I like a lot that is big enough for privacy yet small enough for easy yard care. My father had 11 rental houses and I was the slave which I hated. As an adult homeowner as soon as I was financially able I hired yard workers.

My greatest fear of being on a small lot is having smoking neighbors upwind. My second greatest fear is having noisy neighbors.

We down-sized (house) by half and our yard by 3/4 at least and it's still too large. I remember when we felt we needed a large 2 story house with at least 4 bedrooms and 2 or 3 bathrooms...plus other criteria. As we age...we don't need as many "things" and having lots to take care of becomes more unmanageable, especially if we have physical issues. Having more "stuff" requires lots of maintenance and it's going to rust or burn eventually anyway.

The thing I missed the most was the birds. I had purple martins and lots of song birds. Had several pairs of bluebirds nesting on my property also along with Hollywood finches in hanging flower baskets. I had 10x the song birds than I see in my area down here. Not uncommon to see 15 different songbirds on my feeders everyday. Course the had plenty of hummingbirds also. Even had screech owls nesting in box I made for them. In one bluebird box had flying squirrel. He would fly from my 50 or so blackjack oaks. With all the blackjack oaks I had riding mower with cyclone rank attached. Sucked up acorns and twigs. Left my yard looking like east lawn at then White House. I also had several fruit trees. Loved my Rainer cherries! So, yes I miss it.

I always said that when I got too old to mow or wanted to anymore it was time to move. Still mowing for walking exercise and way slower.

I have a pretty typical lot for The Villages; a fifth of an acre. There is not much difference between a quarter of an acre and a fifth of an acre.

I don't miss keeping up a big yard. I didn't move here to do yard work, I came to play!
I just miss the lack of storage space.

I'm looking forward to taking care of our smaller lot in TV. In fact, we've decided that we are going to take care ours our self when we move in. We've been clearing out our lot in MI and I've been downsizing my huge perennial garden almost every weekend this summer to help with the sale of our home next spring. Every time we drag 15-20 lawn bags out to the curb I get more and more excited not to have this much land to take care of. Privacy can be an issue if you're used to having acreage around you and now have kissing lanais that are only screened. Fortunately for us that is not the case.

A fifth of an acre is about 8700 sq' (a large lot comparatively, good for you ). A quarter of an acre is about 2000 sq' larger. A pretty good sized difference.

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I haven't moved to The Villages--yet!!

But I live on an acre -"that has to be perfectly manicured or the HOA police get after us"--and I'm sick and tired of it.

I've been here for 25 years so I can vent! lol

It would be so nice to have a small lot but with water/preserve/golf behind it but not have to deal with the upkeep.

There are a million other fun things to do than picking weeds and cutting the grass.

The simple truth of the matter is, that most of The Villages was designed...to be a densely populated, single-family tract housing development.

The trade-off being golf cart accessibility to most everything needed on a day to day basis, with a plethora of activities...for diversion from how packed in we actually are.

Obviously, those of us who live here have accepted being in tract housing neighborhoods...with a 'faux gated community' feeling of security. :shrug:

If one really wants an acre or more and live in the Villages there are the occasional house with a big lot that comes up for sale. If you want 5 acres, there are those Chathem parcels that allow you to be a gentleman rancher here in the Villages. Villages like Harmswood have large lots, I’d guess some approaching an acre. In the premier neighborhoods even the interior lots are around 1/3 an acre.

I find it a plus. I spent a lot of time on my lawn up north and I don't want to do that any more.

I enjoy taking care of my lawn and these little lots are a breeze compared to what we had up north, to mow, trim, and edge takes less than 30 minutes. We started out using Dean's but there seemed to be a problem with them every week so got rid of them and we do it all ourselves now, my wife also likes to do yard work. My biggest problem is getting used to the maintenance that the southern plants require as they are somewhat different than what we are used to especially the palms but I'm getting there.

I'll say. We sit on the lanai and watch the bushes grow in front of our eyes. (just kidding) Well, maybe not.

I don't miss the city and having someone (included in the rent) taking care of the snow, yard, etc...