[samhass]

I agree, Kahuna. When I compare our Mallory home to the new homes, I see "differences"
or things missing in some of the newer models. I do note more "summer kitchens" in the newer homes. though. We are considering pulling our Mallory home off the market for a couple of years. I think by then you will really see a big bounce up.

[inda50]

Short history, TV started out catering to people willing to live in trailers. People were retiring to Fl. not so much for lifestyle but economics, inexpensive to live and retire, perfectly good reasons. TV , like other retirement communities need some inducements to lure prospective buyer, and that is where the developer was brilliant!! I don't need to go into details about that. We have all benefited by his actions. In the mean time, more affluent buyer were attracted leading to larger homes, higher prices, more options etc. Again we all benefited, you haven't lost money unless you bought in during the rush two years ago, or are trying to hold more than one house. Please keep in mind that if you paid $200,000 2 years ago and sold it yesterday for $ 200,000 you haven't lost any money, but because of inflation the $200,000 you received for your house will buy less groceries, less health and car insurance, less gasoline etc. as a result of inflation. You can however replace the house for $200,000. I'm getting to my point.

We are doing better than other parts of the country. Our homes are holding up for a number of reasons, not the least of which is lifestyle. We are attracting buyer that looking for the the lifestyle and can still afford to buy. This, I am told is being hampered by the fact buyer from the North are having trouble selling their homes. If they could we would have many more buyer and we would see prices start to raise. Stonecrest and Delweb haven't done so well. Glad I don't have to sell something there.

It seems from the reading this forum, people who own homes in the Villages see the glass 1/2 full, that is market getting better. I own 2 homes in TV and read the Sun and the homes for sale comps are going down, not leveling out, not up, down. If you are an investor maybe wait. If you want to be a homeowner, you find something you like maybe it is a good time to buy.

Housing has always been supply and demand.

Perhaps things will improve after the presidential election--Hope so

sorry to be gloomy-but you asked

[graciegirl]

Originally Posted by inda50

Short history, TV started out catering to people willing to live in trailers. People were retiring to Fl. not so much for lifestyle but economics, inexpensive to live and retire, perfectly good reasons. TV , like other retirement communities need some inducements to lure prospective buyer, and that is where the developer was brilliant!! I don't need to go into details about that. We have all benefited by his actions. In the mean time, more affluent buyer were attracted leading to larger homes, higher prices, more options etc. Again we all benefited, you haven't lost money unless you bought in during the rush two years ago, or are trying to hold more than one house. Please keep in mind that if you paid $200,000 2 years ago and sold it yesterday for $ 200,000 you haven't lost any money, but because of inflation the $200,000 you received for your house will buy less groceries, less health and car insurance, less gasoline etc. as a result of inflation. You can however replace the house for $200,000. I'm getting to my point.

We are doing better than other parts of the country. Our homes are holding up for a number of reasons, not the least of which is lifestyle. We are attracting buyer that looking for the the lifestyle and can still afford to buy. This, I am told is being hampered by the fact buyer from the North are having trouble selling their homes. If they could we would have many more buyer and we would see prices start to raise. Stonecrest and Delweb haven't done so well. Glad I don't have to sell something there.

It seems from the reading this forum, people who own homes in the Villages see the glass 1/2 full, that is market getting better. I own 2 homes in TV and read the Sun and the homes for sale comps are going down, not leveling out, not up, down. If you are an investor maybe wait. If you want to be a homeowner, you find something you like maybe it is a good time to buy.

Housing has always been supply and demand.

Perhaps things will improve after the presidential election--Hope so

sorry to be gloomy-but you asked

Excellent and informative post and not gloomy, just realistic.

Our daughter who came along with us last week to help us settle in and who is not easily impressed was VERY taken with TV and when she returned home she heard that a retiring doctor/ professor ( MD) from University of Cincinnati's College of Medicine had just bought here. She felt he had his choice of anyplace to retire with his earning ability.

It is comforting and not at all surprising to know that people who can choose anywhere to retire, choose here.

I am an incurable optimist. I believe that we will recover from this economic downturn. I can't figure out how we will fight these terrible oil prices which are at the center of it, but I do believe in our Yankee ingenuity to discover a new way to fuel our country.

[Barefoot]

Originally Posted by inda50

I own 2 homes in TV and read the Sun and the homes for sale comps are going down, not leveling out, not up, down. Housing has always been supply and demand. Perhaps things will improve after the presidential election.

It is true that the U.S. is still experiencing some serious economic difficulties which naturally affect the price of real estate. I agree with Inda50. However, if I were thinking about buying, I wouldn't wait for rock bottom. You never know when that will happen. When home prices do start increasing, I'll bet that TV will experience a big bump upwards. I'd buy now to be safe, before price increases start to happen.

[potterthompson]

Hello,
This is our first post. We are learning a lot by reading TOTV. We are retiring to TV hopefully this fall. We are particularly interested in opinions about Bridgeport @ Miona Shores. One post said that the developer was "blowing out" Miona Shores...any ideas of WHY? The developer seems to have stopped building spec premier homes; we guess, because he does not want to have them sitting around in this real estate market. We want to buy a Chatham (anyone know of any for sale?), and the developer will build us one in BMS (BTW, TV realtor says he does not know where the next premier community will be). We've met lovely people there at BMS, so the neighborhood is as friendly as the rest of TV, but our concerns have been: 1. having to cross a county road on golf cart 2. noise from Lakeside Landing next door 3. the inaccessibility of the neighborhood (we don't know the golf cart route from BMS to Sumter Landing.
Please don't worry about hurting our feelings...be honest about BMS please.

[Barefoot]

Originally Posted by potterthompson

We are particularly interested in opinions about Bridgeport @ Miona Shores. One post said that the developer was "blowing out" Miona Shores...any ideas of WHY?

Samhass is your expert in that area. I think that she was the one who said the developer was "blowing out" Miona Shores. You may want to send her a PM with a list of your questions. (You can search for Samhass by hitting the "Members" button in black at the top of this screen).

Good luck with your move!

[Lil Dancer]

I looked on the villages new homes for sale website today, and they had a gardenia in Hadley advertised for $238 something. That's really low compared to what they've been. At least for that home style, apparently prices are still dropping.

potterthompson,
You have it right on Bridgeport at Lake Miona. The area was a horse pasture with beautiful oaks. Then Lakeside Landings came in and our Developer got into a little power grab to stop Lakeside Landings.This was not suppose to be part of the Villages.

This horse pasture with beautiful oaks that we all enjoyed from Asland(where I am a snowbird) was turned into a premier community. They cut down all the trees and started building big spec homes as close together as they could. Well, no one bought them. You have to cross a dangerous road to get into the Villages and drive all the way to the Bonny gate to get to Buena Vista drive or anyplace. That means you have to backtrack all that way to get to Bonny to head back down to the Lake Sumter. Poor Location.
Plus they had some problems with Wildwood being so close-they had building materials stolen. These premiers are off by themselves with a gate anybody can get into...
So they have really been trying to sell them with great prices, pkgs deals etc. Some have sold...some have set empty for over 2 years. They stoped building them as spec homes.

[Villages Kahuna]

I took a look at some of the models (that aren't selling too well) in Bridgeport at Lake Miona. They really are discounted quite a lot from what the salespeople say was the "original" asking price. I can't imagine they ever really priced them at that level. Given the "difficult" location of that village, the prices seem about right to me, certainly not ever worth the original price. Remember one other thing...Lake Miona is a public lake. Anyone can get onto the lake from the public boat launch on the west end. The lake is the "backyard" of Bridgeport at Lake Miona. Also, take your golf cart and backtrack from that village to Lake Sumter Landing, the stores, restaurants, the Polo Field, wherever. It's a looong way out of the mainstream of things!

[gfmucci]

Originally Posted by inda50

It seems from the reading this forum, people who own homes in the Villagessee the glass 1/2 full, that is market getting better. ...Housing has always been supply and demand.

sorry to be gloomy-but you asked

My earlier post was based on stated facts, not "glass half full" optimism. Fact 1: Sales have increased some over the past month or two per Closing Department. Fact 2: The Villages prices have shown a slight increase over the past 2 to 3 months on Zillow.com. Nationwide, the Zillow trend is still downward (that's where the "gloom" is appropriate.) Fact 3: The Villages is unique from every other development in the region and arguably the nation. The marketing for TV is international and is now riding on the demographic wave of the emerging boomer retirees. Thankfully, not everyone has to sell their house up north to buy here.

The facts indicate the glass is half full and on its way to being filled. Like real estate, gloom depends on location.

[inda50]

Originally Posted by Lil Dancer

I looked on the villages new homes for sale website today, and they had a gardenia in Hadley advertised for $238 something. That's really low compared to what they've been. At least for that home style, apparently prices are still dropping.

When was the last time a Gardenia went for $ 238,000 ????
Check your local paper, do the math. Things don't add up, sorry.

[Sidney Lanier]

It's been my strong feeling for the past few months that the real estate market in TV has bottomed and is creeping back up. The developer may still be offering deals on selected houses and selected villages, but gone are the days of an additional percent for furnishings and/or golf cart, and other promos, and of course all new construction sells with a bond--the newer the village, the bigger the bond. We bought our resale Designer (3-1/2 years old at the time) with bond paid plus various improvements last fall and have yet to see anything come near it in price--new or resale--and I don't think we will from this point on. As I say, this is 'my strong feeling' that's not based on documentable research. We were fortunate in that we didn't have to sell up north; otherwise we could never have been able to buy as we did....

[Lil Dancer]

Originally Posted by inda50

When was the last time a Gardenia went for $ 238,000 ????
Check your local paper, do the math. Things don't add up, sorry.

Well, check the listing for yourself: http://www.thevillages.com/homes/new...?nav=4#listing
VNH 1350114 $237,768

I was suprised too. Doesn't seem possible.

[F16 1UB]

I've been watching new home prices for almost 2.5 years. We bought in Apr and felt the prices from what they were in 2005 were comparable. Then they started climbing dramatically and have since dropped. Have they bottomed? All I know is that we looked at everything from pup tents to premiers. We felt as though the price and time was right and considered it a "wash". We dropped the price on our northern home until it sold and noticed that TV homes had also dropped. There are some good values especially with pre owned homes too. One such home we first looked at dropped drastically since we've purchased our new home. Figures! They've lowered their original price by 14%. Sorry - snooze ya lose.

F16

[samhass]

OK..I feel BMS is to close to the public boat launch and Lakeside Landings. Crime is an issue in TV and the surrounding areas. BMS is cut off from the rest of TV. The prices are fabulous, though. I think the reason prices are so low is because of the issues I mentioned.
People that do buy there should become close. IMHO only. I could be so wrong.