(Continued from Part 2)
TAXES, FEES, BONDS
Amenity Fees
Amenities fees are used to pay for the upkeep of recreational facilities. Check with your sales person to find out what the current starting fee is. The Deed Restrictions document outlines the Amenity process and the rate. Basically, the fees go up annually based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI). Please check your Deed Restrictions to see what your terms are. If you purchase a pre-owned home, there are differences. The start of your amenity fees is the date of the contract for purchase of the lot. I am not sure but I think the contract signing date of the original house is used for pre-owned homes. Not positive on that.
Bonds
The purpose of the bond is to recover the costs of the infrastructure (sewer, water, streets, electric, cable, etc.) in your section. The bond is calculated based on the cost of the infrastructure for that section divided by the number of houses in the section. The annual amount of the bond payoff will be part of your property tax bill. I am pretty sure that the bond is a 30 year bond at 7% interest. It is like a 30 year mortgage. The bonds are fairly high south of 466. The bond goes down very little each year as most of the payment goes to interest. Be very sure to cover the bond, bond payment, length of the bond interest rate and payoff options with your sales rep or realtor. If you are buying a pre-owned property, be sure to find out how much is left on the bond.
Executive Trail Fees
If you want to use a golf cart as a driver OR a passenger when you play the executive courses, you can pay $3.50 a round or you can pay an Executive Trail Fee. The annual Executive Trail Fee costs $141.24 as of this writing and covers one to four residents living in the same household playing golf for one year. There is a six month version available for the seasonal residents for $105.93. If you are a priority member, the Executive Trail Fee for you is included as part of your priority membership. If your spouse is NOT a priority member, the Executive Trail Fee will cost him/her $105.93. There is also a six month version available for $79.45. Please go to
www.thevillages.net to see the Executive Trail Fee Rates and Application.
Florida Homestead Exemption
If this is your primary home, you will get a $50,000 homestead exemption when you reside in your new home as of January 1st of that year. Be sure to file for your homestead exemption if you are a permanent resident. You will need a Florida Drivers License for registration. Please go to
http://www.sumterpa.com/Exemptions.asp to see more detailed information on the Homestead Exemption and the requirements and benefits.
Property Taxes
Property taxes in Florida are not much different than anywhere else that I know of. You are taxed based on the assessed value of your house (less the Homestead Exemption if this is your primary residence). You also pay for schools, water management, and other services including fire services, waste management, etc. You will receive the property tax bill in September and you will get a 4% discount if you pay in November, 3% in December, 2% in January and 1% in February. You will be delinquent if not paid by April 1st. If you have a homestead exemption, property taxes cannot be raised by more that 3% a year and non-homestead homes have a cap of 10%.
State Taxes
Florida has no State Income Tax. If you move from a state with state income taxes, you will have to file a resident and non-resident return for the year you earned income in both states. You will need to keep track on what your income was in your home state and out of your home state and what interest you earned on accounts both in and out of your home state. Of course, you should contact your home state and get the proper tax information so you do everything properly. TurboTax handles both resident and non-resident returns.
UTILITIES
Electric and Gas
When you move to Florida, they are going to want a deposit. You can call your local gas and electric companies and get a form that says that you were a good payer for the past year. You can get a form from your new companies (TECO/SECO) and attach that form and send it in and get your deposit back right away.
Electric SECO 1-866-605-6383 (Marion, Sumter and parts of Lake County)
Gas TECO 1-877-832-6747
Telephone, Cable, Satellite, Internet Service
Find out who your telephone carrier is in The Villages so that you can order your telephone prior to actually moving down. That way you can set up an appointment with them to have the telephone installed when you get here. We did not order until we were here and it took about a week to get the telephone installed. I was not a cell phone user at that time so it was difficult
- Telephone – Embarq 1-866-304-6820
- Cable – Comcast 352-687-2758
- Satellite – Dish 1-800-333-3474
DIRECT TV 1-888-777-2454
- Internet – Embarq DSL 1- 866-304-6820
- Comcast CABLE 1-800-266-2278
(Special deals if you bundle all the services)
LINKS
These are links to various Villages sites and some other sites:
The Villages -
http://www.thevillages.com/
The Villages.Net -
https://www.thevillages.net/
Villages Pre-owned Homes -
http://www.thevillages.com/homes/vls/index_new.asp
VCDD Development Districts -
http://www.districtgov.org/
The Villages Voice (VHA) -
http://www.thevillagesvoice.com/
Florida DMV -
http://www.flhsmv.gov/
Florida State Government -
http://www.govengine.com/stategov/florida.html
Florida Attractions -
http://www.roadsideamerica.com/location/fl
Florida Parks -
http://www.floridastateparks.org/
Silver Springs (Ocala) -
http://www.silversprings.com/
Additional Items:
Pet ID Tags: When you find out what your address and telephone number will be, it is worth a trip to Petco to get a pet ID tag made with your/his name, address and telephone number in case your pet gets out of the house. Too often a pet gets out and is lost because the finder has no way to identify the owner.
Remember that these are strictly my thoughts and should only be considered or rejected in light of what you want or need and can do on your own. Check with the sales reps, neighbors, insurance reps, financial advisors, etc before making any decisions based on these items.
I hope some of this helps or at least gives you something to think about.
