The Most Important Things
 

When you were looking to buy a home in The Villages, what two or three things were the most important to you? Things like new roof, appliances, etc. There are so many choices, was it hard for you to make a decision?

We have 2 dogs and a classic car so we already knew we wanted a courtyard villa and a 2 car garage. We also knew we wanted to be in the Lake Sumter Landing area so that narrowed it down for us.

We have always been very conscious of resale value for either us or if our children have to sell the house, so for us it was LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION. We found the perfect house on a championship golf course between Sumter Landing and Spanish Springs. You can do almost anything to the interior, but you cannot do much if you don't have the location.

We walked in, looked out the back and said "this is it" and purchased on the spot.

We moved here in 2005. It was location and the back yard view. The Villages person who evaluates real estate value paid us a visit a month or so ago and said the view out the back added worth. It is unobstructed by houses. She checked out every room and is married to one of our law firm's lawyers. So, I was careful what I talked to her about.

Good neighbors can make or break a home I have found. And we got very lucky.

Number 1: How much do I want (or have) to spend. Number 2: location. Number 3: The house itself——do I want to buy new or resale. Once you come up with these three answers then you can look at models or resale’s. Example: I want to only spend between 200,000 and 225,000. I/we play lots of golf so we want to locate close to where several courses are only a 20 minute more or less golf cart ride. We have decided on a resale. Finally, get a realtor or Village Sales person and give him/her your purchasing parameters and start looking at property. “If you don’t know where you are going, it’s difficult to get there” anomyous

I am very concerned about noise. You can have noise from the street, golf carts, and pool equipment. I am surprised how many houses have a master bedroom window located within 15 feet of the next door neighbor's pool equipment or air conditioner.

I remember the large number of complaints Talk Host had about his wife getting enough sleep because of all the noise from the trains up in the far northwest corner of the Villages. They were close to the train tracks.

Talk Host was the owner and/or Administrator of Talk of the Villages when I signed up for this Forum in July of 2007. He had talked about it to the Villages Computer Club back then and got some of us to join. The Villages Computer Club

Check out the Villages Computer Club. They give a lot of information about using computers in the Villages.

The Villages Computer Club

Noise was a deal breaker for us but unfortunately until you live in the home for a while you may not notice it. We could hear the next door A/C unit, we could get used to that hum but then a pool pump and filter was installed next to the A/C and that set up a resonance in our walls. Tried several fixes without success. Best cure for this problem is space between the homes but good luck finding that!....;)

Dont buy on a through road.
Dont buy with a golf cours view if you like to sleep late.
Dont expect a 'water view' to last to long.
If you have no sense of humor, driving in TV could drive you nuts!

1. Corner lot with fence for our dog. 2. Open concept in floor plan. 3. Quiet area. Found all 3 and bought new in Fenney! Inside laundry with washer and dryer sealed the deal!!!

What the home backed up to was our number one focus, we wanted privacy. Everything else we could work around.

The Most Important Things
 

#1. Couldnt be more than 3 miles or less than 2.5 miles from Starbucks. Really. (We are 2.95!)
#2. Affordability because we wanted no mortgage after selling our home up north
#3. See #1





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My user name should be EdF(formerly from)NJ and glad to be gone. [emoji3]

1. Type/style of house, and new or resale, we wanted new.
2. Orientation of house, our requirement was a South facing lanai.
3. We got very lucky, and were able to buy a lot and build, so after the first 2 items were satisfied, we were able to pick all the interior stuff.

Additional things to consider IF you have to opportunity to pick or change items:
1. Get higher quality carpets, and IMHO, keep carpets in bedrooms for noise control.
2. Double check restrictions to the rear or side of your lanai if you think you might want privacy plants.
3. If looking at resale, hire a building inspector to look over the house for any major problems, roof leaks or replacement, house settling, age of major systems and equipment, etc.

Plus a lot of the items previously mentioned.

Fenced yard, quiet street, good neighbors, and open floor
plan. Bought in Fenny.

1. Courtyard for my pups.
2. Updated kitchen and bath (I am not fond of living through renovations)
3. No grass! No carpet! Easy to maintain.

The most important thing for me was just to get here. Once this was accomplished a small new two bed, 2 bath patio villa looked like it would be our choice. There were still several available around Brownwood but we ended up in Country Club Hills instead, just perfect for us. Looked at about ten manufactured homes but bought the second one we looked at. Perfect. No regrets.

Interior space, privacy, affordability, easy access so we wouldn’t have to drive through busy areas all the time, near pool, big lanai, at least 2 car garage. New or good resale less important.

Make a list of "must haves" and a list of "would like to have". When a home hits almost all of your must haves, that is the one for you.

As always, location location, location.

You can look-up threads of "new" vs pre-owned. Some people prefer to have a house that no one has lived in before. Some people prefer to have a pre-owned that has enhancements and mature landscaping, especially if it has little or no bond.

That is a never ending discussion.

Privacy
 

PRIVACY above all. Too many houses in TV have their screened lanais just a few feet from the neighbor's lanai, making it all too easy to hear conversations and loud TVs from your neighbors.

One option to avoid this is houses on cul-de-sacs where the houses are further apart due to pie-shaped lots. Another is houses that back on permanent wildlife areas.

Another consideration is how much is remaining on that pesky bond.

Privacy, quietness & a pool.


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- at the time, an up and coming area-Brownwood
- walkable to a town square- we use to always enjoy walking in
the evening for a cup of coffee or in the morning and having
breakfast out
- a courtyard villa- we have two dogs
- a corner lot
- two car garage
- close walking distance to a neighborhood pool

Thank you so much for all of your responses. Coming down very soon to start our home search. I will remember all the things that you have said.

We came here many times and looked around a LOT before we decided.

1) A couple of years before we bought, we decided we liked the area from 441 south to just south of LSL. We love the maturity of the trees n that area.

2) We wanted to be no more than a 5 or 6 minute golf cart ride to a town square

3) We didn't want another house behind us

4) We wanted a home that was in great shape so I wouldn't have a lot of work to do !

5) We wanted a house to be the right size that would be good for the two of us but we could still accommodate visitors. We didn't want it to be so big that anybody (including my adult kids) would feel that we had room enough for them to move in with us !

We had visited a number of times and had done a lot of research into some of the groups we wanted to join and where they met. So we plotted the meeting locations on one of the Villages maps and created a target area for our home. It's worked out very well to be fairly central to everything we do.

50 Things to Think About Before Buying a Home in The Villages
 

This article is a little more detailed, but well thought out.

50 Things to Think About Before Buying a Home in The Villages
50 Things to Think About Before Buying a Home in The Villages

In case TOTV stars out the site, it is:
world wide web dot insidethebubble dot co forwardslash 50dashthings

Or a search by this title.

Waverunner, that site is, without a doubt, one of the best pieces of writing I have ever read on moving and living in TV. Thanks.

To state the obvious, we had to limit our search to homes within our budget (including the bond, if any). Our other criteria was location, we prefer the Northern section of the Villages (two town squares, mature landscaping, lots of golf available, and no or small bond balances). Our other two criteria were either a pool, or a house with room to add a pool, and a private back yard. We looked at about 35 homes, mostly north of 466. We saw every listing that appeared to fit our criteria, both VLS and MLS? Only one home with a pool was within our budget, but it did not have the privacy we required. Many homes had room for a pool, but very little privacy. Finally we found a home almost equal distance between LSL and SS, it abutted a wildlife preserve in the back yard, had room to add a pool/bird cage, had no bond, and fell within our budget including the cost of adding a bird cage and 12X24 foot pool. We had T&D Pool build our pool to complete our dream home and couldn't be happier.

My advise would be to know exactly what you want, be patient, and don't settle for anything less. We didn't want to have any regrets and find our selfs looking for a different home in a couple of years.

#1 Rear Privacy (our home backs up to a villa wall)
#2 Far, far, far from any of those GIANT electric wires that run through The Villages. I didn't want to see them and I surely did not want them anywhere near my front or back door!
#3 Lots of golf. We are located within a 10 min cart ride to many, many golf courses.
<3 The Villages!

1. Privacy or view lot
2. Golf cart garage
3. Lanai with afternoon shade