Who to help find existing homes?

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  #16  
Old 08-18-2019, 01:58 PM
manaboutown manaboutown is offline
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Originally Posted by Midnight Cowgirl View Post
Someone like that discredits all other real estate professionals and shouldn't be working as an agent.

I would have reported him to his broker. That kind of behavior is unacceptable.
He is no doubt looked on with great favor by his broker as he sells so many new homes which benefits the business far more than resales do. From what he disclosed to me about his “awards” he is the Villages equivalent of a “top producer” in Realtor-speak.
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Old 08-18-2019, 02:10 PM
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OP, you state your window is 3 years off, so IMHO, you may be jumping the gun, unless you plan on buying and renting the house out. With all of the recently announced building plans (over 60,000 homes south of 44), The Villages will be somewhat different in 3 years. Your plan to come down for a lifestyle visit is excellent, as you will get a sense of the area, etc. You can keep an eye on houses for sale as mentioned above, and make up your mind on a location and house when you are getting ready to actually move. I have seen tremendous changes in just the 6 years that we have lived here. When we bought, we were at the southern end of TV, we are now in the center!!
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Old 08-18-2019, 02:25 PM
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If you don't know what style of home or what village/area you wish to eventually live in, I would suggest you go to open houses while on your LSP. You will get a copy of the Daily Sun each day and there are two pages of Villages pre-owned open houses and numerous MLS open houses daily. There are also three pages of Villages new open houses daily so you can see all manner of home styles in all the areas, giving you a good idea of the market - now! The market is likely to be dramatically different in three years. We had our LSP in 2010 and did what I suggest, then rented for eight years, always looking at open houses, and bought in 2018. By then we knew exactly what we wanted and how much to pay.
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Old 08-18-2019, 03:01 PM
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Originally Posted by manaboutown View Post
As I understand it Villages agents are “encouraged” by the developer to move the new product. They are paid higher commissions as an incentive and/or otherwise compensated. For example trips on a company jet, meals at the developers private club and no doubt otherwise. Selling existing units is a lucrative adjunct business that satisfies a need and brings in more dough but building and selling new homes is the primary objective.
In the realtor business I imagine there are sales contests and incentives.

The Villages doesn't have to "drum up business" to sell homes or reward people to get sales. People are standing in line to buy homes here, new and used. If a home is used and not selling it is because it is priced too high, dirty, smelly, or needs staged I would think.

People are easily selling used homes by themselves and using a closing service to close if those who are selling them aren't trying to hit a home run.

I see that Manabouttown's former occupation was intellectual property attorney. I apologize for confusing his prior job with real estate.
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Last edited by graciegirl; 08-19-2019 at 07:37 AM.
  #20  
Old 08-18-2019, 10:10 PM
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OP asked for help in being able to find pre-owned homes for sale.

This is not an argument about Villages realtors.

Please stay on topic.

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  #21  
Old 08-18-2019, 11:09 PM
Fraugoofy Fraugoofy is offline
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Not sure if you bought a house in April, but here is a great one for sale:

2453 Kingstree Place, 32162

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Old 08-21-2019, 08:24 AM
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My wife and I just purchased a home in July. We used BOTH. Villages reps can ONLY show you homes that are listed for sale through The Villages Real Estate. New or used. Multiple listing agents can ONLY show you homes that are NOT listed with The Villages. These are limited to homes which are NOT brand new. Some are fairly new though. We found this to be a good way to see just about everything that was in our price range and it gave us a great taste of what was available throughout the ENTIRE area. We also did months of looking On-Line first to get a feel for prices and styles that were available. Ultimately we ended up buying a new home in an area that we were originally dead set against moving to. After seeing the newer homes, the development of the new areas and the value for the $$, we were hooked. Our Villages agent was extremely professional and not pushy in the slightest. Good Luck finding a home you love. We did.
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Old 08-21-2019, 10:10 AM
valuemkt valuemkt is offline
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I found grizzard to be a very reputable firm. My suggestion is to find an experienced realtor within the firm, who knows the villages top to bottom, and not someone that is new to either the villages or florida real estate law. That person will act as your buyers agent, and work to get you the right house for you at the best terms. You can go to open houses to get a feel for the styles etc .. Most agents will then set you up with auto searches based on your location and size requirements ..
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Old 08-21-2019, 10:25 AM
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Once you get a sense of the place during your lifestyle visit, one of the best resources is the internet. Look at The Villages website for their listings, realtor dot com for MLS listings and the various FSBO websites. Unless you bump into a realtor that impresses you at an open house, once you are close to buying and you have a few candidates, then you can pick an inside and outside realtor to finalize your selection. Two things to note from my experience, the best houses go very quickly and even so, there will always be another house, so while you have to be decisive when you get serious about buying, if you miss out on that "perfect" house, be patient and another one will come along.
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Old 08-24-2019, 09:06 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by eweissenbach View Post
If you don't know what style of home or what village/area you wish to eventually live in, I would suggest you go to open houses while on your LSP. You will get a copy of the Daily Sun each day and there are two pages of Villages pre-owned open houses and numerous MLS open houses daily. There are also three pages of Villages new open houses daily so you can see all manner of home styles in all the areas, giving you a good idea of the market - now! The market is likely to be dramatically different in three years. We had our LSP in 2010 and did what I suggest, then rented for eight years, always looking at open houses, and bought in 2018. By then we knew exactly what we wanted and how much to pay.
Great advice, Ed. One of the nice things about visiting The Villages is that open houses for both new and preowned homes are held every day, not just on the weekends as is normal up north. Open houses are a good way to see various neighborhoods and styles of homes.
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Old 08-25-2019, 06:52 PM
Dond1959 Dond1959 is offline
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We started about 3 years before we bought. The most important thing is to get a feel for the various areas. The place is huge so it can take a week just to understand the major areas. I wouldn’t look at any houses if you are 3 years out from buying. Things will be a lot different in 3 years. Definitely go down to the new areas south of 44 as in 3 years these areas will have preowned homes. Your Villages RE agent can take you around to all the areas. Go to the town squares at night and talk to people. Everyone has an opinion and are happy to share their thoughts. Good luck!
  #27  
Old 10-08-2019, 07:09 AM
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We just went into escrow on a one year old home in DeSoto using a fabulous developer realtor. I noticed in the paperwork that the commission paid totaled 6% so it appears to me that the company realtors are doing OK with resales. Our sales person showed us both new and resales and essentially we ended up splitting the difference - our resale is so new it’s like a new home but with the bugs worked out.
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Old 10-08-2019, 07:12 AM
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Debra Park from the Villages, great realtor we bought our house with. And have referred many friends to.
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Old 10-08-2019, 07:25 AM
Marathon Man Marathon Man is offline
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You will need to have an MLS agent and a VLS agent in order to see all the homes for sale. Also, look at FSBO.

We did exactly that. We told our Villages salesman that we were only interested in pre-owned homes, and she never brought up new construction. Looked at about eight homes with each. Selected one with VLS, and all went smoothly.
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Old 10-08-2019, 08:09 AM
VillageIdiots VillageIdiots is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Cookie Princess View Post
We are coming to TV in April for a Lifestyle visit. Who did you use to show you existing homes?

We have been contacted by someone from Grizzard Real Estate. We have a 3+ year timeline so don't want anyone pushy or who will constantly call and pester us. THANKS!!
Can you clarify what you mean by "existing homes" and also clarify your timeline? Are you looking to buy soon and move here full time in 3 years, or are you looking now with intent to buy in 3 years?

Existing could be pre-owned or could be brand new spec homes - always plenty of both here, but most don't sit very long before they are sold. There really is no point in looking at pre-owned homes until you are ready to buy. However, looking at existing spec homes while on a visit is a great way to see what the different models offer and the current price ranges. There are 20+ open houses for new spec homes here every single day, 7 days a week. They are listed in the daily paper with directions. That's a great way to see many different models and do it at your own pace without tying up an agent that may be gone and/or forgotten in 3 years. Doesn't matter if it's a Villages agent or an outside agent, they get paid to sell homes and get paid only when they sell a home.

You will encounter an agent at every open house, but most are not pushy at all. Some may ask where you are from and what you are interested in and some will barely acknowledge your existence when you walk in the door. You can make small talk with them and if you come across one that you feel comfortable with, you can keep in contact with them until you are ready to buy. The agent we originally started with retired at just about the same time we made our purchase. He once told me that it's very common for him to work with people for a year or more before they ever buy anything.
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