:agree:

The minute any real estate representative claims to know the future they would not be my representative any longer. I have heard real estate salespeople at open houses "guarantee" that a house would be worth 10% more in a year. Now that may have come true but no one can guarantee anything about the future aside from the fact we will all eventually pass on. The reality is that Villages homes, both new and resale, tend to sell very quickly and since there are so many sales, and easy access to sale prices, the prices are generally very competitive. Therefore if you find a home, in the area you like, and it is for sale - don't hesitate - buy it.

I believe the price of homes Fenny or preowned will be based upon the target market's wealth or perceived wealth.

Think about that, increasingly new retirees are relying on their 401k to fund themselves in retirement. Now look at the price of homes in 2016 vs. now. I believe the growth in 2017 was 4.5%. With the current administration's pro business stance the market and I postulate, the value of retirees homes, will continue to escalate

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/18/stoc...-trillion.html

Thank you all for your responses. I knew that if I presented our situation on this forum that we would receive many wise, well reasoned and helpful replies.I don't have to tell you that the whole process can be overwhelming at first. We are looking forward to becoming part of this wonderful community. Thanks again.

Although Graciegirl makes a great point, she left out the factor of "The Bond". All new homes have a bond - sometimes a very large bond. Resales could have No Bond to an almost complete bond - depending on age of home. Factor this into your calculations also. For my money, resales, with all the creaks, groans, settling, etc. worked out as well as more mature landscape are my first choice and being near 'the facilities and shopping' is a big plus.

May I humbly suggest that you not forget to search out the houses in the 3 original villages of Country Club Hills, Orange Blossom Gardens and Silver Lake. While most of those villages are composed of older manufactured houses [and even a few of the original mobile homes], the developer is rapidly gentrifying those villages with new site built houses much like can be found in the central and southern villages - with the exception of designer/luxury houses. The original villages offer larger lots than those under current development, mature landscaping and the total lack of traffic found in traveling to most of the rest of the villages. You could even buy a lot and pick out a house to put on it there! I don't believe that there is a bond attached to those sales because of their age. Amenities of Country Club, golf, pools, dog park, exercise trail, archery, softball, bocce, shuffleboard, tennis, billiards, reg'l rec center and more are all conveniently located within the geography reached by traffic free travel. The area also offers the only golf cart path to the outside world along 441/27 where one can get to Lowes. Cracker Barrel, Bealls, Aldis, all the way to Walmart! AND the area offers the only brick and mortar US Post Office. Shopping for groceries, clothing, housewares, hardware, flowers; movies, bowling, entertainment and dining can also be conveniently reached by golf cart using the golf cart bridge.

Some folks fear that the residents in those villages are beyond the scope of accepting newbies - but - nothing is further from reality. Those folks can be found everywhere! In actuality, those villages are more like legacy villages where the kids of the original owners are now moving in upon their retirement and semi-retirement! The Villages of Mira Mesa, LaReynalda and Valle Verde are somewhat newer with no site of manufactured homes; and they offer the same accessibility/conveniences because of their proximity just across the highway. Both of those areas are a short ride by car or golf cart [except in 'season' lol] from all that the Lake Sumter Landing area has to offer...but a minimum 20 to 45 mins from Brownwood Sq and even longer to the newest villages.

I offer all of that info simply for your information. What's the best thing about all of the info - there will be no expansion of homesites there. What you see is what you get. :)

[I am not a real estate rep and have never played one on television]

I don't understand why an agent would tell you that, there livelihood is based on what they sell and by brushing you off for a year or so they most likely will loose you as a client. There are just as many reasons to buy North of 44 ( and they are still building some new homes up there) as there are South of 44 and those reasons will never change. No one knows what tomorrow will bring, if you're ready come on down and pick a retirement home out be it North or South, you'll be glad you did.

The Villages sales people are told to sell as many as they can in Fenny, then other areas concentrating on NEW sales, resales come last. Personally, I would opt for resales. All the bugs have been worked out by the prior owners, many upgrades, ie: crown molding, plantation shutters, upgraded landscaping, stainless appliances, etc. The final decision is up to you. Good luck.:coolsmiley:

NO. THAT is SIMPLY not TRUE. They don't need to prioritize the new homes. People are lining up to buy them. That is just a repeated Urban Legend around here.

THEY DO PRIORITIZE NEW! The Villages agent I used ONLY showed me new homes and essentially REFUSED to show me preowned homes no matter how many times I requested he show me PREOWNED HOMES! He did not show me a single preowned home in a MONTH!

The developer primarily needs and wants to sell what it builds new. DUH! It only resells preowned homes as it must as a sideline. The PUSH is to sell the newly built product and their agents are incentivized to PUSH the PRODUCT!

Also he NEGLECTED to mention the bond, only telling me the "price" of a home. Clearly, the COST of a new home in TV is the PRICE plus the BOND! When asked he could not even give me the actual AMOUNT of the BOND, hemming and hawing and mumbling about it...

Did you look at the sale stats between preowned and new homes that TV. Its close to equal. Our oldest and youngest came down last week to look at homes, TV rep took them to 4 preowned. One likes Fenney area, other likes LSL area. No push to sell in Fenney, those homes sell all by themselves, just like in any new village as they were built

I think you need to put on your big boy pants next time you visit. Last year TV sales agents sold total of 4000 plus homes, about 50% were new and 50% were resales. If a TV agent refuses to show you resales (I don't believe this) simply walk into any TV sales office and state loudly "I want a new agent"

You will get one.

Whether or not you believe it, this is what happened to me. No worries, I've got another agent lined up.

So you spent the money to fly here from California, rent a place for a month, and let a salesman show you only new homes. For a month. Sure!

I also looked at preowned on my own and through a Realtor. Primarily I was there to see if TV would work for me.

Although it is obvious to any child in the land that it is a "company town" it would work for me.