Buttonwood did not exist in 2005.???

I read through all the posts and agree with Most of them. Here is my take.
1. Rentals- the only way to go is post on the villagers homes for rent website and rent it yourself. I have a designer in the south end and it is rented every month through March of 2018 (yes 2018) except June, July, and August. I am definitely cash flow positive. I agree that LOCATION is huge. I am 10 minutes by cart from Brownwood and walking to 2 pools. We have a watch service that is private and cleans between renters. PM me and I will give contact. DO NOT USE rental services -they charge 20% and eat up all your profit. It costs about $6000 a year not including taxes to keep up the house.

2. Nobody knows if they will have more houses built besides Fenney. So everything is a gamble. I will say that houses that are in good locations are in high demand and prices are going up. I don't see any price appreciation on anything north of 466, so if you want to buy up there, no problem. If you want a designer in Hillsborough or Gilchrist, buy now.

3. Lost of new people coming to the villages, or waiting to come to the villages - not many leaving. Demand will always be there. It is an awesome place.
Ed

As far as I know, real estate values have gone up here every year since the beginning of The Villages. I would expect them to keep rising.

Usually the best time to buy real estate is right now. In addition, you have the option of buying something and renting it out until you're ready to move either paying off your mortgage or making some money for yourself. You can use a rental service which takes only about 20% and relieves you of all the headaches of doing it yourself. This is especially attractive if you re not down here. You can also use The Villages who rent homes for lifestyle visits. There are a lot of options.

Normally location in real estate is everything. I don't se it as being very important within The Villages. Every area is attractive and home values continue to increase.

People are coming in and out constantly. Most of those leaving, unfortunately, are leaving permanently. There are always homes becoming available. In addition, it is said that the average villager moves three times so homes become available in that way as well.

But everyone is different and only you know what you really want.

Disagree
 

There are plenty of houses on the market and the new houses are not selling so quickly. TV are slashing prices on specs.

I really don't get it, this exercise in people trying to square root their lives. I always look as my house as a consumable, I enjoyed using it, and if I made some $$, I was lucky. Most of us are on the north side of sixty & the south side of 80.-Don't worry about $$'s , for most of you, it will be your heir's problem not yours. get here enjoy yourself & don't worry about real estate roulette--there will be lots of $$ to be made in the next few years , in other venues

Timing and circumstances will help you decide:

People have lost money on real estate in The Villages. If you bought in 2007 (high tide) and sold any time prior to 2015, you most likely lost money. In 2015, real estate in The Villages had appreciated back up to 2007 prices.

Since 2011 prices have been on a steady uptick. If you bought in 2011 for 162K it would be worth 228K today. The forecast for the area is an increase of 2.1% for 2017. That is more return than a bank will pay on your savings(1%), but it is less than what they are charging for mortgage interest currently(3.62%).

If you have enough for cash purchase and are planning on retiring it MIGHT make sense to buy now. I say might because only you know what you are comfortable with (IE; would you still have some cash on hand as a cushion in case something comes up?).

Good Luck in your decision!

I would like to add one point.
We purchased three years ago and we have had good success in renting it out during the season.
We have been using the house ourselves during April and November.
This has been awesome, wonderful weather, less folks around and solid rental money on top
of all that. I dont think we will loose money on our house, but as another poster mentioned, I dont care.
I hope this home will be the last i live in!

I can help give you some simple rental advice if u want to try renting on your own. You will be able to rent more than just March. PM me for more info if interested. Rae

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This is just about word-for-word what I was going to post.

Buy now, if you want to to have a place to vacation. Don't rent. We enjoyed buying new. We did. We sold the new home after snowbirding for four years and bought another new home five years ago. Worked for us.

I don't like other people using my house. We didn't use a home management company and nothing bad happened. The next door neighbors who were friends were given our keys.

That is our experience.

This is completely false. Apparently you haven't driven down there lately or looked at the aerial pictures recently posted on TOTV.

Realtors from outside are not interested in brand new homes because they are not allowed to sell them.

You are right as usual.

For my view-
Not sure why you are considering buying now and moving in in two years. IF, you currently own a home and feel that prices will or are rising in the villages, if you check you will find that your current home is going up as well. So in two years you will get more for your current home and pay more for a home in the villages-a wash.
My wife wanted new and I wanted a resale. My logic was that a resale would cost less. Based on our looking that did not seem to be so. On a new house you need to be aware of the BOND. On our home it is roughly 20,000 so if you buy a home for say 350,000 YOU ARE ACTUALLY PAYING 370.000.
If, you are wondering-OF COURSE SHE GOT NEW. There are pluses to buying new. Main one is that everyone else in the area is new so you do not need to break into established cliques.
I recall one of the brokers saying the average person in the villages moves three times. FOR ME THAT IS SIMPLY NUTS. i would suggest you take your time and do it right ONCE.

Smart to purchase home now or wait?
 

Well, with the potential of another 8K homes to be built south of 44, I would predict home prices here will stay flat and may decline given the developers ability to set the going price. Add to that, Gen X'ers that may not want this lifestyle and forget about the millenials ! The baby boomers have driven this market up and with our incremental passing will be driving it down.
No need to pre-purchase before retiring...IMHO

My advice is to buy when you need to buy. You cannot predict the future and it is difficult to take proper care of a home long distance. Oh, and retire as soon as you are able, if you don't like it you can always go back to work.