[Georgeand Cindi]

Hi! My wife and I, after making an impromptu stop at the The Villages last summer (3 short days) fell in love with it. We decided that this was the place we wanted to live and put our home in Colorado up for sale. Fortunately a cash buyer appeared out of nowhere and we, much to our surprise, were able to sell our house during the winter months (hurray). Consequently, we made reservations this June for a 7 day Villages Lifestyle visit. Though buying a house during this short time span is not a necessity, we would, candidly, be very disappointed if we did not find a home to purchase. We are determined to downsize and feel that courtyard villa would fit our needs perfectly. We have a Villages real estate agent and will depend on him to show us all the pre-owned and newly constructed CYV’s available within our price range, however we really do want to explore all our options, which could include viewing a foreclosure or pre-foreclosure property. (Good idea?) I have done some research but would value a "Villager's" input. Has anyone had a positive experience with such a (foreclosure) sale? Does anyone know the approxiamte timeline for a closing if you are a cash buyer? What might be major league ballpark figure (percentage) we should be looking to save off of the market value of the home? Any other suggestions or recommendations regarding our upcoming Lifestyles visit? Thanks!

[D&Lsunfun]

hello,
we bought during a lifestyle visit, what a shock to me, after many months on line checking out homes, pre owned and short sale, we found a new contruction house and bought within 3 days. we were on vacation so we closed by mail and it took 30 days to close from dec 14 to jan 14.
the lifestyle is a good program and we shopped by day and enjoyed the town squares in the evening. we purchased a ranch home in tamarind grove, the south end before 466a. love the area and pastures arcoss the street. lovely, have your agent bring you to this area. there may be a house for sale soon, the owners are moving.

[njbchbum]

best advice i've read for villages home buyers:
1. use a villages realtor AND an mls realtor
2. do not rule out viewing pre-owned homes as they will likely have a lower bond payment and might already have some of the upgrades you are looking for

[Indy-Guy]

I had a friend who made two offers on forclosed homes in The Villages. Both transactions were nightmares. First one after 3 months he still could not find out anything as to when the bank was going to make up their mind if they would take his offer. The second one after one month same thing and he withdrew his offer.

[John_W]

We had a 7 day LSV in April and we decided that a Savannah series CYV was for us, a 2 BR Woodlawn was our main choice. Things became expedited when we sold our home last week after being on the market just one day. So we booked a 3 day visit beginning June 6th to hopefully put a deposit on a Woodlawn CYV.

I started noticing there was less CYV's listed on the new homes site, for example the Foxglove which is one of the most popular had none under construction. I asked my salesman what was going on, and he said they were being renamed and were going up 4%. So the Woodlawn that I liked and normally sells for about $169,000 on a standard lot was going to be called a Durham and would now sell for about $177,000.

I noticed they had 5 Woodlawns left and he said that would be the end of them. They marked the price down on those last week and today marked one down to almost a patio villa price. My salesman went out with his camera and took pictures of that unit and emailed them to us, and we bought that home tonight with only seeing the photos, although I remember driving through that neighborhood on our last visit.

So I would say that if you're in the market for a Savannah series new courtyard villa and don't want to pay the new prices, I would get involved in buying right now.

[tbmorrisonjr]

I would strongly suggest staying away from either. I was involved with a shortsale last year, listed thru The Villages pre-owned department that turned out to be a nightmare. The lender was out of state. Had to go thru the bidding process and then at the last minute the lender requested additional paperwork and funds from the seller. I walked away at the end of 90 days. The foreclosure I tried to purchase after the shortsale mess was never able to get closed. The lender was GMAC from Colorado. The price was agreed upon but the local non-Villages agent was never able to get the closing package. I walked away after waiting 60 days to close. I ended up buying property from a non-Villages agent. There are many ways of buying property other than thru The Villages Sales Dept. I suggest checking the paper for non-Village listings and property for sale by owner. The Villages Sales Dept will have a greater inventory to choose from but the prices will probably be higher too. At least you can negotiate with pre-owned property as opposed to paying the asking price on new property thru The Villages. Good luck on your house hunting...

[Snowbirdtobe]

A short sale or distressed real estate purchase can take years. We were involved in a short sale in Florida and waited for 2 years for the deal to close.
That was fine with us since we didn't need a place to live for 3 years and it wasn't costing us anything.
When it looked like we would want a Florida home within a year we dropped the short sale idea and purchased our place in TV in 6 days.
We used a Villages agent and an MLS broker. You need both if you are considering a resale. There is no overlap since they don't show the same homes.

[mcnabb24]

We have been looking off and on for 2 years really. We had to sell our other vacation home first which we just did last November. We were intent on building a home with pool but could never find the right lot, etc. Lo and behold, over the past 6 months, we decided to start looking at preowned homes so we worked with both a TV realtor and MLS realtor. As everyone else said, it is best to work with both because they have two different inventories and they both have some great homes.

Two weeks ago we came down to look at an MLS home with a pool and at the last minute, decided to look at a similar home with a Villages realtor. Both were great but we found a great deal with the TV realtor home. If we had built the same home it would have cost us close to $100k more so all's well that ends well...we hope...still working on the financing. Cross your fingers. I never say we truly bought a home until we have the keys in our hot little hands.

[mneumann02]

I have been looking to buy in TV, but found a beautiful home next to TV for substantially less. Can you still play golf if you pay and join TV's clubs and sport leagues if you do not live in TV?

[Bogie Shooter]

Originally Posted by mneumann02

I have been looking to buy in TV, but found a beautiful home next to TV for substantially less. Can you still play golf if you pay and join TV's clubs and sport leagues if you do not live in TV?

You cannot join The villages golf clubs, you cannot play The Villages courses if you live in the three adjoining counties. Basically you cannot do anything in The Villages. You are welcome to spend as much as you like in the restaurants.

[jack_pine]

Originally Posted by Bogie Shooter

You cannot join The villages golf clubs, you cannot play The Villages courses if you live in the three adjoining counties. Basically you cannot do anything in The Villages. You are welcome to spend as much as you like in the reataurants.

I thought anyone could play the Championship courses, just not the executive ones...........

Am I incorrect?

[Bogie Shooter]

Originally Posted by jack_pine

I thought anyone could play the Championship courses, just not the executive ones...........

Am I incorrect?

Yes, I stand corrected. They would pay the non resident rate....which is the highest.
The guest rates apply to residents outside the ajacent counties.

[Indy-Guy]

Originally Posted by Bogie Shooter

Yes, I stand corrected. They would pay the non resident rate....which is the highest.
The guest rates apply to residents outside the ajacent counties.

If you look at a Country Club Golf Rates Sheet you will see a line for Non-Resident. This is the highest rate for Championship Golf in The Villages.

Also someone who is not a resident and wants to make a tee time can not use any of the tee time automated systems so the only way that they can make a tee time is to call in the day of play and see if there are any open tee times left over that Villages residents have not taken. They may perhaps catch a single open time in the off season but during the peak season would take alot of luck. To see a rate sheet go to (you may have to do a copy and paste)

http://golfthevillages.com/images/summerRates2011.pdf

[Pturner]

Hi George and Cindi,
Welcome. As others have said, you need to use both an MLS Realtor and a TV sales agent to see all the homes available in your price range. Best wishes in finding your dream home here. There's no place like it. You will love it here!


Hi mneumann02. Welcome to TOTV. The pools, rec. centers, clubs and sports leagues are not open to homeowners outside of TV. As is often stated, when you buy in TV you are buying a lifestyle. You can buy a bigger home for the same money outside of TV, but the TV lifestyle is not included.

[jfmajer]

While the home building process is going on, do most people stay in The Villages or surround area to monitor it? If not, how do you know if your home built according to specs. Thanks