Prior to moving to TV, I lived in a condo association on an ocean front. Our homes were all individually owned and stand-alone. We had one common pool and we paid the developer an amenity fee. The developer who was very much in the pockets of city council also owned an adjacent piece of land and wanted to put up a high-rise apartment building. The developer had a reputation of building very attractive structures whether it was commercial or residential and we were told that it would increase our property value. Homeowners were less than optimistic and put together a legal team to fight the development as there were many million dollar homes in eye sight of this property. For years, homeowners were able to block the development based on environmental impact, but I had a gut feeling that sooner or later the developer would win out. In addition, over time our amenity fees increased from $85/month to over $250/month and there was no legal cap; each year the fees increased. With the concern that traffic would substantially increase (we had only one street that entered our subdivision that we would all be sharing) and knowing that my backyard would be in view of this proposed project, I made the decision to sell. My house sold quickly, after all, it was practically on the beach. Since then, the high rise was built and I’ve continued to stay in touch with my neighbors who informed me that as soon as the construction was completed, the developer sold it all, to include oversight of the association property. Although most of the apartments were sold as condos, my neighbors have noted that new management has failed to keep up with owners renting them out on **** and AirBnB. The homeowners have again tried to fight this, but the city will not take action. My neighbors have reported that their amenity fees increased to $600/month, traffic is a nightmare and although their assessed values have not decreased, homes are on the market 6 months or more and are selling roughly at what they paid for them and sometimes at a loss after realtor fees.
At present, there are five villas around me for sale. The units for sale are lovely, fully furnished, some professionally decorated including the golf cart, and are only a few years old. In my opinion, they are priced very well, basically what they paid for them a few years ago plus realtor fees and maybe $10k to cover furnishings. The units are in a great location (between Sumter and Brownwood), poured concrete and include the most popular floor plans, but the only ones sold in the last 6 months were corner units as buyers are inclined to purchase new units South of 44.
Watching the changes in the Villages concerns me as it must many homeowners. I retired very young. I’m not 100% sure this is my forever home. Perhaps I missed out on my opportunity to sell at a profit, but I do hope the changes made don’t significantly impact me. I hope our amenity fees remain relatively stable (although I know that’s wishful thinking). More so, I hope all the new construction doesn’t create such a saturation of new homes that I can’t sell if I choose to go that route. In the meantime... there are plenty of great buys in my neighborhood.
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