). They have also warned me not to buy there because TV won’t sustain the current situation. Specifically #2 and #3 and what I stated above about not having the funds that the boomer generation has.
So, is buying a home in TV a good investment? I don’t want to overpay and have a house that’s worth half in the end. I am fortunate that I can afford to own 2 homes, but I would have to rent it out to help pay the mortgage to sustain two homes until I retired where I would/could move down full time if I chose to.
BTW I happen to love TV!
Please be kind as I am kind. I don’t need someone who thinks they’re the smartest person on the planet (there’s a lot) being nasty and spewing smart ass comments.
~ Thank you.

Villages still has a lot to offer but we see no point in owning two homes so we are here full time. At this point this is where we live and it is our home and if value goes up great if not so be it.

[Normal]

Originally Posted by Indydealmaker

Considering our aging demographic, less than 2% for sale is a bit low. Death, relocation to assisted living or returning to family for help with age related challenges should have this area at a peak flux at all times.

We are at about a 9 month supply. It would take about that long to sell the current inventory at pace and amortize to zero without adding listings.

[kkingston57]

Originally Posted by Normal

Inventory on Zillow for the Villages has climbed another 7% for preowned homes in less than a month (Feb to March)as of today and up 50% for the past year (2024-2025). I’m wondering when the state of Florida is going to do something about insurance costs and property taxes? Two items they can work on but seem to have no interest in accomplishing? We just get more hot air from Tallahassee about what could be, but nothing is done.

There seems to be some aggressive price cutting on homes, but the bleed continues.

Great for buyers, if they do not need to sell their current home

[rsmurano]

Keep the government out of everything! They don’t know how to operate any business. I hate the California government and if you look at what California did to the insurance companies last summer before the fires hit, a lot of insurance companies bailed on their customers.
I’ve heard rumblings about Desantis wanting to get rid of property taxes. That would be a huge win for us.

As for the real estate market is collapsing, not even close to reality.
The villages will sell every home they build, and this is proven by the lottery system they have in place for new homes.
The only way Florida will start a big downturn in home sales is when everybody stops moving here from the west, north, and everywhere else, that’s not going to change any time soon.

Out property taxes are small compared to what people are paying in the north and on the west coast. Plus no income tax!

[Aces4]

Originally Posted by tophcfa

Highways and interstates aren’t payed for by property taxes. They fund local municipal budgets which are not responsible for that infrastructure.

Fair enough but are you not receiving the benefits of the Homestead Act with lowered taxes? Don't forget about the cost of schools, law enforcement, EMT and fire protection. Everyone wants top notch services but they don't want to pay. When you look at your Florida tax bill are you including The Villages high maintenance bond charge which is on your bill?

[kkingston57]

Originally Posted by Craig Vernon

The preowned inventory in TV has more to do with a correction in property values back to a new norm than it does insurance or property tax rates. Property values went up too much in the last four years and now they need to come back down to again become a value to buyers. Struggling investors, flippers and folks that were used to moving every couple years at a profit are having trouble selling at 2022 levels. Those that need to sell will lower the price to create the new norm and those that don't will need to hold properties longer to break even. This is a very healthy thing. IMHO

Makes too much sense. The most understood(at least it should be) economic theory, supply and demand is coming into play.

Big swings only occur after bad things. Recall the mortgage crisis before 2010. 1 bedroom condos were being bought by wanna be investors and/or unqualified buyers in Palm Beach Couty for over 200K, When the dust settled buyers could buy them for 25K and the real market price should have been around 75K

[Aces4]

Originally Posted by Laker14

It seems several things are at play here (Big Surprise! Economics is complicated)...
1. Post-pandemic bubble (low interest rates + people learning to work remotely + some jobs going away and people being forced into retirement + other stuff?) ends, as all bubbles eventually do.
2. Interest rates for mortgages double, then triple
3. Developer continues to build new homes
4. Old people continue to age out of TV

I'm sure I left a few things out...but those things I mentioned are more than enough to slow things down and increase inventory. It's not a great time to be forced to sell. It might be a fortuitous time to buy, if you are looking to buy a home in TV.

Markets swing. Welcome to the real world.

About #2: Interest rates return to NORMAL and the price of home building soared after the pandemic.

[kkingston57]

Originally Posted by Aces4

Interesting thought, as if Florida isn't playing catch-up with highways and interstate building. Anyone who has traveled by car through the years in Florida knows how gnarly the roads have been and now with even more travel pressure, it's worse. There has been an effort to bring things up to speed, so to speak.

If you're a resident of Florida, aren't you receiving the luxury of homestead taxes which stick a major chunk of the real estate taxes to Florida homeowners who claim another state as their residence? If real estate taxes are too much of a burden in Florida, the residents could vote for a state sales tax and see if that makes them happier.

Like it or not the legislature is talking about this(I doubt that they are serious) Can't imagine how big of a cluster (F word) that this would create. Wonder how this could affect the tourism when Disney et al has a 10-11% sales tax.

[Aces4]

Originally Posted by kkingston57

Like it or not the legislature is talking about this(I doubt that they are serious) Can't imagine how big of a cluster (F word) that this would create. Wonder how this could affect the tourism when Disney et al has a 10-11% sales tax.

An income tax would alleviate real estate taxes somewhat but that tax may be worse than real estate taxes since there is no homestead loophole to be enjoyed.

[Aces4]

Originally Posted by rustyp

January 2020 $1 US dollar = > $1.4 Canadian dollars. During the five preceding years (2020-2025) the Canadian dollar briefly (a fleeting moment) touched $1.22. The average was well into the mid $1.30's over that timeframe. If the Canadians are selling solely upon exchange rate they didn't do their homework.

Homework wouldn't have advised the Canadians of the unpredicted great rate of inflation that has occurred here in recent history.

[MX rider]

Originally Posted by Jandj1987

You NAILED it!

I’m 57 and I visit TV as much as possible, which is 2-3 times a year. My husband and I still work full time. My parents have owned a home there for 15+ years. We’ve been looking into buying a home there. One thing I may add is a concern that my children (30 and 34) worry about and that is the fact that baby boomers are dying and the generations below them can’t afford to do what even my parents did (own 2 homes). They have also warned me not to buy there because TV won’t sustain the current situation. Specifically #2 and #3 and what I stated above about not having the funds that the boomer generation has.
So, is buying a home in TV a good investment? I don’t want to overpay and have a house that’s worth half in the end. I am fortunate that I can afford to own 2 homes, but I would have to rent it out to help pay the mortgage to sustain two homes until I retired where I would/could move down full time if I chose to.
BTW I happen to love TV!
Please be kind as I am kind. I don’t need someone who thinks they’re the smartest person on the planet (there’s a lot) being nasty and spewing smart ass comments.
~ Thank you.

You may be overthinking things a bit. For us, we made the decision to buy in TV and have no regrets. We still own our home in Indiana....for now.

When we bought it was because we loved it here, and decided this is where we could live a fun, active and social retirement. We gave very little thought to what the value of our home was going to be at any point in the future.

We're in our late 60's and living the dream. We don't worry about home prices here because we're not moving. Although it definitely is a buyers market.
Sadly, like all of us as we get older, we've had too many friends and family pass before their time.

So we tend to live for today. We still have a financial plan, but we're not leaving anything on the table and we're doing our best to spend our money on having fun.

[Aces4]

Originally Posted by RoboVil

It is mirroring the rest of the US. Home sales are way off. Primarily due to high interest rates and uncertainty about the economy. The stock market correction has not helped either

Interest rates are not high, they are now normal. Many were feeding off the "something for nothing" premise and it returned to normal rates. The price of building has skyrocketed though and that's the conundrum.

[kkingston57]

Originally Posted by tophcfa

Highways and interstates aren’t payed for by property taxes. They fund local municipal budgets which are not responsible for that infrastructure.

Local roads are paid by the local governments. They re-paved(that is their description) roads in our neighborhood 2 years ago and I can now tell you why Sumter County taxes are low. Re paving was more like a band aid

[Aces4]

Originally Posted by MX rider

Florida has a state sales tax of 6%.
Property taxes depends on what state you come from. But even though they're higher than ours were in Indiana, I don't comsider them to be high.

Probably shouldn't be typing when under the weather and that should have read Florida has no state income tax. That is the tax that could be instituted rather than a real estate tax but that tax would probably be even higher.

[kkingston57]

Originally Posted by MorTech

The massive inrush Florida has been experiencing for years has slowed way down. This has been happening for 100 years. Insurance companies can't make money in Florida so they leave. Maybe some of you should start an Insurance company in Florida...You will be rich without all that market competition!

I was in the insurance biz. Check to see how many insurance companies have come and gone in Florida since Hurricane Andew and the only rich ones were the CEOs and other higher ups who as Eddie Money said "take the money and run,