That's a grand idea! The Waiters Club:shrug: We have our home on the market here in California. We bought a lot in Buttonwood and we can hardly wait to get to The Villages:pepper2:

The Waiters wait patiently.

Count us in, our for sale sign just got put in this morning!!! We are building in St. James on Yankee Clipper Run and we will be down there the end of March to make our selections. I have noticed that the houses in my development are starting to sell, lets hope it stays that way and keeps improving.
Good luck to all!
Linda and Sandy

Linda and Sandy,
Good Luck! I'm keeping my fingers crossed for all of us trying to sell our houses so we can move to paradise. We'll also be on Yankee Clipper Run, lot 95. Planning on being in TV for the month of April and will be making our selections then. Sounds like we'll have just missed you. Please keep us up todate on your progress. We look forward to meeting all our new neighbors soon.
Terri

Hi Terri,
We are a few lots away from you, we are lot #69. What model are you planning on building? We are leaning towards the Lily, but I want to see the new model, the Zinnia. Chances are we are going to go with the Lily, it has what we are looking for. Not sure exactly when we are going to tell them to start construction, but it will be within the next few months.
Linda

Welcome
 

We just bought a pre-owned in St. Charles on Baldwin Run. Hope you guys make it down soon. It's great.

Linda,
As of right now, we're leaning heavily towards the Gardenia. Like you, we want to see the new models and make sure we've thought everything through. We really like the flow of the Gardenia. We find ourselves already talking as if it's a done deal, i.e., "Do you think the couch should go on the right or left wall?". Putting the house on the market has made us even more excited. Hopefully it won't be long now.
Terri

Did you use the relocation service? We are expecting a call soon to see who we should list with. I expect ours to go up in April!

No, we interviewed a realtor team of two that advertised in our area. We were impressed with their emphasis on marketing and decided to go with them. We also liked that they live in area and are knowlegeable of the comunity. They did a great job displaying our house on the internet and put together a very professional brochure with pictures as well as video. The real test will be if we get the traffic through the house. Not sure if open houses are very effective, but we have our first open house this Sunday.
Terri

The Gardenia is a beautiful floorplan, are you getting it with 2 or 3 bedrooms? My sales agent from TV said that he thinks I would like the Zinnia, I'll see when we go down there in a couple of weeks.
I'm excited about making our selections!
Have a great weekend and I wish luck to all trying to sell their homes.
Linda

There are 4 new Designer models on Paisley Way in St. James (near the mail boxes).

Elm 1984 sq. ft
Aspen 1921 sq. ft
Sunflower 1910 sq. ft
Zinnia 2021 sq. ft

I went in three of them but can't find a floor plan on line. I really can't remember much about them, the wife and I were just returning from our walk to the mail box.

I had friends of mine go and check them out, they said that I would probably like the Zinnia. I spoke to my sales agent and he said that there isn't any floor plans for them on the website. I see according to the listings that the Zinnia has 3 bathrooms.
I'm excited about coming down there the end of this month to move forward with our plans.
Linda

Since you're all talking about designer homes, I have a question. For example, if I look up the Gardenia and it states prices from $206K, I understand some lots carry premium prices, so it's not unusual to see inventory homes priced higher for this reason. However, on a standard lot, are these homes feasible at those prices? Or are there features in the model homes that almost any homeowner is going to want to upgrade to?

I've owned seven new homes in my lifetime, and sometimes the basic model is all you need and other times builders will put so many upgrades in the model it's hard to tell what you're really getting. I understand granite, hardwood floors and stainless steel are obvious upgrades, but besides the lot, are there any obvious features really lacking in the basic model?

I few years ago I bought a what you might call basic designer model to act as a winter home.
1. Laminate countertops
2. Carpet and vinyl flooring
3. No washer or dryer
4. Basic cabinets
5. Basic appliances (no door front ice dispenser)
6. Interior lot
7. 3" molding
8. No stretching of the rooms. Some models allow you (lot size permitting) to add additional feet to the side or front. For example you can add 3' to the den of a Gaerdenia to add a 2' closet and 1' to the front . Also you can add 2' to the side of the Gardenia.
9. Square drywall corners.

Tghoul, Thanks for the response. I am surprised there is no W/D since they come in the CYV's. As far as door ice dispensers, I bought a $2000 stainless Whirlpool refrigerator three years ago and the dispenser quit working after 13 months. That's the last time I'll get one of those.

Overall, it doesn't sound all that bad, I don't think I would need to stretch any walls. The Gardenia seems plenty big, in fact I'm surprised they don't build more spec models since it offers a lot of space compared to some others in that price range.

The bond price is not included in that $206K figure.