The Villages locations
 

I highly recommend living north of 466A. Shopping and Amenities are more plentiful. Especially if you are a golfer. We live up near 466 and it is fantastic. Good Luck

Middleton is the center based on current planning disclosed.

Continuing The Dream: Volume 11

Continuing The Dream: Volume 11

New home sales continue on a 2,500-3,500 pace per year. Average village size is around 1,000 homes so that's roughly three new village per year.

Ignore the "...where I live is the best" posts. Most everywhere is very nice. Many used homes in prime locations sell before going on the market.

When deciding, keep in mind what MIGHT be the center of TV at some point in time/development and what IS the center of TV expected to be during YOUR lifetime. The age you are currently buying in can make those drastically different.

I think that "over-thinking" is what makes for paralysis, but that's just me. Come and visit and see for yourself what's, what then you can only decide for yourselves. What others think or say .....I'd give it a "meh!" People purchase here mostly for the life-style.

Wow. How friendly and helpful!

It will take a month not to get too lost. Explore by golf cart travel and enjoy.

Just something to consider...if you buy a resale home with no bond, you can fix anything you think needs updating for the price of the big bond you will be paying on the new construction homes.

Another one of your condescending personal attack posts.
Your last sentence would apply to you…………..

Lately, the Riff Raff is creeping in all over many retail areas near SS.
Stay away from Walmart stores on 27/441.
I do all my shopping in the Southern areas.


Maybe, breaking it down by age group is another criterion,
Spanish Springs has older residents .
Lake Sumter Landing bit younger.
Brownwood younger again.
Fenney is (will be?) youngest.
Not a rule set in stone, but a guideline.

We discovered The Villages back in February 2019 to attend a surprise 80th birthday party for my aunt. We came down for a few days to explore and liked what we saw. We stopped by at the Spanish Springs sales office, and fortunately found a great sales person, Paul Brady. He explained everything, and encouraged us to explore north and south. We didn't have that much time but we did understand the new homes were way down South near Fenny. We visited briefly but it was too sterile for us. We also checked out Brownwood town square, and it was rather dead when compared to Lake Sumter and the Spanish Springs town squares.

We decided that the areas between 466 and 466A appeared to be the hot spot neighborhoods. For the next 6 months, we focused our research on that area. We used The Villages website to search for homes in our price range. My aunt's advice was to focus on homes where the lanai faced south or east, and were stucco on the outside.

We made a list, narrowed it down to 45 homes, and in August 2019 returned to find our "part-time" new home.

The list was narrowed when we learned that to fit a car and two golf carts inside a 2 car garage, you had to be clever. We also learned about sink holes and where they'd be more likely. We learned about road noise, too. We saw for ourselves how critters like the anoles and geckos liked to nest up in the vinyl siding if it wasn't installed correctly. We found undisclosed defects in some homes that the owner or agent wasn't aware of.

We learned our agent was a top performer who complimented us on our spreadsheets identifying the homes that met our criteria. It made it easy for him to make routes to see them.

45 homes, over 3 days in August that gave us a good sense of dealing with the rain, heat, and humidity. We toured homes we liked, but we're left with the feeling that they weren't right for us.

After that 3rd day, we met friends for lunch, expressing our disappointment.

They said, "check out Fenny, again" as a lot had changed in 6 months since our first visit.

We stopped by at the Fenny sales office and asked to see a sales person, as our agent wasn't available that day. We asked to see the most recently listed home which was in Marsh Bend. We were wide eyed when we drove along Marsh Bend Trail, lined with the live oaks with the hanging Spanish moss. We passed the Pitch and Putt, and the Lowlands golf course under construction. We entered the neighborhood surrounded by the golf course, and looked at the only 3 homes available for sale at the time. Bra spanking new, and just listed that day, and we liked each of them.

We met with our agent, Paul Brady, the next day. He listened and put together a list of a few more homes to look at in the Fenny area, which was shorthand for Marsh Bend, McClure, Monarch Grove, Fenny, and Linden Isle at the time.

We decided that Marsh Bend appealed to us the best. Asked what it took to buy, gave Paul our credit card number, and put a deposit down on an Iris that faced the right direction.

Closed in September, revisited in October, and moved in permanently in January 2020. And then the pandemic lockdown struck in March, days after we sold and closed on our Oregon home of 40 years.

So glad we were stuck in Florida and Marsh Bend for the pandemic!

For the last year or so, we've seen first hand all the new construction, and explored those new neighborhoods and homes thoroughly.

We're convinced we made the right choice at the right time.

Best to rent first, if you can. There are many variables and many home styles. This place is so huge you need to be here a while before deciding. Best of luck.

But.......was the cost of that bond built into the price of the resale????? Communities with CDDs are somewhat unique in that the developer does not include the cost of the infrastructure that he is responsible for into the home price, but rather has an administrative entity float a bond issue to cover the cost, which is passed on to the new buyer separately. Having paid off the bond, most sellers believe they should also recoup that cost in the selling price. Whether or not they can is a matter of negotiation, but for the moment, it is a seller's market

Welcome!

All good advise. Take a look at a Google Earth map. Brownwood will be the center. There really is no other geographical choice. But "the center" will not be on your top 10 list of important things once you get here. "The Center" of what you enjoy doing is where you will want to be.

Yet I live south of 466A about 1 mile east of Brownwood and.....

There are 3 championship courses within a 10 minute cart ride, 5 within 15 minutes
There are 11 exec courses in the same radius
I agree shopping (other than grocery and pharmacy) is better up by 466, and even better if you live near SS.