Another great reason to live here. thank-you

I read the last few pages (this is a LONG thread!) and saw the long post about covenants. Is it true that you don't get to see them til closing? Why are you not allowed to see them before putting a deposit down with your offer, so you (and your lawyer) have time to go over it before making a final decision?

I see a lot of lawns in TV that are gorgeous, but I'm wondering - are lawns required? Am I allowed to gut the lawn entirely and build a rock/stone/cactus garden instead, with pebble walkways? What about flowering herbs like oregano, lavender, echinacea? What about aromatic herbs like rosemary? Am I allowed to grow them outside on my property? If I want a big ole rosemary bush outside near the front door, is that allowed? If it's not, why would I have to wait til after I've already signed on the bottom line to find this out? I ask this, because I really don't like grass all that much, especially grass that is so thick you could need stitches if you got cut by a blade of it, and you couldn't walk barefoot on it even if you wanted to because the fireants would have a field day with your feet.

I really don't see the point of "lawns." Never did, though my home growning up, and our home now, have them. The one in our home now is mostly ant-hills and well-mown clover, and I have absolutely zero interest in making it "look pretty." Especially since maintaining that pretty look would cost us a small fortune around here where I live.

It's not a deal breaker, but if I can reduce chemical pesticides (I know it's not 100% avoidable), add herbs and shrubs that naturally repel insects, make a lawnscape instead of a lawn that looks pretty but isn't some astro-turf-looking green expanse, I'd really like to know that in advance. It'd be one "concern" resolved and removed from my list.

I'll add to my above post for clarification: our lawn at our current home came that way. It's actually improved somewhat since we bought the house. But the property itself is on undernourished, sandy soil filled with construction debris, and it would really and truly cost a small fortune to turn it into a nice looking lawn. Extensive work - it'd have to be completely excavated. Not willing to do that just for a long green carpet leading to our dwelling.

Not true. At closing you are provided a paper copy of your deed restrictions but they are no secret prior to closing. All you have to do is go to TheVillages.net - Login - Email, tee-times, computer support - serving The Villages, Florida and the Tri-county area., select Community Development Districts on the left side, then look for "How Do I?" at the top of the page and look for the option "download deed restrictions". The instructions below come up.

Download Your Declaration of Restrictions
To obtain your Declaration of Restrictions:

Select the County in which you live

Select the District in which you live

Select the Unit in which you live

If you are unsure of your unit number, it is located on your Villages ID card. The U/L number is the first letter of the county in which you live, the unit number and the lot number.

Oh awesome THANK YOU! This isn't very intuitive, I didn't even know about thevillages(dot) net! I've been looking on thevillages (dot) com for home listings, so we could narrow down our options when we come to visit in September!

I know those aren't the only listings, non-villages websites have listings as well and of course there are lots of "for sale by owner" listings. But the main commercial website gives us a good idea of where to start. I'm thinking Marion county/Spanish Springs area, but NOT a manufactured home. It looks like TV Inc has torn down a couple of the trailers and built site-built homes on the properties. The prices for those are *probably* out of our reach but we're not ruling them out. Paid bonds, looser restrictions. I'm all about not having painted wooden ladies bent over staked to the front yard, but I'd like to have just a tad of liberty regarding plants, and maybe even solar panels (I'll have to check and see if it's allowed, but in a state that's got SO much direct and indirect sunlight for most of the year, I can't imagine why anyone would NOT want solar energy at least boosting their existing power supply, if not replacing it entirely). Hurricane cut the power to the neighborhood? No problem. Just switch to your solar power, and your air conditioning and refrigerator are up and working fine again.

thanks for the helpful advice

where do you have the link for seniors vs crime for TV

I found the following:

Seniors Vs Crime in The Villages

and

Seniors Vs Crime

Don't respond to mail trying to sell you a copy of Deed.The closing co.should send it to you after it's recorded with your county.Wait for it.

IMHO, if you get looser restrictions that allow solar panels and rock gardens,
you'll probably be permitted to have lawn ornaments.
Perhaps you'll even have a painted wooden lady bent over in one of your neighbors' yards. :D

You will receive a letter offering to sell you a copy of your deed.Don't fall for it,you will get a copy of Certified Deed from the closing agent in a few weeks.

Thanks these are all good tips. Unfortunately, the lawn service I choice kept bombarding me until I signed for a year, so I am stuck but don't think I will sign up again. Smart Service hounds you until you sign up and then don't do such a great job taking care of lawn. Very choppy, the treating the weeds and lawn they do pretty good job. They are reasonably priced, but you have to be on top of them. Anything else, I am certainly being very particular who I pick. I would also say be aware of Wildowood Kitchen and Bath, they are double and triple the price of other places. They don't return your phone calls and have rude people and even the manager is rude. Just thought I would put that out there.

Gate Cards
 

District Customer Service.

Recommendations for an insurance agent in the area. Need home and Auto