Cottage versus Courtyard Village

[maryanna630]

We are wondering if someone can give up the various pros and cons concerning a cottage home versus a courtyard villa. What do you like about the cottages? Are the neighborhoods significantly different? Is the maintenance more or less? How about the layouts? Is the privacy better on one or the other?
Thank you for any information you can offer since we are considering both.
Maryanna

[asianthree]

big reason for us on a cottage was the garage and a real driveway..you will find some floor plans close in cyv and cottage..once we rented a cyv because that was our first choice, within a week we new we wanted more open space and not blocked off from our neighbors.

[JerryP]

big reason for us on a cottage was the garage and a real driveway..you will find some floor plans close in cyv and cottage..once we rented a cyv because that was our first choice, within a week we new we wanted more open space and not blocked off from our neighbors.

Same with us, also liked a little grass.

[KARENNN]

If you have a dog, go with the courtyard :)

[Uptown Girl]

In my opinion, it is just what appeals to you!
When we were looking, we were open to the idea of three types- CYV, cottage or designer. (love those Roman baths!)
We decided early on that a designer was more home than we wanted- one goal of ours was to downsize from what we had previously.

Hubby liked the cottage for these reasons- he loved the two car garage and the straight driveway. (compared to the CYV)
I especially liked the big shake shingles on some cottages, but again, preferred not to have a lot of grounds to maintain.
To be honest, my biggest drawback was entering the cottage without having a foyer of some kind. But that is my own personal taste.

We BOTH liked the CYV private back yard area. (know that the yards are not all the same size. Ours is small, but many are huge!) We both liked the selection of floor plans offered. Ours has the foyer that I like so much. With careful planning, we decided we could configure the garage space to satisfy Hubby and we both learned to easily navigate the shorter, curved driveway.

The only (honest) drawback to our CYV is that when company comes over in autos, parking can be a challenge. Our limited guest parking is permanently filled with cars that belong to residents- (there are always a few slugs in any mix of people)

However, most of our neighbors, and especially the snowbirds, offer their driveways temporarily if there is a special occasion for any of us. All it takes is a phone call to ask first.

Also, the direction the house was situated on the lot was an important and determinate factor in choosing the perfect home for us.
I do believe you'll know yours when you see it!
Best of luck. May it be a joyful journey! :)

[cmfjr]

Yes, there are benefits to both. We looked at both and went with the CYV. We are snow birds and will be for a few more years. We feel that there is less outdoor maintenance therefore less costs. Great for pets due to the walled yards. We like the construction (poured walls vs stick frame) and the "look" of the stucco finish. We would like the larger garage, but then who wouldn't. The most important thing is that you purchase the home that meets most of you needs and some of your wants!

[railroadman]

Uptown Girl, great information on CYV or cottage selection.

I will be in TV, next month looking for a cottage or CYV.
Most liklely will go with the (Arlington) CYV and make one
bedroom an office and have a spare for family when they visit.
I also, want to have plantation shutters and crowning molding
installed before, I move in.

[maryanna630]

Thanks to all who replied.....please keep the info coming. We will be there in July and will investigate further.
Is there sufficient closet space in the CYV? Is the closeness a problem with noise?
Maryanna

[Serenoa]

I also don't like how the Patio Villa, Ranch, & even some older Designer homes have no entry foyer. Definitely cuts down on privacy.

Plus, I want to create my own little private backyard oasis, kinda like this one: Properties of The Villages (http://www.thevillages.com/homes/vls/POHDetail/VLSDetail4.aspx?VLSnum=213702)

[George Bieniaszek]

We own a 2BR/2Bath stucco CYV and just LOVE IT!!! Briefly looked at the Patio's and decided that the Patio Villa was not for us.

Reasons: Lanai in front VS back of home. Didn't like the fact that you have to go thru the lanai to enter your home. The privacy cannot be beat. CYV's are perfect if you have a doggie because they are completely enclosed. First thing we did was to take out all the grass and landscape. We would rather be golfing than pay or do the lawn maintenance. We have a back yard. We installed a hot tub and enjoy it along with a nice bistro set with table, chairs, and umbrella to go out and enjoy a morning cup of coffee, newspaper, some wine in the afternoon, etc.

We are seasonal residents also and not full time. We spend 7-8 months in The Villages and come down 3-4 times per year and liked the CYV cause we thought that was a better fit for our lifestyle. Some CYV's have a 2-car garage, but are rare and the 2 that do in our villa neighborhood have a straight driveway and not curved like typically seen on CYV's. The driveways are small, but we were able to fit 2 cars side-by-side (one being a full size Dodge Ram) and one on the street overnight. Most neighbors also let you to park your vehicle on their driveway if they are not home or in the extra parking spots provided in the Villa neighborhood. We share driveways with our neighbors when we or they are not home when we have guests.

Not here to criticize the features of Patio's, just pointing out the selling points that made the purchase of our CYV more appealing than a Patio.

[ssmith]

We have wondered the same re: choices of CYV vs Cottage.

One thing I did notice when there last April. There were a lot more people out and about in our designer neighborhood than the CYV neighborhoods that we went around in.

The same with the Cottage areas we checked,...there were more people out in the Cottagearea than in the CYV.

Now this may have been an odd happenstance and it may or may not be good that people are out.

Will check it out more next time we are there.

[LvmyPug2]

I was convinced we wanted a CYV because I loved the enclosed backyard for the dog. We eventually ended up buying a cottage because DH didn't like that every CYV looked the same on the outside. He also couldn't live with the 1 1/2 car garage in the CYV. After 2 yrs we moved from a cottage to a larger designer. We like that our designer neighborhood is comprised of mostly full timers like us. We also have friends who recently moved from a CYV to a designer because they tired of being one of only 4 full timers in their neighborhood.

[John_W]

Every neighborhood is unique. Our CYV community was built in 2011 and all of us moved in about the same 2 or 3 month period. We have 13 units on our street, four are snowbirds. We are out in the street quite often in front of our homes, we have the screen enclosures on the garage and it's very easy to see what's going on. Up north we almost never saw our neighbors, here in the CYV's we talk with neighbors every day. I play golf with one neighbor twice a week and softball with a dozen others once a week.

Yesterday I went to a party at a cottage, a 2 BR model. There was at least 30 people there and we couldn't move. I would say our CYV could held the same party and maybe even have more space. The cottage has one advanage, the garage and driveway. Other than that, I like the privacy fenced backyard and the masonry construction we have.

http://imageshack.us/a/img708/8522/house21024x778.jpg





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[Serenoa]

Nice landscaping, John W.

[PaPaLarry]

Every neighborhood is unique. Our CYV community was built in 2011 and all of us moved in about the same 2 or 3 month period. We have 13 units on our street, four are snowbirds. We are out in the street quite often in front of our homes, we have the screen enclosures on the garage and it's very easy to see what's going on. Up north we almost never saw our neighbors, here in the CYV's we talk with neighbors every day. I play golf with one neighbor twice a week and softball with a dozen others once a week.

Yesterday I went to a party at a cottage, a 2 BR model. There was at least 30 people there and we couldn't move. I would say our CYV could held the same party and maybe even have more space. The cottage has one advanage, the garage and driveway. Other than that, I like the privacy fenced backyard and the masonry construction we have.

http://imageshack.us/a/img708/8522/house21024x778.jpg





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Yes, very nice landscaping for front!!! Not too sure if you had 30 people over, it wouldn't be crowded?? hehe I think any home would be crowded, not saying where all the vehicles and or carts would park. But CYV are good if you have a dog.

[Uptown Girl]

I forgot to mention one other feature available to some cottage homes. If there is enough room on the lot, a golf car garage can be added on to the house, with an additional overhead door. Makes for a beautiful exterior look as well as being convenient.
I have seen a few corner lot CYV's that have enough space to do this, but they are not in abundance.

[ilovetv]

We like our courtyard villa for many reasons, but privacy in the back and side is hard to beat once you've had an open back yard that forces you to see Joe Weird over there with his obsessive-compulsive, oddball, ritual routines every single day without fail.

And it's also really nice to have nobody able to look at you while you are relaxing/reading etc in your back yard. When we rented a patio villa, one thing I didn't like was trying to have breakfast/morning coffee on the lanai in front, with a very nosy neighbor woman staring the whole time from her front lanai.

[NotGolfer]

We live in a cottage-series (Sunkist) which we love since we down-sized from a home twice this size. A larger house is too much to care for---especially here where we want to be out and about. But then think of as we get older, will we want to care for a lot of house??

As for villas....I have friends who have the newer 3 bedroom, 2-car garage ones and they're lovely! A bit more expansive than the 2 bedroom ones. They can have an area for a larger lanai and even a birdcage added. One of my friends has a corner lot so hers has a bit of grass inside the walls---but not too much. She has quite a lot of follage as well which is tropical and lovely. I had not known of this style when we were house-hunting otherwise I might have been interested!

[rayschic]

I had a cottage home and now I have a CYV. There are good and bad about each but there is one thing about the CYV that I find to be a slight inconvenience that you don't have with other types of homes. There is a wooden gate between the homes, usually with a lock on it. If I want to have my home pressure washed or I need to have the bug guy spray around my home, I need to check with my neighbor and get them to unlock their gate so that I can give the person access to that side of my home. Not a big deal, just different. Love the backyard so much, so it's well worth it.

[2rts2tv]

Does anyone know if there are any CYVs with roman showers?

[2rts2tv]

Does anyone know if there are any CYVs with roman showers?

We really like the roman showers in the designer homes...does anyone know if any CYVs have them?