Talk of The Villages Florida - Perils of new home buying

Talk of The Villages Florida (https://www.talkofthevillages.com/forums/)

- The Villages, Florida, General Discussion (https://www.talkofthevillages.com/forums/villages-florida-general-discussion-73/)

- - Perils of new home buying (https://www.talkofthevillages.com/forums/villages-florida-general-discussion-73/perils-new-home-buying-34243/)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jane52 (Post 315645)

Every time I see the title of this thread starting with "Perils", I think of how misleading this is to people up north who would LOVE to get out of the frozen tundra for good, and finally enjoy life year-round in TV. Our purchase of a home here could not have been easier and we used Citizens for our mortgage.

Going back to what started this, I think the problem is rooted in the writer signing a contract to purchase, and THEN going shopping for interest rates and then finding out when the banks could close.

We found the perfect place, and then we met with Citizens First Mortgage to get Pre-Qualified for the loan, and THEN we signed the contract to buy. We closed 30 days later by overnight mailing of the documents to us, and it's the best thing we've ever done.

I can't imagine signing a contract to buy something over $200,000 (or even over $2,000 for that matter) without making sure I had either the cash or a loan pre-qualification in place to pay for it.

Jane, my dear, you are a sensible woman and I have no higher compliment than that.

I hope to meet you one day and make you my friend.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hal :-) (Post 315674)

I agree Jane. My experience was the same until it went off-track. I came down pre-qualified with Charles Schwab and found a home I loved. They insisted I talk with Citizens who pre-qualified me at that time too. They told me the story of Schwab failing to close on time and the customer lost the home.

In the two days while I waited for my wife to fly down I stopped at BofA on 466 and learned they couldn't close quickly either. At that point, I accepted I'd have to go with Citizens, although I did resented the conflict of interest, all the interlocking directorates, and the simply fact they'd be enriched from any delay, at my expense. It didn't help that I had plenty of time during those two days to read the agreement I signed. I suspect most people don't actually read it.

In the end, we rescinded because they refused to add one simple line that said "no penalties would be assessed in the event closing is delayed through no fault of the buyer".

Some good learning here. Thanks for the insights.

This thread has had a huge number of views, yet nobody is posting firsthand experience with the kind of closing penalties that Hal :-) has experienced. Has anybody been penalized for a delayed closing that they were not responsible for?

One way around the time constraint is to buy a lot and have the house constructed to your specs. It gives you more time (approx. 3 months in our case) and it allows you more latitude in making the house the way you want it. In our case (2 years ago), we still got the discount. I'm not sure if that is still the case or not. The entire process was completely smooth.

On the issue of the developer being "evil", I think this comes from a feeling of frustration about their inflexibility (which they are). However, inflexibility does not equal evil. I can't think of any other developer in the country that I would trust enough to close by mail and not even see our new home until 3 months later. We did this as did countless others and I have yet to hear any horror stories as a result. That speaks volumes about the builder's integrity.

Quote:

Originally Posted by RVRoadie (Post 315864)

Not yet - crossing my fingers for a 12/27 close! No real word yet but they basically said "don't worry" - but I still do!

Russ, don't worry be happy....gn

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hal :-) (Post 315674)

Hi Hal,
I don't agree with everything you said, but I agree with you about this. It wouldn't matter how many pre-qualifications you had received, I doubt any of them could/would have guaranteed a 30-day close.

Does anyone know if the new home contract terms have always been as Hal stated? I ask because I believe that other Villagers probably have financed new TV homes through other lenders and that doesn't seem possible with the penalties for not closing in 30 days. I could be wrong.

I don't think the developer is evil (nor do I think he's beyond reproach). From what I hear, TV has a spectacular-- maybe not perfect, but spectacular-- record of closing on time. But I would not risk the type of financial penalties you said you would incur if something got delayed a day for unforeseen circumstance. Not a chance. The probability of something going wrong (using the developer's bank) might be small but the impact if it did would be awful. Apparently that's a gamble many are willing to make. I'm not one of them.

I also wouldn't pay $50 a month more over the life of a loan because the only probable way to avoid missing the closing date were to accept a higher interest rate than I had been offered elsewhere.

There's no other place like TV, that I'm aware of. We enjoy TV more every time we are there. It's where I want to live full time when we retire. If you'd still love to live here too, you do have other option, such as a resale, or perhaps paying cash for a new TV home.

Thanks for sharing your experience and best wishes on whatever you decide.

Pturner, the $ cautious

Has anyone missed their closing because of Citizens Mortgage? Has anyone missed their closing because of The Villages?

Quote:

Originally Posted by elevatorman (Post 315963)

Has anyone missed their closing because of Citizens Mortgage? Has anyone missed their closing because of The Villages?

To add to these questions;
Has anyone used other mortgage companies on a new spec home closing, needed to close in 30 days?

Buying New - they control process tightly

We just bought a new unit and experienced the rigid process/contract language described above.

No negotiation on price, buyer has steep penalties if closing is delayed, etc. Yes, you could lose the 20% down they collect in 10 days from sale.

That is why i financed with Citizens rather than my back home lender. They have a great way of steering business to their mortagage company.

The good news is everything got done and we closed on time.