Missing lanais..
 

My wife and I are shopping for our retirement home at Fenney. Yeah... I know it's disconnected, but we are still a few years from retirement. We have noticed that most of the Patio Villas there do not have a lanai. When I asked my salesman, he gave a nonsensical answer. Does anyone know why they are moving away from lanais?

Would you mind sharing what he said? I don't know why they would discontinue lanais.

It was something about adding a bedroom for the emerald model. We never considered that model. He's a really nice guy but probably had a long day..If you look at Patio Villas in Fenney few have lanais. They are replaced by a Florida room. There is no door between it and the house so you can't enjoy fresh air...

Of the 12 Patio Villa floor plans:
4 have no lanai (Cottage,Nantucket,Sapphire and Vineyard)
2 have a lanai with only 1 screened wall (Emerald and Moonstone)
6 have a lanai with 2 screened walls (std for patio villas)
None of the Patio Villas have a Florida room. Maybe you are thinking of a different series.

Or maybe the sales agent is, since he's the one who mentioned Florida rooms.

The patio Villa's usually have a screened in porch on the FRONT with two screened walls.

I've been in Florida all my life and most of the year it's too hot to sit out on a lanai. Many people in TV close them in because of this.
Ride around and see just how many people are sitting out on the lanai. You won't see many during the day and very few at night. A house facing north is the best you can get in Florida. Sun comes up in the East and down in the West. Both are on the Side of the house. Facing North puts the summer sun on the Front of the house so you might be able to use the lanai. And of course the sun is toward the South in the Winter so it will warm the lanai. My two cents.

I have a friend that bought a house in Naples and then sold it and built a house because she said outdoor space in Florida is very important. I agree and we just expanded our lanai. I know many have enclosed them but our 3/2 CYV is big enough that we do not need another room.

For some it’s not about the lanai it’s about the extra space in the bedroom. We have friends who have never sat in their lanai they just don’t like it. If you’re looking at a patio villa and want that third bedroom it’s a bonus due to the lack of lanai.
At Our original patio villa, have to say I rarely spent any time on the lanai, I just didn’t like it being in the front of the house.

The developer is trying to please thousands of people so they have offered multiple patio villas layouts to pick from if you need a lanai just pick one of those. When we started coming in 07 you had two patio villas to pick from, that was it

I tried to make a deal with a friend of mine. We would ride around TV and for every empty lanai, he would give my one dollar. For every lanai we found someone on, I would give him 5 dollars. He wouldn't do it. Said it would cost hime too much money. No Kidding. Remember, you only have to satisfy yourself.

We bought/built in 2014 - Gilchrist. Regular lot with homes in back, but nice. Our Model, Holly, has a small inset lanai right in the middle of the home back. We did bump it back 2' = all they allowed. No real view - westerly with PM sun.

So during the design meeting we decided to have them make a Florida Room rather than lanai. Floor level with rest of home, HVAC, stretch of windows and door in the back and french doors to the room. We use it just about every day - read, relax, treadmill. Always comfy. The house is 2350 sq feet with the FL Room.

Would we like a lanai in back - Use it occasionally for sure - but we do get much more use from what we did.

2964 KNAPP STREET NEW - Available right now for sale in Fenney!
2 bed • 2 bath • 1234 sqft, 2 Car Garage $186,131

https://image.thevillages.com/api/ul...pg?w=648&h=400

Lanais are too cold a lot of the time during winter months and too hot during the summer. If you have any allergy issues they are pretty useless. A house facing north is best if you must have a lanai and get the best use of it. But to each his own......

It's nice to have a Lanai, we don't use it daily nor did we use our deck up north daily but would not want a Florida home without one. Our home has a water view and the lanai helps us to enjoy the view. They are nice to have when grilling or just having a late day cocktail or morning coffee. It also gives you something else to clean on a regular basis, they do get dusty.

Our house faces east and we use our lanai quite a bit.
It’s nice to have a cup of coffee and listen to the birds.
Don’t use it as much when it is really hot, but
that isn’t too often.
The weather here is generally pretty nice,
so it’s nice to be able to have the option to
not be closed in and enjoy it!