I signed up for a lifestyle visit to the villages in a few weeks...
- Thread starter rayinpenn
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RAE
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Moemg
Gone but not forgotten
I do not mind close neighbors but I have to have a view and not of a fence .
RAE
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
This is the view from the back porch of the place we just purchased in Florida this winter. We are on a saltwater marsh, just a few miles from the Gulf Coast.
socaldonnan
Recycles dryer sheets
We are heading to TV on 5/1. My brother and wife retired there about three years ago. They are young retirees. This is our third year going to visit which is usually April or May. We’ve rented a three bedroom house for $1,300 just down the road from where they reside. Currently for month of April I believe the house we’ll rent next month is $2,800 as it’s considered still high season. We live in southern CA and don’t have any desire to move to TV as kids & grandchildren are here. But it’s a nice get away for a few weeks for us. We do head to the Gulf and the Atlantic for a few days when we go. DH and I are happy with set up for now.
Most of the houses in TV are very close together. Most do not have walls, but some do. They are generally referred to as "villas"...we rented a villa for our snowbird season. The plus is "privacy"...the downside is that the privacy is attained by living inside a wall, with not much of a yard. My understanding is that people with dogs prefer this.
Our friends who own a regular free-standing home do not have a wall. Also, they don't have much privacy. On their lanai you are literally no more than 20 feet or so from the lanai of the backyard neighbor, and with all of the houses stacked in so tightly, probably a total of 5 other lanais within 50 feet. Some measure of privacy is had by bushes and hedges, but a loud talker, or loud TV, or worst of all, a cigar smoker, and one might retreat indoors in a heartbeat.
If one has a bigger budget one can get a golf course view, or a "lake" (i.e. retention pond) view, but that may well double the cost of the home.
Having spent the winter in TV, my impression is that most Villagers enjoy their outdoor activities, but once home from golf, or pickleball, or whatever their favorite sport is, they don't spend much time outside of their homes, other than to do some maintenance.
Our friends who own a regular free-standing home do not have a wall. Also, they don't have much privacy. On their lanai you are literally no more than 20 feet or so from the lanai of the backyard neighbor, and with all of the houses stacked in so tightly, probably a total of 5 other lanais within 50 feet. Some measure of privacy is had by bushes and hedges, but a loud talker, or loud TV, or worst of all, a cigar smoker, and one might retreat indoors in a heartbeat.
If one has a bigger budget one can get a golf course view, or a "lake" (i.e. retention pond) view, but that may well double the cost of the home.
Having spent the winter in TV, my impression is that most Villagers enjoy their outdoor activities, but once home from golf, or pickleball, or whatever their favorite sport is, they don't spend much time outside of their homes, other than to do some maintenance.
Amethyst
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
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I get what you are saying, but I was there from January-March. It was generally quite delightful outside.
I don't think I'd enjoy it much from May-September...or October. My friends who stayed behind for April say it's getting borderline too hot for them.
Edit: Also, keep in mind we are talking about an aging population. After my 3 mile walk, and a round of golf, I was ready to sit inside and read/nap. And wait for happy hour.
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Dawg52
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
My house sits on a golf course behind a tee box(50 yards or so from me). I'm a member so I have a huge backyard that I don't have to mow.
Dtail
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
My house sits on a golf course behind a tee box(50 yards or so from me). I'm a member so I have a huge backyard that I don't have to mow.
True, true but is there too much noise ~7am related to the early tee off times?
I am too used to living on a farm in wide open spaces (nearest neighbor 1/4 mile in each direction) to live in a planned community. I REALLY like my peace/quiet, and privacy, and am not overly willing to have an HOA, or other entities dictating how I live.
After living out in the country, I have no idea how so many choose to live in big cities...don't get me wrong, i'm glad they do !
After living out in the country, I have no idea how so many choose to live in big cities...don't get me wrong, i'm glad they do !
2nd day checkin
John our sales man took us to a country club and a “rec center” of course both were beautiful. The rec center exercise equipment room was packed. (Great to see oldsters staying fit). In another large room some kind of dance exercise class -quite a number of ladies.
About 5:30 we were relaxing and DW and SIL where in the lanai and we could hear some king of concert at nearby Brownwood (5-6 happy hour) it sounded like it got a bit rowdy by 6. Will investigate tonight.
John our sales man took us to a country club and a “rec center” of course both were beautiful. The rec center exercise equipment room was packed. (Great to see oldsters staying fit). In another large room some kind of dance exercise class -quite a number of ladies.
About 5:30 we were relaxing and DW and SIL where in the lanai and we could hear some king of concert at nearby Brownwood (5-6 happy hour) it sounded like it got a bit rowdy by 6. Will investigate tonight.
Odd several car alarms went off.. DW suggested its easier to find you car if you hit the emergency button?
Amethyst
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
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I've heard of that. People can't hear the quiet little car horn when they hit the lock button, so they hit the alarm button instead.
I did not run across that, but there sure were lots of ambulance sirens. The local gallows humor, whenever an ambulance speeds down the street is either "another listing" or "another tee time opens up"....
RayinPenn, you should check out the community where I live. It’s near The Villages on Route 441 in Lady Lake. Water Oak is the name of the community. The monthly open house is tomorrow from 10:00 to 4:00. My hubby and I absolutely love it here. Much quieter than The Villages. A lot of people from TV come here to golf because it’s easy to get a tee time.
What is golf like at Water Oak? Executive courses? Regular length courses?
How is the golf funded? Similar to TV? Memberships?
There are half year and full year memberships. You can also pay as you play. I think it is a regular size course. I think the golf is funded through the golf fees. This community has been here since the 80s. I haven’t golfed on the course yet. All I can tell you is that it’s a beautiful course with water and hills.
Model Home shopping in the Villages..
Its shocking I tell you, just shocking. We don’t beat around the bush when we are being shown a model home- We ask directly “what’s the ticket”. She said “Around $450,000 as you see it here”. We talk further and learn its $350,000 for a lovely, open plan, 3 bedroom 2 bath home with 2 car garage and separate cart garage with its own cute garage door. Its called the “Begonia” a customer favorite. Add another $100,000 for a pond view in your back yard. If it were a golf course fairway it would be add $150,000. These are ~1,800 square foot homes. The price sounds fair as my sisters similar new digs was $450,000 in SW Florida.
Let me tell you about that pond - it was nasty. Apparently the cutters had just come through and its surface looked like it was covered in green muck. This is not a cool deep water lake in Maine. They are loaded with snapping turtles, snakes and Mr. Toothy - the big ones haul out and sun bath in the open. Man is their only enemy when they get bigger.
The ladies DW and SIL found 2 models that they liked. They begonia and another that had kind of a nice sun room on the back.
The houses are close together. Villages house do not have hurricane windows or shutters “We are too far inland so we don’t need them.”
I leave the villages thinking its a possibility we will put it on the list. Maybe next year we will rent one for a month or two and see how it goes. It did not blow me away. The truth is if the joint has an internet connection, Heat/AC a clean bed and bathroom and I am pretty happy.
Pretty similar to what we could buy in Sarasota - but Sarasota has a ton of stuff to do. Here in lady lake there is very little outside TV. Its in the villages or there isn’t much.. sure Lowes and Home Depot but not much else... Air Boat Gator ride anyone?
Its shocking I tell you, just shocking. We don’t beat around the bush when we are being shown a model home- We ask directly “what’s the ticket”. She said “Around $450,000 as you see it here”. We talk further and learn its $350,000 for a lovely, open plan, 3 bedroom 2 bath home with 2 car garage and separate cart garage with its own cute garage door. Its called the “Begonia” a customer favorite. Add another $100,000 for a pond view in your back yard. If it were a golf course fairway it would be add $150,000. These are ~1,800 square foot homes. The price sounds fair as my sisters similar new digs was $450,000 in SW Florida.
Let me tell you about that pond - it was nasty. Apparently the cutters had just come through and its surface looked like it was covered in green muck. This is not a cool deep water lake in Maine. They are loaded with snapping turtles, snakes and Mr. Toothy - the big ones haul out and sun bath in the open. Man is their only enemy when they get bigger.
The ladies DW and SIL found 2 models that they liked. They begonia and another that had kind of a nice sun room on the back.
The houses are close together. Villages house do not have hurricane windows or shutters “We are too far inland so we don’t need them.”
I leave the villages thinking its a possibility we will put it on the list. Maybe next year we will rent one for a month or two and see how it goes. It did not blow me away. The truth is if the joint has an internet connection, Heat/AC a clean bed and bathroom and I am pretty happy.
Pretty similar to what we could buy in Sarasota - but Sarasota has a ton of stuff to do. Here in lady lake there is very little outside TV. Its in the villages or there isn’t much.. sure Lowes and Home Depot but not much else... Air Boat Gator ride anyone?
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Ok we took our Golf carts on a 40 minute excursion to the Sumter Landing. It wasn’t for the faint of heart. 10AM Saturday and there is plenty of traffic. You take cart paths but when you come to another neighborhood you have to pass thru their entranceway. They have gates but there is 2 way traffic so you have to stop and wait. Take you foot off the gas and the golf cart slows to a stop and the engine shuts off. Creeping up to a the street isn’t like a car they studder. Golf carts are whizzing by and there are tunnels, hard rights and lefts..All i say is Ill sleep well tonight.
Really not much there Starbucks, lots of restaurants, women and men’s clothes stores and the lake. Which is loaded with growth, snapping turtles and beware and do not feed the gator signs.
There’s another concert tonight... a car alarm just went off.
One thing thats absolutely true people are very friendly here.
Really not much there Starbucks, lots of restaurants, women and men’s clothes stores and the lake. Which is loaded with growth, snapping turtles and beware and do not feed the gator signs.
There’s another concert tonight... a car alarm just went off.
One thing thats absolutely true people are very friendly here.
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RAE
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
If that is all you need, Ray, there are quite a few places in Florida where you could meet and even exceed your needs for FAR less than $450,000. You might want to expand your search beyond just Sarasota and the Villages. Where we spend our winters in Florida, you could buy a very nice, larger single-family home on a decent-sized lot for $250,000 or less. Like a lot of states, Florida is pretty diverse.
Thanks RAE
The truth is we dont know exactly what we want. Sarasota has the relatives and the comfort of being well known to us. It is like a family rut in the road guiding us home- it seems a bit too easy. Moving from one congested area to another (even with great winters) just doesn’t make sense. Those neighborhoods like out of the matrix -acres and acres of cookie cutter homes
We thought perhaps we would look at Tennessee next.
What bothered me too was $100,000 for a marsh view...
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W2R
Moderator Emeritus
Hey, if the pond is nasty, that just saved you $100K!!! Nice job!
The pond you mentioned sounds kind of like one of our canals from your description. We have canals and holding ponds all through the New Orleans metro area as part of our drainage system, and IMO they actually lower the desirability of homes right next to these water features. That seems to be reflected in both asking prices and sales prices. Canals are yucky and can attract wharf rats, nutria, gators, and a multitude of other icky wildlife to your property. People here say that a newcomer has finally become a real New Orleanian when he no longer wants to know what is in those canals....
Also, if a canal overflowed into your yard it could cause minor flood damage. If they are not lined with concrete, part of your yard can even break off and fall into the canal. Believe me, NOBODY here wants to live right next to a canal....
At least nobody I have talked to. Both my old house, and my new house, are/were 4 blocks from the nearest canal and that is plenty of distance. Probably 1 block would be fine.
RAE
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
We just spent a couple of days in Eastern Tennessee. It's beautiful, and the area we were in was not congested at all. But it's nothing like Florida. Winters can be fairly mild in Tenn., but you'll still have cold snaps and occasional snow. Mountains are beautiful, but of course the roads go up and down those mountains, so it's a different driving experience. It all depends on what you are looking for in a retirement location.
