Costs of living in TV

[Westie]

We are moving to TV this year. I get the usual living expenses that you would encounter anywhere (food, clothing, etc.) but it is hard to determine the expected cost of other line items. For example, we hope to build in Pine Hills and can't decipher the bond from the property taxes, from the CDD, etc. Can anyone explain the categories of property related "taxes" or fees and how much they might be? Also, do you have golf cart insurance, home insurance, sink whole insurance, flood insurance (hurricane stuff), etc.? Any other surprises in costs in your experience? I looked in a lot of places and the answers are different wherever you look. I want to understand the categories and the approximate costs. Thanks in advance for your help!!!

[kstew43]

We are moving to TV this year. I get the usual living expenses that you would encounter anywhere (food, clothing, etc.) but it is hard to determine the expected cost of other line items. For example, we hope to build in Pine Hills and can't decipher the bond from the property taxes, from the CDD, etc. Can anyone explain the categories of property related "taxes" or fees and how much they might be? Also, do you have golf cart insurance, home insurance, sink whole insurance, flood insurance (hurricane stuff), etc.? Any other surprises in costs in your experience? I looked in a lot of places and the answers are different wherever you look. I want to understand the categories and the approximate costs. Thanks in advance for your help!!!

Pine Hills is in Lake County-Fruitland Park go on the lake county website. They have a tax estimator, and you can estimate what your taxes will be. then add the advolurms and the Bond and the neighborhood maintenance.
The home we looked at I think had a 30K ? or maybe 28K Bond. the sales agent can give you the exact amount or the yearly payment. They will usually say they do not know...make them look it up...its important information they should have that information at every open house.
Then you also have to add the neighborhood yearly maintenancefee....differs in every neighborhood. Pine Hills where I was looking at a Creekwood was $800? a year, on your taxes.
Then you have your monthly amenity fee $145....
Insurance differs, shop around.
Good luck with your search, its half the fun.

[villagetinker]

Do a search on the word 'cost' or 'costs' about the 10th item down is a "cost of living in TV" thread that will answer all of your questions.

[manaboutown]

This forum is replete with cost of living in TV threads. You can do a search and come up with potentially hours of reading material.

[rubicon]

We are moving to TV this year. I get the usual living expenses that you would encounter anywhere (food, clothing, etc.) but it is hard to determine the expected cost of other line items. For example, we hope to build in Pine Hills and can't decipher the bond from the property taxes, from the CDD, etc. Can anyone explain the categories of property related "taxes" or fees and how much they might be? Also, do you have golf cart insurance, home insurance, sink whole insurance, flood insurance (hurricane stuff), etc.? Any other surprises in costs in your experience? I looked in a lot of places and the answers are different wherever you look. I want to understand the categories and the approximate costs. Thanks in advance for your help!!!

You have received some good advice from other posters. another thought for you is "How do you wish to live"?
You will find in many articles pertaining to retirement planning that one of the most over looked items that wreck retirement budgets is "the cost of eating out"
so the question triggers another question "how much cooking will you do after you retire?

My wife and I share cooking duties for reasons of our choosing.

Personal Best Regards:

[Jayhawk]

Bond info.

Bond Amortization Schedules (http://www.districtgov.org/departments/Finance/amortization.aspx)

[2BNTV]

"Nuts and Bolts" section at the bottom of the home page will give you a complete lists of costs for a patio villa. It might need a little tweaking as it may be two years old but still fairly accurate as the person who posted it has passed away.

I never bothered with flood insurance as I felt it was never needed but that's me. I do have home insurance, (flood not covered).

[Fred R]

Well, I guess everyone who is alive has to eat. Food costs are high here.

[New Englander]

"Nuts and Bolts" section at the bottom of the home page will give you a complete lists of costs for a patio villa. It might need a little tweaking as it may be two years old but still fairly accurate as the person who posted it has passed away.

I never bothered with flood insurance as I felt it was never needed but that's me. I do have home insurance, (flood not covered).

Are TV in a flood zone?

[pauld315]

What some consider expensive others consider normal or cheap depending on where you are coming from. This can go right down to a line item. An example of this is water and sewer. Water and sewer costs in TV are about a 30% of what I pay in Cary, NC for the same amount of water. However, when I lived in Binghamton NY my water costs were just a fraction of what the cost is in TV. It all depends on what you are used to.

[Lottoguy]

Hope this helps: I pay $50.00 a month for lawn cutting. I have my three palm trees trimmed every two years. They charge me $90.00. Massey does our insect and lawn care. That runs around $500 for the year. My golf cart insurance is $70 a year thru Progressive. The water, trash and amenity fee is grouped together when I get that in the mail. That runs around $235 a month. My taxes on my designer home which includes that CDD fee in Marion county is $3,300 which includes the homestead exemption. We pay about $35 a month for gas. In the summer months our electric is about $150 a month because were running A/C all the time. That of course drops dramatically when winter comes. We have no bond on our house and we purchased in September 2015.

[Lottoguy]

We are NOT in a flood zone. Should add hurricane Matthew was about 100 miles east of The Villages. Here the rain was a little above normal with winds around 35 MPH for a few hours. This part of Florida is probably a little safer then the rest. Of course tornadoes do happen and watch out for lighting strikes!

[Mimivillager]

You might want to consider a pre-owned home. The landscaping will already be complete and other items such as attic ladder, blinds, fans, granite counter tops will be added. TV gives you the basic house, you need to complete it to your liking. If you are fortunate enough to find one already pre-owned which has the amenities you like, it would be a great savings for you.

[bubblehead1026]

We moved here from Orlando and saw about a 35-50% reduction in electric bills. We have gas for cooking and water heating which helps, but it's cheaper, as well. The Bond is actually a cost which in most communities would be reflected in just a higher cost for the house. For example: The developer wishes to develop an area of previously undevloped farm acreage. He can't build on it, really, until infrastructure (electric service, sewage, roads, etc) is in place, so what are his options? He can front the money himself, assuming he has what would amount to a considerable up front outlay, and build. He would then add the cost of the infrastructure to the price of the house. Plan B, is that the developer raises the money to put in infrastructure by selling bonds, whose interest (finally) has been declared by the IRS as legally tax free (like most municipal bonds), he then makes the home price look really good, because the price doesn't reflect the Bond payment. Simple Example: A certain house lists at $250,000, but upon closing the buyer is confronted with an additional (again just an example) $15,000 Bond payoff. So the house really, assuming as many do, that the buyer rolls the bond into his mortgage, costs him $265,000. The lower price is attractive, and I'd bet few are dissuaded when the bond issue is revealed, because by that time they've committed. The bond can be paid at closing interest free. If rolled into the mortgage, it will be escrowed and paid annually as an adjunct to the tax bill. Interest is added and the bond is essentially a morgtgage paid to the county which disburses to the developer who pays the bond purchasers. One of the irritations of yhis model is that the buyer cannot declare the interest he pays on the bond as a deductable on Federal income tax. Additionally, the bond cannot be paid off early by adding extra each month to go to principal. It can, of course, be paid off in its entirety at any time. As for taxes in general, Floridians wth a homestead exemption pay relatively little. Compare4d to places elsewhere, taxes are reasonable anyway.

[Greg Nelson]

Everything is relative. I'm quite sure that those from the mid Atlantic states thing they've gone to heaven on taxes. Here in the lake country of Minnesota property taxes can be very high. Our home is on a 4,000 acre clear lake that is close to Fargo, ND. But the homestead discount is 50%! We have a 12 year old home worth around 500k that we pay less than $2,000. in taxes..not bad!

[rjm1cc]

As you search the old posts list every expense someone mentions. Then consider if you will have the expense now, or latter on. For example you may need a lawn service in the future and a taxie. Also consider inflation. Note in some areas the utility company can vary in the same community the rates can be different by a lot so make sure you recheck real estate, utilities etc for your final location. Also make sure you know if your heat is electric or gas.