The Morses are not builders. They hire contractors and they get the best price and quality work. They also give a great warranty. Resale houses seldom get the asking price. The actual sold price is quite a bit less.
There are NO restrictions on new homes. Deposit with offer, held in escrow, followed with 10% at time of P&S agreement. STANDARD procedure with all real estate everywhere.

Resale homes in Haciendas of Mission Hills are selling at full asking price and many are $100,000 over original purchase price less than two years ago with homeowners who have done very little improvements. Things sell overnight before they are even advertised.

Hooray!!

The terms seem O.K. if the deal works out fine for the buyer, but if for some good reason the buyer must change his/her mind then the some of the non-refundable terms do seem rascally (hubby "sweaty''s term). After all, they now sell about 1500 new houses a year, so why be so strict?

WELL, because those are the rules. It is because of them we don't have more people who are goonier than the few who slip through the cracks.


They run a well oiled machine and gave us our closing date on the day we signed to have our house built and we would have had to pay $250 to change it even if the house was done ahead of schedule, which is often the case.


They do it because they can, and if people don't like those stipulations, there are ten in line behind them that are willing to abide by the rules.


It isn't a RIGHT to live here. It is a privilege.

My suspicion is that the OP is somehow relate to a realty firm. Hmmmmmm!
JMHO

Gracie : Thank you for your well stated post .
In a similar " vein " please see my recent Post in the " EMT/ Fire Truck " thread .

I am not a " Kool-Aid " drinker however I am a huge fan of Mr. Morse and his family for the high quality attention to detail which they continue to maintain .
I am predicting that it will become an all out " food-fight " when community standards become our responsibility .
Recent Threads provide just a " glimpse " as to what may well lie ahead . A few examples "
1] Lets eliminate Community Watch
2] Lets eliminate the Fire Dept. Emergency response Teams
3] Let`s cut back on the flowers and plantings

I hope you are wrong, however my previous experience with Condo assns leads me to believe that you are right. Many of those orgnizations commit suicide .

Actually you are INCORRECT. As a licensed Realtor in Virginia for many years, I worked for a contractor who was also a developer in new subdivisions. You were only required 2500.00 deposit- the rest came at closing-based on your lender requirements. So those who think 10% down is required everywhere else is incorrect.

Please do a search on FHA/VA New Construction and you will read my horrible time in buying my home (Sales Agent failed to disclose) issues. I love my house--but boy was there stress involved.

The only reason the person got the 2500.00 credit back to the credit card as it was deducted from 10% down--You can't use credit to buy a house (Visa). It is against the Lending Laws.

If your daughter is pre-approved with anything other than FHA/VA type loan she can buy a new home. However, if she has limited funds for down payment- she should stick to re-sale. All terms are negotiable and lenders are more flexible with down payments and get creative to help buyers.

Do I think that the Morse family are greedy? Nope--just have control of the development they are continuing to build. If you don't like the terms --they need to look at resale (developer) has no control from a buyers standpoint.

I lived through such an experience with a beautiful 100 year-old Private Country Club which has nearly as you say " committed suicide ".

The local economy in the Buffalo , NY area tanked well before the mortgage crisis rocked our financial system . Members elected a Board which was dominated by men who were CPAs and older .

They felt that the membership waiting list was not as a" deep " nor was the Club Reserve Fund as large as it once was .
These fellows no longer had any children at home and they were strictly golfers .
So they went into basically " austerity mode " and began deep cuts in social programs and general amenities .

In one major act they did the following :

1] Cut back on the pool staff .
2] Eliminated the kids " learn to swim lessons ".
3] Eliminated the coach for the teenagers competitive swim team .
4] Eliminated towel service at the pool .
5] Opened the pool from only Noon until 6PM .
6] Eliminated the House Manager , The Assistant House Manager
7] Eliminated the long time day and evening Dining Room Mangers who had been employed for over 20 years each .
8] Eliminated Linnen Towels in the Rest-Rooms
9] Disbanded the House Decorating Committee [ all women ]
10 ] all but eliminated children's and teens parties and related activities
11] Stopped building and maintaining a winter outdoor ice skating rink
12] Eliminated piano music during Thursday thru Sunday evening dining
13] Eliminated an annual etiquette program for children and teens
14] Cut way back on Holiday Decorating
15] Eliminated " Bridge Classes "
16] Laid Off a long time Golf Pro
17] Hired a much less experienced and less expensive Golf Pro
18] Cut back on traditional social events such as adult Holiday Parties
19] Cut way back on food service at the pool
20 ] Eliminated the Tennis Pro and the children's and teens Tennis Program
21] Opened up the pool on June 15th instead of Memorial Day and closed it on August 30th instead of Labor Day.
22] Cut way back on flowers around the Club House the outdoor dining patio and on the golf course .
23 ] Reduced the food quality

The above list represents only the items which I can now recall .

I tried to warn the Board as an outgoing Member that these deep cuts would result in Members " walking away " especially those who were non-golfing " Social Members " and Members with younger families .

Most often people vote with their feet and leave w/out speaking out . However word quickly spreads and the tour for prospective members became much less enticing .

Result : Within 1 year a large number of Social Members voted with their " feet and wallets ".
As older members retired and moved away the number of new " Full " meaning golfing members did not join when their name came to the top of the waiting list .

Within 2 years there was no longer a waiting list for the first time that anyone could recall .

Some " Full " Members chose to become " Social Members . The monthly dues for a Social Membership were about 33% of the monthly dues of a " Full Member " .
The Revenue from " Initiation Fees " fell off drastically .

The annual Membership Survey indicated that the Membership felt that the overall experience which they would expect form an expensive Private Club no longer justified the annual expense .

Within just a few years the number of " Full Members " had declined from 400 to about 300 . Social Membership was way down .

The annual surveys indicated that the members were not satisfied with the food or the Club House Staff or the overall " experience ". The " Cache " was lost .

I could go on and on but I guess that I have made my point . Take away amenities which makes the experience high quality and unique has a cumulative impact .

While one could easily argue that making one or a few of the changes above should not have an impact on the satisfaction of the experience the cumulative effect can be deadly to an institution .

Yes the economy had an impact as well but I believe that the " damage " was self-administered by a myopic Board .

And finally I do believe that the above history represents some " foreshadowing " as to what may well come when the Developer hands over the reigns .

I think these rules make sense - they prevent flipping, which is good for all of us in terms of the stability of the market (IMHO)

Love that thought

Buffalo Jim, It seems that Country Club memberships are way down in my hometown and surrounding towns and it is not because of the economy. I think that the younger generation are not interested or do not have the time to dedicate to golf. Today both parents have full time jobs and spend Saturdays doing yard work, kids sports games, laundry, and in the supermarket. No way are the wives going to let husbands spend the day golfing. Times have changed and they are not going to take it anymore.LOL

Buffalo Jim: The developer turned over the reigns of all the villages north of 466 a long, long time ago and has had nothing to do with running that portion of The Villages.

The developer will ultimately be selling the residents all the recreation facilities that he still owns, south of 466 and 466A.

If you have all these concerns, attend the next district meeting and ask some questions. And by all means, plan on attending Mark Morse's state of The Villages speech next month.

Thank you . First and foremost I recognize that my comments are way way off the main topic however I apologize to all upfront but find myself unable to hold back a retort to one of your major points :

I do agree that " times have changed " however this was a very " family friendly Club . Friday evenings offered a couples 9 hole social experience . The true " golfing season " was basically from Memorial Day thru Labor Day due to the climate .

The course Opened depending on conditions between May 1st and May 15th and the Flags were pulled out at the end of September .
Add to the limited season a number of rainy weekends and the number of golfing days or weekends were quite restricted .



SORRY FOR THE HUGE GAP -- I do not know how to alter it so please see below .



Sundays after 2Pm was reserved for " family golfing ".
The Mom`s often enjoyed spending time at the pool with their children . Working Mom`s often arranged for their Child Care providers to take the children to the pool . Very often Dad`s and Mom`s would gather at the pool with their children after working and relax with a light dinner at the pool .
I am sorry but I do not follow your " they are not going to take it anymore " remark . Those who were members of the medical profession usually golfed on Wednesday afternoons .
Often men would golf 9 holes right after work and meet their families at the pool . Most active golfing men would begin at 7 AM and would finish by 11 AM on saturday or Sunday which even enabled them to make Church Services . And / or enjoy Sunday or Saturday afternoon at the pool with their families .
Business Golf usually would take place on Wednesday or Thursday from 1PM and finish at 5PM during the week . Again it was very common for families to then gather for dinner the same evening .
So forgive me but I fail to see your point . It strikes me as sexist , narrow minded and even mean spirited , anti-male and unfair to the many many fine men I knew who valued their family time as well as the very very limited golf season in an area like Buffalo , NY. These fellows were not working 9 to 5 by any means .
By 4PM on Saturday or Sunday the course was wide open . Keep in mind that many of the spouses of the male Members did not work , had regular house keepers and often regular help with child care as well . Just saying .
Finally when an organization / community becomes too narrow focused on narrowing costs to " the quick " often something is lost which takes away from the quality of that institution or Community . I was referencing all of the complaints on this site related to cost of operating Community Watch , Fire- Dept Emergency response and even the complaints about the periodic change out of the flowers .
I was attempting in my related posts to point out that the annual savings to be derived by eliminating the amenities in question would be fail a rational cost/benefit test at best .