If your in lady lake you will pay a city tax. Plus your a long way from brownwood

What you say is not true. If you look at the map on thevillages.com, you will see spec Premier homes on Conservation Trail and McDaniel place. In addition, they are on crummy lots with kissing lanais.

Farther on down Conservation Trail, you will see a $16K Premier lot across the street from a $475K lot, which seems very strange to me. I have never seen a $16K lot that is 'good sized'.

By the way, there is a $10K Premier lot on Borrowman Avenue. I'm surprised they could even fit a Premier home on a lot that small.

The lots I saw at the Preserve today were $84, 94, 169, 194, and 545. We didn’t go to the acre plus lots, they are way out of my budget. There were a few “inside” lots but not many. Anyway privacy is important to me, I don’t see myself buying an inside lot.

I will “probably” end up with one of these pond lots. However, nothing in stone yet, still looking.

I really was hoping to find a large designer lot. We looked all day and I don’t think it’s going to happen. I may be “forced” to go Premier, just to get the larger lot. The silver lining is the extensions will not be as great or expensive since a Premier is larger from the start.

I live in LaBelle, which is next to both Osceola and to Pine Ridge and Pine Hills. Just moved into a new home about 8 months ago. We love being "down south" in The Villages. I appreciate being close to the Sarasota golf practice facility since practice is what I need most. There is plenty of daily shopping nearby, and that was before the additions at Lake Deaton which I expect will take some of the crowd pressure off the Publix at Colony. It's a quick trip to Brownwood when needed (we don't visit the squares much for entertainment). When we want other shopping, which also isn't often, we typically use our car as it's too long a hike in a golf cart for our taste. At the moment, because the whole area is still being built out, it's less crowded than other areas, and that's especially true at the nearby Rec Centers, although I'm prepared for that to change. Being in a new area means that most of the neighbors are eager to make friends and establish various activities. And, it seems a good bet that there will be future retail development along and south of 44 which may reduce our need to travel up to the hectic part of 441 for shopping for things other than groceries. Overall, choosing this area was a good decision for us and I can't think of any negatives. Best of luck with your search.

Why not consider living in another area outside The Villages? You may be able to find a large lot and have more freedom to build whatever type of house you want.

As we drive around the areas south of Ocala, we see a lot of developments that look nice from the outside. If The Villages did not offer what we wanted, we would sure look elsewhere.

one advantage of a new area is that social groups start to jell before cliches are formed. We frequently go through those three areas while taking the dogs on cart rides, All are nice. They are farther from the town centers ( Brownwood and Lake Sumter are no more than 20 or 25 minutes away by cart) than other areas down south. Golf courses and pools are all close by. I beleive the lifestyle visits are all out of Alden Villas right next door to Brownwood. If you haven't done so I would schedule one for 4 or 5 days and try the area out.

I’ve been here a week now and I’ve been going like the energizer bunny. I may have to rule out The Preserve, too much money. One thing I really liked about the preserve is most lots are truly private. I think we found a lot in Osceola (soaring eagle) that may work and has some privacy. My agent has some conflicting literature about the lot. He asked his boss and they are sending out an engineer to get a definitive answer. If they give me a green light I think I’ll end up in Osceola.

Thanks all that have emailed me. Yes, I’m aware not everyone in TV is like Duppa. He or she would not stop me from moving to TV. There’s one in every crowd and the best thing is to just pray for them.

Hello Retiring, This wannabee wishes you much good luck in finding a lot and building your home in The Villages. :wave:

Are you looking at lot S190.93 in Soaring Eagle? It looks like it would hold a modest house with a 4-car garage, but you would not have much privacy in the back.

I think you should look outside TV for a better lot. I suspect that all of the good lots in Soaring Eagle have flown the coop.

[QUOTE=Retiring;1285097]I value the opinion of those on this forum. Please give me your thoughts on these 3 villages:

Osceola Hills
Pine Hills
Pine Ridge

Hi, the best we can offer is to get a good map, also the maps are shown on the website for the villages. To move here, it seems to us that location, location the Realtor song is really important. How much do you want to drive, or golf cart or walk? So think on that and study the maps. You can also go to www.mapquest and show the Villages Fl.
Good luck. bbbbbb :icon_wink:

We like Osceola Hills but all are good. Can get to Sumter in about 5-10 minutes longer by cart than from our previous neighborhood near Sumter. Since we're retired, enjoy the ride. Can't get the life style in any other community. There are 4 executive courses nearby plus Belle Glade CC. Colony Plaza is nearby as well as Lake Deaton. Plus just go out the end of Morse to Leesburg,etc. Hope you enjoy your new build.

Hi,

I bought last November in Osceola Hills Soaring Eagle. Newer Village and love it.
There is only one way in and one way out so you do not have any cross thru traffic.
All neighbors are new and open to friendship.

Pine Hills and Pine Ridge are both in Lake County, where the taxes are substantially higher than Sumter County for the same price house. Osceola Hills is in Sumter County, so taxes will be lower. All three villages must be accessed from Morse Blvd. Westbound traffic on CR 466A must make a left turn onto Morse to reach any of those three villages. Even during the summer, it often takes 2 to 4 light changes to make your turn. In season, it could take longer. Another factor in Osceola Hills may be the location of the pool relative to the house you are looking at, so you need to check out the house location relative to the pool. The pool for Osceola Hills is on the east side of Morse. You might want to look into a resale in the Village of Labelle. Good luck with your house search

stop and ask people on the squares in person, much better to talk to people and exchange thoughts

Great information from everyone. I am very appreciative you took the time to offer input. After a week it’s time for me to go home. I viewed many lots. The preserve was out of my budget. Although, the preserve does have cheaper lots but there was nothing special about those lots. We found a lot in Osceola. My agent had two data sheets about the lot, one contradicted the other. TV Sales was to send an engineer out to the lot on Friday to get us a definitive answer. It’s now Tuesday, we haven’t heard anything from the engineer, and my time has run out for this visit to TV. When I return I will be here as a renter for a month. I will pick up where I left off and maybe I will find a lot at that time. Thanks to all for taking the time to give your opinion. It’s people like you that makes TV the great community it is. God bless and protect the people of TV.