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.