[QUOTE=Jazzcat;1296172]We will be moving to TV soon, and planning to buy our first home. Would love to hear from anyone who either bought or sold using an MLS broker rather than through TV. Why did you list through MLS vs TV? For those who already purchased through MLS broker, have you experienced any negative

Some thoughts and they seem to agree with many prior comments.
Have an inside and an outside agent, one of each, the Villages Sales, take the trolley tour, and a regular realtor, REmax, grizzard, Executive homes or by owner in the paper and also see signs while driving around.
1.............. Decide on a location, close to a center or out a ways, with some driving.
2. Decide on a home new or used and or a Villa, mostly Villas have a fenced yards and very few regular homes have fences.
3. Take your time and be cautious for sure, there is a lot to see here, a lot of possibilities, and you need to be careful to not overspend for the area chosen.
You will find, both the Village Agents and the outside regular Realtors agents are generally very open about having two or more agents working for you.
But,,,,,,,,, be careful of IMPULSE buying it can really bite you in the wallet.
Note also if you see or want something different, upgrade or install item a, b or c, then any deviation from the normal, get EVERYTHING defined in writing. take your time there are some good buys here and in general, it is all mostly good, but be patient!!!!!

bbbbbb :welcome:

Great advice from a former realtor and I totally agree!!!

I used an MLS buyers agent, Linda Sears, 352.205.0713

Very knowledgeable and thorough. Most of all, you must feel comfortable with the agent that you are dealing with.

Showing ethics and integrity?


Good for you. :BigApplause:

We just bought a few days ago. We had both, TV agent as well as MLS agent. Loved the TV agent. She was so great but just happened we loved the house listed with the outside agent and TV agent couldn't sell it to us, so we bought from the MLS agent. Both were good We are just happy to finally become permanent village residents.

Our Villages agent was a great agent overall. We put in a offer on a Courtyard Villa and when it wasn't accepted she said that the average sale price of a Villages property is about 97% of the asking price. I didn't challenge that statement at all but I didn't like that information one bit. Anyway we were scheduled to look at homes the next day with a MLS agent who I had been speaking to from Jersey for over a year. The second house we looked at is where we live now. I didn't hide from The Villages agent as it would not be good business. She was shocked when I told her I had completed the mission with another agent from the MLS system. To say she was shocked is putting it lightly. I just simply added that I didn't make the rules of the game that I was just a participant and that life was hopefully long and we would definitely give her a shot on the next house.

The Villages does not treat you any differently because of who you buy from. Directly from closing to The Villages Office on Main St in Spanish Spring to pick up ID cards, gate passes and a generalized break in of how things work. Totally professional all the way. Don't worry at all. We had the same concern. The 97% rule was not accurate in our case, the deal was much better than that.

Wow, never imagined we would get so many responses. We are so thankful for each and every one of you for taking the time to give us your advice. I have a spreadsheet of many, many homes that we are interested in seeing, and we will enlist both MLS and TV sales agents to make sure we see them all before making our decision.

That's a nice post Jazzcat.
We are a wordy bunch with lots of comments!
(We don't always agree, but that makes life interesting.)

:welcome: Congratulations on becoming permanent Villages residents.

Congrats. Best wishes as you start living the dream. :smiley: