How do you like your Patio Villa?

[RGD1213]

I’m thinking about buying a Patio Villa. Have a couple more years before retirement, so thinking about visiting on and off and then snow birding for a couple years before moving down full time.

Do you wish you would have bought something bigger from the start? Plenty of room for just two people? Anything I should be considering when looking at PV’s?

Thanks in advance for any input!

[rjm1cc]

Sine you have time check here for rentals VH4R Home Rentals in The Villages Florida The VIllages Rentals (https://villagershomes4rent.com/).
I think there might be a trend to buy small as a snow bird then rent that home and buy a larger one.
I would try and figure out what I want to do in each room and what I need for storage. Then buy that size home.
If you entertain larger groups then a larger home.

[Bunny1]

We bought a corner Colony model Patio Villa last January. Love the corner villa as it has a huge patio in front and enclosed lanai on side. Plenty of room for two people. Corner unit gives more spacious feel than being between 2 houses. A little more grass to cut; but spacious feeling is well worth it. We absolutely love our patio villa. Garage can fit SUV and golf cart; but we chose to leave car on driveway.
No need for a bigger house for us!

[FenneyFanatic]

We love our Patio Villa!! I especially like that upgrades are relatively inexpensive because of the smaller dimensions of the home..

[2newyorkers]

Love our patio villa but we do wish we had at least a 2 car garage.

[asianthree]

2010 bought had a PV as a vaca home. 2012 Bought a cottage with 2 car garage, kept the PV. 2014 sold PV bought a designer with golf cart garage, when we retired.

The PV was ok for us until we had company, garage was the biggest problem.

We still have our northern home so time will tell how long we stay in our 3rd home

[Cupcake57]

Rented a patio villa (Opal model built in 2019) in Marsh Bend recently as I did work on my new home. Its kitchen had easily twice the cabinet and counter space of my designer home, and the master bedroom was bigger. The garage was a car/cart garage but I would have been hard pressed to get both in with room to walk thru/store the trash and lawn mower/etc. Storage is an issue in almost every house in the Villages, so pitching and downsizing is definitely necessary. I think two people would be very fine, as long as they like each other and don't bring much stuff. I think the newest patio villas have full 2 car garages.

[vintageogauge]

2 car garages are more readily available on at the new patio villas and I would highly recommend getting one as you will need the extra space. If you drive through the PV neighborhoods you will see a lot of cars parked in the driveway or even on the streets because they have no room to park in their 1 or 1-1/2 car garages.

[retiredguy123]

You may also want to consider a courtyard villa. More privacy.

[Tennisbum]

We bought a new Topaz 7 months ago and love it! Added additional cabinets above the washer/dryer and in the garage, also added storage above the 2 car garage. We have an east facing end unit so we get the morning sun and not the late afternoon bake! Perfect for two people!

[Debfrommaine]

I’m thinking about buying a Patio Villa. Have a couple more years before retirement, so thinking about visiting on and off and then snow birding for a couple years before moving down full time.

Do you wish you would have bought something bigger from the start? Plenty of room for just two people? Anything I should be considering when looking at PV’s?

Thanks in advance for any input!

We love our patio villa! We've had a few homes and the patio villa is most efficient, lower bonds and easy to clean. We enclosed our lanai because it gives us an extra space and looks out over a pond and preserve. In that husband and I are organized, we've made very good use of the space and have no clutter. Easy living, two separate garages, yard landscape footprint is smaller. Our home is on an end unit which also has a birdcage. Try one out!

[SIRE1]

We are still Snow Birds, and before we bought our designer home, we rented for several years. Those rentals included both Patio and Courtyards. Based on those experiences, I knew what my "must haves" in a home should be.

For the Patio villa, we were very comfortable with the interior space and layout, but missed having a larger lanai. The lanai on most of the Patio Villas is right by the front door and is quite small and located right by the street so you always felt like you were "on display" all the time. And since almost all Patio Villas have a 1 car garage, you'll find that although you can put both a car and a cart inside, it is VERY tight. And finally, since there is no parking on the street in front of your home, if you had guest you could only get 1 car in the driveway and the other visitor had to find parking in the community area and sometimes that is not easy to find. Those 3 factors made me want a home with a larger lanai and a 2 car garage.

When we rented Courtyard Villas, we really liked the interior layouts and the larger lanai in the rear of the home. But because most Courtyard Villas have a 1 car side entry garage with a curved driveway, I had trouble putting both my car and cart inside the garage. When I pulled into the garage with my car, the swing angle really was difficult to miss the golf cart that was parked as close to the wall as I could get. One of those Courtyard Villas that we rented came with a 4 person golf cart and for those 3 months I had to leave the car in the driveway the whole time. Another thing to consider is that like a Patio Villa, parking for more than 1 visitor is severely limited. We have a friend who has a CYV and have managed to have 2 cars in her driveway, but it takes a lot of engineering and you are parked REALLY close to each other. So the side entry garage and limited parking made us want something different.

So when we decided to buy, we looked at the smaller square foot designers and ranches which had a 2 car garage with a decent driveway. There isn't a great deal of difference in cost between the smaller homes and the villas (both purchase and maintance) and they are perfect for a snowbird who has 2 homes to maintain.

[OrangeBlossomBaby]

Shaken, not stirred.
With colorful paper umbrellas.

[PugMom]

2 car garages are more readily available on at the new patio villas and I would highly recommend getting one as you will need the extra space. If you drive through the PV neighborhoods you will see a lot of cars parked in the driveway or even on the streets because they have no room to park in their 1 or 1-1/2 car garages.

dittos, the town car barely fits in the garage

[kstew43]

our dodge ram crew cab doesn't fit at all ......

[John41]

We love our 2/2 courtyard villa.Low maintenance and enough space for our needs.
Same for the patio villas, low maintenance, enough space.
Courtyard villa had a fence for our cats, advantage for us.
Patio villa has a straight rather than a curved driveway, an advantage.

There is no one size fits all. Depends on your needs. If you are a lots of stuff person go bigger.