[bloisy]

Hi I am a Canadian looking at buying a place in the villages.I have been checking it out on line and on this thread.But my concern is has the value of your homes gone down alot because of the sub prime morgage scandals.Or has it not gone down because most people have their houses paid for.I was in lakeland last year and alot of the homes in the retirement mobile homes were up for sale and not selling.I see alot of units in the villages for sale.Are they selling and are people losing money.THANKS STEVE

[getdul981]

We sold our house in Sept. On the market for 2 weeks before a contract. We did not lose any money on it. I would say that the homes in this area are not depreciating in value. This is about the only place in Florida and possibly the whole country that property values are not going down.

[eweissenbach]

Originally Posted by bloisy

Hi I am a Canadian looking at buying a place in the villages.I have been checking it out on line and on this thread.But my concern is has the value of your homes gone down alot because of the sub prime morgage scandals.Or has it not gone down because most people have their houses paid for.I was in lakeland last year and alot of the homes in the retirement mobile homes were up for sale and not selling.I see alot of units in the villages for sale.Are they selling and are people losing money.THANKS STEVE

If you look at the county assessors websites you will find that many homes are for sale for less than they were puchased for in 2007-08 when prices were at their peak. Having said that, most people are getting more than they paid for their homes earlier than that. The demand, though down from the peak, is still pretty high in TV. The level of houses that are seriously underpriced, short sales, or in foreclosure are nowhere near the levels in places like Naples, Fort Meyers, or Phoenix and Las Vegas. I think there are relative bargains to be had in TV, but not steals like in those other areas I mentioned.

[kentucky blue]

Originally Posted by bloisy

Hi I am a Canadian looking at buying a place in the villages.I have been checking it out on line and on this thread.But my concern is has the value of your homes gone down alot because of the sub prime morgage scandals.Or has it not gone down because most people have their houses paid for.I was in lakeland last year and alot of the homes in the retirement mobile homes were up for sale and not selling.I see alot of units in the villages for sale.Are they selling and are people losing money.THANKS STEVE

Home prices in TV are stable.There are some bargains to be had,but no desperation.Real estate is what i do for a living,so i stay on top of all the trends nationwide.I am very pleased with the price i paid for my home in TV, and have no regrets.Of course, the people that bought in TV 2005,2006,&2007, at the peak of the real estate boom will lose money if they need to sell now.If they hang on and ride out this "government induced and wall street greed" real estate depression, they will be just fine.Can't think of a better place to own a home than TV,come on down and leave that frigid Canadian weather behind .

[ajbrown]

So much depends on when you bought....

We bought in the spring of 2007 as did many in my 'hood. At that time the DIRT (no homes yet) was in Hadley, the dirt is now in Sanibel.

I am aware of three in the hood that sold in the spring of 2010.

One was $255k in 2007 and sold in 2010 for $225k
One was $233k in 2007 and sold in 2010 for $207k
One was $284k in 2007 and sold in 2010 for $235k

This is just my little 'hood. These numbers fit with most of my investments in life, buy high and hope....

PS. To be fair with full disclosure on these numbers, I live in the best 'hood in The Villages

[2BNTV]

I think real estate in TV does not follow the pricing to the same extent the rest of the country because it is a Disneyland and in great demand.

You will be buying the lifestyle and its myraid of activities.

IMHO - There are places not far away you will be able to get more house for the money but you will never duplicate what TV has to offer.

One trip and you will see what TV is all about.

[Bill-n-Brillo]

Originally Posted by kentucky blue

Home prices in TV are stable.There are some bargains to be had,but no desperation.Real estate is what i do for a living,so i stay on top of all the trends nationwide.I am very pleased with the price i paid for my home in TV, and have no regrets.Of course, the people that bought in TV 2005,2006,&2007, at the peak of the real estate boom will lose money if they need to sell now.If they hang on and ride out this "government induced and wall street greed" real estate depression, they will be just fine.Can't think of a better place to own a home than TV,come on down and leave that frigid Canadian weather behind .

kentuckyblue makes a key point. Current market value can be higher......or lower......than what was originally paid. Depends a great deal on when it was originally purchased.

Apples-to-apples, any loss in value a TV homeowner might experience is nowhere near the proportion they would have lost on a home virtually any place else.

Bill

[NotGolfer]

We recently had our house appraised....it was purchase 3 years ago and we have increased in value (w/o updates) by $20k If proper updates were made I'm sure it would increase even more. It's as the person who does real estate for a living says!!

[Mikeod]

Some homes that have sold for less than originally paid may have been a casualty of the downturn in real estate elsewhere. We knew of someone who bought here with the expectation they would sell their home "up north" and move here. But the home either didn't sell soon enough, or offers were far less than they needed, so they had to unload the home here as quickly as possible. When selling, they were competing with new home prices and incentives and wound up cutting price to expedite the sale.

[Barefoot]

Originally Posted by bloisy

Hi I am a Canadian looking at buying a place in the villages.I have been checking it out on line and on this thread.But my concern is has the value of your homes gone down alot because of the sub prime morgage scandals.Or has it not gone down because most people have their houses paid for.I was in lakeland last year and alot of the homes in the retirement mobile homes were up for sale and not selling.I see alot of units in the villages for sale.Are they selling and are people losing money.THANKS STEVE

Yes, prices in TV decreased, but not as much as most cities We purchased a CYV in 2007 and sold in 2010 at a loss, especially because we'd added a birdcage, landscaping, etc. But we purchased again in TV in 2010, and of course we got a great house at a great price, less than the owners had paid. We also saved a heck of a lot of rent over the past five years!

One of these days ( or years), house prices will bounce back up, and existing home owners in TV will be the beneficiaries when this happens.

So here is my advice to a fellow Canadian. Buy now, enjoy the lifestyle, and down the road prices will appreciate.

[rustyp]

Per Zillow.com from home values from 2007 to present:

1. The Villages -23.7%
2. Across the U.S. -23.3%
3. Across the state of Florida -50.6%

[jackz]

Originally Posted by rustyp

Per Zillow.com from home values from 2007 to present:

1. The Villages -23.7%
2. Across the U.S. -23.3%
3. Across the state of Florida -50.6%

From my experience with real estate investments both in California and Florida, take Zillow with a grain of salt. They have not proven very accurate in many markets.

Our bottom line, and I think of a number of others, is that the home we build in Sanibel this year is our RETIREMENT home as we will be Frogs. That said, we intend to live in it till the end so whether it goes up or down is not as critical to us. Might be critical to the heirs but not to us. As has been said in this thread, "You are buying the lifestyle as well as the home"....

[The Villager II]

Originally Posted by jackz

From my experience with real estate investments both in California and Florida, take Zillow with a grain of salt. They have not proven very accurate in many markets.

Our bottom line, and I think of a number of others, is that the home we build in Sanibel this year is our RETIREMENT home as we will be Frogs. That said, we intend to live in it till the end so whether it goes up or down is not as critical to us. Might be critical to the heirs but not to us. As has been said in this thread, "You are buying the lifestyle as well as the home"....

Zillow showed our last house value at 197K. It sold in two weeks for 254K. Zillow helped panic the market in the last few years.

[graciegirl]

The homes around us in Hadley have been selling for about the same or more than when they were purchased. Our house in Hadley was built in 2008. All there were built at about the same time. I know of four sales personally.

[l2ridehd]

Zillow is the most UN-accurate real estate value system ever produced. They are off by orders of magnitude in both directions. And 25 people will respond saying it's "very close in my neighborhood". And if all houses in your neighborhood are all very very close to being the same and you have had very recent sales, they might be correct. Any other combination and they are very wrong. I can show you many homes that have sold for more then 200% of Zillow pricing, and also some at 50%.