Soon to Be a Villager
 

I have sold my home up north and will be traveling to The Villages to buy a home. I will be a year-round resident.

I watch Skip’s videos on UTube constantly, so if you’re seeing this post, Skip, I have a question for you.

I am widowed and an avid golfer, bowler and sports enthusiast. An important part of retirement is meeting new friends. In choosing a home, it is important that I don’t find myself “abandoned” during the summer months. I have heard that the smaller villas are occupied by snowbirds, while the larger homes are more likely to house year-round residents. My home up north is very large, so I plan to downsize considerably and buy a resale no larger than 1,400 square feet.

I have a realtor down there, but I would like to hear your thoughts on where I should look so I have neighbors during the summer. I hate crowds as much as you do and enjoy my peace and quiet. On the other hand, I am no hermit either. I have been known to grab a microphone and sing karaoke, so I am an outgoing person, but not a “bar fly.”

My brother is a Villager and he will teach me golf cart safety, but I also plan to attend the seminar on this topic. I have heard the horrible stories of people getting killed because they didn’t know the laws.

I do not want to be in an overly crowded neighborhood. I need room to breathe. On the other hand, having a neighbor or two to talk to is important. Do you have any thoughts? You seem to know everything there is to know about living down there.

I welcome responses from other Villagers as well. Thanking you all in advance.

Joanne

I would recommend Fenney, but you will find great people in all areas. I would think your brother would also be a great resource if he lives in TV already. Watching Skip’s videos helped us understand the ins and outs of TV, so that’s a great start. Will be praying for you as you seek your new home!

If you move to Fenney, don't buy a golf cart , till you can cross rt 44--its still 5 miles from Soaring Eagles to the Fenney entrance

I disagree, coming north of 44 won't be a big deal since the Villages below 44 will be independent. If you live above 44, I propose that the novelty of driving below 44 will wear off and you will settle into your neighborhood if you elect to buy preowned. When we moved here 3.5 years ago we moved south of 466A and many thought we were crazy for going so far south. Folks tend to believe that The Villages revolve around where they live, and frankly for them it does. Those that live north of 466 love being close to all the shopping, those around LSL love being around the most favored town square and those of us south enjoy the more open spaces and wider MM paths plus access to nature. The other thing that was important to us was a neighborhood that was new, that had people moving in that were searching to establish their own identity. We had been cautioned by others that breaking into an existing neighborhood would be a crap shoot, some neighborhoods would be receptive of new folks, others not so much. It's a risk that only you can evaluate. One of those things you won't know till after you invested. My view has been that most Villa's have a higher concentration of seasonals. I suggest you go no less than a designer, find a new neighborhood which will help form community faster and then choose the the land size you want keeping in mind that everybody here is close to each other. Our choice was a corner lot behind a house that was abut 60 feet away. The house our left is 15 feet away so we can have lanai to lanai chats...lol. We landscaped heavily with palm trees and high growing bushes that provide additional privacy and can be trimmed to whatever privacy we want. There are a lot of considerations involved. Feel free to PM if you have any questions on what I provided.

Buy in Fenney, you won’t regret it! There are a couple of resale’s available.

We live in a villa and we love it. Yes, some of them are rentals and some are owned by part time residents. But most of us are here year round. There is a sense of community that comes with a villa because the communities are so well defined. They even have names. Small, low maintenance properties are also a plus.

Joanne,
We are in Pinellas, (just south of 466A, and love it, there is an FSBO on Yearling Way, and may be a few others in the area. Mostly we have year round residents, great area. You said you like bowling, we are about 6 miles away, both bowling alleys are in the Spanish Springs area. By all means stop in there are typically openings on the summer leagues, if are here earlier, some of the winter leagues have openings also. We bowl several times per week.
Make sure you think about the kissing lanai situation, depending on the neighbor this can be very good or very bad. I am sure yi=ou are aware there have been many threads about how to choose an area, so I would suggest a search for some other views.
And finally, a big WELCOME to TV.

Hello Joanne. All villages are more alike than they are different. I think you would like a designer home and if you want to be in on the "ground floor" buy in a new area, because all folks are beginning in a new place just like you, even if some have moved there from another area of The Villages. New Villages have a lot of get togethers and outings and events and you quickly get to know other folks. There are a lot of singles and most people who are older don't think of people "in pairs". I am married and have a lot of single friends and I am sure I am not alone.

You will find some people and activities fit you well and you will soon be on your way. I am glad you have your brother here. It is nice to have someone who has known you for a long time.

I wish you well and welcome.

TV is an enormous place. I would stay with your brother if that's possible and check different areas. Location, location, location, as they say in real estate.

Make a list of "must haves" and "would like to have" for your selection of a home. Deciding what's the more important things you would like to have, will narrow the selection process for you.

There are a lot of decisions to be made in finding the right home but you will know when you walk into the house and say, "this is it"!!!

:agree:

We bought a villa because we had dogs and have been very pleasantly surprised by how friendly everyone was and how much they do together. Luncheons, block parties, golf leagues, etc. Many people who do have villas do buy them for their dogs so if you don't like them you might want to consider this.

Thank you, especially for the prayers. Moving is so stressful, but at least my house is sold.

Joanne

I adore dogs. While working full-time, I have had only cats. Once I am settled in The Villages I may look at adopting a dog. Thank you for the info. It sounds like villas are very friendly places. I just don’t want to spend my summers alone. Ha ha!

Thank you for such an informative response. I have never had a problem “fitting in” anywhere. However, I understand cliquishness better than most people. I would hate to find myself in that situation.

I am torn between buying a maintenance free Villa and a home with a lawn because I love the smell of freshly mown grass. My brother thinks it would be best to buy a Villa because I am by myself. I have been told that Villa neighborhoods can be very friendly, have block parties, even though they are mostly seasonal. I am sure there are some residents who stay year round even in the Villa neighborhoods. I hope that my week there is enough time to find something and close on it quickly. By the way, I like your quote. I am just learning how to get around this site and I would like to put my favorite quote somewhere but I haven’t figured out how to do that yet. I am still trying to create a profile so people can learn a little bit about me.

Again, thank you for your very kind reply. The information you gave me is very informative and I will keep a lot of it in mind when I am looking for my new home.

There is one for sale in our neighborhood. Bonnybrook Heritage Villas. In addition to being a wonderful neighborhood it is close to shopping and Lake Sumter Landing. We think it is perfect and we are full time. Also there are several single women here.

I've lived here for almost 7 years in the Village of Tamarind Grove. That is located 3-1/2 miles from both Brownwood Square and LSL Square. The squares are where you'll hear music every night, see a movie, both of those squares have 8 screen theaters, and they have restaurants. Brownwood also has MVP Health Club, it's a fancy gym, it's nice.

If I were buying I would chose Villages in my general area but expand a bit, Pinellas, Gilchrist and Sanibel on the southside of 466A and St. James, Duval, Hemingway and St. Charles on the north side of 466A. Those villages are located similar to ours in the distance to the squares, however they have easier access to Buena Vista. Why is that important, because if you travel by golf cart, Buena Vista is a main road and carts have their own road, what's called a MMP. You are separated from vehicle traffic until you get to a couple of blocks from your home.

As a golfer, you would be no more than a 15 minute golf cart ride to Havana, Cane Garden, Mallory, Arnold Palmer, Evans Prairie, Bonifay and Belle Glade, that's seven country club championship 27 hole layouts. Executive courses you would probably have 15 to 20 within that radius.

The two bowling alleys are about 20 minutes away in Spanish Springs square area. If you get into softball, you would be squarely in the middle of the three balls parks. Buffalo Glen and Saddle Brook are about 15 minutes north and Soaring Eagle is about ten minutes south by Rohan Rec Center.

If you're getting a dog a CYV (courtyard villa) would offer a privacy fenced yard. The main negative would be if you decided to have two cars, most CYV's are 1-1/2 car garages. We live in a CYV, our street has 13 units and 10 are full time. I think the rental market and snow bird lifestyle is more popular in the patio villa community because they have smaller yards with less maintenance and lower sales prices, generally under $200K.

Buying in Fenney would offer the opportunity to own a brand new home, new construction is coming to an end north of 44. However, living in Fenney only has 2 executive golf courses at this time, no championship. You might be waiting for a while to play a lot of different courses unless you like to drive your car to the golf course and your automatically 5 miles from the southern boundary of The Villages. From my house and the location I described in the first paragraph, Fenney is 14 miles away. In the future, Fenney will still be there and there is always resales if you want to go that route. For the immediate future I would consider the area in the established Villages that I listed above.

Great info. Many thanks!

Thanks so much for your reply. I would love to meet other single women like myself, especially golfers. I have never played pickleball and would love to learn how. There are so many activities that I would like to become involved in, but I doubt I will have time to do them all. Everyone who has responded to my post sounds so very friendly. I can’t wait to get there!

One of our regular posters just showed this first home to be listed in the new Village of Desoto. It is about the square footage you mentioned. Here it is. (I am not a real estate seller, just trying to help)

Homefinder - The Villages(R) Homes and Villas for Sale

A lot of new homes being built north of 466 and you can get anywhere you want to go in The Villages with a golf cart except Fenny

There are 32 houses on my street in Polo Ridge, which is an established village built in the 80s. About a third are either rentals or have seasonal owners, which I don't think is an unusual percentage. Anywhere you choose to live in The Villages will have people who leave in the summer. We wish them good travels when they leave and happily welcome them back when they return.

When choosing a home, I wouldn't put a lot of thought into seasonal goings-on or even neighbors in general, to be honest. There are many ways to meet people with common interests here, including the sports you enjoy. There are also very active singles clubs.

Welcome and good luck in your home search!

If you are very active, try to find a place close to where there are indoor activities such as bowling because you may find it too hot and humid to play golf during the summers.

We have moved 3 times. Houses are easy to sell here, movers can do it all reasonably. You can always rent thru to the fall in several places to find out what would be best. We rented three times different areas, and types of houses

You may appreciate some time alone after fighting the snowbird traffic all winter long.

I live in a CYV and love the walled yard for my pups, privacy of no kissing lanais, no grass to mow or pay for upkeep, quiet summers with less people at the pools and noise in the neighborhood, ease of cleaning the entire villa in less than 30 min, paid bond, low taxes and no mortgage. When you search, please remember to check 3 places: Properties for sale by the Real Estate Executives in the Villages, FSBO listings, and MLS listings with outside realtors such as ERA Grizzard. Properties are not listed in one convenient place! I did search for 2 years before finding my home. I knew it as soon as I found it....I think you will too! Welcome!

We moved to The Villages in October 2015 and moved out in January 2018. We found the community to be beautiful but too big and too "open"! Privacy comes at a significant price increase and there are too many "outsiders" at the Squares, some of which have been quite unruly. Many of the faithful have overdosed on the koolaide and will attack this post mercilessly, but if I were to do it again I would definitely rent for a while b4 committing! If you like trees, look to the north of 466A, if you like looking into your neighbor's house and vice/versa, look south of 466A.

We have a CYV and have plenty of grass. It was one of the reasons we selected it. The CYVs range in size and yard space.

Here’s my side of the story we are snowbirds, this is our first time staying in TV. We wanted to try it on for size so to speak and are renting a very nice designer home My take on the Villages is this, we are in the Chatam area in the rental, we like it here but thought next year let’s rent in a different location. We took a few days and drove both by car and golf cart to various areas. After looking at some available rentals in other areas we decided to stay put and return next year to the same rental. We took a tour of Fenney and it did not appeal to us. My point is get here stay with your brother if possible and get a feel for different neighborhoods. Everyone tastes differ take the time, make your own decision. Knowing what we know now we would never buy or rent south of 466, we prefer the Villages closer to Rt 42, but that’s just our preference. Wishing you the best and Congratulations!

the big question to Fenny residents is.....are you buying a electric cart and hoping to trade it in for gas someday, or a gas cart and tanking in the gas from gas stations on 44?

we thought about Fenny but decided to take a wait and see attitude, for the moment, anyway.

A golf cart is a big expense and trading in an electric for a gas is not a winning option.

Love your perspective.

I wanted an established neighborhood as I am not a neighborhood kind of person. I wanted to find my own way and make friends, and be neighborly enough, but I don't like people just "stopping over" for a chat.

I also wanted a patio villa for the upkeep and cleaning (low cost and low time commitment). Again, happy when the neighborhood is 40% occupied in summer.

I wanted to be near several neighborhood pools so I would have choices.

My must have was green space. We ended up with a patio villa on a corner lot, perfect for us. We also "upgraded" from our up-north home of 800 sq. ft. to 1200 sq feet in The Villages.

There is truly something for everyone...welcome!

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We live in Fenney and plan to buy an electric Atomic golf cart. Has a range of 100 miles or so. That's more than enough range to get us where we might want to go. No plans to buy a gas cart.

ontop of that...I hear Atomic has air conditioning.....,so cool....literally

Yes air conditioning and heat, windshield wiper, back up camera and on and on. Of course it costs as much as a small car.

Single Golfers of the villages are taking applications to join and you might be able to get in, if they hold a lottery this year. sgvclub.com is the web site.

They have many events that you can golf and meet both men and woman.The last Thursday of every month they have a social and you can meet many people.