We have been visiting over the last 7 or 8 years as short term renters because we are still working. What we have tried is renting in different areas and probably more importantly different times of the year. There are big differences say renting in the spring vs winter. Not good or bad just different. While some may say we have thrown the rent money away we feel much more confident when we do purchase we know what we want. We're to the point now that we could give the realtor our wish list and be comfortable buying when they find a home that checks those boxes. We appreciate all those owners that have allowed us to rent their homes but for us s once we buy we plan to make it our full time home.

I am big on planing-but
 

Five years from now?
The information you are asking for simply does not exist and what is known you would not or should not share publicly.

UNKNOWN-what will your current home that you plan on,"cashing out," be worth. I think you implied that your current home is not paid off and you plan on having a mortgage on,if you purchase a place in the Villages. You do not know the mortgage rate in five years. That will effect not only the cost to buy but the ease to sell.

MY THOUGHTS-beware of panic and mistaken planing. It is a standard comment of people in the villages moving several times. The ones I know of, it was not due to financial changes, or death or health issues. I would not ask but, poor planing and or BOREDOM come to mind. It is true that homes in the villages are going up in price but, do not forget the home you now live in
is likely also going up in price. The increase in your current residence may be higher than the average in the villages. In any case it will offset part of the price increase in the villages.

YOU DID NOT MENTION- You stated your plan is for you to be 55. Be sure you have healthcare insurance. You cannot get on to medicare till age 65. Private healthcare insurance for two, will cost you about 20,000 a year.

FAR AS A FIVE YEAR PLAN-now is a great time to get rid of stuff.
I, a pack rat, sold stuff on ebay for like five years-very part time. We had a garage sale once or twice a year. I made a good amount of money. Money is far easier to move compared to STUFF.

OUR PLAN-we are ex-New Yorker's. We escaped the 6% state tax, a 3% city tax, oppressive real estate tax bill. ALL WENT AS PLANNED-EXCEPT FOR WHAT DIDN'T

:1rotfl::1rotfl:That's the funniest, and truest, thing I've seen on TOTV in a long time. :1rotfl::1rotfl:

As a retired engineer, everyone teases me about how I've got everything on a spread sheet. But, after renting for 4 years, we decided to buy. But I was always curious about whether that was the best economic choice. The literature that The Villages provided said the estimated annual cost of owning was $12,000 per year, but I wanted to see what it actually was. So I decided to put EVERYTHING I've spent on our house on a spread sheet and then compare the annual cost to a monthly rental to determine how many months I need to stay to make it economically justifiable over renting.

So far, three (3) of our years here in The Villages have cost me $14,000 a year, while the other 3 full years have cost me $10,000 a year. When I compared the total amount I've spent to an estimated $3,200 per month rental cost, I found that the break even point for renting was 3.74 months per year. So if we were going to stay 1 to 3 months every year, it is better to rent. If we stayed in The Villages 4 or more months each year (we have been averaging 5 months), then it is better to own.

And that is just comparing the ongoing operating cost and not any appreciation that hopefully our house will generate. And the 3 years at $14,000 a year included house improvements, so they aren't really indicative of what it typically cost to own a home in The Villages.

We rented for 2 months in January and February of 2018 since we weren’t sure we’d like the Villages. We liked it so much that we planned on renting for 3 months in 2019. After discussing it with our financial advisor the said just buy something since your cost for the year will likely be about what the 3 month rental would be. With that said we purchased a villa this past June. From my point of view renting for a short period was the way to help us make a decision.

Thank you Gracie. I do my best with what God gave me.

If there's some likelihood that you'd only be here 4-5 years, an unfurnished long-term rental might be a suitable choice from a financial aspect. Personally, my concern would be the owner deciding to sell at the end of an annual lease. I don't do well with that type of uncertainty, but of course it's not a problem if you're open to moving. The better news is that many owners here offer multiple-year leases, and that (so far) there are usually a range of rentals available.