Dick Betts REALTOR® The Villages, Florida

Florida is known for tax breaks, and I want to explain three ways Florida saves taxpayers money.  First no state income tax in Florida as far as other states it’s complicated.  I checked out list of state income tax rates and some are on a scale, whether filing joint or individual and how much yo...

Yay interest rates are coming down, whoa, slow down not so fast.  I have shared in the past about a sweet spot in homebuying catching that right time.  We are in a buyer’s market now, so home prices are steady or down a little.  When interest rates drop it turns into a seller’s market and home pr...

The Villages and most of the Central and Southern parts of Florida are a great place to live if you like to go on cruises.  Some of my past clients list why they want to live in The Villages was being close to ports for cruise lines.  Port Canaveral less than 2 hours, Port Tampa 90 minutes, the o...

My phone rang it was a caller from the Northeast, the first words the gentleman said to me was “Dick, I never want to see snow again!”  My response I can make that happen!  He then introduced himself and explained he follows me on social media and him and his wife decided they had spent there las...

Remember how we purchased a home in the past?  Phone calls, visits with the Realtor at his office, meet with the bank for a mortgage then drive around looking at houses.  Times have changed and here is a great example.  Not too long ago I was chatting with a client in Maine on Facebook Messenger,...

There is a special place 1.5 miles east of The Villages, Florida just off 466a you should find the time to visit, The Rose Plantation.  How about a dress code, eclectic China, fine silverware, stemware, and linen tablecloths enhancing the setting for the Americana-style food and wine sound intere...

I attend state and national Real Estate Conventions for many reasons.  One is being in the business for 24 years with 20 of those years traveling North America speaking I have a lot of friends.  The other and currently most important is learning what is new by attending classes, exploring the tra...

A new study ranked Florida as the #1 state for great daytime and nighttime activities, including restaurants, theme parks and festivals.  A new study from WalletHub was release and Florida was #1 out of the 50 states using 26 key indicators.  Some of the indicators include weather, beach quality,...

Somebody recently asked me how many golf carts there are in The Villages, I gave an estimate but seems I wasn’t high enough.  I was reading something recently from The Villages and their opinion and who am I to argue is much higher.  The Villages stated there are 70,000 homes in The Villages with...

I enjoy digging around the list of social clubs available here in The Villages, Florida and finding new ones to share.  Here is one you might want to join or support.  From their website:Who We Are:  The large heart of our logo represents our group of members. The tumbling hearts represent the ma...