[Mack184]

Originally Posted by senior citizen

Yes, plus it shows the property tax and what the home sold for previously and how many times it sold......as you say above, it's very useful.

However, having been on both ends of the buying and selling........I can see how it aids the buyer, in our case now............but not necessarily the seller.

Great minds think alike !! You are right about the negotioation part.

Last time we bought a home was twenty years ago (but five homes and one condo in our 48 years of marriage). Times have certainly changed since then.

Years ago, people set a price and the buyer just bought it at that price. There was no negotiation. But, we watch all of those HOUSE HUNTERS and INTERNATIONAL HOUSE HUNTERS t.v. shows and nowadays LOTS of negotiation is done............I am not looking forward to going through the selling process this time around.

Thanks for your input. (See my earlier post about what we did to all of our homes over the past 48 years of marriage).......

I've owned 4 homes in my life. The first one was purchased from my grandparents. I always thought that it was odd that you needed to "make an offer" on a home. In most transactions you pay the price asked for, you don't get to bargain about price.

I used to foolishly think that if the home was priced at say $100,000 and you had the 100 large to pay that was that. But no..you need to "make an offer". And then see if the seller will accept it.

Now today as you point out after seeing the various flavors of "House Hunter" shows negotiation is required. So if the price is 100k then you're supposed to open at 75k and go from there. So I guess if you really want to get $100,000 for your home you've got to list it at 150!

The thing that we absolutely will never do is to pay the buyer's closing costs. I see this all the time on House Hunters & Property Brothers. When we sold our last home before moving south we told our realtor that if we got an offer that included us paying any part of the buyer's closing costs we wouldn't even look at the offer. If you can't pay your own closing costs you shouldn't be out trying to buy a home.

[senior citizen]

.............

[Mack184]

^^^^
I was just thinking as I was reading your post where you mention that there are no jobs in your community...How many other communities here in the US all tell the same story. You can drive all around this land and find relics of "what we used to make". How sad.

A number of years ago we visited Baltimore (before we wound up living there) and took a ride on an oyster boat in the harbor that was run by one of the historical societies. As we sailed along the guide pointed to this old building or dock and would say well.."here's the ABC building..they USED to make widgets here..and here's the XYZ dock and they USED to bring in flour & coal here"...and so on and so forth. It's really pretty sad how little we are actually doing & making today.

[2BNTV]

Both www.realtor.com and www.trula.com are great sites in addition to www.focusonthevillages.com. I would also look at www.thevillages.com for all village properties.

So many decisions as to what one wants and this will help define the process. I keep a map handy to see where in the villages properties are located and how close they are to what is desired.

It's a good idea to start now and that day will be upon you before you know it.

[Mack184]

Originally Posted by 2BNTV

Both realtor.com and trula.com are great sites in addition to focusonthe villages.com. I wiould also look at thevillages.com for all village properties.

So many decisions as to what oe wants and this will help define the process. I keep a map handy to see where in the villages properties are located and how close they are to what is desired.

It's a good idea to start now and that day will be upon you before you know it.

You're right about looking all around. Since The Villages Properties is not an MLS agent, they cannot show "ALL" the village properties that are for sale. They can only list & show properties that are listed with them. There are many more properties for sale in TV that are listed with local realtors & will NOT come up on Villages.com

[senior citizen]

..........

[2BNTV]

There is also Real Estate Homes For Sale By Owner Since 1997 | FSBO.

Bill of Bill-n-Brillo found his home thriugh this site.