esp than a 2 car garage. If you dont need the extra space for a car you will for a golf cart and storage. Also downsize as much as you can storage is a premium.

I am not sure where you are looking but all of the new construction below 44 there are no more curved driveways and most Courtyard Villas come with 2 car garages.

Having a dog is great but what size is the dog? If it is a very small breed you will not want to leave it alone in a fenced yard. A lot of these homes are built around wooded areas or ponds. Alligators can climb fences so that is your #1 thought. We have seen coyotes, and Bob Cats who would not hesitate to jump a fence. If it is a very small dog you would then have to worry about Eagles and Hawks swooping in to take it away. Agree having a fenced yard is good for exercise but what I am telling you is real too. It is best to take your pups to a dog park or on a leash for a good walk (again not close to a pond) Alligators move at lightning speed in short spurts and have gotten dogs unfortunately. Also bring a car or rent one. The Villages lifestyle tells you not necessary because they want to isolate you in the new areas where truthfully there is so much more to do and see North of 44. Take the bus tour at all three squares to really see what the Villages has to offer before drinking the kool aid. I would not buy anything unless it had a 2 car garage. Now I want a three car garage. Space gets filled up quickly.
Have fun.

We just purchased a new Hillsdale model Varanda in Newell. We wanted an enclosed yard, both for our dog and future pool privacy, and I wanted the larger 2 1/2 car garage. The Hillsdale model seemed to be the best of everything for us. It's also 3 bed and 3 full baths. I know the Verandas cost a little more than the villas, but we went this route to hopefully make this our last house.

It may vary with the neighborhood. In the Courtyard Villa neighborhood where I live, maybe one car in ten is not parked inside the garage. However, even in the same block, there are several different shapes of garages. Mine allows a cart to pull in at an angle, rather than straight in. Many others don’t.

Shuffling gets Annoying
 

We have more vehicles than stalls in the garage so we have to shuffle vehicles - it gets annoying especially if we’re running late or it’s raining. If you are easily annoyed, get at least one garage stall for each vehicle.

VERY good advice that I second. Wish I considered this when I bought. ALSO the driveways on those are often not slanted. Suggest you look between 466 and 466a (imho)

There are homes in CYV neighborhoods that have 2 car garages - some corner homes even have 2 plus golf cart garages. We bought for the same reason - walled yard for the dog. He is only 8 pounds and we were adjacent to a preserve so could never let him out with the hawks (and bobcat) that lived next door. I read the other day that a new series is being released by the developer - Cottage Villas with fenced back yards. The Cottage series homes are frame construction and have 2 car garages.

Garage becomes more important as time goes on
 

We rented in the villages for many years before we bought. That helped us develope a list of must haves, nice to have and no way.

The 1 or 1.5 garage became a big NO WAY. One of the biggest comments you'll hear is we wish we had a bigger garage.

We also wanted a house with some type of a foyer. Neither of us liked entering directly into the living areas.
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Our house has a 2.5 oversized garage and we do not regret paying the extra for these. The cost of adding a golf cart garage is pretty amazing. Get a house with a high roof over the garage and you'll have plenty of storage in the attic. This gives you plenty of clear space in garage for everyday storage. We have folding stairs and thinking about a mechanical lift to move things up into the attic.

Love our eat-in kitchen for breakfast (east facing) and informal dining. The foyer is something you'd find up north. Closet and all.

Another hint, pay attention to which way the sun rises and sets. Out door areas to east, morning sunrise coffee, cooler afternoons and evenings. To the west, cooler mornings and hotter afternoons. If a snowbird might not mean much, but come summer.

Probably want to look South of 44 for a CYV. If I'm not mistaken, and I live in one, they all have 2+ car garages.

You definitely want the fence for your dog. I put in a doggie door and my dog goes in and out whenever she wants. And go with the bigger garage, you can never have enough room.

That is so true.
Storage shouldn't be a problem in retirement unless you maintain your own yard.
We have a 1 1/2 stall garage that we learn to live with.

Another bad thing about 1 or 1 1/2 stall garage is the driveway.
There's not enough room to park two cars side by side.
If we have company and there's 3-4 cars, they all have to park on the street.

We have a 24x24 garage...too many small garages in the Villages

The layout in the garage is not the same for all courtyard villas. Our layout is terrible and I wish I had paid attention to that. Our w/d is at the back of the garage and the HVAC sticks out almost in the middle. I’ve seen other models in our neighborhood with a much smarter layout. Technically, we can fit a car and a golf cart tandem style but there is minimal room to open the car door or to access the w/d. We park our car in the driveway and I worry about the impact from the hot FL weather. Also, I despise doing laundry in the garage, especially when it’s 100 degrees in there. I don’t recommend the older villas for this reason. It’s fine for some people but probably not most. There are newer villas with 2 car garages and indoor laundry. There are also newer non-villa home models with an enclosed yard.

[QUOTE=CharlieK;2220950]We did the same; we found the perfect courtyard villa but only had a car-and-a-cart garage. We decided we would never be happy with the garage so kept looking. We ended up with a courtyard villa with a 2-car and cart garage. Hubby is happy to have room in the garage for his hobbies and I'm happy they aren't in the house.

Wow. Do not understand why typical garages are so undersized.

Look into pine hill villages. Some house have single family home with fenced yards

Garage Size
 

We have a 2 car garage and I wish it was larger. I can fit our 4 seater golf car and our car in there along with 2 bikes. However we added some storage shelving and its tight.

You won’t be happy if you go too small. If your like us our intention was to not accumulate stuff. But the stuff has babies and before you know it your cluttered.

You also want to park the car in the garage if possible. At certain times of the year the pollen and the birds really gets the car dirty.

I believe that both Courtyard and Patio Villas are now available with a 2 car garage and some have one car and a separate golf cart garage. Check with a Village’s Realtor.

My best suggestion is to work with a Village’s Realtor at least at to learn the FACTS, then if you want preowned properties that are not handled by the Villages, certainly use an MLS Rep.

Learn the facts, then you’ll be better prepared to judge the validity of the information you receive from blogs like this.

Take a look a the Veranda style homes around Marsh Bend. They are fenced like CYVs with huge garages.

We have a 2/2 courtyard villa. It has a split-door garage. Room for a car, golf cart and plenty of storage space, once we got rid of the junk we really didn’t need. It’s actually very liberating to downsize. We wanted walls for more privacy and for the dog.

2 Car Garage check our Villas Tera Grande all have 2 car garages.

Village of Chitty Chatty has a Bungalow Villa section (Ty Villas) that mostly have 2-car + golf car garages. There are a few of them that even have full 3-car garages. One of those is for sale right now, probably about one year old.

As others have noted, garages are like another room and a very necessary one! Questions to consider. Are the washer and dryer in the garage? How will you store laundry items? Will you want a drying rack? Do you like to do your own yard work? Is there room for mower, trimmer, etc. Do you need room for a tool chest? Do you need storage for seasonal items? In addition to golf car (s), do you also need to store bikes, golf clubs, other sports equipment? A one-car and-a-bit garage can handle these things with well thought-out storage but it will be very very tight. You may find yourselves doing the in-and-out shuffle as you move car/cart out of the way so you can get to other stuff you need. If that's not an issue and you are happy with the house and yard, ok, but you may want to expand your search to get a larger garage. Good luck!

That’s the truth. Agree 100%

Lots of opinions here, so here's mine. Get the largest garage available, because garage sizes in the Villages are pathetic. When I lived up north, my garage was 36'x32' and it got filled up quickly. Now I have a 2 car + golf cart garage, and it's still too small for me, but I have to live with it.

More than likely you will be staying in a CYV during your lifestyle visit in the Brownwood area or further south which will be a two or three bedroom with a 2 or 2+ garage. All these CYVs will have straight driveways. We did two lifestyle visits and the 1st we stayed in a Charlotte 3br CYV with a two door 2 car garage and the 2nd we stayed in a Newport 3br CYV with one door 2 car garage. What we learned during these visits as well as seeing all types of homes all over TV is that we loved the CYVs for the privacy they offered, but neither the CYVs we stayed in were the models of our preference. And the reason being which is a personal preference, is I like to have a front window that I can look out easily to see the front of my house and not have to go into a spare bedroom to do that which most of the CYVs are set up that way which was the main reason we went with Avondale model which has very open floor plan and the front window is in my dining area and I can also see out that window from both my kitchen and living area. With that floor plan we don't have an entrance foyer like other models, but instead you enter into a fairly large open space not into a room from the front door and door from the garage. We knew we wanted minimally a 2 car garage, but our CYV had additionally a golf cart garage which turned out to be a big plus as we certainly use that space mostly for doing my craft and other projects since we only have 1 car and 1 golf cart which both easily fit on the 2 car side of my garage. Bottom line is your home purchasing budget will dictate what you can and can't afford to purchase. And that means you will likely need to make trade offs, so it is very important to have a good idea what is most important to you and what you would be willing to trade off. Discussing trade offs with my neighbor she originally wanted to purchase a new 3br with 2 car garage CYV primarily for privacy but all the 3brs were above her price range. Why she wanted a 3br was because she frequently has family visiting and wanted a dedicated guest room, and the 3rd bedroom she wanted was to be her dedicated office space. She made the trade off going with a new 2br Durham CYV that was in her price range which worked out very well for her as it gave her the 2 car garage she wanted, and to the side of her kitchen was enough space to put a desk which became her office space. Additionally this model CYV has a nice size walk-in pantry, as well as a dedicated laundry room. A close friend of mine who lives in DeLuna fell in love with the Sycamore model designer home. Her budget trade off was she had to go with a Sycamore that has nearly no yard and a kissing lanai. This does not bother her as she had no desire for a yard, does not spend much time on her lanai, but she does spend a good deal of time on her front porch which was the main feature that she loved about this model which she was not willing to trade off going with a different model that had a larger yard but no porch. Lots of things to consider, and it is to your benefit to not rush into a home purchase without taking the time to consider what you really want and what you are willing to trade off on.

Wish you the best with your lifestyle visit.

Kia Soul are know here as the Villages care - why because they fit well in a 1.5 car garage with cart. Truly I wish we had a 2 car and a cart garage. There are some Villages with a 2 car garage. In the Southern end they are now making a villa model with the 1/2 & 1 car separate. Look around at all models.

One car garage can be a real pain
 

One car garage can be a real PITA if you have to move the car every time you take the cart out

The only solution we found was to buy a smaller car.

Which are not as safe and the prices for small cars today
are the same as larger cars were 10 years ago.

My friend I’m the Village of Chitty Chatty has a new CYV with a 2 car garage. Recommend this.

The new CYV in the Village of Chitty Chatty have two car garages.

We are in the Southern area in the patio villas. No fences are allowed. We have a small decorative picket fence only in front put in by the builder.

I always wonder back in the 60's and 70's when cars were Hugh, how
people got them in that one stall garages.

Depending on your budget and location that you want to be in, the newer areas have homes and larger garages that have a fence. But as far as protecting your dog, unless you're out there with them, your dog will be an easy target for predators. Keep the dog screened in the lanai/birdcage. But, I also have read that some larger animals can bust through your screen also. So, our fur babies should NEVER be left unattended.

2 car garage
 

We rented a CYV with the 1 + squeeze in a golf cart garage for 4 years. We've since purchased CYV homes and both had 2 car garages. Why anyone would want less than a 2 car garage doesn't make sense to me. Extra storage is always a plus. Also think about your resale value.

In Florida, a 2 car garage means 2 small cars at best.

Lifestyle visits are a great way to get a taste of The Villages. You'll enjoy it.
For me, a one-car garage is a non-starter. That situation might work for some, but I think nearly everyone would recommend something bigger.
There are cottage villas with straight-in driveways and larger garages in the newer areas.
I'd also recommend having a look at the veranda series homes. These homes have fenced-in back yards and you have many floorplans and garage options to choose from.
I agree with the replies that recommend a 2 1/2 car garage. You won't regret having the extra space and it will be an attractive resale feature in the future.

The Villages - Florida's Friendliest Active Adult 55+ Retirement Community

Get a Bigger Garage
 

We have a two stall garage and can fit one SUV, a small car, and the golfcart if we put it in sideways. My advice, get the biggest garage you can get because storage is minimal. We are constantly moving the golf cart when we want to take the small car out. It's a pain...