[darbyduff]

Steve,

Are you related to my husband???? :joke:

My #1 "must have" is an indoor laundry room!!! It's a deal breaker to me if it doesn't. Nothing against anyone who has a garage laundry at all but I'm a bit finicky I guess. A couple of other "don'ts"..Won't be living next door to "Talk Host" Jan in the rail yard, don't want next to the H.S., don't want to know what my neighbors are eating on their lanai (noise factor) and want a 2 car garage.

For all that we pledge:

To be the very best villager's we can be. To not put our nose up to ANYONE no matter where they live. To be the most responsible pet owners, to obey all the traffic laws, to be courteous to our neighbors by turning down the noise, to treat all we meet as if they have been our best friends for years, to have the kind of attitude and home that makes everyone want to be around and visit (Hey, this is starting to sound like the Boy Scout Creed)...but you all know what I mean. My husband and I are the most approachable people I know and can't wait to meet all of you who are like us. (We know all of you are, we've visited twice!!) :bigthumbsup:

[bamafan]

Darby D if you are looking at a Jasmine stlye home they have indoor laundry. I received an email on golf cart was that you. Bama

[dadspet]

"You can bet I will be asking her again on Monday!!!! By the way..could it have been because they were closing out that village and they only had 1 or 2 left. (I'm anticipating her excuse)"

We were looking in early July and have looked for 3 1/2 yrs with the same Realtor (WOW - Wish we bought 3 yrs ago !!!!! ). Knowing the real estate market was down we were only ready to buy if we found the house we liked in the area we loved and if the price was right! It didn't matter if it was new or a resale (a turn key was our preference by far - since we really didn't look forward to buying everything for a new house) as long as it met the conditions we had. After looking for 2 days at For Sale by Owner; Open Houses and resales. Our TV agent was able to show us new homes that met our conditions mush better than the FSBO or Resales on MLS . Was it the time of the year ?> perhaps and are those ranch houses with discounts gone now?> perhaps; Did our TV agent really know what we wanted ?> perhaps but we were after a turn key colony Villa when we started. Were they closing our the village ? - Yes for the one we bought but I do believe he showed us others that didn't look like they weren't closeouts of the villages and the TV agents at many of the open houses did seem to say there were discounts on new house. I really can't say for sure except we were happy with the price (at least as far as you can be ) location and house as we think most people who buy in TVs are.

I think what it boils down to, after looking for over 3 yrs, and seeing prices go up every year we finally came to the conclusion that the Villages provide us with the life style we were after and no other location in Florida came close to us wanting to buy there. We decided we weren't getting any younger (sometimes this is a hard decision to come to) and to buy while we can still enjoy the active life style.

Go for it, I really don't think you'll regret it !

[darbyduff]

Bama - I would like to talk about the golf cart. Let me know.

[darbyduff]

Dadspet - Thanks for your information also. I think your right. Wish we could have purchased 2 years ago!

[bamafan]

DarbyD, Hope everything going well. When we were down in mid July we rented a golf cart from a gentleman name Jim Followell px # 317-258-1241. If you call him and he does not answer he will call you back. I told him I did not want a slooooow golf cart but wanted one that would do the legal limit. He gave us a Yamaha gas with all trimmings Lights, rain hood etc. We rented it from Sat. to Sat for $75.00 The cart was very nice and so was Jim. The only downside was that we had to pick the cart up from him. He was in the historic side. He also sells carts He told me that he appraises for Village Golf Carts. By the way Village golf carts are slow and cost a little more to rent. Let me know if you find someone who sells as I will be looking to buy soon Good Luck

[darbyduff]

Hey Bama - Thanks. We'll call.

We're looking for a used gas also when we move down. Make that 2 used! If anyone knows of anything let me know.

[Hancle704]

Hi jerseygirl13 > Don' t believe everything you hear.TV has grown but so have the number of nursing opportunities. TV Hospital expending from 60 to about 200 beds. Leesburg Hospital and 2 Ocala Hospitals have gone through major expensions in past 5 years. VA also has a clinic in TV. They may not pay NY -NJ salaries, but it costs less to live away from those areas.

About renters, their landlords pay the same fees, taxes, amenities and utilities as full timers.

If you have time when you get here you might want to look into the retired nurses club and the NJ club

[LG]

Originally Posted by gryoung

LG, I appreciate your thoughts but each Village has no legal standing, it's just the developers marketing of TV. That being said, the individual village could not have any bearing on the bond which was issued by the CDD. The size of the property within a CDD would be more accurate. So that the same size property in Mallory or Virginia Trace or Amelia would be the same because they're all within the same CDD. Now, I have to admit that I've never been to CDD school which is offered to anyone interested. The followeing info was taken directly from the CDD web site.

The Cost of a CDD

The cost to operate a CDD is borne by those who benefit from its services. Property owners within the numbered CDDs within The Villages are subject to a non-ad valorem assessment, which appears on their annual property tax bill from the county tax collector and may consist of two parts—an annual assessment for operations and maintenance, which can fluctuate up and down from year to year based on the budget adopted for that fiscal year—and an annual capital assessment to repay bonds sold by the CDD to finance community infrastructure and facilities, which annual assessments are generally fixed for the term of the bonds. Because costs and services vary depending upon the individual CDD, specific fee information is available for each community.

SORRY BUT YOU ARE MISTAKEN..

I have a list of all the Bonds and CDD's and it is BY UNIT number Each is a little different....

CDD BOND
UNIT 141 477.22 20915.33
UNIT 142 435.48 19070.48
UNIT 145 427.13 187700.11

SOURCE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DISTRICT 7

[REDCART]

LG are you related to that Curry person or just having some fun. Take me one step at a time through your logic. Unit numbers or site ID's in sequential order will most likely never be the same size property. So you would expect each one to have a different bond assessment. Are you suggesting that identical size properties with identical homes may have different assessments within the same CDD? If so, there's a basis for appeal. You just haven't established this fact with your data. --George

P.S. Donna, if you're listening, maybe you could interrupt your vacation and spend a few hours in CDD school.

Anyone else know with any certainty how a CDD determine the bond amounts for each of the properties within the CDD. LG has taken the position that the assessment varies from village to village within the same CDD.

[villages07]

I agree with LG's logic.... although he may have said 'unit' where the Villages calls it a section. In Village-speak, a section is a group of houses. In my case, this is all the houses on 3 adjoining streets. We are a section within a CDD. Each section has a different bond, but, all houses within that section have the same bond, regardless of the sales price.

The initial bond is calculated based on the cost of the infrastructure for that section divided by the number of houses in the section. (this is based on my memory, so, no guarantees).

The entire CDD (made up of many sections) establishes it annual maintenance budget. The maintenance fee is similarly calculated on percentages of houses (each section is assigned its portion of the annual maintenance and then each house within the section pays the same amount)

It's still not always clear to me who pays for what, how amenity fees are determined, the annual budget for the central CDDs, how Lake Sumter central CDD interacts with Village Central CDD for the total support structure costs, who owns the executive golf courses, when decisions are made by the developer to sell assets back to the CDD (rec centers, golf courses), where these Bonds are financed (I wouldn't mind investing in these bonds). Lots and Lots of questions...and, I've been to CDD orientation and read all the websites.

Oh well....pay your fees and enjoy the lifestyle. There are lots of talented people ready and willing to get involved.

[REDCART]

Villeges07 and LG thank you for your patient well written response. I'm a little obtuse and the first to admit it.

Hancle704 - Thanks for the info. Appreciate any tips I can get on nursing jobs in and around TV. As I said, I will have to work f/t and would love to be able to drive a golf cart to work. OMGosh, that sounds unbelievably cool.

Do many people purchase a house and rent it out for a few years before coming down permanently? Hancle, can you give me a website or email address for the NJ retired nurses club? Would appreciate very much.

[LG]

Originally Posted by gryoung

LG are you related to that Curry person or just having some fun. Take me one step at a time through your logic. Unit numbers or site ID's in sequential order will most likely never be the same size property. So you would expect each one to have a different bond assessment. Are you suggesting that identical size properties with identical homes may have different assessments within the same CDD? If so, there's a basis for appeal. You just haven't established this fact with your data. --George

P.S. Donna, if you're listening, maybe you could interrupt your vacation and spend a few hours in CDD school.

Anyone else know with any certainty how a CDD determine the bond amounts for each of the properties within the CDD. LG has taken the position that the assessment varies from village to village within the same CDD.

ENJOY THE FOLLOWING FACTS ABOUT BONDS AND CDD :beer2: :beer2:

YOUR APPOLOGY IS ACCEPTED!

[Avista]

Do you have data on District 7?