Quote:
Originally Posted by dalecrenshaw
(Post 901312)
Please remember that some of these folks, like my parents, bought these homes when they were brand new...but a lot of these folks are older now and maybe can't keep up with the upkeep and chores that go along with owning a home.
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This is one problem. Other situations that seem to happen here more frequently than in other Villages neighborhoods is that people walk away from their homes and abandon them. Or people die and either their heirs cannot be found or want nothing to do with the property.
When this happens it can sometimes take the bank or the county years before they can get through the red tape to take possession of the property and put it on the market.
These homes just sit and deteriorate. In many cases the air conditioning is not turned on in the summer as the electric has been turned off so they develop severe mold problems. Unless someone calls The Villages office to complain, the lawns are not maintained. Occasionally someone will call and complain and The Villages will send someone out to cut the grass and clean out the shrubbery. I assume that they then put a lien on the house for the cost of the work. But there are several homes, (two on my street in fact) that have been abandoned for one reason or another. Every other home on my street is well maintained with nice lawns and well kept vegetation. These two stick out like a sore thumb.
You can see this situation on several streets as you drive around the historic district. It's a shame because 98% of the homes are very nice. One percent are not well maintained because as dalecrenshaw says, the current owners cannot afford to maintain them and another 1% or so have been abandoned.
(Note: Please don't challenge my percentages. I'm sure that they are not 100% accurate. They are only guesses on my part, based on my observations, to demonstrate the state of these neighborhoods Maybe 5% of the homes are not in great shape, but it is not a lot.)
I would guess it happens more in the Historic District than it does on the other side because the owners here don't have as much money, and are operating without as much of a cushion as owners on the other side. And as dalecrenshaw says, many may have been in these homes since 1985 and inflation may have caught up with them.
The thing is that no restoration plan is going to fix these problems unless the developer intends to try to buy up these homes and either restore them or tear them down and put up something better. If that's the plan, I think that he still has to wait until the banks or county or whoever can get everything cleared to sell them.
I think if there is a restoration plan in progress, what it would be is to fix up the rec centers, pools and clubhouses and put a few more flowers around. They just did a restoration of the South Side Pool and all they really did was put up new paneling and carpeting inside the little building. They may have painted the inside of the pool, but didn't paint the deck around the which is needed. That pool, which I believe is the only one in the Villages with a hot tub, used to be open until 11:00 pm. Now it closes at dusk. We have been told that this a temporary measure but have not been given any explanation as to why. I have a feeling I will not have any more 10:30 pm hot tub sessions to help me sleep however.
The other things that are going on over here is that the Silver Lake Rec Center has been closed for renovation for about six months now, the OBH Golf Course is being totally renovated with new greens and green sites and they are doing a lot of work on OBG Country Club building and pool. Hopefully that will open soon. But as far as buying up homes and restoring or replacing them, I don't know if that is possible.
By the way, on another subject, I was at the South Side Pool yesterday and an ambassador came in and led an intruder off the property. It was pretty funny. This "thief" left the pool area grumbling about "The Friendliest Town" like he had some kind of right to be there. Everyone had a good laugh over it, but it goes to demonstrate that there are non-residents using our facilities. I think that there is probably more abuse in that pool and on this side in general which may explain some of the reasoning behind the infamous wall. About a year ago, I was in the hot tub late one night and was chatting with a few people. As I was leaving I noticed Stonecrest emblems on their golf carts.
