[Gshepherd]

Not a problem, honestly. It is a designer home. I was thrilled that this was offered. The lot was picked out first then the type of home along with the other choices I mentioned.
Hope you take advantage of this great opportunity!

[Barefoot]

I should know the answer to this question, I've owned a house in TV for a year. But there's lot of stuff I should know that I don't. More's the pity.

What is the difference between a 1392 sf amarillo ranch and a 1392 sf designer home? To me they look identical.

[Lucko]

pili -- The Villages is offering more choices, but they certainly don't give you many -- Talk to an experienced realtor like Debra Park 1-800-346-4556 at the Villages to get the up to date scoop on what the deals are for this week in new construction -- We are building a designer in Hemmingway and the choices vary with each model, you can extend a room on the Gardenia, enlarge the patio on the Lantana and pick several factors on each -- When we bought our ranch in Duval last year, it was a take it or leave it spec home and we had no choice -- some things including price and choices have gotten better -- You can pick a lot and they will build it in about 90 days -- Financing through independent loan brokers is well under 6 percent -- Realize that you are buying into a way of life and it's worth it -- Happy house hunting -- Lucko

[73Goat]

Thanks all for the answers.

My child bride and I are planning to buy next spring (whether we've sold our home in VA or not - retiring in 2012). This information is very helpful. We are so looking forward to taking up residence in the Villages. Party Time 2012!

[Just Susan]

Originally Posted by barefoot at last

I should know the answer to this question, I've owned a house in TV for a year. But there's lot of stuff I should know that I don't. More's the pity.

What is the difference between a 1392 sf amarillo ranch and a 1392 sf designer home? To me they look identical.

Bare, our TV realtor told us the only real difference between those two houses is the neighborhood. Ranches are with ranches and designer homes are with designer homes. Otherwise they are the same.

[swrinfla]

I believe the current ads in the paper limit your house style to either designer or premier, when you want the options of lot, external decorating, interior amenities. Having had full choices when I bought in late 2004, I urge anyone interested now to consider these offerings as soon as possible.

When (I assume it will happen) the housing market goes back up, I think you can pretty well bet that you won't have these choices anymore!

SWR

[Pookirgirl]

We don't live in TV yet but received a call from our realtor there. She informed us that they have just expanded the closing dates for new construction by another 2 months....so by my estimations, you can put your order and down payment in and close approximately 5 months from that day! Sounds wonderful but I still have to sell my NJ house. Any takers? LOL!

[nanci2539]

My TV rep told us that there are no deals on the personalized package and it's a 120 day close.

For those of you who purchased pre-construction using the Personalized package, were you able to negotiate?

We're renting for two months before we buy and hoping to find a home within this time frame. But my wish list is pretty significant and doubt if we can find what we want in an inventory home.

And, I understood these packages were limited to Premier and Designer homes.

[Sidney Lanier]

Barefoot, we asked the same question comparing the 1392 sq Bougainvillea Designer with the 1392 sf Amarillo Ranch, since the layouts look identical. To our surprise we ended up buying a Bougainvillea (as snowbirds we'd been looking at Patio Villas and the Designer cost us minimally more as we bought privately and the sellers had to sell...). In terms of the difference between the two, the answer we were given was, "Oh, about $30-40,000." Go figure....

[stjade]

:dontknow: :dontknow: In a recent post LUCKO mentioned a Florida tax on sale of a house within two years of when it was bought. Does anyone have any information on this tax,as we are thinking of trading up by selling the house we bought in Jan. and buying a larger one in a better location. Steve

[villages07]

stjade....

Not a Florida tax, but, IRS federal tax regulations. If you have lived in a house as your principal residence for 2 or more of the past 5 years, you can exclude up to 250K (for a single) or 500K for a couple of capital gains (i.e. profits) on the sale of the house. If you've lived in it less than 2 of past 5 years, then you will pay federal tax on part of the gain. If you've had no or little gain (or a paper loss), then this is not a problem.

[stjade]

I'm sure there is no profit to be made by selling a house that we just closed on 5 months ago,and considering a real estate sales commission we will have to swallow a loss. Thats why I'm concerned about any additional tax.

[graciegirl]

Here I go, worlds authority on everything, but would you beleive we talked to no less than four couples who sold their house by theirselves when we were down there last month, in order to buy one they liked better. Just a thought.

[stjade]

Thats a good idea graciegirl ,we considered it ourselves,but we won't be full time till Oct 1st and you really need to be on-site to make it work???

[dadspet]

We have an Amarillo Ranch (new 9 months ago) and have looked a little at the Bougainvillea Designer models wondering what the difference was. A few of the things we noticed were:


Price
1.Your in a Designer area vs a Ranch Area?
2. You get a little better landscaping (but not much)?
3. Some of the appliances seemed upgraded ( Side by side ref vs Top freezer, didn't notice anything else but there may be something)
4.Fans and Blinds I think (worth about $1000 to $1500)
5.There may be one or two other things

but then again you can find differences in most Amarillo Ranchs Like:

1> Hip roofs
2> larger / corner / view lots
3.>Front fence and patio
4>His and her closets in master bath
5> Golf cart garage
6> Cabinets
7. Larger rear patio (excuse me Lanni )
8. Florida Room
9. Outside color combinations
10.Heating AC in garage (at expense of Closet space and garage space)
11.Offset guest bedrooms - giving a larger wall in the family room but adding a door in the guest bedroom to the Patio (blocking one wall in patio)
12.Different cabinets (white, off white, maple, etc) Some with and some without knobs BTW

I 'm sure there are several difference you can get in either model I missed

I would guess the above are the same options in Bougainvillea Designer models .
When I say options I really mean how the builder happen to build that particular house - they tend to have a variety of things that they build or add different in each house to give people
a choice and not have them all look exactly the same.
I think you need to consider each and every one of these little things and decide what they are worth or not worth to you. I understand the Villages now gives you the option on some or all of the above but those options were their before in already built houses.