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Originally Posted by gm1180
I am very new in the process of looking at The Villages and hope to visit this year. Guess I need to start that process now. In reading this do I understand that they put you up in privately owned homes that are in some sort of program? If so is that a good investment opportunity for someone wishing to move there in a few years?
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The Villages periodically changes their Lifestyle preview plan accommodations. Currently they use Creekside Cabanas (except for the street they sold), the unsold Cottages at Lake Sumter, and private homes in their Property Management portfolio. I don't know how they make those assignments, not sure if you can request a private home or not. Previously, I don't think you were able to request a private home in a particular village or even general area, just found out what you got when you got here.
Maybe it was a good investment opportunity to buy and rent out for awhile when prices here and everywhere else in Florida were rising astronomically - they were still going up when my sister and I bought. I rented ours out for 4 years, using for vacations and maintenance weeks. I rented mine privately (using rental websites and repeat tenants). It's a lot of work doing it from a distance, even with local caretakers and cleaning services, and although a nice tax write-off for me, not for everyone.
My sister uses The Villages Prop Mgmt, and there are several other companies that do all the work for you - but you pay a substantial percentage of your rents for that (around 15-22%). They send you a monthly statement and I think check (or direct deposit probably) if applicable. If you're in The Villages program, your contract says you cannot use it at all Jan.-March, and the rest of the time, you have to pay $25/night (I think that is the current price) to stay in your own home while you are here, plus a cleaning fee when you leave.
Most "experts" feel it will take years for the real estate market to improve, although here in TV we haven't been hit nearly as hard as most of the rest of Florida and much of the country. Prices here or still at or slightly below where they were in early 2007, before the bust. I think more expensive stuff (resales, anyway) has been hurt more than the under $250,000 range. Just MO, haven't tracked this.