Creating a sense of urgency to buy was once an effective part of TV marketing. Buyers who were not yet retired would often feel that urgency and would buy and then rent their homes until they could be here themselves. Much of their concern was over buildout and the potential for price increases.

I have watched the TV market for more than 10 years, eventually bought, but never bought into that sense-of-urgency thing.

But now, buildout looks far away and prices are not going up so fast. Has that slowed the "buy early" part of the market? -- especially for the new market?

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Good points
 

Good informed post especially regarding looking at a designer on an inside lot and comparing the classic designer with a two car garage to a Courtyard Villa. If you purchase a Courtyard with a two car garage and three bedrooms, you may end up paying more and overall getting less.

You can absolutely landscape out your "backdoor neighbor" in a designer on an inside lot. If you get unlucky to get next door to a "noisy" neighbor, trust me, it doesn't matter what home from a $800,000 to $250,000 you will have an unfortunate issue. A Courtyard Villa, or any other home in The Villages, cannot guarantee you "no noise". That said, the odds are in your favor for that to not happen here too.

As others have posted, taking your time and due diligence are key factors in purchasing your retirement home. The good news, there is just about "something" for everyone in The Villages.

we have a two car garage with 2 cars in it, a golf cart, and a harley, and a side by side refrigerator

If I were ever to sell my little 2 bedroom 2 bath here in Mira Mesa and go to a bigger one there would be 2 criteria that would guide me.
1. I'd never buy a place with a bond
2. I'd never buy a "new home".

There are so many selections north of 466 that are great, well maintained, and available. I had one gentleman tell me last week that when he purchased through a Villages sales agent the agent talked as if the bond was no big thing. The man said that by the time he pays it off he will have spent over $40,000 in bond and interest. For many of you who have a lot of money and don't care, it would be no big deal. But to many of us that came down here to enjoy the good life and aren't rich, it can be an issue. I've toured several of the new homes... You have to pay extra just for hardware for your kitchen cabinets. That is a bummer.

I see the bond as a non-issue. There is a cost associated with the bond, whether it is paid off or not. If it is not paid off then your annual costs will be higher because you will see the bond payment on your property tax bill. If it is paid off then your mortgage will be higher because the selling price will be higher, but you won't have the annual cost of the bond. The interest rate on a mortgage is probably less than the interest rate on the bond so there may be an advantage with it paid off. Also, the interest on the bond is not tax deductible but it will be with a mortgage on a house with a paid off bond. If the house with the bond paid off won't appraise at the higher price then that would be an issue. A cash deal is a bit different to evaluate.

You have pretty well covered things to think about when factoring in the bond, although I do not think it is always a non-issue. -- The issue often is more nuanced than that. If I may, I would like to add a few specifics...................

We own a house between 466 and 466A. The remaining bond is in the mid-teens which added around $1300 on the recent (annual) property tax bill -- though that amount is not tax-deductible, as you said. The interest rate on our mid-teens total-remaining bond amount is 4.25%.

We choose not to pay off the bond because we probably will not keep the house forever and while a paid bond might be an icing-on-the-cake selling point, I am not sure that the seller can expect always to get the pay-off amount back in the price.

When a thread on the topic of the pre-owned market appears, a potential TV buyer usually can find more information about the ins and outs of the bond than they might have already known.......

I hope potential buyers know to ask about the bond amounts. The sales website appears to list the bond simply as paid or not paid. The property tax office does not know the payoff amount. TV must be called directly for that information on pre-owned homes. But I would think agents would make that information available, though a buyer might have to ask.

The person in Virginia Trace mentioned a pool. I know from experience while this may be an attractive item for the person living there, when it comes sale time it can be difficult. I've seen one home after another sell quickly (in another popular retirement area) on all sides of a home with a pool and asked friends who owned their own brokerage for 37 years. They said pools can present a problem, especially in developments that already offer one or even more pools (like the Villages). Pools raise insurance rates significantly, raise real estate taxes, and (the brokers said) produce on going expenses that only add to home ownership. They told me if a home pool was a life long desire...go ahead, but be informed that like other specialized items, it can have a negative impact at sale time as the presence of a pool really narrows the number of potential buyers as many do not want to even be shown a house with a pool. I have noticed one home in my Villages (not V. Trace) has been for sale now for over a year, while one across the street and one two blocks down sold quite quickly after they went on the market. May be sometime to what I was told about having a pool at home ?

I will construct a simple example, where I will ignore the future value of money. A house with a $23K bond will cost about $1600/year. After 10 years you will have paid $16K and still have a bond balance of $19K. At that time if you wish to sell the house I would suspect you can ask for a price premium of more than $7K (the difference between what you paid in bond payments and what it would have cost you to pay off the bond initially). Factoring in the future value of money will change the equation but I hope you see the point.

I completely understand the math of what you are saying, biker1, but I remain of the opinion that the issue of the bond is nuanced.......

Unlike the cut-and-dried, take-it-or-leave-it, new build market, every pre-owned comes with its own story.......

If a buyer is pretty sure they will stay in the home forever, or at least long enough to recoup the return-on-investment of paying off the bond, that can work out very well.

There are others for whom paying off the bond is simply the cost of sleep because they do not want to owe anything on their house or to pay interest on a house expense that has no tax advantage. I get that.

Then there might be some who see ROI in a different way. Maybe those people are dividend investors who might own stocks that pay a relatively decent dividend. Such stocks might even be on that list known as "The Dividend Aristocrats" which means not only do those stocks pay a dividend but those companies have increased that dividend payout for at least 25 years running, thus often increasing the yield on the original investment.

And there might be some who like to put money in stocks so that they can maybe capture a gain when it is most beneficial to their individual need or want for ROI.

And then there are the bird-in-the-hand people who simply prefer to hold on to the money to spend for other things rather than tying it up in one big amount for the bond pay-off.

Well.......as much fun as I am having thinking up scenarios that create the nuances in individual decisions about whether to pay off the bond or not, I really need to get outa here.......

biker1, I think we are both right. :)

Well, I add the principal of the bond (if any) to the listed price of a house in determining its actual asking price because a bond is a lien on a house and therefore part of its cost.

Pools
 

Revisiting the OP I overlooked the pool and Ladygolfer you are correct that a swimming pool can be a "turnoff" for many looking to buy a retirement home in a retirement community. That said, a pool can also be just what someone is looking for in a home but of the universe of buyers it's a very small number. A pool may actually be a liability instead of an asset. In addition, you rarely get your orginial cost back from a pool.

Sold Gardenia for $27,000 less than listing price after 23 years ownership
 

After eight months on the market I finally sold my beautiful Gardenia for $27,000 less than listing price. Owned it for 13 years and put over $30,000 in updates. Took a real loss and would never use the Villages Agents for anything again..nothing but problems and all they want to do is sell the new homes with their huge bonds.

You are saying you boughtt Gardenia 13 years ago and put in $30k upgrades and took a big loss because of Villages sales? Lets have the numbers, what you paid and what you sold for. Finding this one hard to believe.

I agree. Can't believe that after 13 years of ownership that you lost money.

If a home isn't selling here there is a reason. Maybe it needs a coat of paint inside and out and a little staging? I have been told repeatedly that your best time to sell is the first two weeks and perhaps some folks are going for "the kill". It is wise to pay attention to recent like home sales, keeping in mind the view, the location and the age and the size. Price it fairly, most will still make quite a bit.

I don't sell houses. I am not a realtor. Just an observer.