[OrangeBlossomBaby]

Originally Posted by Daddymac

I WOULD NOT USE THE VILLAGERS REAL ESTATE.. THEY WILL TRY TO SELL YOU IN THE SOUTH END.. THATS WHERE THEY ARE TOLD TO PUSH.. just my 2 cent…

Maybe - don't "yell" - it sends a message of desperation.

Meanwhile, our Villages real estate representative helped us buy our manufactured home in the Historic section just a handful of years ago. They don't push at all. They help you look for and find whatever it is you're hoping to live in. Their primary focus is on new construction but if you want a home with no bond, you've made it easier for them to narrow down your options.

Villages agents DO sell all over the Villages. They represent homeowners from north to south, east to west, looking to sell their properties. The Lifestyle visits will always be closer to their new construction though. There are no Lifestyle properties in the Sumter or Spanish Springs area anymore, all those properties were sold to homebuyers years ago.

To the OP: I live in the Historic Section. I'll state emphatically that all the things people warn you to watch for - don't apply to the Historic section. For traffic - someone said find a village that has just one way in and one way out. Historic section has 5 ways in, 5 ways out, not including their golf cart bridge over 441. Traffic in the Historic Section is pretty minimal. The only real "iffy" spots are at the Boone gate and nearby at the golf cart path leading to Wawa (there's no car/truck traffic on that path, it's golf carts only and no red button on the gate, you need an actual gate pass).

We're not just manufactured homes. There are block and stucco, some wood-frame homes, and yes - some of the old original single-wides that should be replaced. I live in a double-wide manufactured home, it's 1200 square feet with a metal roof that had NO damage at all during any of the hurricanes we've experienced in the last 5 years. A house on the street behind us lost half their roof, a house across the street, that was a site-built (not manufactured) lost the roof over their lanai.

I won't try and sell you on a manufactured home but I will let you know there's a vacant lot on an interior road, away from the traffic but in walking distance to the Post Office (not postal station - the actual post office), for $89,000. At that price, you could have a brand new manufactured home rolled in and tied down, set up with electricity and water, and be ready to move in within two months. All for under $300k. There's no bond on that side of 441, so if you wanted to have a house built on site, there'd still be no bond for the new construction as there is in the rest of The Villages.

It's 5 minutes from the Golf Cart bridge. The bridge takes you to the parking lot near the Veterans Memorial Park in Spanish Springs town square, so you can park your cart right at the end of the bridge and not have to deal with any traffic, no lights, no nuttin. Just get out and walk to dinner or ice cream or whatever.

You can also drive through that lot and across the main street to get to the supermarkets (Publix AND Winn Dixie), and a bunch of shops including Belk's department store. You can go the other way, and go to your doctor's office or the hospital.

There are 6 different strip malls, one right after the other, on 441 heading south from the "Historic section." You can drive to the furthest one within 10 minutes, even during rush hour. A golf cart will get you up to Rolling Acres, and if you are quick-footed you can easily cross the road and hoof it to Chipotle, Best Buy, HomeSense, Brooklyn Bagels, Ulta cosmetics, Kohl's, and more.

The Historic section has a library, two recreation centers, 1 Mexican restaurant, 1 church, 1 18-hole country club golf course with a public restaurant at the top of the hill, two 9-hole executive courses, 2 adult pools, 1 family pool, the country club pool with a waterfall and jacuzzi, two lakes, bocci and shuffleboard, tennis and pickleball, softball, archery range, walking trail, dog park. The Villages fire department's Engines are right there on that side of The Villages on Paradise across from the basketball court and postal station.

Taxes in Lake county are higher than taxes in Sumter County. But honestly - the difference is marginal. We also don't live in a CDD, which means all the politics of this or that CDD being required to pay this or that for whatever new widget that needs to be replaced is entirely avoided. Our streets and trash are maintained by the city of Lady Lake, in Lake County (Lady Lake is in Lake /and/ Sumter County).

The entire side of The Villages has matured landscaping, and while we do have deed restrictions and community standards, they are less strict than those on the other side of 441. In other words - we CAN put up tacky pink flamingos if we want to. Most of us don't. But I always get a little giggle out of it when someone has a Flamingo party (a driveway party that everyone knows about because there are 5-6 pink plastic flamingos skewered into the front lawn).

[Normal]

Originally Posted by jimjamuser

That WAS true about hurricanes in the past. However, in the last 5 years the whole Earth has warmed to record levels. July 10th, 2024 was an all time record. The Gulf of Mexico gets to NEW RECORDS each passing summer. So, it is likely only a matter of time before a LARGE hurricane comes through The Villages. Also, we have had tornadoes spin off from hurricanes in the past. So, it is better to be up North during the summers. Look up a graph of the increasing Earth's temperature for the last 5 years. It is ALL there for just a few Google clicks. I am NOT making this stuff up.

And if I may add, no homes are impervious to storm damage. The Villages lost a lot of shingles during the last hurricane Milton. The worst though was Ground Hog day 2007.

“The EF-3 tornado, packing winds between 155-160 miles per hour, cut a path across the then-south side of The Villages, leaving in its wake about 1,300 damaged or destroyed homes and other buildings, including the Mallory Hill Country Club.”

[craarmy]

Normally you need to be north of 466 for bond to have been paid. I am in the historical section across hwy 27/441, down by dog park. 1 it's 15 minute walk to down town Spanish Springs, depending on where you live in the historical section. 2 Bond has been paid. 3 Hospital for what its worth is across the street. 4 with in 2 miles is a super Wal Mart, Winn Dixie, Aldies, 2X Publix for Grocery shopping. Home Depot, Lowes, BJ's whare house, Walgreen's, CVS, as are more shopping areas. As being the oldest, it is also the most developed for business around. While the houses are close, they are probably the most open in between with out being enclosed by a wall around the lot. Probably about 5-7 older manufactured homes being replaced by stick build per year , Historical doesn't necessarily mean old homes. I am from WI 2019, about 5-6 months up north, rest of the time down here. Each year it's been slowly drifting in time how much I spend there verses here. 1st year campground opens mid April, well it's still a little cool yet, next year 1st of My was fine, but then next year it was going to get down to 25 for 3 nights 1st week in May, so it was the second week in May. On the other end, its cooled off, its wet and windy, what the hell am I doing here, I have a place that's warm dry and sunny, so each year I leave a few days earlier before campground closes. Have a trailer in a campground up north. I've moved once from being on the #9 hole golf course to being on the lake. A whole .5 miles Over all the Villages is expanding south. When I was down for a visit in 2016 for 3 months, Brownwood had just opened up on the southern end. Now Brownwood is about the middle of the Villages. Something like 50k more acres to expand. 20-30 houses per day sales, even through covid. Check out houses for sale villages.com? You can explore houses, types, costs. I had 5 houses to explore when I came down in 2019 from looking at sales. Bought the 3rd one. Hope it helps or get you to thinking at other aspects to consider.

[Altavia]

Originally Posted by MNViking

...

Our interest would be in something under the $300K mark with Bond already paid, ...

A bit of clarification on the bond.

An important distinction is that the bond is not a personal debt. It does not count against your credit score or mortgage. The interest of not deductable.

Without the bond, the cost of the home and likely what you need to pay/finance for the home higher.

The bond is against the property. When a property sells, the bond remainder becomes responsibility of the new property owner.

Paying off the bond early risks not recovering that money at time of sale.

Good luck in your search.

[Garywt]

Lots of answers but I agree that a Villa up north would be your best option for lower prices. Try to stay in Sumter county as the taxes are so much lower than other areas. Taxes are the one thing I hate about living in Marion County. In Sumter the taxes for a designer home can be around $2000 but in Marion County a Villa is now over $6000. They tell you that taxes are higher but no way did I expect it to be over 3x higher.

[OrangeBlossomBaby]

Originally Posted by Altavia

A bit of clarification on the bond.

An important distinction is that the bond is not a personal debt. It does not count against your credit score or mortgage. The interest of not deductable.

Without the bond, the cost of the home and likely what you need to pay/finance for the home higher.

The bond is against the property. When a property sells, the bond remainder becomes responsibility of the new property owner.

Paying off the bond early risks not recovering that money at time of sale.

Good luck in your search.

There are plenty of existing homes that have the bond already paid off and as I said, if you are looking in the Historic area across 441, there wasn't ever any bond in the first place, so there was nothing to pay off there.

If there is a bond, the current owner is responsible for paying it monthly, OR paying it off in full. You can't make "extra payments" or skip a month or get it deferred. The point is that the investor (in this case the Developer) gets all that juicy interest on each property for 30 years (or less if someone pays it off early).

NOT paying off the bond early means you're just basically giving the developer extra money. Buying a home with a bond already paid off, or one that never had a bond in the first place, means the home is 100% yours, and no one else has any financial interest in it.

[OrangeBlossomBaby]

Originally Posted by Garywt

Lots of answers but I agree that a Villa up north would be your best option for lower prices. Try to stay in Sumter county as the taxes are so much lower than other areas. Taxes are the one thing I hate about living in Marion County. In Sumter the taxes for a designer home can be around $2000 but in Marion County a Villa is now over $6000. They tell you that taxes are higher but no way did I expect it to be over 3x higher.

In Lake County the same size property might only have a $3000 tax bill. It's higher than Sumter but not enough to make or break a deal, when you're able to spend up to $300,000 total on a house.

[PootleK]

There's a courtyard villa for sale today, that meets your criteria. No bond, 2 bed+ den, 2 bathrooms, right next to Spanish Springs and under $300k. I live in this area and there is a good mix of older and younger people. It's also got all the facilities you need here.You shouldn't have a problem finding a place that meets your needs.

[OrangeBlossomBaby]

Originally Posted by PootleK

There's a courtyard villa for sale today, that meets your criteria. No bond, 2 bed+ den, 2 bathrooms, right next to Spanish Springs and under $300k. I live in this area and there is a good mix of older and younger people. It's also got all the facilities you need here.You shouldn't have a problem finding a place that meets your needs.

Also just to point out - some MLS listings will say a property is a 3-bedroom, but that the 3rd bedroom doesn't have a closet. Others will say a property is a 2-bedroom plus bonus room or den. These are all the same thing. A bedroom without a closet is a "bonus room" or a "den" but many families outside The Villages use that 3rd room as a nursery or bedroom for a young child.

[asianthree]

Originally Posted by OrangeBlossomBaby

There are plenty of existing homes that have the bond already paid off and as I said, if you are looking in the Historic area across 441, there wasn't ever any bond in the first place, so there was nothing to pay off there.

If there is a bond, the current owner is responsible for paying it monthly, OR paying it off in full. You can't make "extra payments" or skip a month or get it deferred. The point is that the investor (in this case the Developer) gets all that juicy interest on each property for 30 years (or less if someone pays it off early).

NOT paying off the bond early means you're just basically giving the developer extra money. Buying a home with a bond already paid off, or one that never had a bond in the first place, means the home is 100% yours, and no one else has any financial interest in it.

Bond can’t be paid monthly, it’s on your tax bill. We have never paid off a Bond on all 4 houses. Just sold after 2-8 years bond transfer to the next owner. Heads up we made far more money on our house bond than developer.

If your investments aren’t making more than bond interest, one needs to fire their investment guy. End of every year the money we saved by not paying off bond, went in the fund for next home purchase.

[Jayhawk]

Originally Posted by OrangeBlossomBaby

The point is that the investor (in this case the Developer) gets all that juicy interest on each property for 30 years (or less if someone pays it off early).

NOT paying off the bond early means you're just basically giving the developer extra money. Buying a home with a bond already paid off, or one that never had a bond in the first place, means the home is 100% yours, and no one else has any financial interest in it.

Are you certain the Developer and the Investor are the same entity?
Just a moment...

[hapyhamton]

We came here from Massachusetts. Initially part time then after two years full time.

In the 20 years, we have moved 5 times. We started out brand new, then pre-owned. Nothing wrong with pre owned houses in the Villages. We started in Sumter Landing, then gradually moved over to Pinellas and ultimately moved over to the Spanish Springs side into a Courtyard Villa. Best decision we made in the Villages. Hindsight is 20/20 right. We never wanted to move over to the Spanish Springs area. However, the Villages has gotten so huge and we've gotten older. Factors I want to point out. In the beginning it was great fun. However, the traffic is getting crazier, the older we get, the quieter we want, yard work is harder and more expensive. A courtyard villa is perfect for all your needs and more. We live over by Mulberry off route 42. Very quiet, Publix, Walgreens, etc. within a good walking distance. Very quiet Villas over on this side. We are selling ours now, but this is not why I'm telling you all this. Like I said hindsight is 20/20. When you look, look at a Courtyard villa, privacy and great neighbors! Good luck to you.

[Altavia]

Originally Posted by OrangeBlossomBaby

...


If there is a bond, the current owner is responsible for paying it monthly, OR paying it off in full. You can't make "extra payments" or skip a month or get it deferred. The point is that the investor (in this case the Developer) gets all that juicy interest on each property for 30 years (or less if someone pays it off early).

NOT paying off the bond early means you're just basically giving the developer extra money. Buying a home with a bond already paid off, or one that never had a bond in the first place, means the home is 100% yours, and no one else has any financial interest in it.

Missinformation... Maybe watch the GoldWingnut videos and pay attention.

As has been stated many times, Bonds are sold to banks and investors.

The Developer makes nothing off the bonds. The funds were used to build the amenities.

[KImflor]

I would look at On top of the world in Ocala honestly. It has what you want. Smaller new houses are in your budget. We moved here 6 months ago, my husband retired and I work.

[RETIREDSFW]

I purchased my house 12 years ago. It was built in 1997, I am thing about moving to an independent living home and can't take all my furniture or kitchen items. When I moved here the owner gave me a great deal on the house and furniture so I am willing to pass it on to the next owner. I do not have a realtor yet. If you are interested email me at retiredsfw@gmail.com and I will be happy to send you photos of the house. I have not set a price but it will be under $200,000. All appliances and furnace were purchased in last 8 years except for hot water heater which is working fine.