Cost of living /month in the villages
 

Hello, please forgive me if I am not proceeding correctly I am new at this.
I am considering buying a home and would like to know what extra cost per month there are.
ORHER THAN .
Mortgage, bond, electric, insurance. Can someone help?
Kate

Did you look on The Villages site??? They show an example. Add 20%.

The Villages - Florida's Friendliest Active Adult 55+ Retirement Community

Amenity Fee - for new purchasers, it is $164/month per household. And bond, if you are purchasing a new home or one with bond remaining. But, you mentioned bond, so you understand that part I guess!

As noted in the link in post #2..

In order for a more complete and useful answer you'd need to provide what you are paying for...taxes...water...garbage pickup...electrical...etc. Now while some of our costs are bundled each month knowing your costs would make it easier for you to know where the savings/greater costs are...Yes?

For more information in TOTV, go down to the bottom section, Nuts and bolts of The Villages. Read the 3 Sticky messages, Part 1,2 & 3. Good luck ... the best is yet to come!

After normal expenses that you mentioned. You will need lawn cutting, fertilizing of lawn and bushes/trees,
Termite contract and bug spray of home and some bushes. Trees and bushes grow quickly here in the summer. If you snowbird you may need someone to do some trimming in July/August.

Since you are getting a mortgage your escrow will include taxes, insurance and bond. Other bills I receive are cable, water and sewer, electric, amenity bill including trash fee and we have a loan for our golf cart. For us it is about $2000. a month for that. In addition we have lawn care both mowing and fertilization.

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Thank you. I the 164.00 the HOA?

Thank you. Is the $164.00 considered the HOA?

Thank you for the very detailed expenses. I appreciate it.

IRISHGIRL3US, The Villages breaks down expenses, so the HOA equivalent is the amenity fee ($164) and something called the district assessment fee (shows up on the property tax bill; depends on which district you are in, average is a little under $200), so the total is a little above $350 a month HOA equivalent.

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I wouldn't call that an amenity bill. It is a services bill that amenity is a part of.

I was planning g on cash for the house and bond

Yes, called an amenity fee.

Does anyone know if there is a bike club

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The exact cost, expensive.

Eating out is a major event here . If you are inclined . Golf, but don't forget no state income taxes .

Great reply .

You should look at your own budget last year . Depending on where you move from . Difference costs are mainly golf cart . Home insurance, the bond., Eating out. Less costs are clothing . More is traveling home to see grandkids, . Many people forget also, religious institute costs, charity , more sun hats sunglasses and swimsuits. You may even spend more on gas if you like to explore or go beach swimming. .Florida has great tourist things , even Disney for some . Enjoy retirement .

Check out my YouTube channel. I have an episode about that subject

http://How Much Does it Really Cost ...be/brmdf0mQd8c

I'm thinking of buying a site built home with a rubber membrane roof. Does anyone know how many of these exist in Villages and who reseals these when needed?
thanks.

Water
 

You will pay two water bills one for inside the other for yard it adds up

If anyone is trying to go to this link, I found there was a typo of too many periods. It is: http://How Much Does it Really Cost.be/brmdf0mQd8c

They're not allowing the link to be printed properly, please disregard.

Whoa it messed up again. http://How Much Does it Really Cost.be/brmdf0mQd8c

Check out this video from The Villages newcomers for information on costs

How Much Money Do I Need To Live In The Villages - YouTube

Check out my youtube channel. This episode speaks about the cost to live in The Villages
How Much Does it Really Cost to Live in The Villages + BONUS TIP - YouTube

Your amenity fee, garbage, water and sewer bills come on one bill, you can conservatively expect to pay between $230 and $260 bucks total.
Other cost are about $55 bucks a month for lawn cutting and about $550 a year for fertilizer and bug control

For the above mentioned figure $175/mo

FYI the water from your hose is potable water at a higher cost than irrigation water

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There are lots of other expenses that can be added to your list, all of which are optional.

Home warranty insurance (if not purchasing new) approx $65/month
HVAC Service Plan (2 yearly maintenance checkups) approx $200/year
Satellite/Cable (Direct TV, Xfinity, Dish, ect) approx $120/month
Premium add ons (Netflix, Hulu, HBO, Disney+) approx $15/month each
Internet (Comcast, Centurylink, AT&T) depending on speed $40 to $80/month

Others to add to your list
Cell Phones
Lawn and shrub care
Pest Control
Pool Maintenance (if you have one, personally, would not live in Florida without one)
Housekeeping
Golf and Car Insurance

Pest control for house and yard, chemical treatment of yard, mowing trimming, AC maintenance, tankless hot water heater maintenance, sprinkler maintenance,
Home improvements and exterior improvements appear to be regular events throughout the villages.
Also consider if you have a golf cart, you have the additional insurance and maintenance for that.

I assume you are trying to budget. People are all different. I have a long time friend, I was shocked that he knows how many rolls of toilet paper he use and how many his wife uses.

My view, you are always better having more than you think you will need. It is very unlikely that social security, pensions etc after taxes will keep up with rising costs.

Inflation. We are told the goal is 2%. Food, and medical are going up far faster than that.
Using the 2% number in 36 years you will need two dollars to buy what a dollar buys today.
Two percent is way below the real average long term inflation rate.

..,.

We really cannot answer all this for you. Cash for the house and the bond?
I find it interesting and shocking to view reality. You can get a 30 year mortgage at the average age in the villages of 70 and pay, around 2% interest. That interest can be deductible for some. Odds of living to 100 and living in the same place for the next 30 years??????? So fuzzy math 2%-30% is 1.4%. The bond, the interest is 5% at least mine was. I was told the interest is due to go down in two years. Be sure to verify everything I am saying.

On a mortgage, I think there is a prepayment penalty if you pay it off in less than two years. That is a matter of law. It is there in a mortgage, fine print, somewhere. There are also closing costs. Roughly 4,000. That too is there. Might also be fine print. Some people, slight of hand, put the closing costs into the loan amount.

There is some value to not having to pay a mortgage and or the bond. Is it worth the cost, the loss of the use of your money. The long term 30 years return on your money,
only you can answer that.

Not having enough income to qualify for a mortgage? I was told by the bank I needed a letter from my brokerage that I signed a letter that they would withdraw ????? dollars from my account and send me a check. I'm sure both knew the reality. The brokerage told me they regularly get this request no trouble, no cost to do it and you can cancel it as soon as the mortgage is issued. A phone call no cost to do it.

Ohiobuckeye
 

The biggest expense you’ll see if you never lived in a gated community, sorta, is your amenity $164. a month. So hopefully you play golf or one of the other things TV offer. Otherwise if you just want to live in TV & do nothing get used to donating some money, another thing is paying for you bond if you have one. Water in Florida is a little higher than probably what your used to. Lots of FUN things to do there. But don’t think it’s heaven, you have the same kind of people there as everywhere. But the sign coming into TV is pretty close, “Friendliness place in America”. God Bless America & TV!

Monthly fees
 

The monthly fees can vary dramatically depending on what services you desire. In general it seems that monthly fees can run between $800-$1400/month for regular expenses.