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Originally Posted by DiviAruba
Hi,
When I was visiting in December and I told people I was thinking about buying, I was told not to buy in Orange Blossom. Can anyone tell me why?
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Simply put, some people have the stigma that it’s the low-end of the Villages. Some have even told me it’s only trailer-trash that live there. Some, who have never ever crossed the Spanish Springs bridge to the Historical section, have told me how bad it is - hmmm…
Of course what they don’t know is that I live there. You see, when asked where I live, I say, “Country Club Hills.” (which is true). Most people have no clue where that Village is much less the many others. With a pretty name like Country Club Hills, they just assume I live somewhere west of 441. Lol!
Let me dispel a lot of rumors and ignorance about the Historical Section. First, the Villages of the Historic section (Silver Lake, Country Club Hills & Orange Blossom) are unique in the Villages as they are not, and never have been a CDD. The Historical section is the only place in the Villages that was never a CCD. CDD statues weren’t established until after this section was developed. So what does that mean?
Well for one, many people will tell you the Historic Section is old so pretty much all the Bonds there have long been paid off. Not true. The three Villages of the Historic section never had bonds, never will.
All the other Villages are CDD’s which means they are (or eventually will be for the newer CDD’s) managed by a Board of elected residents. Each CCD has common areas they are responsible for maintaining, and it’s different for each CCD. To maintain those common areas, the CDD collects a maintenance fee from each household (again, different amount for each CDD) which is billed as non advolorum in the property tax bill. This is not the case in the Historic section. We pay no maintenance fees as again we’re not a CDD. Our maintenance of all our common areas is a function of three entities: Lake County, Lady Lake, and the commercial VCCDD. The latter is a board selected by the “Developer” (you’ll hear a lot about the “Developer” after you move here. Lol!). The “Developer” is the Morse family.
As a result, our property taxes over here are a bit higher than Sumter County (but with no maintenance fee, it’s about a wash) and about the same as Marion County.
What’s good about the Historic section? Yeah, it’s very mature and beautiful landscaping - should be, we’re the oldest area. Lol! We have one of the most beautiful Country Clubs in Orange Blossom with restaurant and bar (run by FMK), And the nicest pool with a waterfall and huge hot tub behind the falls (and speaking of hot tubs, there are only 3 in all of the Villages. Two of them are in the Historic section). Many agents bring potential buyers to the Orange Blossom Club and bill it as the Flagship Country Club of the Villages. It is unique. And of course it has an 18 hole championship course.
We also have two Executive 9 hole courses over here, Hilltop and Silver Lake, the latter which was completely renovated last year.
In a lot of Villages, you have to drive a ways to get to a neighborhood pool, Village or Regional Recreation Center. In the Historic section, we have two neighborhood pools; Hilltop and Southside, Paradise is our Village Rec Center, and La Hacienda is our Regional Rec Center. I can be at any by golf cart in about 5 minutes (10 to Hacienda). Did I mention that our pools stay open until 11 pm? In all other Villages they close at dusk. We have lights. Lol!
We also have a dog park over here, archery, softball field, all the lawn games, tennis courts (2 locations) and of course pickle ball. Lol! We have a lake front park with walking trail and fitness stations. We even have our own fire department and ambulance right here. Oh, and not to forget our lakes for fishing.
Another benefit that I love is the variety of shopping by golf cart from the Historic section. There is no other place in the Villages where you can go to as many stores and restaurants as you can from here (Southern Trace comes in second). We even have our own little golf cart gate to get out to Lowe’s, WaWa, BJ’s, Super Walmart, Bealls and a host of others (a list way too long to include here).
So now to the big question…. Do we have trailers over here in the Historic section? Yes, we do. A few singlewides remain and there are double wides (they are called manufactured homes here). Use whatever vernacular you choose. Lol! When Harold Schwartz started the Villages, you could buy a lot with a mobile home here for $9,999, and of course people did. There are also manufactured homes in Mira Mesa and Del Mar Villages across the bridge west of 441. In the beginning Harold and the Morses lived over here. You can drive by their past homes. When it’s all said and done, the Morse family has a soft spot for the Historic section. The design of the Paradise Rec Center was one of the first projects Tracy Morse worked on. She has since designed all the Rec Centers in the Villages.
So we have a few mobile homes, a good number of manufactured, but also a good number of stick and cinderblock homes here, too. We are quite diversified - a microcosm of all of the Villages, if you will. There are 5,700 homes over here, the largest of any Village. Price points run from just under $200k and top out at about $500k.
Anyway, this has gotten long enough. Lol! In the Historical section we are different as I have explained. Are we different like some uninformed people say. No. We are just a beautiful community here over the bridge, just like many other areas of the Villages. Retired neighbors, younger retirees and older long time retiree residents, living the same lifestyle as all other Villagers. Hope this long explanation sheds some light for you. Good luck in your search and welcome to the Villages!