Ocala Real Estate Talk

Posts Tagged ‘ocala 55+ communities’

I spend about 95% of my time as a buyers agent here in Ocala. One question that comes up is “what should I offer?”. I suggest that a buyer look at comparable sales to come up with an offer. A good comparable would meet the following criteria.

same sub division

sold in the last 90 days

within 1 mile of subject property

+/- 10% of the sq ft of living area

same # of beds, baths and size garage

+/- 5 years in age, 10 years if home is over 10 years old

same construction type

All this above can be used by a buyer to come up with an offer on a home or it can be used by a seller to find a proper list price. In the end it doesn’t matter what a buyer or seller thinks a house is worth. What matters is the price that similar homes have sold for in the past 90 days. Sellers should keep in mind that in order for a buyer to get a loan a bank will send out an appraiser who will use very similar criteria for an appraisal.

I always get this question even though you’d think it’s self-explanatory. Do you have to be 55+ to live in an Ocala 55+ community? At least one person on the deed has to be 55.  HOA’s require proof of age in the form of a driver’s license. Some also make you sign an affidavit to that effect. This is true of every Ocala/Marion County retirement community with the exception of Ocala Palms. Ocala Palms is an Adult Community where everyone has to be 21 and over. For more info on 55+ communities in Florida see this State of Florida web site.

I always have buyers looking for a retirement home and an item high on their wish list is a nice view.  Most retirement communities are laid out with parallel streets and the homes are back to back. This is especially true of newer communities. If you think about it this makes a lot of sense. The builder gets a maximum number of homes on his land.

There are options for what you’ll see in back of a 55+ home.

1. A house right behind you, which is by far the most common.

2. A house right behind you screened by a buffer of trees or shrubs. In this case you’ll still see you neighbor to some extent

3. A view of woods. You find this in a home located on the outside perimeter of a community.

4. A golf course view. This is a premium lot that adds a great deal to the price of a new home but you do find deals on resales.

Some of your best bets for finding a home with out another home directly in back of you are Oak Run and Ocala Palms. Oak Run isn’t laid out with parallel streets. It is divided into neighborhoods and a lot of homes face a buffer between these neighborhoods. Ocala Palms was set out to maximize the number of golf course lots. There are great prices on homes with golf course frontage in Ocala Palms.

If you’re interested in Ocala 55+ retirement homes then either call me, email me or better yet use my Ocala Dream Home Finder.

This is a home for sale in the exclusive Candler Hills part of the On Top of the World communities. The Huntley model is a 3 bedroom, 2 bath, 2 car garage home with 2,181 sq ft of living area. It features a gourmet kitchen with maple cabinets, stainless appliances, an electric wall oven, gas cook top and Corian counter tops. There is a formal dining room for entertaining. The Great room is large and bright with high ceilings and crown molding. The master bedroom is very large and leads to a master bath with a double vanity, tile floor, a walk in Roman shower and an enormous closet. There are 2 other bedrooms and a 2nd bath on the opposite side of the house from the master as is the case in a split floor plan. This home is located on a premium corner lot with a nice view from the screened Lanai. The build quality of Candler Hills homes is superior to most other newer 55+ retirement communities. The floors are hardwood and not laminate. The MB shower and around the tub in the 2nd bath are tile and not a fiberglass plug-in.  Candler Hills is known for extremely energy-efficient building practices. At only $185,000.00 this is a great price when compared to new construction or other nearby newer retirement homes.

My blog post profiling Candler Hills with info on the amenities, HOA fees, images of the community and a link to the golf course..

This Candler Hills resale on my web site with  20+ images and statistics about the home.

SOLD for 96% of list price in only 80 days

My video tour of this Candler Hills home.

Spruce Creek Golf and Country Club

Spruce Creek Golf and Country Club is a completely built out Del Webb 55+ community located about 15 miles south of Ocala in Summerfield Florida. Spruce Creek Golf and Country Club is also just 10 miles north of the Villages. and all the activities and shopping but without the traffic and the high cost of housing.

There are 3250 homes in Spruce Creek Golf and Country Club on 1600 acres. The age of homes range from 1996 to 2007. The size of homes varies from just over 800 sq ft to over 2800 sq ft of living area. There are different methods of construction. There are frame homes with vinyl siding, a few with aluminum siding, frame and stucco and concrete block and stucco. Most of the frame homes with vinyl or aluminum siding were built prior to 2003.

Home prices in Spruce Creek Golf and Country Club vary quite a bit do to the size, age and construction of the home. There were 75 sales from January1 to August 25 2011 ranging from $89,900- for a 816 sq ft home to $270,000- for a 2344 sq ft home over looking the golf course.

HOA fees are a very reasonable $121.00 per month. They cover professional management services, guards at the 2 gates 24 hours a day, trash pickup, maintenance of the common areas and facilities and the use of the clubhouses and amenities. Golf is not included in the HOA fee.

UPDATE 2-28-12 There were 109 sales in 2011. Prices ranged from $89,000- for a 816 sq ft 2/1 up to $270,000- for a 2400 sq ft home with a private pool. HOA fees remain the same at $121- month.

The Spruce Creek Golf and Country Club home owners association has a great web site. Be sure to go to About Us and click on the video tour. The web site has information on all the amenities, activities, clubs and area shopping.

If you’d like to see homes for sale in Spruce Creek Golf and Country Club either call me, send me a detailed email with what you’re looking for or use my Ocala Dream Home Finder.

Below are images of Spruce Creek Golf and Country Club. All the images are original photos and are copy right protected.

Read the rest of this entry »

Horse Topiary photo by Joe Dallorso

Most of the readers of my blog are from outside the Ocala Marion County area. A great way to get to know an area is to read the newspaper. If you’re a younger person you probably think newspapers are like dinosaurs. The reality is that only local newspapers have local news. All the Ocala Marion County newspapers can be read online.

The Ocala Star Banner is Marion County’s daily newspaper. You need to read it daily in order not to miss anything. This is a great source  to get an idea of what different areas of the county are like.

The South Marion Citizen is a great place to find information about the SW corridor retirement communities. If you click on news and then community you’ll fing columns written about the goings on in various retirement communities written by people who there. The South Marion Citizen is a weekly paper.

The Citrus County Chronicle is a weekly paper than covers Dunnellon and west into Citrus County.

The Ocala area also has 2 magazines. That’s pretty extraordinary seeing that Ocala is such a small city. Both magazines are lot nicer in print than online. They are both printed on exceptionally nice glossy paper, in a large format, with great photography.  Even the advertisements have beautiful photography.

Ocala Magazine

Ocala Style

Moving cross country is a huge undertaking. I know, I moved from Maine to Ocala in 2004. You have to do your home work and keeping up on current events is part of the job

I often get buyers looking for newer homes here in the Ocala Marion County area. Many are interested in a new or newer Ocala 55+ retirement home. I end up telling these buyers that there has been very little building here since the market crashed in 2007. The reason for this lack of new construction is that resales are selling at prices below the cost of new construction and in some non retirement communities much less.

The below survey is based on active listings on the Ocala Marion county MLS as of July 7, 2011

Total residential listings 3915

new homes dated as 2011…..19

homes from 2010-2011………32

homes from 2009-2011………55

homes from 2008-2011……..114

homes from 2007-2011……..311

homes from 2006-2011……..571

homes from 2005-2011……..769

What does this all mean? It means that despite the fact that vacant land is available at fire sale prices and Marion County has suspended impact fees on new homes, builders still think it’s not worth trying to compete with newer resales. This is the time to but a house in Ocala.

The above numbers include both 55+ communities and non retirement communities and all types of construction including mobile and manufactured homes. They do not include homes offered by builders that are not listed on the OMCAR MLS.

I often get buyers who are looking for a pool home in a 55+ retirement community.  There are very few homes with private pools in 55+ communities. Retirement communities all have clubhouses with a community pool. Some have outdoor and indoor pools. Others like Oak Run have several pools. If you prefer a private pool of your own then you should be looking in the non 55+ communities because 99% of 55+ listings do not have private pools.

Non 55+ communities usually don’t have a clubhouse and activities but there are plenty of retired residents every where here in Ocala. I live in a non 55+ community and when I go to my HOA meetings I’m one of the younger residents and I’m 56!

Ocala 55+ Community HOA Fee Chart

Sometimes I think buyers want to shop for a 55+ homes here in Ocala by looking for the lowest HOA fees that they can find. Although I think that the wrong approach, I did create this HOA fees chart. Buyers have to look at what you get for your HOA fees and not just the fees themselves.

What do HOA fees cover? Maintaining the common areas such as the club house and pool. Mowing the drainage areas and along any roadways. Any buildings would need to be insured. Trash pick up is almost always included. Basic, and by that I mean very basic, cable TV is often included. Most communities have a management company to over see daily operations. Communities that are gated would need to pay the guard at the gate. Utilities for the clubhouse and entry. I’m sure that you can see that things can add up quickly in these types of communities.

The 55+ retirement communities are not condo’s. You maintain the home like any single family home. Lawn care is not included in HOA fees but every 55+ community has several lawn care companies and prices are cheap do to their volume. Exceptions are On Top of the World which offers total outside maintenance. Summerglen includes lawn mowing in their HOA fee. Oak Run has homes on maintained lots for a $216- per month HOA fee.

The quality of the amenities will vary from one community to another. Newer communities like Stone Creek boast an almost resort style pool, clubhouse and fitness center. While other communities might have more modest amenities do to the communities age or price point.

Statistics used for this blog post are from the Ocala Marion County MLS and are deemed to be accurate at the time this blog was written but are not guaranteed. All information is time sensitive and subject to change without notice.