[Pturner]

Originally Posted by Hal :-)

Yes, they quoted the rate and we can lock-in today at 5%. Bank of America was 4.62% and that would be $50/mo savings. But BofA said there's no way they can meet the closing date, especially now (holidays). At this point, I'd be afraid to go with anyone but Citizens since the contract penalties. are so harsh. That's the way they want it. We can still get out of the contract. If we do, we'll be looking at pre-owned. We really want to be here. We like new build and we'll probably look for nearly new. We're going to try one more time to get some kind of exception from penalties in the event someone else fails in their responsibility, but I'm not hopeful.

It's almost comical. The contract says if missing the closing date is caused by the seller they're responsible for actual incurred cost for lodging, one meal a day, and furniture storage. On the other hand if closing is delayed and not caused by the seller, the buyer will pay the seller for water, sewer, electrical, lawn and landscape, monthly amenity fees, interest on remaining balance (prime +1 1/12%), $250, and any Discount will be added back into Purchase price. Note that buyer accepts responsibility for any and all delays not caused by seller, that means Bank failures, delays in inspections, the appraiser gets hit by a beer truck, sudden surprise hurricane, or a stray meteor hits the Sales Center. It's hard to believe they demand we accept responsibility for the promptness of all their organizations. But that's the way it is.

And that is the way it will remain if people put up with it. If it were me, I think I'd walk while I could. The $50 a month difference in interest alone makes it a raw deal. If you have good credit at all, you could probably get better than 5 percent interest almost anywhere right now!* And you wouldn't be risking a huge loss if the appraiser gets hit by a beer truck. Resales are looking better all the time. Sorry to say this.

* Assuming apples-to-apples comparison. Surely Citizens isn't charging you any discount/closing points at 5% interest! If they are, it sounds like an absurdly uncompetitive interest rate! Did they estimate closing costs??

[Sparky-30]

4 yrs ago they would work with you on a new home, but its vicious now, its 20% down immediately and close within 30 days or ............finger across the throat! When the sales rep told me that I liked to fell over, no one in their right mine would take a chance on something like that. I thought they would take a few thousand down in good faith to hold it until I closed, ...no way, their way or the highway.

[Bryan]

Economics 101 - it's your Money! If you don't like the deal, terms, conditions, or whatever, take YOUR MONEY and go spend it with someone else. If you signed without reading the terms, you may be stuck and that is your fault - no one else. I agree with many in here who say resales are a better bargain.

[l2ridehd]

Is Citizens charging higher interest on new homes? I just closed on a resale and it was 4.5%. I could have gotten 4.0% from them except this is a rental property so had to pay the extra .5%. I closed in 30 days, but that was my choice, not a requirement. I also checked other banks and Citizens was a 1/4 % higher, but so far have been very happy with their service so stayed with them.

[Taj44]

When we bought our home a few years ago, Citizens was about 1/2% higher than other banks. We went with another bank. We planned on paying off our mortgage within a couple years anyways, but if you hold the mortgage to a 30 year term, for example, that's an extra $18,000 added to the cost of your home if you're paying $50/month more. All I can say is, there are a lot of nice pre-owneds around, truly!

[jebartle]

plus owner upgrades!

Originally Posted by Tbugs

Personally, I think resales are a lot better deal than a new house. Negotiate on price with the seller, set your terms, no construction going on in the neighborhood, mature landscaping, you get to see actual fees and bills the owner has paid, bond will be a heck of a lot lower than in a new house.

The bond payment is attached to your property tax bill each year. Mine was substantially less than several friends who had bought new homes.

[784caroline]

I will give you another example of a resale listing by TV that our friend made an offer on and had a signed contract. There was a concern if the house was priced too high and the buyer was going to use a bank other than Citizens. Again the RE agents...both buyer and sellers were from TV. Closing was to be in 4 weeks. ASking price was $210....contract price agreed to was $205. At 3 weeks 3 days all was done with inspections paperwork etc, EXCEPT the appriasal from the bank did not come in. Finally 2 days before closing the bank comes in at $200K and wants the buyer to come up with more money or the seller to lower the price.

Since this listing was through TV, I can almost guarantee you that the appraisl would have come in betwween $205-and 210K. My friend ended up walking BUT the story does not end there. The Seller RE agent tried to stop my freind from cancelling the contract stating the appraisal was not done by a "Sumter County Appraiser". Finally after going directly to the Sellers broker my friend got her money back and moved on......BUT this is an example of where suing Citizens may have been more expedious but certainly not in the best interest of the buyer. Now this house was modestly priced but what would have happened if you were in the $400-500 range!!

[Jhooman]

Originally Posted by Hal :-)

We're down here now looking to purchase a discount new home in The Villages. We signed the agreement on Wed and closing is scheduled for Jan 7. We thought we'd like to interest rate shop and checked with a couple of banks and they were unable to close so quickly. It seems the closing window is so short deliberately to funnel activity to the Family bank, Citizens. That's disappointing, but more than that I'm concerned Citizens could fail to close on time (I recall reading a scare story right here before). The contract says if you fail to close on time you lose the discount (11K in this case) and pay Citizen prime rate +1 1/2% plus $250.00. That's bolded in the contract also. Just curious, has anyone had, or heard, of issues? Anyone actually run over? I understand the 30 days is standard, but it seems particularly tight with the holidays.

I've been shopping interest rates and closing costs too. Citizens is very high in comparison. We purchased a lot in July 2010 and have until July 2011 to begin building. Our home will go on the market next month and hopefully it will sale quickly. I just resent being held captive by Citizens and The Villages, but I want to live in The Villages. My solution is to pay cash or bite the bullet and pay the fees.

Hope to see you all next year. Happy Holidays!!!

[Jack&Pam]

Reading this thread was a mirror of our experience.

We had heard from friends who lived there and others that this was Disneyland for seniors etc.
When we came down in mid August to look ( I did not know my wife was coming to buy) the life style hooked us. This is our fifth house and all but the first were new. Needless to say we never got to the preowned homes even though in hind sight they look like the better value.

On the third day we purchased a home in Pennecamp and were on an emotional high when we came in the sales office to sign the contract.
When they said that we would close on Sept 17th and could do it by mail we
almost fell off our chairs. Never had we closed in 30 days and by mail.
I told them we had a cruise in mid Sept and there was no way that the documents would be signed on a ship.
They said don't worry that they would get the documents to us several days before the ship left.
In the end they gave us an extension till 9/22 and the paper work did not get to our house till 9/20 a day after returned.

They are a well oiled machine when it comes to closing.

In the end it was good because my wife tells me I need a push once in awhile,
but not a tornado.

Fortunately we have sold our house and close 12/17. We hope to be in Pennecamp a few days before Christmas.

In retrospect, if you had told me 6 months ago that would buy a new house, sell my own and be in Florida before Christmas I would have said you are nuts.

Thanks for reading if you got this far.

[Hal :-)]

Originally Posted by Pturner

And that is the way it will remain if people put up with it. If it were me, I think I'd walk while I could. The $50 a month difference in interest alone makes it a raw deal. If you have good credit at all, you could probably get better than 5 percent interest almost anywhere right now!* And you wouldn't be risking a huge loss if the appraiser gets hit by a beer truck. Resales are looking better all the time. Sorry to say this.

* Assuming apples-to-apples comparison. Surely Citizens isn't charging you any discount/closing points at 5% interest! If they are, it sounds like an absurdly uncompetitive interest rate! Did they estimate closing costs??

Well, we're done. We asked for a simple one-liner exempting us from penalty for 15 days after the closing day in the event someone else causes a delay. No go. The really problem was no one at our level has any authority. The folks at the Sales office can do nothing. It's all at the corporate level and "the family". I went into this with rose-colored glasses, expecting a wonderful experience. Needless to say, I've lost all trust and respect for The Villages organization.

There's a couple of articles in the today's paper on Bernie Madoff and his son's suicide. There's a guy that had all the wealth and power anyone could want and he continued to deceive and cheat. My wife asked how he must feel in prison now. No different, I suspect. I only think of one word - evil. Unhappily, that's my new view of the family now. I apologize for the strong language, it's just my perspective. I could just say it's greed but that's not strong enough for me. I don't ever recall being so disappointed.

[Bill-n-Brillo]

Hal, don't give up. As you stated, "Resales, here we come!". That definitely gives you more latitude to do things on YOUR schedule rather than 100% on someone else's.

Sandy and I had always thought we'd buy new......someday......in TV. But we stumbled across an extremely nice resale that fit all the criteria we had so we decided to pull the trigger. We agreed with the sellers about what organization we wanted to have handle the closing which has been great. And we picked our own closing date to coincide with the dates that the closing entity had available. Also, it's a FSBO which leaves the essence of what's agreed upon simply between us and the sellers. The law firm handling the closing put the sales contract together for us and is handling the transaction just like they would any other sale.

With a resale, though, what you see is what you get - no even minor amount of customization, etc. like you can do with a new build. But we feel we're getting a lot for our money - the upgrades that the sellers had already put in to the house, lower bond than what a new build would be......and we're buying it furnished which will be great since it'll serve as our "home away from home" for a while til Sandy retires. All for less than what an equivalent new build would be right now.

Resales aren't for everyone but they're certainly a viable consideration!

Bill

[getdul981]

Hal - sorry to hear you had such a bad experience. Our previous neighbors had something similar happen, but they wanted to be here bad enough that they were able to work it out. Good luck with finding the pre-owned you're looking for. There sure are plenty of them out there, so I'm sure you'll find what you're looking for. Again, I'm sorry you had such a bad experience.

[BobKat1]

Good luck on your pre-owned home search.

I see there are 564 pre-owned on TV site. Add in the MLS and FSBO's and you should have a BIG selection.

[Pturner]

Great selection and great time to buy. Hal, all will work out well in the end. There's still no place like home in The Villages! All best wishes, and please keep us posted on your progress.

[Tbugs]

Hal, like the others have said, I still believe you would love The Villages. Go to an "outside Realty company" and they will show you the wonderful resales available through Multiple Listing Service. Work with the seller on negotiating a price and a settlement date that suits you. If you are more comfortable with Bank of America, go with them.

I used ERA Tom Grizzard agency on Hwy 441 in Lady Lake and found a perfect home. I bought in mid-2010 and asked for settlement in 45 days. Settlement was a breeze and I used Citizens First but any bank would have been just as good.

It is a good life here.