Look into the retirement community north of Crossville, Tn. There is more room for cars and about as much to do as at a single Village here.

If this is what you're thinking I can certainly get behind that.

volvo drag car - Google Search

I watched that car ever run at sick week 22 and 23

Plus, if golf cart is gas, it will be noisy, smelly, and needs to be re-fueled from time-to-time.

Another factor to consider is vehicle color. If you are here for the summer, you would want a car, truck, or golf cart to be a light color like white or silver so that you don't burn your hand after the vehicle sits in the sun. Also, something to think about is the degraded vision of the drivers around you in TV Land. Look sometime at a dark green Yamaha golf cart coming toward you from a distance, if they don't have their lights on during the day, they are hard to see. Same thing is true for other dark colors. So, for maximum personal safety, you should plan on not having dark colors and try to have a bright yellow golf cart and a light color car or truck. I know that many people like the looks of a BLACK vehicle, but that can get you hurt in TV Land ----- the land of poor eyesight.
.........If you have a favorite dark color car, maybe paint it a lighter color when you get to The Villages.

Online Tax and Utility cost info seems much higher than your quote
 

According to TN Comptroller Online info re property taxes indicate that property taxes for Maryville TN area are higher than your quote. Need lots more info to compare to Sumter County unincorporated, Wildwood etc. to your Maryville quote.

Your quote was $4,000 for $400,000 house assessed? or 4/400 or 1%.
For 2022, Maryville town property tax was quoted at 1.5% for City tax and 1.59 % for county for the assessed value. The total is 3.09%.

Now there are undefined tax forgiveness for retired people with income limits.
1. Are you referring to an unincorporated property outside Maryville city limits? County only tax is still 1.59%
2. What is the assessed value of your example property?
3. Does your example benefit from the retirement discount.
4. Utilities are not included in the numbers above. Typical values online suggest energy bill at $138 and water at $43 per month for about $180 per month > $2000 per year.

Your quote of $4000 for property tax and utilities seems much too low.

Some people sell and return north so that they can see the grandchildren often. They thought that the grandkids would often visit The Villages, but as they got older they lost interest. I wonder what the % of people that would apply to.

A big problem with staying here is that the summer heat has increased radically in the last 5 to 8 years. And it is worldwide. Some people actually love 95 degrees with high humidity and no wind. But, for others, not so much. There are so many great activities here, but in the summer, you must switch to indoors in the A/C.

We've lived in TV for 14 years now, close to Spanish Springs. My wife prefers the car, and she takes it for all her activities. I prefer the golf cart (Yamaha gas) and I take it everywhere. I run two champ golf groups and we play all champ courses in TV...I take my cart regardless of the distance or weather. I like the idea of not dealing with traffic even if it takes me a little longer, and I like having my cart with my stuff as I want it when I golf. I do have a hard side enclosure and luxury seating...I put on over 3500 miles a year in my cart...love it and only take the car when she insists. We have not missed having only one car one iota.

I'll send you proof if you will come back here and confirm I'm telling the truth.

SEnd Me your Data and Information and I will Review and Report on it
 

I will look at what information and data you send to me and compare it to your original quote and the TN comptroller info. I would need to see what the assessed value is and what if any discounts etc. apply to the taxes.

Same for utilities.

I will respond as to what the data indicates. Does it confirm your original statement and under what conditions or assumptions, etc.

I would prefer Idaho and Montana to northern Maine because Maine is flat with lots of mosquitoes.

Maine is flat? Those mountains that I thought I was skiing on must’ve been landfills all these years!

(711 mountains over 1000 feet)

Tn. has a retirement homes and activities area north of Crossville. You can get bigger lots and about as many activities as one Village here. Good softball facilities in Crossville with some pickleball and tennis. Small, but nice library and a pretty good hospital. Lower cost area than The Villages.

the best part about Crossville is the bigfoot festival and an old girlfriend (and bakery outlet)

Consider the insurance cost.
 

Before moving here the wife and I had a convertible, a SUV, and a full size truck. Sold the convertible and truck before moving down and now have 2 golf cars and the SUV. The first year we were here we put more miles on the two carts than we did on the car.

Well either you have a designer home built with a 4 car garage or find a home with a big enough lot to add a 2, 4 or 6 car garage which there are several done here already.

Most newer homes have 2.5 car garages. I know of many homes that have 5 and 6 car garages. There’s 1 home for sale that has a 6+ car garage for $3.2M. I know of others with 5 car for < than $1M.
We tried to downsize to 1 car twice, and we were successful for about a year each time. It all depends on what you do, where you live, where you have to go, if you need multiple cars. If you are a homebody and don’t do much, 1 car and 1 golf cart will be fine. But if 1 of you have to go to Spanish springs for a club activity, and your spouse has to go to Sumter at the same time, and you live in sawgrass grove area or soon Eastport, then you will need 2 cars or 1 of you will be in a golf cart for hours a day.
1 more thing to watch out for, depending on where you have to go in the afternoons in the summer, you don’t want to be in a golf cart when there are lightning storms overhead, the golf cart won’t protect you like a car will. We have been spooked a couple of times coming home from golf when lightning is all around us

Maine is flat???!!!???

We've spent time in Utah and Wyoming so I think south east I-da-hoe would be our next stay up that way.

He may be taking topography pointers from Kylie Irving! ;)

*Kyrie

We have the cute sports car, for short driving in and near bubble. A full size 7 passenger SUV, that we use for drive to Gainesville and Disney every 3 weeks. Two golf carts.

We have over size garage with over size golf cart garage. Everything fits with for storage.

We keep a Rover and Jeep at the northern home. When we choose to sell the cabin and family home those cars will go.

We kept 2 cars because we were both driving and I was working - when he stopped driving 1 car was enough - shipped the second back up north for when we travel.

You can easily find a home that can accommodate two cars and a golf cart. We like two cars, a VW golf and a Hyundai Kona and have a golf cart and all fit in our expanded garage.

A couple of thoughts,

MY guess is that most people would prefer to have neighbors that garage their vehicles.

At some point in your life, you have to downsize. When we retired and decided to move to The Villages, we recognized that we did not need a house with 3000 sq ft of living area with 2500 feet of basement and attic space. We were buying a 2000 Sq ft home with little storage. If you have the desire to keep the fleet a can afford a premier home, you might be able to find homes for all.

There is also off-site storage. Best wishes.

We will look into the corvette club. One of our other cars is in my man cave and is a 68 Camaro. No time to play with it while I work so I'm looking forward to tinkering once I retire. But the vette and camaro can't be daily cars so I was hoping to hear about a nearby auto hobby and storage place or other ideas. Most just tell us to downsize and dramatically change our lifestyle and goals.

Very well said. It seems most folks would frown at a gearhead. One other car I have is a 68 Camaro and that's my tinker and sanity hobby car. Most think I need to give that up if I want to live in TV.

Our neighbor has 4 cars, one collector kept in the oversize 2 car garage with his riding mower etc. 1 car and 1 pickup in the driveway and the last one in the street. We can hardly see to back out of our garage. He is not violating any rules or laws.

1 car is fine.
Even if you don’t golf, you can get to most activities via golf cart, car is to get off campus for dinner and maybe groceries.

‘68 Camaro....that’s a keeper. Don’t get rid of it

Only 1 car here. 3 golf carts.

And why, exactly, would anyone care where their neighbors prefer they keep their vehicle?

Sold on 4/24/24
 

This house sold for $1.4 mil on 4/24/24

Seriously?? What proof do you have of that. We have been down EVERY summmer since 2015 for at least a month (every year longer, 8 weeks this summer) and I sure don't see any difference AT ALL. Nice in the morning, Pool or home by 10-2 or so becuase it gets HOT, and then it rains and the evenings are warm and nice most of the time. I would say that there has been zero change. Kind of like the people who say the hurricane activity is going to increase every year even though it has actually decreased in the past 20 years.

The same proof he has that the State of Maine is flat! Remember, this forums membership is based on having a temperature and a pulse....it’s not solely based on factual information

The one I’m referring to is listed now for $3.2M.

Sorry, thanks for setting the record straight. I was there about 8 years ago and I seem to remember only flatness and mosquitoes.My bad must have seen some sort of memory malfunction.

I don't think so. There are many car clubs in The Villages, where you might find kindred spirits. The issue is the houses, properties, & garages are on the small side. What you might want would take some funds, but you might need to purchase or rent outside of The Villages, somewhere you could store your cars. Moving the current project into the garage as needed.

Kept the Rav4 and sold the Ranger...no need for high clearance and 4WD in Florida, at least not to the extent that it was needed back in Minnesota. Odd, though...the car gets very little use. Most of our shopping and recreational travel is done with the golf cart.

Also sold the bike. Had it shipped here and rode it locally for a month before I sold it. Had more close calls here in that month than I had the the previous ten years of riding back in Minnesota...motorcycles and geezers do not belong on the same road.

Gas and insurance bills went down commensurately.,

That said. How's your experiences been with 'geezers' and golf carts? ;)

Sketchy. But carts go (arbitrarily) 20 mph and I did install seat belts on our cart, so the risks are more manageable. There is nothing that tightens the ol' sphincter muscle than being on a bike and having a car driven by an old person scarcely able to see over the steering wheel trying to cut in front of you because she missed her exit.