[The Great Fumar]

TVMAN
IF YOU BUY A NEW HOME IN TV YOU CAN'T SELL IT FOR A YEAR UNLESS YOU HAVE A SPECIAL CIRRCUMSTANCE.......THAT IS BECAUSE MANY PEOPLE WERE BUYING HOMES , DECORATEING THEM AND RESELLING FOR A NICE PROFIT....IT GOT OUT OF HAND SO THEY MADE A RULE AND ITS A GOOD ONE.......PEOPLE WERE MAKING A BUSINESS OUT OF FILLING UP THE WAITING LISTS FOR NEW HOMES...
ALSO ITS 2500.00 ERNEST MONEY AND BALANCE AT CLOSING...AND ITS THE GREATEST PLACE I'VE EVER FOUND..........

[jjdees]

I believe the sign issue is a county ordinance. In the areas where outdoor signs are forbidden, it's all signs, TV realtors, outside realtors and FSBOs. Some areas of TV can display signs, others cannot.

[TV MAN]

Great Fumar

It is a good rule to have in place to keep the flipper activity down. I agree that it is a great place to be for retirement and look forward to that day, which is why we purchased our home with jut those intentions. I find there overall process to be very straight forward and efficient. :bigthumbsup:

[pili]

Well, all these comments have soured me on TV. I have never heard of coming up with 20% down "before closing" nor have I ever heard of closing in 7 days. I have no problem with non-refundable $2500 earnest money. However, I do have a problem with 20% in 7 days. That's ridiculous in my opinion. We do plan to visit TV and check out homes there next year. I know I'll be armed with plenty of questions and I won't be coming up with 20% down in 7 days. Full payment or down payment if someone takes a mortgage is paid on "closing day" which always takes longer than 7 days.

[Villages Kahuna]

Hope you have a pleasant visit to TV. Please don't let the purchase policies and procedures get you too sour. Just remember that thousands and thousands of home buyers in TV followed the same procedures. Virtually all of us couldn't be happier that we did. Good luck.

[nanci2539]

Okay, let me see if I understand this down payment stuff.

We buy a $400K designer home. We give $2500 in good faith. We don't get it back if we change our minds. Okay, that's as far as I got.

Do I understand that within seven days I then have to come up with $80,000?

What about the fact that my house has sold and it takes longer here to pass papers. That's where I'm getting my down payment.

So I guess I understand that I better sell my home first, pass papers and then go to TV to buy.

Do I have it right?

What about if you show the builder that you have sold your home and need to wait for that transaction to happen in order to put down the deposit. In our case, it would be much more than 20%. But we would need the money from the purchase of this home first.

[darbyduff]

Kahuna is right.

We just went through the process and will be leaving Colorado for Florida and TV in 3 more days. We were told that if we saw a home and wanted to HOLD it, we would have to put down the 2,500. (for 4 hours) If we wanted a different home than the one we were holding, that $2,500 could be put on the other home. Once we decided on a home, we had to put our 20% down. I guess that was to show that we were serious about the home. Now when we close (Sept. 26th) all the money we put down to hold the home will be applied to our down. So we are not out any money. If it seems like a weird way of doing business, you just look around like Kahuna said and look what your getting when you purchase a home in TV. A lifestyle like NO OTHER in the country! Yes, NO OTHER PLACE IN THE COUNTRY. :#1: :#1: For this lifestyle, if you have to jump through some different hoops then anywhere else....Then, so be it!!!!! It's a small price to pay!!

[chuckinca]

That Thousands and Thousands of Villagers would put up 20% non-refundable earnest money is just astounding!

I wonder how many people couldn't close and lost their 20% - bet they aren't among the happy folk.

[darbyduff]

Chuck-

Maybe I'm not understanding, but prior to putting down your 20%, you do pre-qualify as everyone else does across the country. The people who purchased our home in Colorado had to pre-qualify in order to purchase our home (or for that matter, the realtor wouldn't show them our home if they hadn't pre-qualified first) so, if you have pre-qualified, your not going to lose your 20%. You will have your mortgage.

In other words. Your looking at , let's say, $200,000 dollar homes and you ask your realtor to show you homes in that price range... he or she will not do that if all you can qualify for is an $80,000 home. Right????? or am I not understanding????? ???

[chuckinca]

Darby:

20% non-refundable up front in 7 or 10 days to the developer is not the same as an 80% mortgage where you have to produce a 20% check at closing - BIG Difference.

If you put up the 20% in 7 or 10 days and you don't close for 30 or 45 days and in that time the sky falls on you or the developer (they could go belly up just like any other large corporation) and you can't close you loose the 20%.

If you are buying a $250,000 house that's a $50 grand hit!

[nanci2539]

Now I am totally confused....

You give $2500 to hold a home - this I get.

Then within 7 days you give a 20% deposit and then in 30 days you pass.

What I think I understand from Chuck is if something happens after you give the 20% down payment (on either end); you are out that deposit as well as the $2500? That's Russian roulette to me.

What if a family emergency happens; what if someone heaven forbid dies or you get too sick to travel, etc.

I can understand the earnest money not being refunded but your 20% deposit isn't either?

That just doesn't make any sense.

[bobbie]

I was at TV last weekend and that’s pretty much what I was told. $2500 on a credit card to hold the home. Then I must send them 20% of the purchase price in 7 days. My sales woman did say that the 20% deposit was non-refundable. Was she wrong? The closing date on my old home was after the set closing at TV and I didn’t have $60,000 cash to send in and I was told to open an equity line of credit if I didn’t have one and use that. It seems that no matter what TV wants that 20% non-refundable. I just thought that with the market like it is they would bend a little.

[bamafan]

Everyone keeps saying "What with the market the way it is" well in TV it aint so. This allows the developer to continue to say this is the way it is, and you will provide the funds ie: 20% in 7 days. Just by reading this forum you will get a small sampling of the many who want to buy in The Villages. So in the end you do your homework, suck it up, sell your home first, and follow that dream. We be Village People. And Proud to say so. Now if you do not want to pay the 20% down there are preowned homes with more traditional contracts and arrangements. Go for it. If you think that buying somewhere else with more traditional purchase agreements is for you Go for it.. Buuuuut, if you visit The Villages just once you will realize that if you want to be here, and you will, then you gotta go with their program, which is not bad. Its called commitment. Are you committed? I did not like paying the 20% anymore than anyone else, but it was necessary to accomplish my families goals. I would have rather kept my money in my account making me money, but I was committed, just as thousands of others. Darbyduff just went through it, as others will in the coming weeks. Yes emergencies do happen and the by product is you have preowned homes on the market that "are barely lived in" and "have never been lived in" thus the owners must sell them. That is a sad part of life.

[nanci2539]

Bama and others. I understand what you're saying and we are sold on TV but the one nagging thing that bothers me is the down payment (20%) is not refundable. I don't mean in matters that you changed your mind, I'm referring to circumstances that are out of your control.

I'm sure thouands of people who live in TV didn't have an issue with this or they wouldn't be there. I'm wondering if anyone gave their deposit and then ended up losing it all because of some unforeseen situation that made it impossible for them to go through with the passing.

[Avista]

Nanci, We discussed this with our Villages Sales Rep. We had the same concerns as you.
He informed us that although The Villages had the right to keep your money, under extreme circumstances the money has been refunded. We had by this time known our sales rep a long time and trusted him. We did go ahead with the 20% and are very happy we did.