[Redsmom]

My husband and I just bought a 1800 ft.² frame home in the village of Santiago, for $250000 and our homeowners insurance policy came to $1423. A bit higher than their estimate.

[Accidental1]

Obviously, the size of house and location greatly impacts the cost of living in the villages. I just bought a new home in Marsh Bend and I calculate my total costs to be about 1.5 times what you've illustrated in your post for the same list of items. Check out this video on Youtube, I found it helpful when I was doing my research.

How Much Money Do I Need To Live In The Villages - YouTube

[HJBeck]

The tax estimate doesn’t seem to include Bond repayment. Our house still has a bond payment of roughly $800/year on a 12 year old home. Cable TV with high speed internet is $110/month with Comcast.

[Marykschulz]

Pest control is a must if you don’t want bugs in your house. We $50 every two months to stay bug free.

[Singerlady]

Originally Posted by retiredguy123

I think the bottom line to live in a typical $300,000 designer house is fairly accurate. I don't know what the Development District Assessment is, unless that is part of your tax bill. The basic cable television cost is too low. You can barely get internet service for that cost.

A better way to estimate these costs is to view the actual tax bills and utility bills for houses in the neighborhood where you plan to live, and to price out the cable television service you want. These are all available as public information. The only things that are not public are electric and gas bills.

District Development Assessment is the bond.

[Shadia328]

Love your inclusion of golf balls! Going through lots, due to errant shots!

[sheryl465]

What insurance company offers sink hole insurance plz?

[sjlarsen1]

Originally Posted by LMBNY

Don't know if this is current, but it's from the Villages website... Do you feel like this is pretty accurate?

Thanks!

Average monthly costs for Villagers:

$164.00 Contractual Amenities Fee
60.00 Sewer
31.00 Water
148.00 Average Gas / Electric
19.00 Trash Collection
60.00 Basic Cable Television
100.00 Insurance
239.17 Average Taxes
191.00 Development District Assessment

$1012.17 Total Per Month*

Add money for:

Irrigation. - $35.00 (average over the year)
Land line / Internet - $90
Hurricane insurance - add to insurance.
I'd estimate $333 a month for taxes

[allenpegg1@gmail.com]

Originally Posted by LMBNY

Don't know if this is current, but it's from the Villages website... Do you feel like this is pretty accurate?

Thanks!

Average monthly costs for Villagers:

$164.00 Contractual Amenities Fee
60.00 Sewer
31.00 Water
148.00 Average Gas / Electric
19.00 Trash Collection
60.00 Basic Cable Television
100.00 Insurance
239.17 Average Taxes
191.00 Development District Assessment

$1012.17 Total Per Month*

With the exception of any amenities fees, you'd pay this or more to live ANYWHERE. Not sure what the point is here...

[ts12755]

What is DDA? And internet is $50

[Bill1701]

They leave out many things which are common, if not needed, around here. Most people use a lawn service, A/C service, insect spraying, internet, etc. We have found our monthly bills average about $1200 above the mortgage. If you golf you also may want to pay the trail fees which are about $150/year.

[LianneMigiano]

I believe that the purpose of asking for these estimates was to help others determine if they could afford to buy a home here. It might even be to determine if they could hold on to their current home - AND buy here too.

[OrangeBlossomBaby]

Our lawn gets the pesticides from the treatment guy, he's $50/month. We mow our own lawn and do our own gardening and trimming and edging.

The "basic cable" in the OP's post we swapped out with Internet service; we cut the cord and pay for YouTubeTV, which is an extra $70 I think, now.

Our taxes are a little higher since our home is less valuable overall but we live in Lake County.

The OP's list is about right for us, give or take $100 a month. Our electricity averaged at $90/month this past year. Last month was high because we had the heat on almost every day.

[GregG7]

I've been tracking monthly costs for the past two years. Here are my averages over a 2 year period.
My lawn care costs are probably higher than most due to having a corner lot.

Amenity fee $148
Irrigation Water $40
Trash Collection $22
Potable Water/Sewer $60
Gas (TECO) $40
Electric (SECO) $75
Internet/Streaming TV $120
Lawn care $95
Insect control/lawn treatment $60
Property Taxes $415
Insurance $112
Development District Assessment $205
Golf Cart Insurance $17

Monthly total: $1408

[DAVES]

Originally Posted by Garywt

District assessment must be the bond payment. On average this is good some things might be higher or lower. Including mortgage and golf cart loan I budget just over $2000 a month.

Budget? I have a friend who I regularly tease for the way the thinks. Truth he in an e-mail stated how many rolls of toilet paper he and his wife use a year. No he is not down to his last dollars.

My income was never steady. We are retired. I am too old and too broken to go back to work. When we moved here I took what I thought it would cost. Added 20% to all the numbers and made sure I could cover them. You are far better off having more than you need than less. One simple way to do that is to spend less than you have.

Budget? Fixed vs variable expenses? Wants vs needs? Etc. Rising costs?