[frankr]

Came across an e-book about The Villages on the net. It contained some excerpts. One was on the cost of living. It stated there was a CDD Assessment of between 100-300 dollars a month as well as the monthly amenities fee. I had not heard of the monthly CDD fees. Is that true and if so are the figures right.
Also off subject, am I correct that it seems all the new houses are equipped with heat pumps for the heat. Coming from the Boston area I am not too familiar with them. Only thing I have heard is that it is not the most efficient way to heat a house and that they are expensive to run. Is any of that true.
Thanks in advance and looking forward to our visit in April.
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Received a number of queries about a link to the E-book. Here it is.

http://www.thevillagesfloridabook.com/. I was bored and googled "the villages, fl" one day. Tons of links. There was one from a photo blog that had a great picture of the new town square taken at dusk. Great desk top.

[villages07]

Frank,

CDD assessment....it is annual (for the maintenance of sidewalks, common lighting, common landscaping, etc)...my neighborhood was sold out in Mar-Aug of 06 and our ANNUAL CDD assessment is about $450..older neighborhoods will be less, newer ones more but not to the degree you were quoted. It is collected along with property taxes.

Heat pumps...heating part of them is not a big deal down here...I have gas heat but I've probably only had to turn it on for maybe 10 days so far this 'winter'; heat pumps should work just fine for heating in this mild climate.

I assume these new homes also use the heat pump for air conditioning??? Or, is there a separate electric A/C? One of you Hadleyites or Duvalians can chime in. A heat pump would seem to work down here for A/C but it will run a lot and I imagine might have to be replaced sooner than one up north???

I'm from the DC area and had heat pumps in my houses from 1980 on....they worked fine for both heat and A/C and were at one time the most efficient way to run utilities.

[zcaveman]

I can take a shot at amenity fees and CDD fees.

The amenity fees provide for the recreational facilities in TV.

The CDD fees are part of the non ad valorem assessments and are use to fund the CCD for maintenance. I think this is for roads, flowers, mowing, etc. CCD4 is currently in the $400 range.

[frankr]

So the CDD fee is annual and not monthly. Not too bad.

[BUC]

If the ccd's is for road sidewalks and care of common areas, what is the bond for, and who determines how the cdd moneys are spent?

[DickY]

Some answered may be found at this link: http://www.districtgov.org/vccdd/faq.asp Copy and paste the link to get to the page.

[chuckster]

Think CDD (bond) is part of the ad-valorem paid annually with property taxes and is to pay the initial investment for infrastructure paid by the developer (water, sewer, storm sewers, streets, etc). Don't believe it has anything to do with flowers, etc. Paid mine off initially as it is billed over a 30 year period and wanted to save the interest charges. Believe amenity fees (monthly) are to pay for executive courses, rec. centers in your CDD (not to be confused with bond ). Mine are 130.00/month for amenity fees.

[villages07]

The initial CDD/Bond is for cost to build infrastructure... roads, utilities, sidwalks, etc. For newer areas, this can range up to 20+k; you pay this off over 30 years or can pay the full balance off whenever you wish. This is not ad valorum...everyone in a given section pays the same amount, regardless of the value of your house. Section for us is all houses on 3 streets.

The CDD annual maintenance applies to everyone and pays for the maintenance and operation of the infrastructure...landscaping, lighting, etc. Non ad valorum, collected on prop taxes, approx 400/year.

The amenity fee, approx 130/mo, depending on when you bought pays for amenities...golf, recreation, rec centers, etc. Amenities, not infrastructure.

All this talk about bonds and CDDs definitely applies to newer areas....some of the older areas have a much lower (if any) bond. Not sure if they pay a CDD annual maintenance fee??? Anyone on historic side or area around Spanish Springs care to comment on what shows up on your tax bill?

[Frangyomory]

They used heat pumps in central Virginia, supposedly to save on electric heating bills. My friends who had them insisted that the house was never warm with them. This should not be an issue here as it rarely gets THAT cold here, if ever. Our villa has gas heat, cooking and dryer. I personally love it. We converted our house in Virginia from all electric to gas water and heat. Very cost effective for us.

Someone told me that the newest neighborhoods are not going to have gas heat or cooking and I am guessing dryer. If they are all electric, I am happy we bought three years ago when they still used gas.
wav

[Muncle]

I had a heat pump in Northern Virginia. When it worked, it was economical. The heat worked really well as long as the outside temperature was not cold. If it was cold and you thought you might need some heat, it didn't work overly well. One of the many "experts" who worked on my system over the years said that the DC area was really too far north for heat pumps and they worked best in the Carolinas and south. There's some technical reason but I majored in history, not mechanical engineering.

One thing I did pick up about heat pumps. Don't let snow and ice build up around the system itself. If we get 14-16 inches of snow and/or a real thick ice storm, be sure and keep the unit cleared. Other than that, you should be okay.

[gonzy]

I live on the historic side, Lake County and we do not have any bonds or cdd assesments. The only non ad valorem tax is about $65.00/yr for fire protection. As for heat pumps they are very efficient they have a cop (coefficient of performance) ratio of 3.5 or 4 to one. In other words they put out the equivalent of 3.5 or 4 watts of heat for every input watt. Where they fail is when the outside temperature goes below 40 deg or so, when that happens there is an electric heating element that is used to create the heat which becomes quite expensive. This element also turns on automatically if you have a 3 or 4 degree differential between the set point and the desired room temp.

[zcaveman]

Originally Posted by chuckster

Think CDD (bond) is part of the ad-valorem paid annually with property taxes and is to pay the initial investment for infrastructure paid by the developer (water, sewer, storm sewers, streets, etc). Don't believe it has anything to do with flowers, etc. Paid mine off initially as it is billed over a 30 year period and wanted to save the interest charges. Believe amenity fees (monthly) are to pay for executive courses, rec. centers in your CDD (not to be confused with bond ). Mine are 130.00/month for amenity fees.

Check your annual tax bill and you WILL see a CDD charge. If you think the flowers that are planted every quarter in your CDD area are free you are mistaken. You also pay for mowing and road repair, etc.

[bobfl]

Having read all these posts I'm a little confused.
Here is what I think from reading all of it, correct me if I'm wrong.

Annual tax bill comes, with Bond cost and CDD annual fee.

Tax + Bond + CDD fee Is this correct?

[villages07]

Bob,

Essentially correct....tax bill also includes Fire/Emergency services fee (maybe about 100 bucks).

Property tax....ad valorum, based on assessed value of YOUR house

CDD original bond ... unless you've paid it off

CDD annual maintenance.... applies to all

[RCT]

Frankr,

could you copy a link af the e-book you found on the web and post it here?