Talk of The Villages Florida - Soon to Be a Villager

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Great info. Many thanks!

Quote:

Originally Posted by fw102807 (Post 1516167)

There is one for sale in our neighborhood. Bonnybrook Heritage Villas. In addition to being a wonderful neighborhood it is close to shopping and Lake Sumter Landing. We think it is perfect and we are full time. Also there are several single women here.

Thanks so much for your reply. I would love to meet other single women like myself, especially golfers. I have never played pickleball and would love to learn how. There are so many activities that I would like to become involved in, but I doubt I will have time to do them all. Everyone who has responded to my post sounds so very friendly. I can’t wait to get there!

One of our regular posters just showed this first home to be listed in the new Village of Desoto. It is about the square footage you mentioned. Here it is. (I am not a real estate seller, just trying to help)

Homefinder - The Villages(R) Homes and Villas for Sale

A lot of new homes being built north of 466 and you can get anywhere you want to go in The Villages with a golf cart except Fenny

There are 32 houses on my street in Polo Ridge, which is an established village built in the 80s. About a third are either rentals or have seasonal owners, which I don't think is an unusual percentage. Anywhere you choose to live in The Villages will have people who leave in the summer. We wish them good travels when they leave and happily welcome them back when they return.

When choosing a home, I wouldn't put a lot of thought into seasonal goings-on or even neighbors in general, to be honest. There are many ways to meet people with common interests here, including the sports you enjoy. There are also very active singles clubs.

Welcome and good luck in your home search!

If you are very active, try to find a place close to where there are indoor activities such as bowling because you may find it too hot and humid to play golf during the summers.

We have moved 3 times. Houses are easy to sell here, movers can do it all reasonably. You can always rent thru to the fall in several places to find out what would be best. We rented three times different areas, and types of houses

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joanne the Head Doc (Post 1516159)

I adore dogs. While working full-time, I have had only cats. Once I am settled in The Villages I may look at adopting a dog. Thank you for the info. It sounds like villas are very friendly places. I just don’t want to spend my summers alone. Ha ha!

You may appreciate some time alone after fighting the snowbird traffic all winter long.

I live in a CYV and love the walled yard for my pups, privacy of no kissing lanais, no grass to mow or pay for upkeep, quiet summers with less people at the pools and noise in the neighborhood, ease of cleaning the entire villa in less than 30 min, paid bond, low taxes and no mortgage. When you search, please remember to check 3 places: Properties for sale by the Real Estate Executives in the Villages, FSBO listings, and MLS listings with outside realtors such as ERA Grizzard. Properties are not listed in one convenient place! I did search for 2 years before finding my home. I knew it as soon as I found it....I think you will too! Welcome!

We moved to The Villages in October 2015 and moved out in January 2018. We found the community to be beautiful but too big and too "open"! Privacy comes at a significant price increase and there are too many "outsiders" at the Squares, some of which have been quite unruly. Many of the faithful have overdosed on the koolaide and will attack this post mercilessly, but if I were to do it again I would definitely rent for a while b4 committing! If you like trees, look to the north of 466A, if you like looking into your neighbor's house and vice/versa, look south of 466A.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sgroemm (Post 1516338)

We have a CYV and have plenty of grass. It was one of the reasons we selected it. The CYVs range in size and yard space.

Here’s my side of the story we are snowbirds, this is our first time staying in TV. We wanted to try it on for size so to speak and are renting a very nice designer home My take on the Villages is this, we are in the Chatam area in the rental, we like it here but thought next year let’s rent in a different location. We took a few days and drove both by car and golf cart to various areas. After looking at some available rentals in other areas we decided to stay put and return next year to the same rental. We took a tour of Fenney and it did not appeal to us. My point is get here stay with your brother if possible and get a feel for different neighborhoods. Everyone tastes differ take the time, make your own decision. Knowing what we know now we would never buy or rent south of 466, we prefer the Villages closer to Rt 42, but that’s just our preference. Wishing you the best and Congratulations!

the big question to Fenny residents is.....are you buying a electric cart and hoping to trade it in for gas someday, or a gas cart and tanking in the gas from gas stations on 44?

we thought about Fenny but decided to take a wait and see attitude, for the moment, anyway.

A golf cart is a big expense and trading in an electric for a gas is not a winning option.

Quote:

Originally Posted by JoMar (Post 1516103)

I disagree, coming north of 44 won't be a big deal since the Villages below 44 will be independent. If you live above 44, I propose that the novelty of driving below 44 will wear off and you will settle into your neighborhood if you elect to buy preowned. When we moved here 3.5 years ago we moved south of 466A and many thought we were crazy for going so far south. Folks tend to believe that The Villages revolve around where they live, and frankly for them it does. Those that live north of 466 love being close to all the shopping, those around LSL love being around the most favored town square and those of us south enjoy the more open spaces and wider MM paths plus access to nature. The other thing that was important to us was a neighborhood that was new, that had people moving in that were searching to establish their own identity. We had been cautioned by others that breaking into an existing neighborhood would be a crap shoot, some neighborhoods would be receptive of new folks, others not so much. It's a risk that only you can evaluate. One of those things you won't know till after you invested. My view has been that most Villa's have a higher concentration of seasonals. I suggest you go no less than a designer, find a new neighborhood which will help form community faster and then choose the the land size you want keeping in mind that everybody here is close to each other. Our choice was a corner lot behind a house that was abut 60 feet away. The house our left is 15 feet away so we can have lanai to lanai chats...lol. We landscaped heavily with palm trees and high growing bushes that provide additional privacy and can be trimmed to whatever privacy we want. There are a lot of considerations involved. Feel free to PM if you have any questions on what I provided.

Love your perspective.

I wanted an established neighborhood as I am not a neighborhood kind of person. I wanted to find my own way and make friends, and be neighborly enough, but I don't like people just "stopping over" for a chat.

I also wanted a patio villa for the upkeep and cleaning (low cost and low time commitment). Again, happy when the neighborhood is 40% occupied in summer.

I wanted to be near several neighborhood pools so I would have choices.

My must have was green space. We ended up with a patio villa on a corner lot, perfect for us. We also "upgraded" from our up-north home of 800 sq. ft. to 1200 sq feet in The Villages.

There is truly something for everyone...welcome!

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Quote:

Originally Posted by kstew43 (Post 1516581)

We live in Fenney and plan to buy an electric Atomic golf cart. Has a range of 100 miles or so. That's more than enough range to get us where we might want to go. No plans to buy a gas cart.