Buying a home in TV

[eabrusco]

My husband and I are thinking of buying in TV but we are so confused as to where to buy! Any suggestions about location of home when you decide to buy? Thanks

[dewilson58]

Come visit..........that's best.


Questions to ask:


Is golf important to you guys (by golf cart)??


Amenities by golf cart??


Town Squares by golf cart???


Premier Home??


New vs. Used home??

[KSSunshine]

Find the house on the lot you love! Don't worry about the neighborhood as all are friendly. AND, I would only buy after, not during, a first visit. You need to experience it. Rent for a year or two until you figure out what's important to you is another good way to figure out what's important to you.

[birdiebill]

We rented for the month of May 2016 to gain all the information we needed to make our decision as to whether to move here, what type home we wanted, and where we wanted to live. I would have never been able to make a decision based on due diligence without spending that much time here. The lifestyle visits are nice, but too short for us to make a valid decision.

As others have said, there are advantages and disadvantages for any location in the Villages. You have to decide what is important to you, and the only way to do that is to spend some time here.

[Bill32]

I would purchase a resale in the Lake Sumter area. You would be between Spanish Springs and Brownwood and away from the main roads that border TV.

[eabrusco]

Thank you!

[eabrusco]

We’ve visited twice and coming again in March.

[asianthree]

Everyone is going to give you their idea of where to live. However you need to come rent off season, see for yourself. We have now moved to 3 very different neighborhoods. First was 2 bed 1.5 garage, for parents to stay in. Second was vacation home 3 bed 2 car garage. Third was 3 bed, 2 car plus golf cart garage

[rjm1cc]

Easy golf cart access to where I will tend to want to go.
Decide what each room will be used for and the furnishing you will want in each room. Does the home your looking at let you do what you wanted to do?
Storage - Probably a large garage. Pantry, kitchen cabinets. Will your stuff fit.
Water run off in a big storm.

[J1ceasar]

Compare to non villages communities. Yes there are many others . villages is great but way higher than any other local senior community.

[Miss B GA]

Rent first. I rented for a few months when I first arrived here. After about 90 days I knew exactly where I wanted to be. Good luck!

[Obrienx4]

Hello, spend time here and see where you like best. There is something for everyone.

[dominojc]

Agree with all the comments above. I would add that a used home often has additions that previous owners have done to improve their home. I will tell you those things I am grateful to have. If you expect company, especially grandchildren, proximity to pools is key ( perhaps they could walk to it). We are fortunate to have an adult pool at one end of our Loop, and a family pool at the other. We ended up with a 2 car plus golf cart Amarillo ranch house. This is great because we have a car and each have our own golf cart, and we don’t have to do the shuffle to move one or the other out of the way. A corner lot gives you a little green space and allowed us to expand our outdoor living space (birdcage) to include a fire pit. An enclosed lanai became my husbands “man cave” and gave us each a little away time! A flat driveway allows for garage socials. The split bedroom is perfect, you on one side, guests on the other. Privacy for both of you. I love a front porch you can sit out on and wave to your neighbors. We are very close to stores, restaurants and Walmart, a quick easy golf cart ride and also to Lake Sumter, our favorite town center. I feel lucky to have found all these things in our home first time out because I really didn’t know how much I would appreciate these things. Good luck with your search.

[Kdharley07@gmail.com]

And what section are you in Dominic. I have friends that live in different areas but I seem to like the Lake Sumter area

[Northerner52]

My husband and I are thinking of buying in TV but we are so confused as to where to buy! Any suggestions about location of home when you decide to buy? Thanks

I bought a new home. It's nice to have everything brand new. Not much shopping close by. But it will come. Most of the people are younger here and excited about being here. The mature neighborhoods have older folks and more shopping. But it's only a 15 minute drive to civilization.

[Villagesgal]

Consider a resale, much better value for your money and you can buy golf course home for less than new home with home right behind yours. Don't buy a too small home. We bought 3 bed designer on golf course 19 years ago and still love our home. You will know the right house when you see it, also have a non villages real estate agent also show you non villages listings. Good luck. You will love living here.

[kbogli]

When we started our home search last year we had no idea where to start or where in Florida we even wanted to live. We spent alot of time on 55places it has listings and info from most 55+ communities all over Florida. We looked at 100s of homes reading discriptions and looking at pictures of homes and communities. All so very different from our home/community in Nebraska. We made a couple trips to just spend time and drive around communities in our target area. Pay attention to HOA fees and what they include, also taxes. Make a list of what you want in a home and community.
We loved the look of the Villages, but in the end chose a community just outside of the Villages. We had a non-Villages real estate agent who really went the extra mile to find us what we wanted. Good Luck in your search its a big area to cover!

[Burke711]

Think about if you want your home to back up to another house or a street. Privacy

Sidewalks and golf cart paths can be noisy and people walking dogs will use your yard for their business.

One of your neighbors may have an impressive, loud motorcycle that he (or she) likes to start up and share the noise it makes with the neighborhood. Very considerate

[larcha]

Neighborhoods cycle. The older "mature" neighborhoods see younger owners move in as the residents change over time. Where you live should be where you enjoy living. Nothing is forever.

[TCRSO]

The quick response is "what everyone else who replied said". We started by making a list of everything that we wanted knowing we would have to compromise. The surprise was that the more we looked we began to diverge or what was important. For example we both were adamant that we wanted to be on the water or on a golf course. But, I ultimately believed that proximity to a town square outweighed golf course or water frontage. After much more house hunting we began to agree on where, size and price. Still looking and we may change our opinions. The point is that it is a process. Enjoy the search.

[Brwne]

My husband and I are thinking of buying in TV but we are so confused as to where to buy! Any suggestions about location of home when you decide to buy? Thanks

We visited my wife's cousin for a week last April and I was sold! Originally, we thought we wouldn't move down full time for another 5 years so buying "south of the Turnpike" seemed a good idea. Made a list of features and identified the "drop dead" ones that MUST be present. Spent the summer studying homes, floor plans and getting "pre Approved" at Citizen's First. Came down last August for a week, survived the heat and humidity, and looked at all the homes "I thought" were right - they weren't. Andrew Mitchell, our Villages RE agent, then showed us a couple of homes he thought might work, based on our comments, and we walked into the second one - a Designer in McClure - and my wife said "this is it, let's buy it". We closed on it three weeks later and, after getting it set up for rental, decided to move here full time April, 2020. We're all new owners in the neighborhood and creating new friendships - we couldn't be more excited!

[OhioBuckeye]

My husband and I are thinking of buying in TV but we are so confused as to where to buy! Any suggestions about location of home when you decide to buy? Thanks
You can’t go wrong to buy anywhere in TV, it just depends how much you want to spend. If you buy on a golf course, water or a wilderness area you’ll pay a lot more for a home even if it’s Villa, just don’t let a realtor talk you into anything you’ll regret because once you buy it it’ll be your problem to resell if you decide to, So buy what you can afford. Realtors are right about one thing though, a percentage of people will sell & buy 3 times. We told our realtor we absolutely would not buy 3 times we bought 2 times unless you count when we moved out of TV, which I’m kinda regretting it. Good Luck, you’ll love it there!

[l2ridehd]

It's a process and it takes time. And the best advice was to rent first. Maybe 3 different locations and home types. Spend at least a month in each. Maybe different seasons. After you have done that you will know the type of home you want and where you want it. There are always homes for sale everywhere. So waiting for a few months while you get a complete education is worth a lot. Rent in the winter, rent in the summer and one of the spring or fall months. Try more north, new area and someplace in the middle.

It works and is worth doing.

[Craig Vernon]

The great thing about this site is so many others are helped by a single persons post. As someone who is in the same boat as so many other future Villagers I have read much of the same advice before but it is all valuable stuff. The move to TV will be a Big one and we all want to try to get as much right as possible on the first try. Good Luck to the poster and to us all. Thanks for all the wisdom and experienced responses!

[LiverpoolWalrus]

If you have to have brand new, you’re limited to the south side and a few rebuilds in the historic district east of Spanish Springs. If you want proximity to the Town Squares and active rec centers, look north (east) of the Florida Turnpike. I just moved here last week. Didn’t feel it necessary to rent first so we’ll see how it goes. Good luck in your search.

[John_W]

You didn't tell us about your lifestyle. Are you going to be golfing mostly at the championship courses? Would living near a regional Rec Center with pickleball courts and many other activities interest you? Would you be using your golf cart for a majority of your travel within TV (The Villages). Would you want a home built within the past 10 years? Do you prefer Brownwood and Lake Sumter Squares over Spanish Springs.

If the answer is yes to all of these, look for a home in the Village of Duval and then expand outward from there one village north, south, east or west and you would fit within those parameters.