[TNKYGAL]

When we visited The Villages we were curious. We went from curious to happily stunned! Were we really interested in buying in Florida - land of beaches (which we didn't care for)? Then we discovered central INLAND Florida, and specifically The Villages! And YES! We were interested and did buy. Our only regret is that we didn't find this place 10 years earlier when we first retired! However, We did plan to be seasonal, so our look at the numbers revolved around whether we should rent or buy. At the time, rentals (for a 3/2 designer home) were around $3800/month. We did exactly what you are doing to determine the annual cost to own here, and it was roughly $15,000 at that time. So renting may be a better option if we planned to stay 3 months. But we planned to stay 4, and I wanted to be able to come and go during the summer as well, so we bought. Our biggest flaw in that assessment is that even if we just stayed 3 months, buying would have been better for us! Of course, that would have been hindsight, but the reason was, once you get here, you WANT to stay more! We now spend at least 5 months here, often more. And we are very close to shifting from seasonal to Florida residents!
Of course, knowing the dollars for the musts is important and everyone here has shared great numbers that are very close to ours (for the absolutes), but I agree with the others that it's a place like no other, you will almost instantly have a neighborhood of great friends (ours is the best, but in TV, most folks say that), and you will never be bored except by choice! There's an excellent chance you will love it here and not regret it!