[F16 1UB]

Designer house down the street sold new 2 years ago 269K. Owner put 20K upgrades. Had house on market for over a year. Went thru 2-3 Realtors. Finally owner listed himself for 229K. Sold within 2 weeks. Not sure what he got for it.

[StarbuckSammy]

Houses that were purchased in the "boom" times, say 2004-2007 may suffer from a decline in value. It appears that there is still a slight decline in prices of new houses and villas being built and sold now compared to a year ago. Comparable new CYV's are about 4-5% less today than last year.
If you are buying a house that was built/purchased in that high appreciation period, I would expect to buy it at a discount...if you buy new today...the key is that you are NOT buying at the top of the market...maybe not at the bottom but certainly not at the top.
I love the financial advisors saying it is not the bottom yet...ha...will they let you know when it is? Did they advise you of the top of the market?
The key is to try to remove all your emotion (which is difficult) and see if your purchase appears to be reasonable. Ask your agent to give you comps for the last few years.
I think if you buy a new house at today's prices from the developer you will be fine.
You'll love The Villages...

[Vinny]

I could buy my 8 month old villa for a few thousand less new now. My house is already worth less. Luckily I have no plans to move in the next few years.

[Bogie Shooter]

Originally Posted by Advogado

One consideration that hasn't been mentioned is that, because we have only one builder in The Villages, overall prices have not declined here to the extent that they have declined in the rest of the state and in most parts of the country. I.e., the Developer has been able to reduce the pace of new construction to adjust the supply to the reduced demand. I believe that this same consideration makes it very unlikely that there will be any significant future price declines.

There is only one builder doing new construction, who is that?

[kentucky blue]

Originally Posted by Vinny

I could buy my 8 month old villa for a few thousand less new now. My house is already worth less. Luckily I have no plans to move in the next few years.

Every pre-owned designer and premier home i looked at was priced to sell at a loss, when you included the real estate commission.Many were priced at a loss even before the commission, one premier over $100,000 loss and it is beautiful.The only reason my home in TV is worth more than i paid for it , is because of all the upgrades. Put your home on the market in TV now and you'll soon see the market is not flat, but still heading downward.Since i purchased a lifestyle in TV, and have no plans on moving, i'll be just fine . The real estate market will eventually turn around, but it won't be anytime soooooooon.

[Chi-Town]

Zillow your house for a fairly accurate graph even if the values are off.

[silvertoken]

Originally Posted by silvertoken

Up here in Boston I was watching television and it showed that Florida is booming with tourism. Fact is we are sick and tired of the snow. They were interviewing people at the airport and their wish was to have a cancellation or delay so they could stay a little longer. As I speak schools are closed and recreation centers are shut due to the fact that their are roofs caving in all over the place due to the huge amount of snow on top of them. Chicago especially has been a tragic situation. Senior citizens are being fined for not shoveling their sidewalks, there is no place to park near your home. I really believe that this may be a good year for real estate in Florida. 7 days and counting for me, so many here envy me and are planning to visit me as soon as they can. I should've got a 20 bedroom house.

157 roof collaspe so far in Massachusetts alone, cars getting crushed by snow falling off of roofs. 5 days to go.....

[Taj44]

Originally Posted by kentucky blue

Every pre-owned designer and premier home i looked at was priced to sell at a loss, when you included the real estate commission.Many were priced at a loss even before the commission, one premier over $100,000 loss and it is beautiful.The only reason my home in TV is worth more than i paid for it , is because of all the upgrades. Put your home on the market in TV now and you'll soon see the market is not flat, but still heading downward.Since i purchased a lifestyle in TV, and have no plans on moving, i'll be just fine . The real estate market will eventually turn around, but it won't be anytime soooooooon.

I wish we had a crystal ball and could guarantee the market will rebound, but its not a sure thing. It used to be you'd buy a house and know it was an investment, if it was in a good neighborhood, you did certain upgrades, etc. Nowadays, I think all bets are off. I used to look at our house up north (in addition to being a place to live) as an investment , just like stocks or bonds, but the house down here, for me, is just a place to live. I think that's one reason we've avoided upgrading to something with a golfcart garage, and with more of a view, is that I don't like the feeling of not knowing whether I can sell it in the future for reasonably close to what I paid for it. As long as you know you're not moving, I guess its not an issue. I just like to keep my options open in case things change in the community or in my life, and I feel the need to move on.