It sounds like you have found a great place, for you. Princess activities & classes will take a while to get there. There is much more north of 44. I suggest your wife look for spas, & exercise groups, & classes: the catalog of The Villages Enrichment Academy The Enrichment Academy is very helpful. Then find massages, hair salons, mani/pedi, Zumba, yoga, & classes she would be interested in, note their location & then figure out if driving there or carting there would be doable. Even if these activities are not near your currently projected new house, they might be a factor in deciding where to look for rentals & will definitely increase Villages life enjoyment. Good luck, lots of work ahead.

Can't overstate this enough. There is simply nothing down there to support life, and there does not really seem to be any plan to change that soon. The few stores that are within a light year, at Magnolia plaza, are slammed with customers. The one gas station the 7-11 is an absolut dump, apparently when you have a monopoly you don't have to clean your store.

There is no such thing as "over-pricing" on a market wide or neighborhood wide trend analysis.

"Market" is what a willing buyer will pay a willing seller.

If you see that pre-owned homes are selling for $100,000 more than "new construction homes", that means the pre-owned homes are worth more, not that they're over-priced.

Not even close! If you look at the registered voters in Sumter County (which is a pretty good representation of full time residents and the only easy way I know to quantify the age of a resident) the largest percentage of under 60 is indeed south of 44, but only 21.4%. This does not include west of the turnpike, where the percentage is 15.9%. Next you have South of 466A and South of 466 at 6.8% under 60 and finally north of 466 at 8.4%.

Where you do see difference is in the percentage of 70 and over.....South of 44 it's only 34.5%, west of the turnpike it's 42.3%, south of 466A it's 68.5%, south of 466 its 76.2% and north of 466 it's 73.2% that are 70 and over.

I think I've read at least 20 posts in this thread, making the argument that no matter what pay for your home in TV, it's going to be a "great investment" and you'll always have sensational, market-defying appreciation.

For all who buy into this nonsense, he's a little history lesson.


Tulipmania: About the Dutch Tulip Bulb Market Bubble

I still don't get these comments. There's plenty already. Leesburg is right there. Eastport will be up and running in no time. Rec centers? Right now over the Southern Oaks bridge near Sawgrass you have Ezell, Homestead, Franklin Rec.

I guess you folks consider it a ghost town if everything isn't a 2 minute walk. It's just strange to me. Maybe as I get older I'll feel the same.

I don't expect market defying appreciation. But real estate has always been a pretty good investment. Save for a short time around the 2008 crash it usually beats the stock market. Even in 2008, if you could stick it out a couple years you still made out. Only people that got burned then had sub-prime mortgages that went variable and they couldn't afford their payments.

I have been a contractor all my life. The real estate market and new builds have PLENTY of ups and downs. There is no guarantee homes will appreciate. Right now, 250 new home prices have been slashed by $10,000 - $50,000. The same is starting to occur with preowned homes. We are in a down market. The questions now are how low will prices go? And, how long will this reverse last? The reduced prices are a result of inflation. Speaking of appreciation is a lost cause at the moment.

Unfortunately, those who bought homes when prices were at the highest will lose the most. This is why sales are slow. Smart buyers realize purchasing a home at this time is probably not a good investment. If they do buy, they must see a good deal.

I suggest you rent a place just south of 466 and west of Buena Vista.

There are a lot of stores and activities in that area and your wife may like living there.

You are assuming EVERYONE in TV votes and the data is correct and updated. And, what about all the snowbirds who vote in other states? What about investors who own more than one home? Those who recently moved here and are not part of that data?

I find it quite amusing that some do not comprehend people who are now retiring are IN THE SAME AGE GROUP. Yeah, let's just continue to pretend they ALL buy in the south. Not one of them buys a preowned home. 70 and 80 year olds are somehow managing to buy ALL the preowned homes because they are not content with the home they have been living in for many years. To keep themselves amused, they keep buying homes.

There are those who have an emotional reaction to the new southern section of TV. It all started with "They lied to us." and continues with "The golf courses are overcrowded because of the south." We chose to move from the north to the south are very happy that we did. It is absolutely true that the new area has a very different feel. And it is more active. There are those why will argue my opinion. That's OK. I am glad that they are happy where they are.

If you are in a house or the market for more than a decade or two, you should be little concerned by this.

Even if you bought a house at the very very highest peak of the 2006/2007 market before the epic 2007/2008/2009 crash, that price would be an amazing bargain in today's market.

In So Cal, I know a guy who bought weeks before the crash for a then-whopping $750,000!!! Sure, it was worth only $600,000 on paper for a few years. That same house now goes for $1,750,000, a full million dollars more than he bought it for at the then-peak. This example is not unusual.

My current Tennessee house was $650,000 brand new in 2007. I bought it in 2019 for $705,000 - not much of a gain. Currently valued at 1,250,000. Viewed in today's market, even its peak-pre-crash price of $650,000 would be an incredibly bargain today.

If you are in the game for the long-haul, if you are looking to live in the house rent free while it gains equity or hand it down to your heirs, the market price when you buy matters little as long as you are getting it for a competitive price at the time and market of your purchase.

Real Estate, like the stock market, will bounce up and down but over time it has always gained value. Would you buy IBM or Apple or anything else today at the price it was in 1980? I bet cash money you would. I would buy any house I've ever owned for what it may have gone for in 1990, whether it was a bargain or the highest in the neighborhood. Any of those prices would be significantly cheaper than today's costs.

What does Warren Buffet say? "Buy, hold, and don't watch too closely."

I think it applies to real estate as well.

Great post. There are still some who believe their home will appreciate significantly in 2-4 years. This happened after Covid and it will not continue. If you plan on making money on a home, you should be in it for the long haul. Or, have enough assets and knowledge to buy a particular home that can be held short term for good profit. Like you said, real estate is like the stock market. Buy low and sell high.

Today: A person who paid $250,000 for a home before Covid. Now, worth $400,000- $500,000 thanks to after covid craze. They are sitting pretty.

A person who paid $500,000 for a home during the past Covid craze. If they were smart enough to get out before the market stabilized, they made a profit. Those still holding have quite a bit of ground to cover due to downward price trend. Eventually, they will see a profit. But, not anytime soon.

Life expectancy.
 

"The life expectancy of a male in the USA is 73. A female, 79. I suppose you believe the Villages is a magical place where no one dies."

- - - - - - - - - -

Those numbers are correct if you are a baby, but IF you made it to 73, which is sometimes listed as the median age of TV residents, social security tables predict you will live, on average, to 84 or 86 (m/f.)

You had me sweating :22yikes: for a minute there.

Huh? My point was people who are now retiring in their 60's are buying both in the south and NORTH. The post I responded to claimed only 70 and 80-year-olds live in the North. Unfortunately, this is untrue because a vast majority have passed.