courtyard villa or designer home

[bobolink46]

We are really confused about which one to buy. Any help would be appreciated

Bonita

pluses---------love the lay out, very light and airy, open kitchen, very private, plenty of room,
minuses---------- small garage, neighborhood sameness, possibility of alot of rentals in the neighborhood, no grass (good) but planting looks as though it could require alot of maintenance and weeding

Wisteria

pluses-----------love the layout, 2 car garage, tiled bathroom, 2 sinks in master, large kitchen. all the houses are not the same
minuses-------------back neighbors are extremely close, lawn to cut, dark interior, larger bond,

We change our minds every other minute. Want to buy after the New Year and move in in May. Help !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Becky]

bobolink, I have a Wisteria and love it! For me it is perfect. I am not down in TV fulltime yet but when I am, I have friends down and it is great to have the guest rooms on the other side of the house. Also use one room as a computer/guest room. Pullout couch in it. I do have a wall behind my house as there are villas on the other side. Gives privacy.

Grass is $50 month to cut. I put a couple of solar tubes in where I thought it was darker. Also the 2 car garage is a plus. Have room for a car and my golf cart.

Guess it is just whatever you prefer, although it seems like Villagers don't hesitate to move if they discover they want another place!

Good luck!

Becky

[JohnN]

we chose a villa, wanting a smaller "footprint"

don't want the grass ($50/month) nor the water, nor the fertilizer, nor the guy pulling weeds

low maintenance was important to us.
think about it, make a choice, realize neither is perfect but it's not surgery and nobody dies.
after your choice.. don't look back and enjoy it

[SteveFromNY]

We went thru the same decision process and were really on the fence. Each has advantages. We were looking at the Gardenia and the Grantham, but ultimately the decision was the split floor plan in the Gardenia that won us over. Like the Wisteria, the 2nd and 3rd BR (in a Gardenia it's technically a den) were separate and you can close a pocket door to make a separate suite of BR's and bath. We liked the uniqueness of the neighborhood as well.
But neither decision is a wrong decision, and you can certainly live happily ever after in either one....Good Luck!

[Barefoot]

For us it was simple. We love the country. I lived on a horse farm for 20 years with many acres. TV houses are just too close together for us.

We LOVE the privacy of the courtyard villa. Love it. For us, that was the most important factor. If I have to live in close proximity to other people, I don't want to hear them having a party when I want to relax. Or force them to listen to me entertaining when they want to relax. We love the fact that we have not only a private back yard, but also a walk-out from the dining room to an area which is also completely private.

Of course we eat all our meals in the nude, so that had a large bearing.

Just kidding, just kidding, that would be too revolting.

Our dogs also love our CV. But even if we didn't have pets, I'd still want a CV. We back on a golf course with a "mini fence", so that is even better.

Good luck with your decision.

[gardenia]

I too was undecided between a villa and designer home until I spent a week in a villa on the preview plan in June. Being single, in my 50's and used to living in a house I felt extremely cramped in a 2 BR villa. Felt like I was in an apartment, and the minute I walked in I knew I couldn't live there. Once I saw the various designer homes with my sales person I had no doubt that the Gardenia was the right choice because of the den, and for me one important difference over other designer homes was having the washer/dryer INDOORS, not in the garage. The garage in all the homes I stayed in and visited (I have relatives there) is hot, and I personally do laundry late at nights, would not want to go into the garage with no air circulation (unless the garage door was opened) to do laundry at nights. If you are used to apartment living, might not be a problem, just wanted to offer my experience. I am used to paying to have my back and front yard mowed so no problem with that (I haven't moved TV just yet, working towards on that now). My suggestion is to try staying a few nights in whichever one you are leaning towards - for me, I did that alone to experience what it would really feel like, and it was the best decision I made.

[pqrstar]

Of course we eat all our meals in the nude, so that had a large bearing.

Just kidding, just kidding, that would be too revolting.



Great idea, that would save me a lot of laundry, as I tend to spill food on every shirt I wear.

[ijusluvit]

If you weren't immediately sold on villa or designer then maybe you should think ahead. Will you really enjoy your privacy? That's maybe the biggest reason we love our golf course villa, just like Barefoot. Will you ever want a pool or spa? Many designers are too close to the neighbors and either there isn't room enough, or you don't FEEL like there's enough room. You have a choice about making a villa "maintenance free", not really possible with a designer. So maybe it isn't just what you like today, but what you might grow into.

[chuckinca]

we chose a villa, wanting a smaller "footprint"

don't want the grass ($50/month) nor the water, nor the fertilizer, nor the guy pulling weeds

low maintenance was important to us.
think about it, make a choice, realize neither is perfect but it's not surgery and nobody dies.
after your choice.. don't look back and enjoy it



I believe that grass bottom line monthly is nearly $150/month

Mowing
cinch bugs
other bugs
fertilizer
weeds
water

Growing something green on a sand dune is pricey

[rshoffer]

You've re-opened my wound with this question. We have a beautiful corner lot Camillia with tons of upgrades...but... everytime we golf and I walk by an "on the course" Grantham villa I "wish" we lived in one. So, in the new Kenya Villas in Bonita is a fantastic 3br/2 bath on the corner overlooking the 9th hole of Kenya out the back and another part of Havana out the side. We went back 3 times with our realtor and almost bought it. It was furnished and we didn't need the furniture. The bathrooms are a lot smaller, the upgrades were nil and the garage was way to small. Nevertheless, I walked over (from Duval) to see it again today. The view is awesome. I can't help you with this difficult decision. Good luck.

[Russ_Boston]

important difference over other designer homes was having the washer/dryer INDOORS, not in the garage.

I'm pretty sure that many designer model homes have the W/D indoors. Correct?

[SteveFromNY]

I'm pretty sure that many designer model homes have the W/D indoors. Correct?

They all have laundry rooms indoors.

[rshoffer]

I'm pretty sure that many designer model homes have the W/D indoors. Correct?
definitely

[Sidney Lanier]

The courtyard villa style is the ONLY one we never looked at as we don't have pets and would not be comfortable living within walls. But this is a very personal thing; CYV owners love their homes for their reasons. We are snowbirds who were looking for a Patio Villa and ended up with a small Designer home only because we got it at a price barely more than the Patio Villas we were looking at. We do not have a view but rather are surrounded by landscaping that obscures the neighbors' homes, which we are comfortable with, and it is far more 'house' than we had ever expected to have. And the split design mentioned by others on this thread is a great plus to the Designer line, as is the full two-car size garage. Our laundry is in the interior in the small room that also contains the a/c & heating system and serves as a pass-through to get to the garage.

[chuckinca]

The courtyard villa style is the ONLY one we never looked at as we don't have pets and would not be comfortable living within walls.



We miss the 6 foot privacy fences around our back yard - that makes the yard a private enclosed extension of the house with a sky view and the ability to decorate it as you please.

At the same time we like our summer home that has a 1/2 acre unfenced corner wooded lot with only one adjacent home that also has plenty of privacy.

I guess what we don't like is the open expanse of grass and shrubs that seems unusable unless you put in a big birdcage.

[Bubbalarry]

If your here year round I would say designer. We aren't as pic here shows. We bought courtyard villa.

[Aceskaters]

In Hemingway there is a new option...there is a section (on Nash Loop) of ranch homes that have small, grass-filled, completely fenced (6 foot vinyl) backyards. I bought a 3/2 Amarillo there and have lived in it for 2 weeks and it is just right. The guest wing has 2 bedrooms and a full bath between them. The laundry room is indoors. It has a full two car garage. The back yard is about the size of the yard in a large, end unit villa, not huge, but big enough to play fetch...and the dog can run free in the yard. The only downside is that you have a front yard to keep up, but there is a nice large front porch. The fence gives all the privacy I need. These houses are very reasonably priced and most are still empty. C'mon down I could use some neighbors!

[imbrennan]

We've got an Anna Maria 3 bedroomed 2 bathroom courtyard villa in The Villages where the back walls are much higher than what is being built now. We noticed in the newer houses being built that the walls were very low and you could see quite a lot of the house behind over it.

We love the Anna Marie layout but as there are only 2 of us we keep the 3rd bedroom as a den. The good part is with this layout the guest bedroom and nearby bathroom are the other end of the house from the main bedroom so guests have their privacy too. We have the kitchen separated from the lounge but most of the new ones now seem to be being built with an open kitchen. The way I cook I don't want anyone seeing the mess I make!!! The only inconvenience for some people might be that the garage has room for a car and a cart, although you might be lucky to find one with a 2 car garage if it is built on a corner site.

We can't be there all the time so as it's more convenient for us we have landscaped the garden with rocks and paving so there is no grass to be cut and have also installed a birdcage in the back garden so we can sit outside or barbecue with complete privacy.

We have friends who have the designer homes but the houses behind them are so close that there is absolutely no privacy at all. They can't even sit outside the backs of their houses and have a barbecue without a whole row of houses being able to see and hear. Also,as someone else said,when there is a party going on it's a bit of a pain - unless you get an invite of course!

Something to take into consideration (which we have learnt as this is our second house in The Villages) is that if you want a designer home and can't afford a golf course view you might want to think about getting a designer home which backs up to a Courtyard Villa development. That way you get the benefit of the wall behind without all the other houses overlooking you. We felt that the designer homes wasted too much land at the front of them (and of course too much grass that you had to pay to have cut) and yet at the back where you might want to sit out there was hardly any land at all, and what you had was overlooked.

Hope this helps.

[conn8757]

I just stayed in a courtyard villa - I almost took out the villa next to us when I tried to back out. I am not used to having a house within 2 feet or less of the driveway. Between the golf cart we rented and my husband's big suv - no courtyard villa for us. The villa was beautiful inside. Laundry was inside. Our realtor owned one in the Hadley area. She just had to redo all her shrubs due to someone tossing a cigarette into her pine straw and it caught fire and burned down the side of the fence to her front yard before a neighbor saw it. She replaced pinestraw with rock so it could not happen again.

[bobolink46]

Thanks to all for the advice. We have decided on a Wisteria. Now we are confused about buying one that is already built and discounted or picking our lot and having one built. We welocme any more comments.

[angel222]

Gardenia...I'm so nervous - I read you response and I am renting Jan to March in a courtyard villa because its all I could find that would allow my8 lb. dog to come with me...I have lived in a house my whole life - what do you think?? will I make it for three months???
Angel222

[njgrann]

or not, but this past Jan/Feb, my husband and I rented a small, two bedroom, 1 bath cottage on the west coast so we could have our dogs with
us. We didn't feel cramped at all. Maybe it's just us, but we don't mind not
having tons of room (less to take care of).

I think you'll do fine. And, enjoy, enjoy, enjoy!!!!!!

[gardenia]

Angel222,
I am sure you would love The Villages so much you will not even miss being in a house :). I think you will be just fine! Again for me personally, the whole intent fo being there in June for a second visit was to FEEL what it would be like to live there, not so much as a vacation. I am sold on the villages. I lost my job a few weeks ago (yippee!) and am in transition mode as I am 56: do I go find another job to continue to live in the NY area, or do I put my house on the market now? Well, with the economy and market the way it is, I am sitting tight for a few months and will see if I find another job here. If not, I'll put my house on the market mid/late next year and move to TV once it's sold. Kinda nervous being single and unattached out there though...Sorry I won't be there to meet you and your dog. Love them! (And believe me, the washer and dryer in many of the villas are in the garage, behind the cement block that I drove into just about every day. And I hear that many folks do the same quite often too....LOL). No damage ever, just a loud noise that lets you know you have gone about as far as you can before you would have run into the washer/dryer in the garage.

[Frangyomory]

We moved from a four bedroom, two level home in Virginia to a Woodlawn CYV and love it. With just the two of us and our Babe (dog/child) we wanted a private yard for her and us. We have a nice corner lot so plenty of yard all around the house. I find it has plenty of room for us and we never lived in an apartment but it is "condo" like I guess.

The Grantham is lovely and has three bedrooms. Some of the other 3 bedroom CYV are fantastic.

We are extremely happy with our 2/2. We had to give away a lot of furniture but were glad to do so. Less to take care of and to worry about.

Whatever choice you make, I know you will be happy here.:coolsmiley:

[Belle]

I am a snowbird and live in a large house on over 2 acres in NY, and I have always lived in a house. I enjoy the CYV very much. I like the privacy and my dog enjoys it also. Everything is cookie cutter, but I don't mind it. If I were to be here full time, I would get a corner CYV, so that I could grow more flowers and vegetables. Besides, who stays home that much when there is so much to do in TV.