Can I really AFFORD TV?
 

What would be the average monthly costs of a small home in TV? - 2 br/2 ba, nothing fancy. I live on Long Island. I'm figuring with landscaping, maintenance, typical house bills, insurance... $2K a month? Does that sound right? How do people do this on a fixed income?? Not sure I can afford TV.:cold:

Afford TV
 

You can do it on 2K depending on the initial cost of your home, the size of the down payment, and the mortgage balance. I think your post said a home worth around 200K. That includes utilities, taxes, maintenance fees, and insurance. This is not including entertainment and groceries.

Cost of living in TV
 

My wife and I got a breakdown from one of the sales agents while we were vacationing in December. On a house of around 190-200,000 the cost is about 750-900 per month counting all the taxes, amenities fee, insurance, bond, and CDD. At least that's the figure they gave us. I understand it will vary, but I understood that to be about average. That's separate from the mortgage, if any.

If I'm wrong, someone with more knowledge please correct me.

Living Expenses
 

I have a series of notes on Moving to the Villages. In it is an estimate of the monthly/annual living cost.

Please go to https://www.talkofthevillages.com/fo...ad.php?t=17717

It is in the Nuts and Bolts forum.

Z

From many prior posts on this same issue - if you don't have a mortgage, don't eat out every night and your medical insurance isn't too high, $2K/Mo net is doable. My mother had about $1,500/Mo income and saved around $500/Mo with no mortgage and pension covered medical.

From what I have read, the average gross family income in TV is around $45K.

A promotional flyer we were given before we moved here indicated the median income was 92 K annual income.

I think the 45K-55K is about right as an average. Remember median is an average and many people over estimate their actual income. And you have to ask - does the median income include before retirement and after retirement income.

Also that 45-55K is gross - not net.

IMHO, you are correct. Assuming no mortgage or bond payments.

Two things ---

If you buy now, you can get a 2/2 or 3/2 ranch for well under $200K.

http://www.thevillages.com/homes/vls/search_new.asp

The new ones are a great deal, a bit cheaper.

http://www.thevillages.com/homes/new...earch_new2.asp

Re average income here, the published numbers are pretty meaningless. Is the number owner/resident or buyer? We have fully employed single or double income folks buying pre-retirement and snow flaking for a couple years. We have snow birds who are fully employed "up north" for 6+ months a year. We have residents with full time jobs or businesses that they oversee from TV. And we have actual retirees --- hey we don't do no stinkin' work, man!! My retirement and minuscule investments pale in comparison to a neighbor's full time job in Tampa or another buddy's income from a company he still owns and quasi runs back home. But they'll catch up to me one day.

I'm single, have a small mortgage and am doing quite well on just my state pension alone. I have a 2B/2B patio villa. I wanted to keep expenses down so I went with the villa - it was a good choice for me - not much maintenance - more time to play.

Lots of information available.:read:
Send for The Villages Tour and Information Portfolio, it has a cost of living sheet.
http://www.thevillages.com/freetour/freetour.asp
Another source of information.
http://www.thevillagesfloridabook.com/cost-of-living/
Still another source, scroll down to find Cost of Living.
http://users.thevillages.net/wproven...llagenotes.htm

On the developer's commercial website...
 

...per the U.S. Census, the average income for The Villages homebuyers is $74,300 (I assume that refers to the 2000 census).

Take a look at the website "selling" the villages to commercial entities:
http://www.thevillagescommercialproperty.com/index.asp

Villager's have everything at their fingertips (except prefered tee times, it seems). There is very little reason to leave TV, in fact, the website states that 80% of residential trips are within TV.

To us, that is a great attraction. In our golden years we want to be catered to and accomdated at every turn...and we don't mind paying a bit more to have it that way. I'm thinking life in TV would be much nicer than life out in the general population.

It is nicer than life out in the "real world". For instance tonight we went to play Bingo at the Colony Cottage recreation center. The center is beautifully decorated and full of beautiful furniture, mirrors, pictures, and gorgeous accessories, looking like a Victorian beach cottage on steroids.

Bingo cost one dollar per person and cards were very cheap. My husband, daughter and I shared nine cards for ten dollars. The prizes came from the money collected and ranged from twenty five dollars to one hundred ten dollars per game.

There was a break in the middle where you were served your choice of large bowls of chocolate, Vanilla, Swirl, or no sugar ice cream. Then you had all kinds of toppings, including peanuts and whipped cream.

Our daughter won sixty dollars. They take all of the money collected that night and give it completely back to the group in the room. This was in a beautiful room with eight large Austrian crystal chandeliers.

Not to mention the unbelieveable comraderie among the attendees. Friendly and fun.

You had me at "sugar-free ice cream";)

Sugar-free for over five years...both of us...and we're not diabetics.

From Wikipedia "The Villages":

The median income for a household in the CDP was $42,542, and the median income for a family was $45,078. Males had a median income of $58,173 versus $26,176 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $28,343.


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