[BrianL99]

Originally Posted by champion6

I make a comparison of taxes every year. Attached is the 2024 comparison.

Nice job.

It boggles my mind, that the majority of folks looking for homes in The Villages, seem to completely ignore (or are simply ignorant of) the various Tax Rates, Bonds and the disparity between neighborhoods as a result.

2 virtually identical homes, but in different areas, could have the exact same asking price and many buyers don't do enough research to figure out that one of them could actually end up being significantly less expensive.

[RL Lemke]

My purchase experience in discussing property taxes, bonds and district M&O assessments with realtors showed that there is a general understanding. In creating a budget for living in The Villages, my The Nut itemizing the fixed monthly costs, my Sumter County tax invoice will be 15.86%. A percentage that could have been quite a bit larger had we purchased a home elsewhere.

It was an earlier version of my OP cheatsheet that defined where we looked for our home, eliminating Lake County, Marion County and south of 44. Then, within the target area, it came to floor plan, village location, amenity and shopping proximity.

With the record number of homes on the market, we had a significant buying advantage. Buyers during the last few years didn’t have the same advantage. Still, as the home market price adjustment toward a pre-covid normal continues, we purchased at close to the peak pricing. Our market timing was good but not great.

[Triker]

The Villages is growing so fast they can’t keep up. The cities have jumped in on the gold mine with the villages and are annexing in the property so you will pay both annual county and city taxes, plus a bond to the villages, an annual maintenance fee plus a fire dept fee. ( plus your monthly amenity fee)
Reality living in the Florida villages is not cheap. It all adds up. Do your research before you buy.
(Note there are also a lot of outsiders who illegally use the village’s amenities pools, courts rec centers, events etc) People wait for front desk person to leave then go in rec centers or bypass and use back doors.
Villages’s need to check every ID when they check the pool ids And maybe do random check ids in the rooms. They have to have maximum capacity in these rec centers but some things get way over crowded.
There is just no way to fool proof and monitor the amount of people.

[RL Lemke]

The cheatsheet is the first cut in sorting the property tax price of admission to The Villages.
Each of the homes which made my short list then warranted a look at the tax statement and details of the unit bond information.

For Sumter County all you need is the street address: Payments & Services

For the bond balance, interest rate and maturity go here: Finance - The Villages Community Development Districts
The District & Unit info is on the tax invoice. If not, look at the assessor information.

I think it is always prudent to base a budget on using the 85% of the home sale price X the total valuation based assessment. The property tax invoices you will see online are based on historic valuations and include a variety of exemptions. For budget purposes, I am not relying on exemptions.

[RL Lemke]

Many may consider the $100/month Wildwood tariff to be worthwhile. Comments above indicate this to be the case.

[MikeN]

True but the bonds are an outrageous burden

[RL Lemke]

I found that MLS realtors often had out of date bond balance information, if they even had any bond information. They often fail to indicate the floor plan model name. VLS does a better job. To better understand the specific home I chose to invest what I consider a great sum, I purchased the full construction drawing PDF for $400. This illuminated so many important aspects of construction and changes. You need the lot and unit number. https://agewave-solutions-inc.square.site/

[RL Lemke]

Originally Posted by MikeN

True but the bonds are an outrageous burden

During covid the lot development cost more than doubled. I found that the subcontractors couldn’t perform per the contracts because of material shortages and crazy price increases. So, I understand how the bond financed developer reimbursement numbers increased so.

A prudent buyer, living within a budget, will carefully consider bond expense. In addition, it is important to consider that the sub-district will be assessing for maintenance & operations. It appears that these numbers are also higher as you go south.

[westernrider75]

Originally Posted by Babubhat

The Wildwood, Fruitland, Leesburg tax for which you get nothing in return.

We definitely see more police presence and traffic enforcement in Wildwood.

[Altavia]

Originally Posted by RL Lemke

Looking at assessment rates and home property tax invoices, this is the type of analysis that influenced my home purchase.

The valuation assessment based total for each location. Unincorporated then within a city.

Much of The Villages north of 44 is unincorporated, if within Sumter County. If in Lake County most are within Fruitland Park, Lady Lake or Leesburg. South of 44, in Sumter County, development is mostly within Wildwood.

I wanted to include the forever property tax burden to my budget. Bonds and sub-district M&O are a separate number. I have a separate analysis for those numbers but only for the target districts we looked at.



Map of unincorporated Sumter County:



To look up bond balances, maturity and interest rate, look here:
Finance - The Villages Community Development Districts

Thanks for sharing your research and the multiple informative posts!

[Altavia]

Originally Posted by MikeN

True but the bonds are an outrageous burden

Would you rather pay/finance 10% additional on your home or have a 10% bond that does not impact your credit score and you don't have to pay off when you sell your home?

[asianthree]

I have a tendency to give credit that most know exactly what taxes, amenities fee, and overall upkeep comes with moving to TV. Not the surprised fearful “I didn’t know about ___________. Those who don’t probably should seek the help of a financial person to make decisions or a family member.

My in-laws bought homes in their 90s, and first thing both pointed out was how much less taxes and monthly expenses were going to be than at the northern home.

So maybe common sense, due diligence or education comes into play more than many give credit to new incoming TV residents.

Have to say I have never compared taxes yearly. Why bother it’s not a reason to give pause to stay, sell, or buy.

[Altavia]

Originally Posted by asianthree

I have a tendency to give credit that most know exactly what taxes, amenities fee, and overall upkeep comes with moving to TV. Not the surprised fearful “I didn’t know about ___________. Those who don’t probably should seek the help of a financial person to make decisions or a family member.

My in-laws bought homes in their 90s, and first thing both pointed out was how much less taxes and monthly expenses were going to be than at the northern home.

So maybe common sense, due diligence or education comes into play more than many give credit to new incoming TV residents.

Have to say I have never compared taxes yearly. Why bother it’s not a reason to give pause to stay, sell, or buy.

Maybe partly because the value seems higher since those costs are significantly lower for many who moved here from other areas.

The tax/bonds/fees and local intergovernmental infrastructure here is also highly complex - lots of moving parts and not so easy to comprehend.

[Normal]

Originally Posted by Altavia

Would you rather pay/finance 10% additional on your home or have a 10% bond that does not impact your credit score and you don't have to pay off when you sell your home?

The bond is a clever scam to permit the charging of more money from the Developer. After all who wants to pay for the additional overcharging of your home the seller would love to receive?

So a 450,000 dollar home is really 500,000 thousand, all the while just outside the bubble the same home is 275,000. Who knew?

The bond is insult to injury under predatory salesmanship.

[biker1]

I don't know what the percentage is now but 10 years ago is was 5% on my new home. I wrote a check to pay if off.

Originally Posted by Altavia

Would you rather pay/finance 10% additional on your home or have a 10% bond that does not impact your credit score and you don't have to pay off when you sell your home?