The best description I ever heard of a bond, is this. In traditional subdivisions the builder has to put in roads, sewers, water, etc before they start building any houses. As the houses are built, the builder prices the house to cover all of their expenses (the roads, sewers, water, building materials, labor, etc) PLUS their profit. The total is then the list price of the house.
In The Villages, the developer chose to separate those expenses and sold bonds to raise the money for the initial infrastructure (e.g. roads, sewers, water, etc). These costs were divided by the number of homes being built and that is the bond. The cost of actually building the actual house plus profit is the asking price for a new home.
So, in effect, the asking price for a new home in The Villages would be less than found elsewhere, since those homes would already include the infrastructure cost included. Sneaky, but that is the way the developer chose to run their operation. So in addition to asking price of a home, you ALSO have the pro-rated bond amount to pay for. You can either include the bond payment in your monthly bill, or pay it all at once and never have to worry about it again. But don't think you will recover the bond cost when you sell your home. Your asking price is usually being based to compare with a new home asking price which doesn't include the bond.
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