[Remembergoldenrule]

Originally Posted by raisingJB

I am not thinking of a pool home and since it will be me only probably just a two bedroom.

Why get pool home with two bedrooms. Just get home convenient to pools. Our home is half mile from adult pool and family pool. That way have way to meet new friends and have people to talk with during going to pool without cost or worries of ownership.

[dhelfer6]

Originally Posted by dhelfer6

I will be selling my home in the Villages sometime in December. I am selling it completely furnished, with a golf cart. If you are interested, please send me a note. Thank you

Please send me your phone number and I can call you to give you details. Thank you

[MandoMan]

Originally Posted by Charles K

Looking for recommendations for weed spraying, landscaper, and home watch.

Find out who your new next door neighbors are, contact them, and ask who they use and if they recommend them. Then hire the same people.

My total Amenities Fees, including water and trash, is around $261. My electricity in a courtyard villa (including charging my car) was $105 this month. I don’t fertilize or pay for termite service, as termites are extremely rare here. Bugs are also rare. When I’m gone, I leave the AC at 74°, which prevents mold. Because I don’t have fertilizing done, I only need to mow several times a year, and I do it myself with a manual mower in ten minutes. I pay taxes and insurance when the bill comes. Internet is around $85 for extra band width. I don’t use cable tv. So, whether I’m here or not, my house costs me about $800 a month, as I have no mortgage.

[retiredguy123]

Originally Posted by MandoMan

Find out who your new next door neighbors are, contact them, and ask who they use and if they recommend them. Then hire the same people.

My total Amenities Fees, including water and trash, is around $261. My electricity in a courtyard villa (including charging my car) was $105 this month. I don’t fertilize or pay for termite service, as termites are extremely rare here. Bugs are also rare. When I’m gone, I leave the AC at 74°, which prevents mold. Because I don’t have fertilizing done, I only need to mow several times a year, and I do it myself with a manual mower in ten minutes. I pay taxes and insurance when the bill comes. Internet is around $85 for extra band width. I don’t use cable tv. So, whether I’m here or not, my house costs me about $800 a month, as I have no mortgage.

You can save money by turning your thermostat up to 80. You will not get mold. You can also turn on the humidity control setting, which will overcool your house by about 3 degrees when it detects high humidity.

[Robojo]

Originally Posted by raisingJB

I am currently considering purchasing a home in TV but I would only live there during the winter and spend summers in my current home. While it is fairly easy to calculate the cost of purchasing a home I would like to hear some input on the cost of maintaining the home during the 6-8 months that I am not there.

Thank you for your thoughts.

Cost of ownership is what you're looking for.

[DrHitch]

Originally Posted by Toymeister

You will want 365 internet to access smart home devices.

Ok, so when someone visits our house:
1) The Ring doorbell buzzes my phone
2) The MyQ garage door buzzes my phone
3) The Cove security system buzzes my phone
4) The indoor camera buzzes my phone.

Think we've got it covered? Haha

[MX rider]

Originally Posted by LeRoySmith

We are in the same situation and as soon as we sell our Northern home and vacation home we will be full-time here. In the future I only plan to have one home, here. We will spend a handful of months vacationing in the cooler areas across the North or Northwest during the hot months here.

Same for us.
We retired last fall and spent 6 months at our home in TV and loved it. Our plan was to keep our Indiana home for 2 summers and do the 6 and 6 thing.
But after being back in Indiana for only a month we were already bored and missing TV. We also decided 6 months is too long here. Yes, we got to see the kids and the grands, but that's not enough for us since we like to stay active and busy.

Plus, keeping up 2 homes was more work and hassle than I anticipated. When we were in TV I worried about our home here, and when we're here I worry about our home there.

We decided we don't need a home to come visit for a couple weeks at a time. So we put our house here in Indiana up for sale. They start showing it tomorrow. Our plan is to rent an Airbnb when we want to come back here to visit.

That said, our good friends just bought a home in TV and plan on doing 6 and 6.

[GoRedSox!]

In our experience, the only difference in costs between when we are there and not is related to weather and daylight and of course use. Inside water use is basically just the standard service charge when we are not there, the same with sewer use fee. But there is still the outside irrigation, which uses more gallons in the summer. Garbage and amenity fee is the same. Our utility bill this month, including $195.34 amenity fee is $282.62. Last month, it was $277.54. The biggest item aside from the amenity fee is irrigation. Also garbage pickup remains the same at $22.52. By comparison, when were there in February, March, and April of this year, the bills were $308, $320, and $305.

Electric with SECO is basically a/c. We keep ours set at 80 and there is 1,938 sq. feet. This month the bill was $82. Last month it was $89. February, March and April when we were there was $110, 110, and $142.

We pay the same for grass cutting and treatments year round. For the months we are not there, we pay $60 for Home Watch services which is the best $60 a month we spend in The Villages in my opinion. Our Home Watch is excellent and gives us great peace of mind (Relax Home Watch--outstanding, but I don't think they serve north of Brownwood).

Best of luck. A few blink cameras or similar may give you some more peace of mind. Basically, the costs are not dramatically different when we are there and when we are not. It's under $100 less in the summer per months, but we pay $60 for the Home Watch so that's where much of that savings goes so I find it to be pretty consistent all year round.

[ElDiabloJoe]

Originally Posted by rsmurano

I have my house completely automated: my refrigerator tells me the temperature of the freezer and refrigerator and if the doors are open, same for my gas range. Then all of my doors, garage doors, are controlled thru my phone so if I need to let someone in when I’m in Europe, no problem. My thermostat, lights, cameras, sprinkler system, water leak detection devices are all controlled by my phone/ipad. I get alerts sent to me if a door opens or somebody comes to my front door, I can talk to them. Also, I setup lighting routines when I’m gone so the house looks like somebody is home.

Would appreciate a PM or a post with the details and systems of how you make this work. Sounds like an ideal setup.

[Regorp]

Originally Posted by raisingJB

I am currently considering purchasing a home in TV but I would only live there during the winter and spend summers in my current home. While it is fairly easy to calculate the cost of purchasing a home I would like to hear some input on the cost of maintaining the home during the 6-8 months that I am not there.

Thank you for your thoughts.

My wife and I wonder how someone can spend up to 500k for a beautiful new home and use it so sparingly. Such a waste, so we choose to live year round and forget about CT. Florida is our home!!

[GoRedSox!]

Originally Posted by MX rider

Same for us.
We retired last fall and spent 6 months at our home in TV and loved it. Our plan was to keep our Indiana home for 2 summers and do the 6 and 6 thing.
But after being back in Indiana for only a month we were already bored and missing TV. We also decided 6 months is too long here. Yes, we got to see the kids and the grands, but that's not enough for us since we like to stay active and busy.

Plus, keeping up 2 homes was more work and hassle than I anticipated. When we were in TV I worried about our home here, and when we're here I worry about our home there.

We decided we don't need a home to come visit for a couple weeks at a time. So we put our house here in Indiana up for sale. They start showing it tomorrow. Our plan is to rent an Airbnb when we want to come back here to visit.

That said, our good friends just bought a home in TV and plan on doing 6 and 6.

I really think that this is the question that so many people grapple with. There are a LOT of snowbirds in The Villages. I have never seen a definitive percentage, but I think it's higher than many estimate.

I talk to my wife about this all the time. CT is slightly cooler in the heart of the summer, and starting in September it goes from slightly to much cooler for a couple of months. And our friends and family are here, this is where we are from, and all that.

Yes, we would save a LOT of money by having one house in The Villages. It's not insignificant....no more state income tax....no more high property tax on our home AND our cars...no double utilities, home owner's insurance, and the interest that could be made on the proceeds from the sale of the property....it adds up to a sizeable number.

However, we can't take it with us, and money will not be the deciding factor. But the same things you talk about in your post we think about all the time. I got a call in the middle of the night from the Villages Community Watch saying my garage door was up. Sometimes remotes are on the same frequency....ughhh...thank goodness I was able to get ahold of our home watch services first thing the next morning and thank goodness they are outstanding. When we are down there, I have to make sure our home in CT is visited, plowed if it snows, the pipes don't freeze, even dealing with the post office and mail order pharmacy is a challenge...and any number of other things. Driving 20 hours in one shot with dogs in the back seat is not fun, when we came back in early May I drove 21 hours straight. I don't know how long we will do this for, but we are talking about moving full-time to The Villages more often and more seriously than ever before.

I have successfully subscribed to the "happy wife, happy life" theory and it worked for me for 24 years and hopefully many more to come and I think my beloved wife is pretty much on the same page with me now that we should reduce to one home and that home should be in The Villages. This is perhaps not the right thread, but I would love to read others thoughts on this decision, I know that many people are in this situation. Good luck to all.

[GoRedSox!]

Originally Posted by Regorp

My wife and I wonder how someone can spend up to 500k for a beautiful new home and use it so sparingly. Such a waste, so we choose to live year round and forget about CT. Florida is our home!!

I think many folks grapple with this question....I'm sure some have enough resources to permanently have multiple homes, but I think many folks have the two homes for a transitionary period when they first retire, knowing that later on they will reduce to one. It also gives you the opportunity to make sure you will love the Villages and it's easy to reverse the decision if you find out you don't.

We discuss when to reduce to one home all the time, but we have never contemplated keeping two homes for the duration....it's not a matter of if we will go to one home, but when.

[retiredguy123]

Does anyone ever consider global warming as an issue when they decide to become a snowbird?

[BoneLakeBennie]

Originally Posted by frayedends

Monthly guesstimates based on when I'm not there...

Amenity fee with water during dry season (including trash, etc) $350
Internet $65
Some home watch service. $65. I've not found one that is over $100. I used "Affordable Home Watch". $65/month.
Lawn mowing: $65
Weed spraying, fertilizer: $85
Gas if you have natural gas appliances: $20-50
Electric: $35-60

Our numbers are similar:
Amenity fee with water during dry season (including trash, etc) $310
Internet $30 (Centric fiber vacation rate)
Some home watch service. $60. (Relax Home Watch llc)
Lawn mowing: $60
Weed spraying, fertilizer: $67
Gas if you have natural gas appliances: $27
Electric: $51 (budget plan)

[GoRedSox!]

Originally Posted by BoneLakeBennie

Our numbers are similar:
Amenity fee with water during dry season (including trash, etc) $310
Internet $30 (Centric fiber vacation rate)
Some home watch service. $60. (Relax Home Watch llc)
Lawn mowing: $60
Weed spraying, fertilizer: $67
Gas if you have natural gas appliances: $27
Electric: $51 (budget plan)

Another Relax Home Watch customer....they are so excellent that I really am able to have peace of mind when I'm not there. I know if I need to reach them, they will either pick up the phone or get back to me immediately. They are wonderful.