Talk of The Villages Florida - Should we sell all our furniture?

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Everyone's comments have been SO helpful! Thanks so much. It all makes such good sense, especially from a monetary standpoint. This was the way were leaning and now I KNOW it is the right thing to do. Thanks to all of you.

Quote:

Originally Posted by John_W (Post 1005332)

We moved from Bel Air, Maryland in 2011 to a new courtyard villa. With going from a 2200 SF two story home to a 1200 SF villa, we figured we would buy most things new here. We kept the lanai furniture since we had purchased it new in 2008 when we enclosed our deck. We also kept our M/BR set since we had also bought it a couple of years earlier. All of the wall decorations and paintings we kept since they are expensive to replace.

We sold our home to the first couple to be shown our home, it was only on the market for 12 hours. We told the buyers about the furniture and what we wanted to keep and they bought the rest for $2,500. I had gotten some estimates and figured it would cost us $6,000 to move everything, plus we had too much. As it turned out, we had 72 boxes and the M/BR and lanai furniture moved by United Van Lines for $2700. Actually they were 3 weeks late in delivering the furniture to our new home in TV, so we filed a claim and got a refund check for $2,000 within 5 days. We had to pay the driver $2,700 upon delivery but like I said, the refund was very quick in coming.

We bought a guest BR set, a dinette, and 3 bar stools from Southern Lifetstyles in TV, that location is now a City Furniture. We bought a power love set and two recliners from Kane Furniture in Ocala, a desk from Staples, a Vizio 60" LED TV and a 42" Samsung TV from Sam's Club. That was about all we needed.

We had inside our house painted the day after we closed by Investment Painters, so when the movers arrived that would be out of the way. We got estimates from a couple of landscapers. Got a sun shade for the Lanai from RK Shades. Shopped for golf carts and put an order in for a new Yamaha. Had Tim 'The Toolman' handyman double shelf our master closet, put hand pulls on the kitchen cabinets, install attic steps in the garage, etc. The three weeks we were living here without any furniture and slept on an air mattress allowed us to get a lot of work out of the way.

John:

You said you moved from Belair, Maryland - we are in Monkton, Maryland - just a short distance from Belair! Loved your reply. Really helped, especially coming from someone so close to home. Hope you are enjoying life in the TV. With any luck, we'll be there by Christmas. Sure hope our house sells quickly.

Since you are renting for a year you really won't know if your old furniture will fit in your new home unfortunately. With the cost of moving the furniture and storing the furniture for a year I personally would sell it. There are plenty of furniture stores here as well as several furniture consignment shops where you can purchase more. Also TOTV has lots of classifieds with furniture for sale. I like the dark wood in our Florida home. I find it more comfortable than the Florida style furniture. I decorated in cremes, rusts and browns, but I also love looking at the Florida style furniture.

Quote:

Originally Posted by PR1234 (Post 1005234)

Sell, Sell, Sell.....don't bring any of it with you!

:agree: We got rid of 2 vehicle's and all furniture with the exception of a tv cabinet, our tv's and kitchen utensil's. We bought our home furnished and the furniture was perfect; we wouldn't have been happy with our furniture if we had brought it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by deestatham (Post 1005346)

John:
You said you moved from Belair, Maryland - we are in Monkton, Maryland - just a short distance from Belair! Loved your reply. Really helped, especially coming from someone so close to home. Hope you are enjoying life in the TV. With any luck, we'll be there by Christmas. Sure hope our house sells quickly.

Being that you're from Monkton the one thing you'll miss most, besides crabs and crab cakes, will be Wegmans. We actually sold our home to the new Wegmans manager in Bel Air, we lived two blocks from the store. We watched Wegmans get built as well as the Route 24 overpass and then had to leave before we could shop there or use the new road. I also miss seeing the O's games on TV, however the Ravens we haven't missed a game since we have NFL Sunday Ticket with Directv. I think we'll go to Sarasota in March to see an Orioles spring training game.

I used to work with a guy that told me when a moving truck pulled into his neighborhood and started unloading he could tell by the furniture if they came from up north..........all dark drab colors.

What we weren't going to use here in The Villages, we gave to the kids or sold it before moving. The used furniture market here isn't any better than where you are. What we did bring I rented a truck and drove it here myself and paid a couple of guys to unload it. Not everyone can or will want to do it that way. And as previously stated it is very expensive to pay a moving company. The money you make selling things up north, and save by not paying to a mover will go a long way towards furnishing your new home here. After years of working towards retirement, treat yourself to new furniture. You have earned it!!! Good Luck!

Quote:

Originally Posted by John_W (Post 1005381)

You just made by husband's day when you said you have Direct TV. This is major to him. Sports are his thing! And we have Direct TV here - he was worried that he wouldn't have it there. You were lucky to sell so fast. I hope we are that lucky. I have a real estate license (don't practice much anymore) and I know that if a house is priced correctly it WILL sell. Looking forward to the move but right now the stress is killing us! We've been in this house 34 years.

We got rid of almost everything and bought new when we moved. I brought down stuff I thought I would use and now, after 3 years here, say to myself "what was I thinking?" every week. I never use my "good" china - never, and as beautiful as it is, and for all its sentimental value, it has no resale value. We have found entertaining down here to be much less formal, so if you have "fancy" stuff - think twice.

Keep what you love and has meaning to you and sell, give to family, donate or whatever, the rest.
You will regret not keeping many of your things.

Your new home should be a reflection of YOU, and not of living in Florida.

Wish we would've sold everything! We brought our bedroom set and our dinette set from California and there is not one piece that is not damaged by the movers. I vote for SELL!

I like my furniture but brought too much and it cost a fortune to move. Bring only what you love and keep it to a minimum.

... it will depend on each person. We did a little of both, brought and bought!!!

One thing to consider is if you will change your style or not. I wanted more of a Florida style (light and bright) so brought only what I thought would fit with that.

Many folks that I know brought all their house from up north and like their northern style down here.

Another consideration is that the cost of new furniture is very expensive too sooo keep that in mind. Moving is also expensive but we did our own pack and move kind of thing.

Also one should consider that the rooms generally are on the smallish side so keep in mind the scale (size) of your furniture. It might fit but be too large in scale to look like it fits in the room.

I put a king size bed in our guest room and it really is too large but I like that my son-in-law (a giant of a man) feels comfortable in it sooo you see it will depend on your needs.

I wish I had. It costs more to move it than it does to replace it. Additionally, it is usually pretty "heavy" for Florida.