Buyer Beware
 

If you are out looking at a new house or property today, and it appears to be a water front place - be careful. We got a lot of rain yesterday, and a water front lot today may not be water front tomorrow. Many retention ponds are full today, until the water can be disbursed.

Ask you realtor, and hopefully you get an honest response.

The last Hurricane pass over TV, our block long pond was up by10-15’. Before any danger to homes, water went to the courses.

Then if you remember courses were flooded and closed. If it is the developers ability, they try to make sure homes are not effected.

Now sinkhole due to the rain is another story.

IMHO, this is hardly a concern

We've been here for two hurricanes

We've seen the water in the retention ponds rise 10+ feet during those storms

the developer has actually done a fine job with the land contours, drainage pipes and designing a system that moves the water in these retention ponds out before it could rise high enough to flood anyone's home

they empty the retention pond water onto the golf courses....that's all part of the design

Just check the flood zone map.

Is the OP concerned that homes may be flooded in similar storms or is he concerned that the lot will look less desirable once the water recedes, is redistributed, or evaporates?

The latter. So many 'ponds' are now full of weeds, not water that the original homeowner paid for. It IS in the clause, though, that there might not always be water in the 'ponds.'

I believe this is not the intent of the original post. I take the OP to mean that if a lot looks like it has a beautiful water view, that water view may not always be that beautiful because the water level will drop significantly at times when there is no rain or because the retention ponds have been emptied to move overflow water elsewhere to prevent homes from flooding.

The post has NOTHING to do with hurricanes - it has to do with Sunday (after a rain), many homes looked like water fronts, but by Tuesday, they’re not - the “LAKE” is really a retention dam, that doesnt have water, unless there’s a HUGE rain.

Where could I see one of those? Near me are ponds that go up and down but always have some water.

@Bill14564, Soulliere Villas (upper left corner of TV, off of 42) has two retention ponds that are permitted as percolation ponds and on the retention pond map on the district web site are listed as dry retention ponds. Right now, it they look full with 2-3 inches of water but when it drains plants grow and the pond in front of the villas is periodically mowed. (The proper real estate phrase, which I've seen once, is that villas facing the pond have "expansive views.")

The drainage system in The Villages is a work of art and an engineering marvel. A foot of rain in a day would leave our houses unflooded, so long as everything is in good repair. (However, there must be some sort of drainage behind Courtyard homes, right? I suppose home owners would do well to make sure those drains are open so the courtyards don’t turn into wading pools.)

Easy fix buy flood insurance. Cheap if you do not need it according to flood maps.