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Originally Posted by OrangeBlossomBaby
Here's an actual reason why:
You might have told them what kind of area you're looking for. And you were told this area doesn't meet your criteria. It depends on what you want, and WHO told you not to buy in this area. It could be that THEY just don't like this area, and decided to impose their choices on you.
Those are the reasons why you would be told not to buy in Orange Blossom.
You need to have an idea of what you WANT from your new home. Close proximity to supermarkets? Walking distance to the medical center? Easy access to Florida's Turnpike? Mature landscaping? Disability-friendly rooms and doorways? You have to determine your affordability. How much can you spend on a home? Will you need a mortgage? Do you want a brand-new house, or are you specifically looking for one that's been pre-owned, or do you not have a preference as long as the dimensions and price are right?
You have to check the risks vs. rewards of each type of location as well.
Beautiful swamp view in the back = higher risk of gators and mosquitoes at your back porch.
A courtyard villa with high walls = less chance of actually meeting any of your neighbors - but high chance of HEARING them if you're both outside in the back yard at the same time.
Somewhere super close to the town square = higher traffic, especially during peak hours and festivals.
The simple, relatively quiet, and natural-looking beauty of the "historic section" (Orange Blossom Gardens, Silver Lake, Country Club Hills) = higher chance that the only options will be manufactured double-wides or mobile home single-wides.
The upside to the older areas is that the oldest no longer have any bond obligations, and the older (but not oldest) are pretty close to paid off.
The bond is a financial obligation over and above the cost of the home. So if you see a house listed in the new construction section for $300,000, that doesn't include a bond that could be $20,000 on top of that. You can pay it all off at once, OR you can pay it monthly, with insane interest, and not be allowed to pay it off early if you change your mind.
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Well said. I think most Villagers have never actually been there. It’s clean and neat and nicer than I expected. I like it. It’s the least expensive part of The Villages because most of it is 30 years old or more, and a lot of the houses are double-wide mobile homes with carports rather than garages, and at that age there is often quite a bit of repair necessary to plumbing, electrical systems, windows, roofing. Some people are buying these inexpensive homes on lakes and replacing them with much more expensive homes, but still, the value of a new home is also influenced by the neighborhood. Even an inexpensive mobile home on a lake may cost $200,000 or more, and for that price you can get a very nice lot in the Deep South of The Villages and build in a new neighborhood. A disproportionate share of what little crime there is in The Villages happens there because there are landlords renting these old mobile homes cheaply to people much under the retirement age, some of them drug addicts or criminals of various sorts. There are some amazing trees and shrubs there worth seeing.