[KathieI]

I started to look at that site about a month ago for a friend who was moving to TV and gave him a bunch of patio villas to see. Right after that, the site was changed to the new format and its impossible to adequately do a search for pre-owned houses. After much frustration, and since he is here now, we gave up on the Villages for sale site and went to TOTV'S listing of houses for sale and found a home for him. Unfortunately I had to tell our TV agent that he put an offer on FSBO and she was out of luck and I told her the reason why. I think it went on deaf ears because I think they don't have any control over what's being done.

[Serenoa]

I recently sent a polite email voicing my unhappiness with the new format. Here's the response I received just a few minutes ago:


Thank you for contacting The Villages. Our website is a work in progress and we are making changes daily as we get feedback. Thank you for your patience. New listings is an item that we are currently working on.

Sincerely,
info@thevillages.com


So, if you haven't already done so, I encourage all to use the link above & let them know how you feel......and perhaps they will make some changes for the better. Should I post the name of the person who responded so your emails will go direct to her? Not sure about privacy etiquette & all that......

[justjim]

After seeing this Thread for several days----tried it myself-----awful computer program. It needs fixing! If I was selling right now, I might go to the MLS agents.

[kittygilchrist]

Bev Shive and Micki Morrison, Your Villages Professional Realtors
Here's a great team to work with, Bev or Micki, and a fantastic search for MLS.
Currently listing 22 mobile/modular and all inside TV.
Kitty

[Barefoot]

Originally Posted by Serenoa

[email]info@thevillages.com. ...... So, if you haven't already done so, I encourage all to use the link above & let them know how you feel......and perhaps they will make some changes for the better..

Thanks Serenoa for the info. I've sent an email to the address you provided, addressing my concerns. I would encourage others to let them know your thoughts.

[Serenoa]

and a followup email that I just rec'd. I'm encouraged cause it does sound like they are listening & trying to correct the problem. Time will tell.....

John –
We do know there is a problem with the new listings and it’s something that our IT department is trying to correct, it’s just taking a bit longer than all of us would like. Our intention is never to cause frustration so we hope folks continue to have patience while we work to give them all the ease of the previous site, but all the additional features of this new one.

Thank you again and please keep checking back…our IT guys tell me they are making updates and changes daily.

Happy Fall!
(name deleted by me)

[KathieI]

Originally Posted by justjim

After seeing this Thread for several days----tried it myself-----awful computer program. It needs fixing! If I was selling right now, I might go to the MLS agents.

That's what I did Jim. Also went to sale by owner and that's how I found the house for my friend. They have a long way to go before they can get that program to work properly. Why change what wasn't broken???

[asianthree]

sent the email...when we arrive i will be interesting what homes are in the sun and not on the site...time will tell

[Fritzcap]

Actually you CAN search for pre-owned homes, but it's not easy--you have to keep selecting "pre-owned" homes until it "sticks," then view the flyer, and you can have the same view as before. I agree that it is not as user friendly as before.

[Barefoot]

By now, I think we've probably all figured out how to navigate around the new website. And I assume that most potential purchasers have expressed some level of dissatisfaction with changes they've made to "improve" the site. It's hard to believe TV hasn't made the website more user friendly.

I used to look at ads in the paper. If one interested me, I'd search for more information by VLS number, which was easy to do with the previous website. I just can't be bothered trying to find the area to search by VLS number. I bet they've lost a few customers with the changes they've made.

[Serenoa]

It's actually worse than it was when they first changed it. Now for instance if you sort by price (or any other choice) & click on a particular home to look at the details & pics & then click on "return to results" it takes you all the way back to the opening page & you have to do the "sort by" all over again and then try to find the page that you were just looking at.

the latest response I rec'd from them last week was this:

I do apologize that you’ve not gotten a response. I have been forwarding your comments/concerns to our IT and webmaster folks for review and thought they would be in touch.
In conversation yesterday, I learned that a recent IOS update on Apple products is causing us some trouble and that is what they are working on to correct at this time. I will get in touch with our IT folks again and see what the status is on your suggestions/concerns. Again, I do apologize for the lack of communication on my part.

Sincerely
Diane

I don't know if their IT folks are "in house" or otherwise, but it would seem that their expertise is lacking. I'm beginning to wonder if it will ever get fixed.

[mickey100]

I just looked at the website, and was able to pull up homes in the Village of Belvedere for example, but I couldn't get pictures to come up i.e no picture tour like the old site used to have. Am I doing something wrong, or is that the way it is? I just keep getting a little message that says "top 5 Features". What good is a website to sell homes without pics? The only pictures I could come up with were on homes that had open houses listed for today.