[williep]

Hi, all you Villages People. I recently discovered this web site after doing a Google search. I have been interested in finding out as much as I can about life in the Villages. It appears to be an ideal place for me and my wife to retire to. However, we are in the sandwich generation, ( my 87 yr old mother in law lives next door to me and my daughter lives on the other side of us, so moving there full time is impossible at the present.
I would be interested in purchasing a house that we could use when time permits with the intention of moving the permantely some day.
I've read that this is a once in a lifetime oppertunity to purchase property in Florida, because it has been hit so hard by the housing crisis.
Can onyone tell me how the Villages has been affected by the crisis. Are there many homes in forclosure, how have the home prices been affected, are there more houses for sale now because retirees have been hit hard by decline in the stock market. In other words, is this really a great opportunity to buy a house in the Villages. Any comments and advice will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks, Bill from Massachusetts

[JoeB1]

There are a few different threads on here about the "right time to buy". You might start by searching for them.
I don't live in the Villages yet, either. We have visited a few times and gone on a couple lifestyle previews. We have used the villages realtors and an outside realtor to look at new homes and previously owned homes. Currently they are offering a 4.0 or 3.5 % discount on new homes, in the villages. This has been going down about 1/2% a month for the last couple months. The numbers of foclosures or distressed sales are probably less than in most areas of the country, and I suspect lower than the rest of Florida. They have been having a record sales year this year. Their busy time is during the winter months. People flock to the area for the nice weather. I would say there is no correlation with the rest of the country in general and the villages. Their demand seems to stay very strong, with probably close to the majority of homes being bought for cash.
As many people on this board have commented, you need to spend some time in the area and get to know what it has to offer. Take the opportunity to set up a lifestyles preview and look at some homes. The sales staff is amazingly low key and there was no pressure at all to even look at homes during the lifestyles preview. I think that is the only way you can judge if the time is right for you to buy.
Good luck, we have our house for sale in CA. and would love to move immediately, if only we could find a buyer.

[graciegirl]

Doesn't feel like it has affected The Villages much with all the long lines at the restaurants and the traffic. Still a lot of homes to buy and they are good prices but not a huge drop. I don't know of any foreclosures. Seniors who move here frequently pay cash for their homes.

Come on down and do a lifestyle visit and ask lots of questions. It is tooooo hard to describe how wonderful it is here.

[njbchbum]

I have followed real estate offerings in TV for four years and found that this was the time for us to buy. I feel that the large number of houses for sale has helped to drive down the actual sales price vs what has been asked for the property. My husband and I purchased a pre-owned manufactured 2br/2ba [960 sq ft, not furnished, no golf cart] home in the historic village of silver lake for less than $6x,xxx.

With the advent of the snowbirds having flown north for the summer/fall, this is typically when you will see the asking/selling prices for the homes dip a bit - not as many people to sell to. But I would venture a bet that when the selling season returns this winter, the prices will be higher than they were this past season. It is because we noticed those prices creeping back up that we got serious about finding our house this year.

There is a considerable number of homes for sale by owner throughout all of the individual villages. We decided to buy in the historic villages of silver lake, orange blossom gardens and country club hills because of the quieter nature of the original villages development. There is no traffic hassle to reach our house and we do not find being separated from the shopping and town centers by a major highway to be a significant inconvenience.

My favorite FSBO website for TV is: http://www.thevillagesfsbo.com/index.htm

But I would always get lost in and drool over the homes on TV real estate site: http://www.thevillages.com/Homes/poh.asp

Hope this helps.

[gingin410]

We just bought what will be our retirement house. Our first lifestyle visit ended with us purchasing a new designer house in Hadley. I was thinking more of a villa, but my husband felt this was the best time to go for final house rather than buy small and move up when we can move permanently as many others have done. So, we've already bought shutters and blinds and are looking forward tp purchasing new furniture.

I do remember reading somewhere (on this site, I think?) that about 50% of home buyers in TV pay cash and have no mortgages at all. That's something we couldn't do as we still own out other home in the Atlanta area.

[thegreenerside]

The Villages is immune to everything else that you hear or read about in the State of Florida. If you are looking to steal a house at 20 - 50 percent off the 2006 price then you need to look somewhere else. The homes in TV have dropped a very little in price as the demand is still here for housing. The Villages is a great place to live and would highly recommend coming down for a visit. I think that you will see that the prices are very competitive and the lifestyle is worth every penny spent.

[sschuler1]

I think it is funny to hear people say that The Villages is immune to the housing decline. Of course they have been affected. People can't sell their homes in other parts of the country, so they can't afford to move there. The housing prices have definitely dropped, even in TV! Here are a couple of websites that you might want to check out. One of these sites show the current homes in foreclosure in TV.

http://realestate.yahoo.com/Florida/...rtBy=ctime%200

http://www.zillow.com/local-info/FL-...es-home-value/

[thegreenerside]

Originally Posted by sschuler1

I think it is funny to hear people say that The Villages is immune to the housing decline. Of course they have been affected. People can't sell their homes in other parts of the country, so they can't afford to move there. The housing prices have definitely dropped, even in TV! Here are a couple of websites that you might want to check out. One of these sites show the current homes in foreclosure in TV.

http://realestate.yahoo.com/Florida/...rtBy=ctime%200

http://www.zillow.com/local-info/FL-...es-home-value/

Well first off your zillow.com link shows a population of 8300 people with 31 percent having children. The average home being $195k. I would like to know where the $100k homes are in The Villages because most of the homes I see sold are well over $250k.

Second your yahoo.com link shows 15 foreclosures for The Villages out of maybe 25-30,000 homes which gives us a 0.0006 percent foreclosure rate. I am not sure what the actual foreclosure rate is in Florida currently, but I am guessing statewide that it maybe between two and three percent.

Third The Villages is selling on average of 7 homes per day according to other post here on TOTV. That equates to 210 more or less homes per month. In last weeks Ocala Star Banner, Marion county sold 166 properties in the month of March. Now remind you a portion of The Villages is located in Marion County, so we don't know how many of the 166 properties sold could have been Villages resales.

I would admit that the prices have dropped in The Villages, but it is not the 40-60% that you are seeing in other parts of Florida for example Ft Myers, Orlando, Miami, Ocala, etc. Zillow.com is a good website, but I do not believe it provides an accurate information as to what is happening in The Villages because zillow.com gets its information from the MLS and listing realtors and The Villages new homes are not on MLS, nor do they report to Zillow.com.

So, to say that The Villages is immune might seem kind of fair to me.

[JohnN]

My opinion. The Villages isn't immune to the housing struggles in the rest of the country, but it is sheltered to a large degree. Also, demographics indicate a large number of boomers continue to retire and many come here. Prices seem stable and hedging up. We bought in May '08 and happy that we did.

[jeffy]

Probably the best site to seek out distressed homes is realtytrac.com.

They have a free trial.

The villages is not totally immune from foreclosures and price drops but when you compare it to the rest of the nation, I am glad I own here .

jeffy

[njbchbum]

Originally Posted by thegreenerside

snip...I would like to know where the $100k homes are in The Villages because most of the homes I see sold are well over $250k.

Those houses would be in the historic district...where my husband and I bought last month for 2007 prices...unless your definition of a house does not include the manufactured home variety...when we were there, the Daily Sun featured properties well under the $250k that you are seeing...in fact, some furnished models were selling for less than some resales!

[NJblue]

I concur with the predominate view expressed here: While not immune from the real estate slowdown, to say that the situation in TV is anywhere near "crisis" stage is simply not the case. While apparently the building has slowed from a few years ago, to anyone coming to TV for the first time, I'm sure you would come away thinking that TV was a major boom town. Construction is going on all around. While we were there in Feb/March, 6 houses were started on our street, several more were completed and of the 4 or 5 spec houses that had already been completed when we got there, three were sold and moved into by the time we left.

Yet, despite what appears to be incredible growth, we were told that the charter school, which enrolls the children of the contractors, had to cut back on its staff because the number of contractors is down significantly from 2-3 years ago.

All this translates into some price reductions but nowhere near the level that is happening around other areas of Florida. If you only want to buy at rock-bottom, bargain-basement, fire-sale prices, I don't think you will find them at TV. However, if you are content to find reasonable bargains (relative to 2-3 years ago), come on down.

[hdh1470]

Originally Posted by sschuler1

I think it is funny to hear people say that The Villages is immune to the housing decline. Of course they have been affected. People can't sell their homes in other parts of the country, so they can't afford to move there. The housing prices have definitely dropped, even in TV! Here are a couple of websites that you might want to check out. One of these sites show the current homes in foreclosure in TV.

http://realestate.yahoo.com/Florida/...rtBy=ctime%200

http://www.zillow.com/local-info/FL-...es-home-value/

those web sites sometimes jump the gun on reporting foreclosures i know because i have been looking to buy one for last year.they seem to report a lot of homes that are in pre foreclosure and are sold at a very little discount to selling prices

[Taj44]

Originally Posted by sschuler1

I think it is funny to hear people say that The Villages is immune to the housing decline. Of course they have been affected. People can't sell their homes in other parts of the country, so they can't afford to move there. The housing prices have definitely dropped, even in TV! Here are a couple of websites that you might want to check out. One of these sites show the current homes in foreclosure in TV.

http://realestate.yahoo.com/Florida/...rtBy=ctime%200

http://www.zillow.com/local-info/FL-...es-home-value/

I've been following housing prices here in The Villages for the past few years since we've bought, and there is no question the prices have dropped. I'm guessing the prices are just now starting to inch up, but that's just a guess. I also have 2 friends who have told me that they have foreclosures on their streets (in The Villages), both south of Route 466.

People need to be careful when reading these forums. Many of the posters here are residents in TV, they've made in many cases a substantial financial investment, so naturally their going to say its wonderful, its paradise, and anyone who disagrees with them is a naysayer, a spoilsport, a bad egg. The Villages is a great place, but it may not be right for everyone. You really need to spend some time here to see if its for you.

[Russ_Boston]

I have followed prices very closely in TV for the past 4 years as I expect to move in 2010-11. I would guesstimate that they are down about 20% from the highs in late 06. I do think they have stabilized during the past 3 months or so.