Trying to introduce myself-think I'm doing this wrong

Hi Handy,

Thanks for finding me, via M. Opaliski and leading me here! This looks like a FINE place!

I live in an Ocean Atlantic community and they seek to make the best and nicest places around. I think you will do well at Independence and if the indoor pool is a big interest; it is the only one I know of in any community!

I say, GO FOR IT... but feel free to continue with us to see what other options are available.

Nice Place you have created here Chase!

Howdy Matthew!!!

Thank you Mr Jody and thanks for signing up, welcome, and looking forward to chatting with you. Tell a friend

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Philly Sports

Howdy Matt,

This looks to be a FINE place. It was a real testament to the kindness and upbeat helpfullness of this place - they way the bunch of you folks have been seeking to help Handy here.

Thanks again for having Handy write me and I look forward to helping her if I can and if she needs me. I think she has already found the right place and should just go forward on it!

Jody

Hi Jody,what nice things you wrote. Hope you enjoy the forum. I'm still learning how to make everything work. We would love to live in Independence, but of course need to make a visit. One of the sales people told me we could buy a lot and would have 18 months to build, but called sales office on Sunday and they told us we'd have to buy lot and house and then still have to build within that 18 months. It's just too early for us to commit to that. Ron won't even retire for two years and three months. With the market like it is, it make take us over a year to sell this house. It's just too risky, not to mention expensive for us to do this now. We may be ready when they get near the last phase, unless sales are not as they expect. I know the houses will be more expensive by then. Hopefully there will be more 55+ communities like Independence scheduled for the future. Maybe you can keep us informed about that. We still think owning the land too is the best way to go and not land lease from what I can find. Even for the most expensive house at Independence, property taxes are only $1800 per year. The Monthly fee covers water, sewer, trash, all community and personal lawn care and all community fees-it is $295 per month. In NC our property taxes would be much higher and we not only have a sales tax, but also pay property tax on our vehicles and RV every year. Some people in DE don't want the communities and the loss of farms and more people moving in. I certainly understand, but it is happening here too. Our farms are going away like crazy and houses are being built on the land. Even though I read a lot of negative comments about DE, it still sounds the best for us. It's still the least expensive State to live in within a days drive from our grandkids in Wilkes Barre area. I hear Del Webb is planning to build a community, but can't find where it is or how much the houses will be. When we do come for a visit, can you show us around? Or would recommended another realtor? Not sure exaxctly what your realty company does. Welcome and thanks so much.

Hi Handy,

Let me know when you are ready to come. Most likely you will not have a Realtor as the 55+ communities will have thier own sales people rather than having a Realtor represent them.

Some people prefer to have a Buyers Agent representing them. My partner Kate and I do a LOT of Buyers Agency work where we represent the Buyer in opposition and competition with the seller and sellers agents. We give a superior level of representation and keep our clients well protected and make certain they get the best possible value for thier expenditure.

Here is an article that explains Buyers Agency, which I wrote:
http://www.kate-jody.com/essays/buyersagent.html

For those of you folks who are following this: here is what my partner Kate just wrote to "HandyPeacock"...

There are a handful of 55+ communities now in southern DE.

Single family homes:

There is Independence, in Millsboro, http://www.independencede.com/homes/

And Heritage Shores in Bridgeville
http://www.heritageshores.com/

And closer to the beaches is Bay Crossing, where there are several resales, http://www.pulte.com/homefinder/community.asp?commorg_acctcode=2241&ss=**1BCDCB2B-B5E2-477E-8AB4-B2581B67818C}

And Cedar Valley (resales only).

In Georgetown there are duplexes in the Village of Cinderberry Estates.
There are condominium type villas at Bay Crossing in Lewes, Fallbrooke in Millsboro, and Cedar Bay in Oceanview.

All of these communities are relatively new. Just a few short years ago we had no over 55 communities in all of southern Delaware, but the demand has called for them.

Hi Jody, the info is always appreciated. I understand about buyers agents, unfortunately not only have we purchased I think 13 homes around the country, but we also tend to buy high and sell low. Mostly because of my husband's type of employment-lots of buy outs, companies going under and lay-offs. I hate it. There really is no job security anymore.
Thought you might be interested-I found out Heritage Shores has and indoor and outdoor pool. I think Independence and Heritage are the only two that do. I know we can buy directly at these type of communities and if we did bring in a realtor, not sure how they pay your commission. It has to come from somewhere. Maybe it is a disadvantage for a prospective buyer to bring their own realtor. Not sure.
Pulte has one resale and it is too big and too expensive. I can't find out much info on the community as they are sold out. By the time we get there, it will be of course all re-sales, not a problem, but if the size and price of the one on the market is representative of houses in there-it will be out of our price range.
I've talked enough-hope you stay connected. Thank you.

We will gladly stick with you Handy; this could result in a very long and informative thread here if we keep at it for the two years or so before you purchase.

Currently I am not expecting to see much if any appreciation in price over the next two years and there might even be an attractively priced resale right at the time you need it.

Usually our fee is covered by removing the fee that is generally paid to a sellers agent by the sellers and then replacing it with our fee so that the cost to our buyer is little if any more.

Most likely with our various negotiating skills and knowledge and advice we will be able to get you a better home or lower cost or both.
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For instance recently we negotiated the purchase of a new home for a client of ours in a very nice community and saved him about 22% - this was unusual but my technique worked.

I knew he wanted a home in the specific development. Most of the homes were in the high 300 thousand range or just over $400,000. I was the Buyers Agent so I wanted the best investment for him as he is a professional investor.

I checked the homes and prices available lot by lot and evaluated them each, according to asking price and sold prices; and in doing so I found they neglected to tell me about one home in the community that was neither sold nor for sale.

I asked about it and after a while of the sales force trying to get me to pick something else, because the home belonged to the seller and was not for sale... I got them to disclose that the home had been thier model but was no longer a model. Also they no longer offered that model for sale.

They were not certain what to do with it as it had every available extra and every option in the book and in this market with bargain shoppers they were stuck with it.

I told them that I had an investment buyer under contract and that my buyer would buy it if I could get it without the added cost of the extras which was about $100,000 added to the base cost of the home. The sales force flat refused to talk to the seller about my discussion. I reminded them that by law they had to present a legal offer properly written and all and I explained to them that if they presented my offer and my letter to the seller it may be to his advantage to take my offer.

We made the offer for the exact full price of the home as if it did not have any of the extras. I enclosed a letter suggesting to the seller that this protected his appraised values as it would show a full price sale for that model.

I also suggested that since all the options and extras were only placed in the home as a method of getting people to see how these things looked so they could add them to other homes being built that these added things were actually a marketing cost... and that he could write off the entire cost of these extras at the ammount of my reduced offer showing that these were a cost of marketing, just like a magazine ad or a TV ad.

The extras were just to show examples that could be added to all the other homes in the community and that they did not help sell this house and in fact made it hard to sell.

Once I forced the sales people to present my offer to the seller, he called me directly on the phone and we further discussed it and he agreed that it was to his advantage - especially when I told him my buyer could settle as soon as he wanted with a cash purchase, no contingencies.

I surmised that in this slow and difficult market that the seller of course could really use the fast cash and the removal of what would usually be a two month or more time before settlement. I could tell he was still a little hesitant.

I told him we could place a 100% deposit on the property if he wanted; in other words we could put the total cost of the house down on the contract as a deposit instead of the huge 20% deposit I already had on the written contract he was looking at. He said, no, I am signing the contract exactly as it is ( I knew he didn't want to risk loosing a buyer with any change especially since I had shown him I had a strong buyer.) He signed it, we went to settlement in a couple of weeks and everybody was very happy.

The sellers sales people still did not "get it" but the seller did and he was very, very happy to have a "full price" sale on a hard house to sell.

The moral of the story is that as a buyers agent and by going the many extra miles that I go for my clients we got our buyers a superb deal and the seller was happy too.

Since the house was not "for sale" there was no sales fee involved so my buyer gladly paid my fee directly and took me out to dinner too.

I could easily fill this thread up with various creative solutions that I have arranged for my buyers, when I am a buyers agent, over the years. Now my buyer in this example above has a fine investment home that was priced about $500,000 and he paid about $400,000.

You do what realtors should do-be creative! Not just get listings. Thanks for the info, very informative!

Please feel free to ask any question as you continue your search for YOUR perfect place. You are always welcome to write me privately but there may be some who can reap some value from our public discussion here.

Jody