Is your Village the best and if so why?
 

We would like to retire in a Courtyard Villa. So far we've only rented in the St. James Village and loved it because it was close to everything. I thought it would be interesting to hear if you feel your Village is the best and if so why?
Thanks and have a wonderful day!!!

Excellent question, since, supposedly, many think their village the best.

St. Catherine is the best. Close to Sawgrass, Brownwood and the new one coming soon Eastport. Easy golf cart ride to Lake Sumter and Colony restaurants. Far enough away from the big box stores and associated traffic.
Easy hop on the turnpike to get to Disney and MCO. Great neighbors. Beautiful walking and biking trails

You are taking credit for relief from a problem that does not exist for many, many, many villages north of 44, & north of 466A & north of 466.

I live in Mallory Square which is two villages away from Lake Sumter Landing. The only traffic I encounter to get to the Big Box stores is on 466 and 441. Other than that, the roads within The Villages proper are not bogged up with traffic.

Put it this way, if you go to the big box stores (AKA the 441 corridor of retail, restaurants and medical facilities), you will encounter the same exact traffic I do when I go to that corridor. So.......why even mention traffic?

Heck, Morse is a traffic jam during the morning and evenings. Ive had to go to a doctors office near BJs and getting up Morse to even access 441 is a PITA.
Pretty sure I can offer MY opinion. Who died and made you king?

Im taking credit for it? No. Just commenting that the traffic I see starts at 44 and extends northwards on Morse. Compare that to Meggison. Or Warm Spring. I hate driving my car up north.

What's the best car to buy?

Why?

Why would you drive up north if you live off Meggison. Leesburg is 9 miles Lady Lake is 15.

Our area is the best because we don't have any courtyard villas.

Well, I need to go up there for one of my doctors. Other than that, I try to avoid it.

I see a lot of those Vettes around. They are pretty useless in the Villages, but it appears as though there are a lot of mid life crisis' happening. I mean, they are cramped and too close to the ground. You cant drive more than 40 mph around here. I just dont get it. Luckily we all get to choose what is best for us.

The one I bought!
Because I say so!
(Is that what you were looking for?)

We all like our village best. We all have likes and dislikes that we think makes our village special. Good luck with your survey.

I like pie.

Dutch apple.

I will agree to disagree with you. There is zero traffic on Morse at any time of day at any time of year, IMHO. I'm from New York, New Jersey and south Florida. Now THAT is traffic. Here? Nada.

We are in a Courtyard Villa and we so lover where we are. We are about as far north as you can get in Soulliere Villas, up past the First Responders Rec Center. It is extremely quiet and no traffic as you need to leave the Villages to get to us by car but we are connected by golf cart. It is the perfect location to sit back and enjoy the sound of the trains going by in the distance, just perfect. We are 25 minutes to Spanish Springs, 35 to Sumter, 60 minutes to Brownwood, about an hour 15 minutes to Sawgrass, an hour and a half or so for Edna’s and an hour 45 to Fenney. Some of the best golf cart rides from our area. Anyway I hope you find what you are looking for, the Villas are great. When we bought we were looking at designer homes but then thought as we get older why do we want more house and yard to care for so the Villa is perfect.

We think our Village is the best because that’s where our house is.

The best place in the Villages depends on you. There are so many choices! We recently moved to a CYV that is located under 10 miles to each of the 3 town squares. All of our favorite restaurants are within a 12 minute drive. The Villages hospital is 4 miles away with several others 8-10 minutes further. We have a quick and easy drive to Daytona/St Augustine. We are loving our new home! We regret not moving sooner.

Yes, live in far north of villages, less traffic, neighborhood quite, no Karen’s, Larry’s, or crazies so far. About 1/2 or more of original residence turnover in my villages Most moving in have downsized from larger home’s when spouses died.

I see some parking in handicapped spots. IMO not handicapped if you can crawl in and out of corvette. But, that me:shocked:

Rhubarb?

As someone already posted, everyone believes their village is the best. If you have nice neighbors no matter where you live, you're in a good village. As far as distance you can drive by car from one side of the village to the other in about 20 minutes and shopping and entertainment is about 10.

We bought a CYV just south of Spanish Springs and still live in it full time for the last 10 years because of its location and its on the end of a U street so we have a huge back yard. Admittedly, we have a 20 X 20 enclosed heated/AC lanai and a 20 X 16 screen room added on so have plenty of room. We are close to any shopping we need, have mature landscaping all around us, no bond, like the walls for privacy, its easy to maintain, guests/family do a rental close by, and we are centrally located for TV portion north of 44. We consider TV two parts joined together...north and south split by 44.

We live in a courtyard villa in Monarch Grove. We love our location. We are close enough to all the retail on 27/441 when we need to go there, have to say we don’t do that often because of all the traffic in that area but at least it’s not that far. We are close enough to Leesburg, Clermont and areas in that direction. We can get to Brownwood by cart in 15 minutes and will be closer than that to Eastport when that opens.

We also like that our driveway is the new configuration which is straight in to our 2 car garage not the angle that some of the older courtyard villas had, which was actually a selling point for us.

Mallory Square is in a location I and my husband are both very happy with. Located between 466 and 466A, close to Morse Blvd, it doesn't get any better than that for us. We are just a 9 minute golf cart ride to Lake Sumter Landing but far enough away not to hear any music in the evening from the town square no matter how the wind is blowing. Our location is very quiet which is what we prefer. We have a fantastic group of people who frequent our social events and clubs which makes our village a real keeper for us.

We like being close to the 441/27 corridor of retail, restaurants and medical facilities. Glad to see the roadway construction is finally close to being completed. Already the traffic is moving much quicker as the new lanes are paved and opening up. It has been a bear these last few years with the ongoing (sometimes non existent) construction.

The mature landscape and flowers plantings keeps our area of The Villages beautiful. There is a section along Buena Vista Blvd., near Lake Sumter Landing that is adorned with massive Old Oak trees. Riding at night along that section of Buena Vista is the most serene and calm inducing experience for me. Sometimes, coming home at night, we take Buena Vista just for that lovely feeling.

I love living here.

We are in a CYV in the Village of St. James and we love being in between Lake Sumter Landing and Brownwood.

The only caveat with a CYV is they seem to be ripe picking for investors to turn them into short-term motels.

So you may lose that neighborhood feel when you have a different neighbor every few weeks.

It's starting to feel like a timeshare community than a retirement community.

All the original owners just south of 466 are dying off and investors are scooping up those CYVs.

As original owners start dying off just north of 466a you will see the same trend with investors buying up CYVs.

So if you want a CYV I would get one south of 466a.

The best advice I've heard is to look at which Rec Centers have the sports you like, and go through the list of 3,000+ clubs and see where the ones you'd want to join tend to meet. Put it all on a map. If you really want to you can also mark the squares, parks and walking trails, etc. Live in the middle of where the most of your dots are.

Anywhere north of rt. 44 . Better shopping less traffic mature landscape.

Because they are fun!! Especially a convertible 😎.

Yes, glad we all get to chose.

There isn’t a bad Village here. They are all great; depends on what you’re looking for. If you want new, then south of 44. Anywhere in The Villages you can call home will be the best!
Personally, I don’t like Sawgrass. Too expensive and really nothing to offer. I like the ambiance of Spanish Springs and Lake Sumter Landing. Brownwood is also good. I like the convenience that each of these squares is just a golf cart drive away. In the past, the amenities were built first, then the homes. Now the homes are built first and amenities fill in the spaces. I prefer the golf courses north of 44. I rarely travel south of 44.

We live at Linden, south of 44. Between Linden Isle and Monarch Grove. 97 homes or so and one way in snd out. Not far from Publix and Brownwood. Will be about 5 miles or less from Shallow Creek Golf Course. Can get to many areas and have fantastic neighbors. Sun comes up in the front and sets in the back. Traffic will go down eventually on Warm Springs. Every place has advantages and disadvantages. Excellent place to retire anywhere in The Villages. Enjoy where you are.

We live at Linden, south of 44. Between Linden Isle and Monarch Grove. 97 homes or so and one way in and out. Not far from Publix and Brownwood. Will be about 5 miles or less from Shallow Creek Golf Course. Can get to many areas and have fantastic neighbors. Sun comes up in the front and sets in the back. Traffic will go down eventually on Warm Springs. Every place has advantages and disadvantages. Excellent place to retire anywhere in The Villages. Enjoy where you are.

Village
 

DeLuna is only 15 minutes from most everywhere, so we love it here due to easy access to places in every direction. And 17 minutes from our son in Middleton.

My rule
 

I built in Pine Hills 2017 went to Texas (love Texas but no activities like here) came back mid 2021 and had 1 rule. Had to have 2 car garage with a golf cart garage and above hwy 44. To enjoy being a villager I want to be able to drive my golf cart to shopping, restaurants and a good amount of golf & rec centers in 20 minutes. That means preowned just wait until you see one you want - I got lucky this layout is better than my 2017 house and in Dunedin

Especially close to squares.

Corvette
 

Old man car and they still drive it slowly.. funny to see

Mission Hills The Best
 

Mission Hills location Hwy 466 and Morse close to Sumter (5 Min.) or Spanish Springs (12 Min). So location, location, location. While on the main multimodal off the beaten path so no through traffic. Great social club with monthly events. Many golf groups organized. Driveway parties, just a great place to live. All courtyard villas but a few designers.