Unpopular Opinion: the floor plans at Latitude Margaritaville are much better.
 

This is going to be unpopular, but having just come back from visiting their model homes, the floor plans by Latitude Margaritaville (Daytona, Hilton Head, and Panama City/30A) are better thought out and with smoother flow than the villas (patio or courtyard) The Villages does.

The patio and courtyard villas are all very similar: Open the front door into the dining or living room, kind of a wide hallway / shotgun through the living space to the lanai out back (CYV) or the back wall / bedrooms (PVs).

Compare that to the cottages and villas in Latitude Margaritaville with more variety and a better layout. I wish The Villages would incorporate some of these soaring features and floor plans instead of the very cookie-cutter model we have available to us now.

I find the amenities and d@mn near everything else better at The Villages, but the floorpans? Meh. Boring.

This link is to one of their cottages, the "Dreamsicle" I believe:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsCm_VvKI5Y

That's very nice! And the bathrooms certainly are more upscale than those in our 2011 CYV. I like our kitchen better and the fact that the patio is walled for privacy and the dogs.
But I could be happy either place.

Now compare the crime and see what you think.

Enjoy Margaritaville.

Ghastly color and I won't have a closet in the bath.

Wow, talk about all or none. I love living, except being sick. Well, enjoy being dead. Sorry you are so reactionary, I usually enjoy your posts and find them well thought out and articulated. Not this one. You essentially wrote off someone's post because they offered a different perspective.

No, TV is far better in nearly every regard, I'm just saying there is room for them to step up their game, especially in their bread and butter: the housing offeringst=.

I would think that house design is a personal preference.. . .but i could be only talking my book

Floor plans, who cares? We bought our Villages home fully aware we could get much more home for the $$ elsewhere. We bought for the amenities and active lifestyle. Our home is the place where we sleep and keep our stuff. The rest of the time we are out and about enjoying all the things to do that makes the Villages the reason we bought a house there. For us, the location of our home was infinitely more important than the floor plan.

I lived in a 1700 sq ft CYV for 15 years that felt like the walls were closing in. Every day, I could not wait to get out! I thought the Developer was clever and built homes that forced us to get outdoors.

I recently bought a remodeled home in the northern section of the Villages and I love it! The home has higher ceilings, bigger rooms, and an enlarged lanai with a spectacular view. Best of all, no rental homes on the street. Now, I have the best of both worlds. Cost? Less than newly constructed. Look around! There are nice homes in the Villages.

BTW: My favorite floor plans are On Top of The World, Ocala.

Bingo.

:beer3:

We looked at it in Daytona before we bought here. Home designs were nice but the lifestyle was nothing compared to here. And we could say that about every place we looked at compared to here. There is just no comparison. If you want a great house go buy some acreage somewhere and build. It will be much cheaper. But if you want a great lifestyle with an okay house then come here. I would also say Daytona has a lot of homeless and drug addicts. Go downtown and it is not a very pleasant experience. Not sure what the point the OP was trying to make.

There are plenty of drug addicts in the Villages. Alcoholics, too! Just read the daily news.

Well, floor plans are nice but I have never bought a house based on them. For one thing, you can change them quite a bit. However, location and neighborhood that is a different thing. I have a set of top 20 criteria with various levels of significance and floor plan isn’t one of them.

If you think Margaritaville houses are nice, you should check out Citrus Hills. Or Pine Ridge.

But then check out how many people you see taking advantage of the amenities. And then count how many golf carts you see tooling around. In fact, do that at any other retirement community, and you will quickly realize there is no place like this place.

If your goal is to buy another McMansion, just like your empty nest up North, only in Florida, you'll do better just about anywhere else. But if you your goal is to downsize to really active retirement community, I searched all over the country and never found anything that even comes close to The Villages. I will say this, though -- if Pine Ridge had been half as active as The Villages, it sure would have been nice to have an acre with a barn, like my old place in Texas. I could care less about the house, but I sure miss my hobby barn!

I went to school in Daytona Beach. Lived there five years. I’m not sure you would like it, geared toward the spring breaker. And the crowds during speed weeks are huge.

I don’t think anyone has ever said you get more bang for your buck in a TV house, it’s the lifestyle. That’s become cliché but it’s true.

There are plenty of communities with more appealing floor plans and more updated conveniences built in, but none that build them on the scale and speed that the villages builds them. I would think that to meet demand the Villages has to have minimal flexibility in floor plans and other build features to be able to produce homes on the schedule that they need to keep up with demand. Can you buy a newly built home in Margaritaville and close in 30 days? Most people don't choose the Villages for reasons other than the Floor Plan of their home.

We looked there too. But got caught in an afternoon thunderstorm and were wading through ankle deep water on the street on our visit. That was enough!

Defensive or what?
 

It would have been OK to say that you like the floor plans better elsewhere.
The gang is SO DEFENSIVE

I find the amenities and d@mn near everything else better at The Villages, but the floorpans? Meh. Boring.

This link is to one of their cottages, the "Dreamsicle" I believe:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsCm_VvKI5Y[/QUOTE]

Pretty sure OP was pointing out that T V is a better place to live but the design layouts are "boring" when compared to M. O P did make disclaimer that post would ruffle feathers. Posts are correct, "beauty is in the eye of the beholder," so as claimed most don't think OP is right.

Cookie cutter homes are quicker and cheaper to build. OP is pointing out the designs have gone "stale" or are below a bar that they feel has been set by M in their opinion.

When I explored T V I was told "It's the lifestyle" as to why one would move into what I said looked like a tiny military looking cookie cutter home called a Villa that had a basic design and layout.

Once that statement set in... I was sold. The house is where you park your stuff and sleep. The lifestyle is why you come.

O P doesn't seem to be saying M is a better place to park stuff and sleep.

and I would guess you didn't read the HOA documents that would make anyone run away quickly.

Well, I’m trying to understand the real reason for this post.

Ick! Couldn’t get past the blue interior. I’m sure it’s nice, but yuck!

Quite simple- Villa styles - especially the new builds are quite boring - don’t own one but agree 100%- have visited many

change
 

When we built in 2017 we changed our plan (not sure you can now) We extended the master closet to 18 feet taking some from the living room it was too big anyway

maybe you can change the plan if you build - but when we came back in 2021 we got preowned to stay above hwy 44 so lots of golf & shopping are 20 min away by cart

I don’t think they do because they don’t need to. Example: How long did they continue putting in popcorn ceilings after they were outdated?

Agree on the floorplans, especially in the older TV models. Old homes are not very compatible with newer furniture styles like big sectionals. For me worst problem about TV is the poor designs for outdoor BBQ areas. How many add on lanais out there? Bet cost of living is much higher there, especially insurance. Amenities are not even close.

Agree 100%. Wished the developer put more money into the size of the units as opposed to the roofs with TOO many angles/cuts. More expensive to build and more likely to wear out pre-mauturely.

Location, location, location.

We Visited Margaritaville in Hilton Head twice and stayed there. We also stayed and visited many developments up and down the East coast in our 2 year search for a place for retirement. We never really saw one we disliked. But when we came upon The Villages we decided this was it. Just so much more to do then any other place we went. As for the floor plans, it's always a matter of preference. We picked a Woodstar model here because we loved the Walk in pantry, and the Large his and hers Closets. (Not the only reason we picked the Woodstar)

The floors plans in Margaritaville had the flex rooms which were nice. Think we made the right decision.

Looking very closely to the video shows inexpensive fixtures, appliances and building materials. If these are visible on the outside I would suspect the same is true for the “inside” (wiring, plumbing, HVAC, framing, paint, etc). Consider Villages houses, some 30-yrs old, have withstood use, weather and several upgrades over the years and are still in use and selling. Throw in a thousand holes of golf, several dozen swimming pools, rec centers, pickleball & tennis courts and more and the differences are even more apparent.

My guess is that in 30-yrs many places like shown in the video will be in disrepair or maybe torn down to accommodate a high rise although those buying now won’t be alive to see or deal with it. Here’s to 30+ more years of people living the TV Life. Dilly Dilly 🥂

It’s really apples and oranges. The Villas at Margaritaville are all attached with a shared wall. No shared walls in The Villages. Minto Construction does a nice job at Margaritaville, but all homes are wood construction, granted they use 6 inch exterior wall studs, but no CBS construction. Plus, Margaritaville locations are closer to the coastal areas for easier beach access. So, all in all it’s what what kind of lifestyle the buyer is looking for.

Boring and overpriced
 

[/QUOTE]
Rows and rows of cookie cutter homes

I feel sad for you that you don’t think the Courtyard villas have a nice layout. Just looking at the video, once you get by the god awful decor and colors I see that as very choppy and very small rooms. Our villa is slightly larger but 3 bedrooms which are larger than these. The layout front to back of ours is perfect, we open the door from the garage and we have a straight shot through the lanai. Maybe you like small and cramped but not for us, we are just fine here in the Villages.

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:ohdear: Doesn't use a spoon...... maybe a boat oar! :ho:

Nope, not unpopular, I have rented for 3 to 6 months at a time at Latitude Margaritaville, Dell Web in Orland and Ocala and of course TV, this is my third time. The one thing I have learned is that the VAST majority of 55+ communities in Florida have much better homes. What your purchasing in TV is primarily a "Life Style", the home your living in while in TV is secondary.

If you want a nice home I would not consider Latitude Margaritaville either, the Daytona community is an eyesore, the absence of any large vegetation (Trees) makes it look desolate. With one pool, one restaurant (mediocre I might ad) and a collection of overpriced homes painted in ghastly pastels, nope not for me, I was done with my 6 month rental after 2 months.

Daytona is like outside the bubble on steroids.