Amenity Fees - Increased?
 

Hi there! I am new to TV and to the TOTV Forum and I searched but did not find a prior post that answers the question I'm about to ask...

I closed on my home in December last year.

I noticed that amenity fees were going up based on this article excerpt:

"These adjustments from the Consumer Price Index will impact the contractual amenity fee for all homeowners who closed on their houses after Jan. 1, 2023 and all new homes built in The Villages on and after Jan. 1, 2023.

Previously, the amenity fees for these homes was set at a rate of $179. Now, these rates — also known as prevailing rates — will be se to $189, according to a letter released by Robert Chandler IV, The Villages Vice President of Development."

I noticed that mine went up to $189.80 this utility bill.

I called utilities and they sent a voicemail Indicating that they could go up every year in april.

Could anyone point me to clarification on this question? I was not aware they could continue to go up? I thought they were set based on when you bought your house.

If they are reassessed every year then that's something I have to deal with but is there a percentage cap on how much they go up (so that you can budget?)
Thanks!

Oh no grasshopper they will increase.

Look in your deed restrictions and you will find that they go up every year based on the CPI. You will see the increase in the month your house was originally sold which may not be the same as the month you bought it.

POSSIBLE calculation: you closed on your home last year when the contractual rate was $179. The CPI is currently 6%. If you just reached the anniversary date for your home, your new rate will be $179 plus 6% which comes out to $189.80.

Mine has gone up 4 times in 3 years. Usually about $2-3 but the last one was about $10. Originally it was explained that we would pay based on when we bought our house and only new purchased would pay a higher amount based on when they bought but that has changed. Now everyone pays an increase each year but it is still a bargain.

Do a search on here.....lot of threads on amenity fee increases.

They go up by CPI, on the anniversary date that the ORIGINAL buyer closed - not you.

Here is an explanation that Don Wiley posted in response to a similar question in a thread from last summer;

"The Annual CPI adjustment is calculated monthly for the previous 12 months. This CPI adjustment is applied on the month of the original contract for the home. The month remains the same no matter how many times the home is sold. While the number changes from month to month, long term it works out pretty close to equal for two homes with the same initial rate and different anniversary months, yes there may be some small rounding errors, but in the end it is a very small difference.

There will be occasions where a home's amenity fee may take 2 jumps in a year - a home with an anniversary of April sells in February, in February the home assumes the current prevailing rate and then in April the annual CPI causes another increase.

If you buy a spec home the dates can appear disconnected from the sale date. Spec home contracts are released in lots that are all or part of a subdivision/unit, but the actual home sale date or even build start date can be different by many months. This certainly adds to the confusion of the dates. Custom-build homes will also each have varying dates.

It's been suggested that we change the date so that all homes have the same CPI adjustment month. This would have a huge backlash. If such a change were proposed there would be an uproar that it is unfair. Say for example the decision was made to that on October 1st everyone would get the same CPI adjustment, only the people in October would be happy, everyone else would be upset because they would have to pay more sooner since they just had a CPI adjustment in ____ (November through September) and would be being penalized by the "early" adjustment. Of course, this would have an impact on home sales also, people would hold off buying in July, August, and September because they would have to pay the prevailing rate increase on resales only to be shortly thereafter hit with the CPI adjustment. Then there would be a huge spike in sales from October to December. It would have a negative impact on the marketplace.

Yes, the District Budget and Finance departments would love to have only one CPI adjustment date and only one rate for everyone in The Villages, their lives and work would be so much simpler, but it will never happen. Just look at the complaining that goes on over the current CPI adjustments, adjustments that are in the agreements you signed when you bought your home. These were never a secret; the terms were right there in black and white on the papers you signed. If you didn't read and understand them at the time, whose fault is that?"

Dont inderstand why this minimal increases in amenity fees get people so upset. Guess some entitled Villages think when they move here that nothing should increase.

LOL, I think the "entitled" word is so worn out already here. Just about any complaint elicits the "entitled" response these days.

Just because one questions or complains about a fee or whatever going up doesn't mean they should just accept it without question or should HAPPILY accept it just because things get more expensive. Is one "entitled" because they complain the price of gas is up or the cost of eggs is up? Should they just suck it up because "things go up" ?

Don't you think people are "entitled" to post a gripe without being labeled "entitled". :loco: :a20:

Nope…they are entitled to not ever paying a penny more…yep, entitled.

Or, they may have not understood, or they may not have been told anything and did not KNOW the right questions to ask, and most of all, they may, like so many retired folks, be on a fixed income that does not increase by substantial amount each year. People, like relatives of ours, who had to move recently, actually are intelligent, and they do their "homework", but no one PLANS on "things going up" by 50%, hamburger that was $3.29 not that long ago is $6.99, gasoline they tell us, is heading to $5.00 since we cut back our drilling and then insulted the wrong person (!) in the Mideast. People are hurting, that's why they get so upset, no one goes out of their way to explain these things and so many try to ask the "right" questions but just don't know exactly what to ask ! Yes, people are hurting, and in a retirement community like ours, a lot of people are hurting. It may not even be today's amenity bill, it's what next year will bring. Hope that helps you understand just a bit. You may have more money, or you may have more investments bringing in larger amounts of money each year than some other people, so you don't worry as much as some others might. Hope that helps to clarify a bit.

Amenity fes
 

I believe that you accidently missed putting in a space in your response in French. It should read "Oui c'est moi" instead of "Ouic'est moi". A small typo but it will confuse a beginner in French. And the translation to English is "Yes, it's me".
But I adore your using French. It broadens everyone's knowledge.

Strike 1
 

welcome to letter " a " of a to z of the financial fastballs aimed at our heads. however, man's best friend is always there to cheer you up

You are completely right EdFNJ! Tossing the word 'entitled' around is lazy. Lazy thinking, lazy writing, & a lazy contribution to the discussion. The word is way overused, but actually thinking about the topic & response is WAY too much work for some people. It happens. Do you remember the 1970's? For many people the operative word for any situation was 'sh!t', it was a noun, an adjective, an exclamation. Fortunately the fad passed & like then it is now past time to retire a word so overused it has become meaningless. (Except in a few situations where things actually are sh!tty :duck:)

You're a response was exactly what I was looking for, I appreciate you helping to make sense of a complicated situation that I've not seen anywhere else I have lived in the United States.

That's where you went terribly awry, unless the words that you posted were entirely from the other article and it wasn't you being snarky and telling me "I should have read... et cetera et cetera."

I asked a question so that I could receive clarification. It was my understanding that's what the forum is for.

Please tell me at any point in time where I complained or said I couldn't afford or was not going to pay?