[BUC]

My wife and I are planning on moving to the villages when we retire. My wife really is looking forward to retiring( school bus driver who could blame her) I"m not very good at golf and don't really play that much, but I can catch fish, I love to fish. How close is the lakes, large enough to use a bass boat. My next question is what are the hidden cost to living at the villages? IE property taxes house insurance, assessments, recreation fees(I know the golf can't be free) Any information would be helpful. Thank you.P.S. The only thing I like more then fishing is participating at my church, but I didn't see a Baptist church listed.

[Travel Master]

Found a great web site with lots of info...

www.lylesellsfla.com

[Becky]

Buc, Am closing on a home in TV this week so can't help with most of your questions (yet!) but do remember seeing a Baptist Church there!

Becky

[F16 1UB]

Buc,

I too have a bass boat & plan on bringing it with me when we get there. But first to sell a house. As for the fishing Lake Pannasoffkee and The Harris Chain are 2 very well known bass lakes within 30 +/- minutes from TV. My research has shown a fresh water club with over 300 members. I'm looking forward to joining. The bass club I belong to now has 22 members. Quite a difference. BTW Lake Pannasoffkee was just dredged. I'm not sure if the project has been completed. Maybe someone will let us know. :dontknow:

Steve
Sparta, KY

[Frangyomory]

There is a fresh water fishing club and an ocean fishing club here in the Villages. We had a bass boat in Virginia but unfortunately, we sold it before our move. Could have used it here. I understand there are a lot of "catch and release" programs here.

As for free golf, that really isn't totally true. The Championship courses have regular greens fees. The Executive courses have a trail fee for golf carts. Thus, no "free" golf for life. Never will understand the ad but I guess it sells houses.

The Championship courses require a Priority Membership for a discount. It is about $800 a year, just like joining a club where you live probably. To have the membership for golf, tennis and pools, it costs a bit more. Back in Virginia, we paid over $1k for golf membership.

The neighborhood pools are free. Only the pools attached to country clubs/championship golf courses are closed to all except piority members and residents of that particular village.

The local pools are great. A few of the Country Club pools have bars or jacuzzi's but no big deal to me.

You can probably get he greens fees from the recreation department on line. They are lower than open courses in Virginia but I don't know how they compare down here.

Best of luck. I personally feel that you couldn't find a better place to retire. You will see that no one grows old in theVillages. We might have birthdays but life here keeps us all much younger than we are. I can testify to that personally. I am much more active here than I was n Virginia.

[Happy Villager]

I didn't find any "hidden" cost when we relocated to TV. I believe the sales office presented an open and honest cost estimate with the packet that is provided. There is an awful lot of information to digest and it is wise to ask lots of questions and take notes because it is difficult to remember everything that is told to you.
Being from up north the only cost that I find different here in the south is for pest control. The area around/under the foundation is treated for termites but you still need to maintain a yearly contract for that. Our's is with the contractor that did the original treatment, Massey, which cost $120 per year. We also have LeeCo for lawn pests which cost us $67 bi-monthly and we also use LeeCo for the household pest control which cost $48 bi-monthly. It cost us $60 each month to have the lawn mowed and then you also have to pay for the irrigation. As for the golf it really is free when you use the executive courses. Yes you do have a yearly trail fee which cost $141.24 per year but if you choose to "walk" the course you don't have that cost at all. My husband and I love living here in TV and though not everything is perfect this place is the closest your ever going to find to living in Pleasantville.

[mike1946]

Picking up on a few things that other folks have replied.

I have a boat (not a pure fishing boat - an 18 foot bowrider Starcraft with a Mecury Force 120 on it) I use it for wild life watching (my wife loves that) fishing and just cruising around. There are an enormous number of interconneted lakes and rivers very close to TV - head down 27 about a mile to where the strange looking castle thing is and make a left towards Harbour Hills country club ..when you reach the gates of HHCC make a left down a small hill this dead ends into Pine Island Fish Camp - about a 5 mile trip from my house. They have a ramp into Lake Griffin - 3 bucks - plus tackle and bait shop etc. can alo get beer burgers etc. once in Griffin you can get almost to Orlando from there Lakes Harris/Eutis/Dorra/Beauchamp North up the Oklawaha through 2 dams you can reach the St Johns and go all the way to the ocean !!! There is a good fish camp on 42 just before the Oklawaha Bridge - Blue Heron Cove ...Nelsons fish camp on the other side of the bridge is a bit run down. Also 4 big free public ramps in Venetian Park off the Old Dixie Highway in Leesburg.

The fishing club is fun and meets once a month with a guest speaker and they also arrange trips !! as do the deep sea fishing crowd - I also fish the flats over at Crystal River for Spanish Mackeral, Trout, Redfish etc. Thats about an hour and a half towing a boat to the ramp right at the end of 44.

One reply was slightly wrong - you do not get pool rights at the country clubs if you are a resident of that village. If you don't play too much golf don't bother with priority on the championship courses - you can always play on them if you want to it just costs between 10-15 bucks more green fee - just use the executive courses and walk ..they won't cost you a penny (except of course for the amenity that we all pay) they are great fun don't last too long 1.5 hours is standard for 9 holes therefore don't dominate the entire day. Walking will aslo keep you fit.

If you want pool priveleges at the country clubs you can get that for about 80 bucks ( I think ) check with the country club membership office.

I almost forgot - one of the Villages rules is that you can't park things like RV's boats etc. in plain view from the road ...some folks do and they seem to get away with it but if someone complains the villages will make you move it - that can be a pain if you have to store it in one of the staorage yards and have to go and collect it and drop off every time. So when we bought a house I made sure we bought a place with a massive double carport - I had it all screened in and sliding doors on the front so nothing inside can be seen from the street ...my boat on it's trailor plus car buggy etc now live in the big c/port.

Hope some of this helps if you've got any more questions would be glad to help mail me on mikegreen1946@hotmail.com - I'm in TV Dec-May ..lets go fishing !!

[dwightolson]

Originally Posted by BUC

My wife and I are planning on moving to the villages when we retire. My wife really is looking forward to retiring( school bus driver who could blame her) I"m not very good at golf and don't really play that much, but I can catch fish, I love to fish. How close is the lakes, large enough to use a bass boat. My next question is what are the hidden cost to living at the villages? IE property taxes house insurance, assessments, recreation fees(I know the golf can't be free) Any information would be helpful. Thank you.P.S. The only thing I like more then fishing is participating at my church, but I didn't see a Baptist church listed.

Hi Buc,
I'm not sure where you are moving from but we found real estate taxes to be comparable to the north but we don't have any income taxes! Outside of the monthly fees that you already know about, its pretty much low cost living in TV. Of course, Women forget how to cook when they get here so you need to budget for a lot of outside dining!

I also love fishing and found it most fun to fish the "flats" on the golf coast. A lot of fish, 45 minutes away with a lot of variety. The freshwater fish club is good and always looking for boats but its kind of cliquish. Also, where I'm from (Minnesota) you catch fish every trip. Here you can work hard and may not catch anything. That said, the bass are huge down here so when you do catch one, its a lot of fun.

[POC]

There is a Baptist Church on CR 466 in Lady Lake. It is located just west of 27/441 in downtown Lady Lake. Here is the info. First Baptist Church 432 Hwy. 466
Tele.# 352.753.4477

Hope this is helpful. Welcome to TV.

[rballruss]

Hi BUC,

I'm a Villages resident and a member of the fresh water fishing club. Their website is www.freshwaterfishingclub.com. I found the fishing outings to be quite enjoyable. I chartered on my own with a local charter captain (largemouth bass) and we caught and released 23 fish. The smallest being about 4 lbs, and the largest was 8.5 pounds.

The local ponds hold bass as well, but my largest catch has been about 2.5 lbs thus far.

Russ

[JohnZ]

I'm an avid fly fisher but I've yet to wet a line here in FL. Has anybody out there casted a fly line for largemouths?