Cottage Homes vs. CYV's
 

I am relatively new to these boards and hope I am doing this correctly.
I visited the TV in January and fell in love. I am, or rather will be, single by the time I hope to move down and so don't need a lot of pace. That said however I am a quilter and crafter and so am looking for three bedroom homes so I can have a dedicated sewing/craft studio and guest room. I really like the privacy of the Villa's but and also looking at Cottage homes since I am concerned that it might be harder to get to know neighbors if my yard is walled off from them.
When I stayed in TV in January I was staying with friends who had just moved into Pennicamp and they were always conversing with new neighbors while standing in backyards.
I know that Cottage homes seem to be a bit less expensive which is also something I need to factor in. I would love to hear if anyone has any experience or opinions to offer concerning CYV's verses Cottage Homes. It's scary when I think about having to make a decision as big as buying a home on my own after sharing decisions like that for 38 years......
Thanks for any opinion. Oh I am hoping to be able to visit TV again in June, July or August to choose a home.

S.

front drives and street in CYV neighborhoods
 

In my CYV neighborhood, we hang out to talk to neighbors in driveways or the street. Start talking to one, and pretty soon another one of us is out there, then 5 or 8, then we set up a date for a driveway party. Backyards and lanais are very private, although many of us certainly entertain on them, just not usually the whole neighborhood, and only by invitation.

I do think it's true, though, that CYV neighborhoods have a higher percentage of snowbirds, but you will also find plenty of frogs.

We own a CYV and although we are part/part time.... (only there weeks at a time), we have found the neighborhood VERY friendly. One of the homeowners in our area will send out a monthly calendar of villa activities such as golf times, block party dates and ladies lunches. Our neighborhood is a very, very friendly place.

Hmmm....I didn't think about the fact that CYV's might have more snowbirds than frogs.....I will be living there year around and though I have nothing against snowbirds it would be nice to be in a neighborhood that had more year round residents. Just for consistency of friendships since I have no other consistency in my life. I'll have to investigate this more. Thanks for that input.

I did not think about snowbirds and CYV. That is what we just bought. We already met 2 couples who bought on our street in Buttonwood..they were there looking at the homes they just bought just as we were. One is snowbirding and the other will be full time like us.
I still would not give up the CYV being fenced in. We do like the privacy and absolutely need the fencing for the furry kids. I am looking forward to having breakfast on the patio in my jammies and the fence will protect others from seeing me as the mess I am when I wake up.

I thought about other kinds of houses and underground fencing, but although that might keep the kids in, it does not keep other dogs out. With a little mini doxie, I would not feel she would be safe when another dog could come into the property.

When I lived in houses with fences before we all got to know each other. If you are interested in being friends with neighbors, as we are, there will be many opportunities to get together. It is more a matter of life style preference of being friendly than having or not having fences.

The difference, though, is that fences are prohibited by deed restrictions, which you receive when you contract to buy a home.

We have underground fencing and I don't worry about other dogs coming on our property, as I've never seen a dog running free in TV. Never.

However I would never leave my 10 lb. dog in the yard unsupervised. Even in a CYV, you might want to keep an eye out for circling birds. I'm probably paranoid, but there are eagles and hawks and I've seen them circling and looking for small prey.

on nash loop in hemingway there are homes, basically cottage homes, with fences, just fyi.

True - but those were a one-time trial by TV development. They indicated they won't do it again. But who knows!

Momesu,

Keep us posted if you do choose a home this summer. I will be renting in TV in July :MOJE_whot: but I'm still several years away from being able to buy in TV. :sigh:

Oh boy, another thing to worry about...eagles and hawks. I was glad moving from here and the coyotes who have howling debates with the kids. I will keep that in mind, that Gertie needs to be watched in the yard. Thank you for telling me about that, I appreciate knowing that now. When anything flies overhead here that is of concern she runs into the doggie door and into the safety of the house. Sadly, I did see a dog running unleashed when we were there on a LSP. That is why I nixed the idea of an unfenced house. I am a way too overprotective puppy mom....LOL

I would suggest that you select the home that you want and will feel most comfortable...not the one that you may be able to meet more people. After one month in The Villages you'll have more friends than you ever imagined.

That's what I am most looking forward too. After all these years isolated in a small moutain town, I actually thrist for being around people!

coyotes
 

barefoot, you probably don't need to worry about stray dogs but you do need to worry about the coyotes....gn

Your thirst shall be quenched and your cup shall overflow. You may even miss that quiet, lonely mountain.

You better hurry.If you wait until after buildout the property values are going to skyrocket!!:gc:

GN, our new house backs on a golf course in Belvedere Village just down the road from you. And you are right! I sure do worry about coyotes. I never let my dogs out unsupervised during the day, even tho one of them weighs 70lbs. And at night, after dark, I never let them out in the back yard at all.

Well, I'm back in Canada now and we have bears here. There's always something!

I have seen, with my own eyes, a coyote on our street in Hadley. We have a sweet neighbor dog who was trained to carry the newspaper to the doors of a few neighbors if they left a treat on the doorstep.

That treat leaving had to be discontinued because the coyote was taking the treats.....


AND.... back to the original question about CYV vs. Cottage homes.

Someone gave us this advice on this forum when we were looking for a home here.

Get as much space as you comfortably can afford because you will need it because you will take up a bunch of new activities that you will need space to house the equipment. That is just one reason. You will find that you will use this home simalarly to how you used your old home and will need some of the "stuff" again that you threw away...

Unfortunately I currently cannot afford to maintain two homes (unless I win the lottery), so I guess I will have to take my chances and wait for a few more years before I can purchase in TV.

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one more thought
 

I don't live there but another issue between these two homes is that you can have a larger garage and add on a golf cart garage too with a cottage home. I like CYV's if only the garage was bigger

Hmmm another thing to think about......well I've progressed to sending my financial info to a financial planner friend of mine to get a better idea of how much home I can comfortably afford and still have money for my other passions in life like, quilting...greeting card making and CRUISING!!!!!!

Suzanne

We just returned today from a one week LSV and went out with our agent twice to look at CYV's and cottages. Price wise, for about $179K you can get a 3 BR cottage or a 3 BR Savannah series villa. Besides the privacy issue, you do get masonary construction with the Savannah villas which is not available in a cottage. If that's not a factor for you, then the cottage would give you much more room for crafts since they all come with a 2 car or 2 plus garage (3 doors). The other big difference is the bond, our agent said the average CYV was about $12K and the cottages about $21K. That convinced us to go with a villa.

maintenance expenses also less w/CYV
 

Unless you have a large corner lot, will cost less to mow (or you can eliminate the grass), less in irrigation. The new CYV neighborhoods have block walls dividing the villas, so you shouldn't need to paint them. Most are, however, not as high as in some of the villa neighborhoods of at least 4-5 years ago, so a little less privacy. Previous poster is correct in that the bond is the biggest expense difference.

I think this is a bigger factor than the bond. the $9K difference in the bond can be saved elsewhere - but the maintenance goes on forever...

However, one caveat... we have a villa wall to the rear of us, and we are responsible for painting and maintenance...

Windows
 

I think another big difference (for us anyway) is the fact that other than one guest bedroom and the garage there are NO windows that allow you to see the front/street side of the house. We were not use to that.

This brings up another question that came to my mind. If you have a CYV that is a small enclosed yard and you do away with grass are they much hotter. By being a small area with the walls can breezes get through and grass does provide a bit of a cooling effect where as cement pads and rock radiate the heat. Any one have any insight to those issues. I certainly like the lower bond possibility. Oh and this could relate to either CYV or Cottage home. Any opinions on inside vs. garage laundry area? It would seem to me doing laundry in garage could have some difficulties like needing to keep garage really clean and it being so hot out there in summer.
Suzanne

no windows in living area to the front street
 

On an other post someone said they stayed in a CYV but did not like having windows to the front stree to see what is going on....hmmm....does that affect the ability to see when neighbors are out for chatting in driveways? How about it you who live CYV's?

We have a CYN and did the back and front in rock and do not have any problem with heat. If we had a dog we would have left the grass, but like the ideal of not having any maintance. Still get great breezes, no excessive heat.

No problems with chatting with the neighbors either. Your constantly running into someone when your coming and going.

We have the Bonita 3/2 with the laundry inside, because in my last home the laundry was in the garage and I thought it was to hot in the summer and to cold in the winter. My one neighbor hates having hers in the garage because of that, plus she's always running to check when it's done.

The 3rd bedroom we turned into an office/craft room, and it's nice to have the extra closet space.

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Thanks for your input. The Bonita is one of the models I'm looking at. My only issue with it is that the 3rd bedroom which is what I'm planning on turning into my guestroom is so far from the guest bathroom. Since I will be single by the time I move down and I am a big sewer/crafter I am planning to turn the master bedroom into my sewing/craft room and bedroom 2 into my bedroom. All I will be doing in bedroom is sleeping so it seems silly to take the biggest bedroom for that and then a small one for the room I will be spending a lot of time working in. I'm a little concerned that when my 85 year old mother visits she might make a wrong turn and end up outside instead of in the bathroom in the middle of the night...:shocked: For that reason I am also looking at the Cumberland, though other then bedroom layout it is really bigger than I need an of course significantly more expensive. So then I looked at the Hammock Cottage. Price is better, but I don't particularly like the kitchen layout in it and don't really want the yard work....oh heck decisions and trade offs. I am not a good decision maker and have never had to make decisions like this on my own before......:(
Suzanne

Every single house (or villa) anywhere has pluses and minuses - you just have to figure out what works best for you.

Maybe a nightlight and just leaving a lamp on in the LR when your mother visits would solve one problem.

Met a lady who added washer/dryer in her kitchen in the Anna Maria/Stoneybrook model - didn't see it, so don't know exactly where.

Look at some resales to see the interesting and innovative remodels some have done to villa and home models. In the Bonita, the closet in the 3rd bedroom (across from the laundry room), is larger than the 2nd bedroom by the hall bath - closet could be customized for crafts - just a thought. We also tripled the storage space in the vaulted master bedroom closet by customizing it.

At Ease Cottage
 

I'm also single & I almost bought a CYV, but when I saw the At Ease Cottage I just totally fell in love with the layout. The 3 newer cottages are a bit different in that they've enlarged the kitchen space & that's the only place for a table. That's a different feature, but I still like the style of my cottage the best. As for yard work, you can hire someone to do all of it if you choose. I do some, but have a yard service for mowing & trimming. I like having my lanai open on 3 sides so as to catch any breeze that's coming my way. Also, I think you get a better bang for your buck with a cottage vs. a CYV, especially with 3 bedrooms, but that's just my opinion. Whatever style of house you end up choosing, you'll love living here. That I can pretty much guarantee! Welcome to The Villages! :welcome:

We have an At Ease cottage in Buttonwood too, and love it for all the reason Jody mentioned. I also like being surrounded by grass, and looking down the street and seeing individual homes with a variety of landscaping, but that just how we feel. We also stayed in a villa during one of our many lifestyle visits, and really liked it too. For us, it came down to the size of the house and garage for the money, but truthfully, we would of been thrilled with either one.

Suzanne there's not much difference between the master bedroom and bedroom 3. I wouldn't give up my master bedroom for a craft room because it's nice being at the end of the house. You might have trouble sleeping in bedroom 2 because of the street lights shinning in, and the early morning trash collection might bother you. I'd rather keep a guest in bedroom 2, that way they have the bathroom just outside the door.
I spend most my time in the office/craft area(also have a small TV), and it's real handy for answering the front door and running back and forth to the kitchen while checking on dinner.
The Hammock has a nice floor style, but I like mine better. I need all the additional counter space for when I bake. Plus I don't want to bother with yard work. LOL

I was down two weeks ago on the LSP and stayed in the Creekside Villas. I was not impressed with the size vs cost. I especially was turned off that in order to enter the fenced area, access was from the neighbor's drive..don't know if all CYV's are the same. I opted to build the Sandcastle, which gives me 2BR plus a den. I expect to use the den as computer room/office and also have a futon for overflow guests (like grandkids). Only difference I see between a BR and den is no closet.

I am sure it is very rare, but while walking early one morning, I did see a dog running free. It was just a couple of months ago. He was friendly as could be, and ran right up to me wanting attention, but I do think he was even a pit bull. I thought he belonged to a man who was walking toward me with another dog on a leash (an airedale, as I recall) but that was not the case. In fact, the man had been yelling at this loose dog trying to get it to get away, because it wanted to play and kept pestering his airedale.

I am sure that is very, very rare, but just wanted to point out that it has happened.

Yes, it happens. I saw a dog running free when we were there for our LSP and thats why I nixed the underground system to contain the dogs and we got a CYV. You might be able to keep them from getting out, but you can not control who or what can come in. My Gertie is a little dachshund and I would never forgive myself if she got hurt by a roaming dog, however rare it might be. It happens. She thinks she is a great dane and is fearless. Mom is not so fearless.
Our yards fences are quite high, I could only see a littlel below the neighbor's roof line. I could never tell if they were in their yard or not.

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Why? The last response was YESTERDAY!