View Full Version : New to Forum, Hello All.....
Hello everyone,
My name is Jilly I live near Oxford with my hubby and two fantastic kiddies. We have had loads of great advice reading the forum it has been the best help we could have found, many thanks.
We have been considering buying a villa for some time now ( since 1988 for me!!!) and have also considered the Disney Vacation Club, but to be honest I don't think there is any comparison to actually owning your own villa in the sunshine state!!
We hope to visit again latter in the year and will be looking at re-sales as this seems to be the way to go? Any advice greatly appreciated.
Many Thanks Jilly and gang.
Hi Jilly
Welcome to the forum. Well, there's piles of advice to be found on the forum and, if you find a question we haven't covered, just sing out!
Personally, I don't think you can compare a time share with owning a Florida home yourself, but that's just my opinion. With your own home you're not tied to what weeks you can use for yourself and can go whenever you can (or like!). Alternatively, with a time share you just turn up on the right date each year and, apart from paying your service charges, that's all there is to it.
I guess what it really comes down to is freedom to do as you choose, make it your home and you're the one who chooses what goes into it and you can't do that with a time share!
Hi Jilly
Welcome. We are not far from you in the UK, at Bicester. Whereabouts in Oxfordshire are you?
I agree with everything that Blott has said. There is nothing that quite compares with owning your own home and having the freedom to "pop over" when you have a gap in bookings and also to be able to plan ahead for exactly the dates that you want.
Hi Carla & Blott,
Many thanks for your kind welcome, we are from Benson, near Wallingford Carla, do you know it?
Both your villas look fantastic! Blott I see your villa is in Crescent Lakes, does anyone know if the new build villas here come with Pool/furniture? Looking at the price I shouldn’t think they would do. They look to be very large for the price.
Thanks Jilly. Benson, very nice, on the Thames. If I remember correctly you have a lock as well?
Hi Jilly
Thanks... New homes on Crescent Lakes don't normally come with either a pool or furniture but resale ones do! Alternatively, you can purchase a pool for around $20-25k and a furniture package would be around $16k, both depending on what size home you're after.
If you need any more info, just say...
Hi Jilly and gang,
Welcome aboard. Kath and I,although Lancastrians, have lived near Witney in Oxfordshire for over 30 years. Blott has told you the basics and if you would like the name of a good, honest Realtor I know, please PM me.
Carla, didn,t realise you were not far away either. We have a lock as well at Shifford.
Mike.
Hi Mike. One of my clients is in Witney, so I end up going about 4 times a month.
It's a small world!! :D:D
Thanks again for all the welcome and advice everyone. No Lock Carla, but I did use to live near Witney too at Brize Norton!! Small world indeed.;)
Blott even with adding pool and furniture costing that still seems a good price to me. Do you know if there are many re-sales around, and are there high lot premiums for the lakeside lots?
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Now, it's going to drive me crazy. I thought that there was a lock on the Thames, called Bensons Lock, and assumed that it would be near Benson. I'm sure that that was where I fell in when I was a teenager!! Is there such a lock, somewhere on the Thames or am I galloping into dementia again and remembering completely the wrong name???
There are very high lot premiums on lake side lots Jilly, particularly for a natural lake.
You could be right Carla, we just haven’t been here too long and haven’t really explored that much[:I]
Carla/Jilly,
Don,t want to bore everyone but there is a lock at Benson just south of Benson. It is one of the 49 locks on the Thames between Lechlade and Hammersmith. I am glad you got out safely, Carla, because they can be quite dangerous. Guess you are something to do with the RAF,Jilly, with being at Benson and Brize. We are a couple of miles as the crow flies from Brize---it is nice to see aircraft returning from various fly-pasts in London. The fly past for the jubilee came in just after we had seen it on the TV--quite spectacular. Will PM you our phone no., Carla, in case you ever decide to drop in.
Mike.
Hi Mike,
Yes you guessed! 18 years now for my sins, hubby served 14 also, only a few more to go before I join the realms of civiy street!
Sorry I didn’t know about the lock Carla, I'll have to look it up now I know we have one!! You learn something new every day.
quote:Blott even with adding pool and furniture costing that still seems a good price to me. Do you know if there are many re-sales around, and are there high lot premiums for the lakeside lots? There are always some resales Jilly but what was available last time we were there in May isn't necessarily still available. Martin (Florida4sun) is the man on the spot who might be able to help you with that.
Of course, you'll pay extra for a lake lot, even with a resale, and we're just greedy because we got two lakes! I'm sorry but I've no idea what current lake lot prices are like at Crescent Lakes.
Thanks Mike. I had a bit of a hairy time just outside that lock! It just goes to show you that platform shoes and boating on the Thames don't really mix!!!
Belated welcome Jilly, I have been out all day and just touching base with my messages.
I used to fly in and out of Brize Norton to Singapore - in the days when we were still there! We are not far from you down in Maidenhead, and regularly visit Witney as we have a teddy bear fiend in the house, and go to Teddy Bears of Witney a few times a year.
Not unknown to hit the Bicester shopping mall either (have daughters, must shop!), of course this opened just after my parents moved down here to Maidenhead - don't think my mother would have moved if it had been open when they made up their mind to move!
Hi Fiona,
Many thanks for the welcome, by the way there's a great Teddy Bear shop in Henley if you’re ever that way.
Were you or your parents in the forces then Fiona? Just curious about Singapore?
Dad was in the army - initially Highland Light Infantry, which then amalgamated to become Royal Highland Fusiliers. Despite Dad being in a Scottish infantry regiment I was born on Salisbury plains, spent alot of my childhood there - a year here, a year there, and even got married at the local garrison church in Warminster!! My parents met in Egypt (her father was in the army!) married here in the UK, had me fairly quickly afterwards and then got posted to Malaya.
Henley teddy shop is not a patch on the Witney one! Staff are sooooo friendly and really know their stuff, a must for any collector.
Is your collection of Teddy Bears made up of old or new ones Fiona? I too am a collector, mainly of old ones:)I was in Sue Pearson's shop in Brighton recently. I managed to resist temptation though and did not buy;)
Well I have the teddy I had when I was 2 still!! Cat collects new Steiff bears - she's now onto the small ones as has run out of storage room. Pips has the Steiff Winnie The Pooh collection - or part of it at least. I'm a sucker for small coloured bears - love them in green, maroon etc. Funnily enough haven't bought much recently, I wonder where all my money has been going?! (And haven't managed a single piece of Weymss for a couple of years either, Florida is taking over!!)