Jasmine
 

We will be moving to The Villages in June and will be looking for a preowned home. Since we really want to simplify our lives, we want a home with a smaller footprint. We are interested in the Jasmine model and would love some feedback from those who have lived in one....pros? cons? Would you do it again? expenses? We have no children so a big home is not important to us, but ease of upkeep, open floor plan and minimal maintenance would be important and a two car garage is a requirement.
We appreciate any and all opinions and advice. Many thanks for your time!

We have a Jasmine and love it. I think ours is about 1500 square feet, perhaps the new ones are a bit larger.
Since we are seasonal and have another home up north, the smaller size is perfect for us.
I especially like the fact that the front door doesn't open directly into the living room, there is a small hall.
Since there are only two of us, we don't need two eating areas.
So I use the "nook" in the kitchen as a small office with a nice street view.
The Jasmine we bought has an expanded garage, so there is room for a workbench for Fireboy and his RC Flyers.

We have the Wisteria which is the vinyl sided version of the Jasmine. We feel it is perfect for us. We can entertain 8 people for dinner comfortably. We have actually had parties with as many as 25 utilizing the garage as well as the home. More than that would be too many. The split floor plan is awesome when entertaining guests for the night. Our lanai is extended to 12 x 20. I would recommend that. We have a small portable spa on our lanai and still have room for a lawn furniture grouping. We have a roman shower in the master which we love and our master closet is plenty big. If you have any more questions, PM me. I would definitely recommend getting a golf cart garage if possible.

We have a Jasmine that is 1565 sq ft and had 8 sleeping there for a week recently. We put an air mattress in one of the guest rooms and another in our walk in closet. Worked great! We never felt crowded. Really like the split floor plan with the pocket door that can close off the guest bedrooms. We also have an expanded lanai, which was important to us. I like that the garage door opens to the kitchen. My only complaint is that ours has the "pass through" kitchen, instead of being open. When we move there full time, we plan to modify this.

We have an expanded Jasmine. Open Kitchen ,extended garage 4' side stretch, 2' forward stretch, back of the house was also stretched 2'. Closets in every room including hall, master bath & laundry room. My only change would be a larger back yard or a view. The new models have eliminated cabinets & counter top in the Kitchen to make a larger eating are and also squared off the kitchen front wall.

We are delighted with our Jasmine II. Been here for almost 4 years. It was a spec home that had the front and back stretches for 1700 sq ft, an open kitchen (not just a pass through) and an oversize two car garage. Since there are walls on both sides of the living area, there are two mirror-image ways to arrange the furniture. We have enclosed the lanai, but either way, it's nice to have three sides to look out. Just two of us, so we get by fine with a small kitchen table in the nook. Dining room table gets occasional use only. Like Barefoot's hubby, I have a whole workshop against the outer wall of the garage.

Full disclosure: we moved from an 1100 sq ft condo, so this is like a palace.

I also have a Jasmine. I love it the way it is but I daydream about remodeling.
Has anybody priced out adding a new door cut into the poured concrete?
I like the look of stucco but the versatility of vinyl.

Tom, not sure where where you are mentioning putting a door unless it would be a door from the garage to the outside?

Tom, I can't visualize where you would want a new door - from the master bedroom to a birdcage?

We love the fact that we have three linen closets and an open kitchen in our Jasmine.
As many have said, the split floor plan is excellent when company visits - guests have their own suite with privacy.
It is possible to pick up a resale on a view lot for MUCH less than than The Villages is now charging for view lots in the new areas.
We bought a small Jasmine resale (built in 2006). The view lot didn't add much to the purchase price.
Our favorite "room" is our birdcage which we added to our lanai.

we too love our Jasmine ~ we did expand the lanai by adding bird cage on both ends and it is fabulous ~ love being able to close off one side of house when company visits.....

I have a couple of places in mind for adding a door.
1] MBR - replacing the window with a door
2] BR in the back of the house - replacing the window with a door
3] a second front door that enters the BR in the front of the house

You are in luck. We happen to have a Jasmine for sale which I belie ve you would love. Village of Pennecamp cul de sac lot. An expanded Jasmine which includes enclosed lanai, tiled floors except for the bedrooms. Extended kitchen and 3rd bedroom. Extended garage. Much too much to type here. We are using realtor. Call me and I would love to give you more information. Oh, by the way BOND IS PAID!. Call me Bob at 603-391-4092

Been in my Jasmine for 11 years now and still love it as much as the day we moved in. When we bought, you could still fully design your home, so we did make a few changes, but nothing major. We did extend the lanai, we did replace the master bedroom window with a set of sliding glass doors that give additional access to the lanai, made the two bedrooms on the other side of the home equal size, and changed the shower in the master bath. I grew up in FL cleaning a tile shower and I wasn't going there again at my age. We do have the pass through kitchen and love it. When you have company, there's more of a "private" area, the pass through is huge, and I get an extra cabinet. Love the Jasmine!

We have the Wisteria which we love, with the same floor plan as the Jasmine. The large utility closet in the laundry room is great & we do not see it in many models. Our home was built in 2012. I do wish we had a golf car garage, which we did not think we needed initially. I believe I saw 20 Jasmines for sale today through The Villages. We also back to a villa wall which is nice for privacy.

I have no idea why the OP calls the Jasmine "small" but I agree completely with your post - ours is similar, but we have a golf car garage. I love the Concrete and Stucco also, would not go with the Wisteria personally, seems to me wood frame is less permanent in the Florida climate. The 1700 square feet is awesome, the split floor plan with the pocket door is just perfect. The Laundry room right outside the Master is one of the best features.