I knew from my first visit to TV that a CYV would be my only choice. I have never lived in a single family home that didn’t have a fenced backyard in my entire life, and my last four homes had privacy fences, so the “walled in” feeling that bother some folks doesn’t bother me. In fact ... not having that privacy barrier would feel strange to me. As is the case with any other home in TV, the size of the lot determines how close you are to your neighbors. There are some very large corner and end unit lots in CYV neighborhoods. I don’t have a very large lot, but my lanai isn’t any closer to my neighbors’ lanais than many of my friend’s designer homes. The biggest adjustment for me has been the short driveway and small garage. But I’m not much of collector anyway, so storage hasn’t been too much of a problem.

Yes, I went through that as well. There are some realtor sites that give you a search option for CYVs, but most don’t. But once you get used to looking at them, it is pretty easy to recognize a CYV vs Ranch vs Designer from a photo of the front of the house. Also if you narrow down the selections by min/max square footage and garage sizes, that is helpful in finding CYVs. And if you study the virtual tours and floor plans on TV’s website, you will get pretty good at recognizing the models on MLS listings. Just be aware that many models have had name changes through the years with only minor changes in layout...that is especially true with the CYVs.

I wouldn’t be too concerned about agents losing interest in you. If they do, then you should find another agent. It’s not like they are spending time physically driving you around and showing you houses that you aren’t ready to buy. Sending you an email with listings that fit your criteria shouldn't be difficult and I think that agents in this area are used to people who are browsing homes while they wait for their current home to sell. In any case, if you come across a CYV listing that you can't match up to a current floor plan, feel free to PM me. I'll try to help if I can, I have out of state friends who are doing the same thing and I've gotten *pretty* good at it. Good luck.

We had a courtyard villa when we first first moved to TV. It was a big one 1650 sq ft. We loved it. I would still be living there but my wife thought, since we are now full time, that we needed a bigger house. It is especially a great solution if you have a dog. It is a real pain to walk a dog 3 times a day and keep him off of everyone's yard. The BIG disadvantage is the small garage. With a golf cart, it is VERY difficult to park a full sized car/SUV day after day. If you get a villa, you might consider trading your big car for a VW Golf, Fiet or similar small car.

This site works well
 

I like you hate to bother realators on a maybe but like to check out whats available. This site works really well. I think he is a TOTV member.

[url=http://www.lylesellsfla.com/community_reports.shtml]

Hope it helps,

Trudy

Thanks, Trudy. I'll check it out.

Hey, SDavis, I agree that the Villages preowned properties for sale listings make it easy to specify only CYVs, but no homes that are handled by "regular" real estate agents, in other words MLS homes for sale, will appear on Properties of the Villages. Some MLS agents will sign you up for a potentially helpful real estate search tool called Listingbook. Unfortunately, it doesn't give you a way to indicate that you only want to see courtyard villas; as a result, you get several pages of listings that include every home in your price range. Only a few will be CYVs. You need two agents to see all the homes for sale in TV: a Villages sales rep, who works for the developer, and a Realtor, who works for a standard real estate brokerage. The two are not interchangeable. Neither is allowed to work in the other's "turf," and only TV sales reps can sell new homes. I'm looking for several features that can only be found in older homes, so I'm focused on the preowned market, both TV and MLS. I hope this makes sense....! Good luck with your search.

Yeah...I acknowledged in a later post that 2 agents is the way to go. :^)

Thanks from Maine for all the useful suggestions that have come my way in response to my question about how to find the perfect preowned CYV. We've rented two different models, both huge, for our trial stays. Loved 'em and hated to leave!

...

Maine, what modles did you stay in and which one did you prefer?

Try looking at homes on Trulia. I found a home and will be closing in May, but I still love to look at what is for sale. They will even email new properties that are close to what you are looking for. Good luck!

It appears that your first thoughts are in line with reality. If you only anticipate spending a short amount of time in residence, it would make good sense to reduce the costs associated with maintenace and other basics that go along with owning a home in TV's. We are currently in a very large Designer home, and only in residence six non-consecutive months out of the year and the maintenace and upkeep is very expensive. Since my husband now has health issues that will prevent us from being here for any long length of time, we are definitely considering a CYV to reduce unnecessary operational costs. But, if money is no object, go ahead and purchase one of those homes that will cost lots to maintain....

That is why we are looking at CYV since we will be snow birds eventually once we finally get there. For the next few years, the lower maint. cost will help too.