[Bill14564]

Originally Posted by margaretmattson

I would say the Villages is sustainable until we get hit by a hurricane. The last one was a close call. Many of you will say "it will never happen." Tell that to the 1300 residents whose homes were destroyed by the tornado in 2007. IT CAN HAPPEN ANYWHERE.

I think there have been three hurricanes that have passed by since I moved here. I haven't heard of any real issues from them.

The Villages has been around for at least 30 years. I have heard of two storms in all that time, a tornado in 2007 and a hurricane in 2017. The tornado caused considerable damage to the homes that it hit. The hurricane caused flooding in some tunnels and power outages in the older section. Two storms in 30 years where only one of them caused considerable structural damage doesn't seem too bad to me.

Perhaps IT CAN HAPPEN ANYWHERE but I like my chances right here.

[justjim]

Originally Posted by Robnlaura

Certainly it’s really feasible when you can buy 18 acres from leesburg for example In 2021, the city approved the sale of an additional 18 acres to The Villages for $366,800, each acre can handle 4 homes (.25) add the $40k impact fee at 5% interest that alone is over $100k x 4 for 20 years.. just don’t tell anyone its a HOA fee and everyone will believe you.

You must be talking about the bond and not an impact fee. The bond is paid by the resident and will be on your yearly Real Estate tax Bill unless you pay it in full. An impact fee is paid by the Developer.

[margaretmattson]

Originally Posted by Bogie Shooter

And after the tornado……The Villages moved on.
What is your point?

If we get hit, insurance rates will most likely skyrocket Outsiders will no longer consider the Villages a safe place to live. Home sales may suffer. Some residents may leave because they lost their homes and have no desire to stay.

The question was about sustainability. Each time there is a hurricane in the Gulf, I ask myself, what if? I cross my fingers and hope for the best. A hurricane would cause property damage but it will be the side effects that may last for years. Not trying to scare anyone. It is just something I believe could ruin the Villages. Hopefully, that day will never come.

[Bill14564]

Originally Posted by justjim

You must be talking about the bond and not an impact fee. The bond is paid by the resident and will be on your yearly Real Estate tax Bill unless you pay it in full. An impact fee is paid by the Developer.

They are talking about the bond but implying it is an HOA fee. For some reason they want to insist we have an HOA.

I may get some of this not quite right:
- Infrastructure (roads) in new development areas are typically paid for by the developer with the costs rolled into the home prices
- Roads to connect to new developments and road improvements to support the additional traffic are paid for by the County with some of the cost covered by impact fees.

In the Villages, we do things differently:
- Infrastructure is still paid for by the developer but the costs are not added to the home price; instead, they are allocated to each of the homes as the bond.
- Roads to connect to new developments are sometimes paid for by the developer and then sold back to the County.
- Road improvements to support the additional traffic are paid for by the County. There is a road impact fee but a recent study found it to be inadequate. An attempt to increase the impact fee worked out poorly.

[thelegges]

Originally Posted by margaretmattson

If we get hit, insurance rates will most likely skyrocket Outsiders will no longer consider the Villages a safe place to live. Home sales may suffer. Some residents may leave because they lost their homes and have no desire to stay.

The question was about sustainability. Each time there is a hurricane in the Gulf, I ask myself, what if? I cross my fingers and hope for the best. A hurricane would cause property damage but it will be the side effects that may last for years. Not trying to scare anyone. It is just something I believe could ruin the Villages. Hopefully, that day will never come.

You seem to be a person who livesin Florida, and is afraid of what may or may not happen due to weather related issues. Must be a horrific toll on your health and wellbeing.

We have so many tornadoes and bad weather north, you have a plan for everything. Yet don’t worry or even give it a second thought, other than at least with this damage we’re going to get a new____________(fill in the blank). Here in Florida I figure if house is damaged I will get a chance to fix the couple things I did wrong when we built the house.

I have zero room, to worry about weather, or in your case believe ruin in the Villages, and not sleep at night because that day may come.

I have only met one person who literally lives in fear everyday in TV, whenthe sky looks like a storm. Good thing they retired early, because health has already deteriorated, from an active healthy person to walking skeleton, won’t sleep because storm could happen at night, in less than a year.
Hope you have someone to help you through your worry.

[margaretmattson]

Originally Posted by thelegges

You seem to be a person who livesin Florida, and is afraid of what may or may not happen due to weather related issues. Must be a horrific toll on your health and wellbeing.

We have so many tornadoes and bad weather north, you have a plan for everything. Yet don’t worry or even give it a second thought, other than at least with this damage we’re going to get a new____________(fill in the blank). Here in Florida I figure if house is damaged I will get a chance to fix the couple things I did wrong when we built the house.

I have zero room, to worry about weather, or in your case believe ruin in the Villages, and not sleep at night because that day may come.

I have only met one person who literally lives in fear everyday in TV, whenthe sky looks like a storm. Good thing they retired early, because health has already deteriorated, from an active healthy person to walking skeleton, won’t sleep because storm could happen at night, in less than a year.
Hope you have someone to help you through your worry.

The OP question was about the sustainability of the Villages. I believe a hurricane could ruin the Villages. Do I worry and lose sleep over it? No! I have properties up North. If my home is destroyed, I will rebuild and choose if I wish to stay. I WAS MERELY GIVING MY OPINION ON THE SUSTAINABILITY OF THE VILLAGES. Sorry, my answer rubbed you the wrong way. However, I will not change my opinion. A hurricane most likely will ruin the Villages.

[MX rider]

Originally Posted by margaretmattson

The OP question was about the sustainability of the Villages. I believe a hurricane could ruin the Villages. Do I worry and lose sleep over it? No! I have properties up North. If my home is destroyed, I will rebuild and choose if I wish to stay. I WAS MERELY GIVING MY OPINION ON THE SUSTAINABILITY OF THE VILLAGES. Sorry, my answer rubbed you the wrong way. However, I will not change my opinion. A hurricane most likely will ruin the Villages.

We can agree to disagree on this. We're from Indiana where tornadoes are expected at some point. We just had one hit 15 miles from our home last spring. 6 people died.

But they took it in stride and started rebuilding. Just like people would do here.

Actually, we're in the safest part of Florida according to NOAH.

[margaretmattson]

Originally Posted by MX rider

We can agree to disagree on this. We're from Indiana where tornadoes are expected at some point. We just had one hit 15 miles from our home last spring. 6 people died.

But they took it in stride and started rebuilding. Just like people would do here.

Actually, we're in the safest part of Florida according to NOAH.

Sorry to hear that. No one wants a natural disaster to strike their community. You can rebuild but you never forget. I did not mean to strike a chord. Best wishes to all your loved ones in Indiana.

[Topspinmo]

Originally Posted by Michael 61

I sure hope the Developer never decides to abandon the community and turn over its governance to the residents. If you look historically at Sun City and a Sun City West Arizona, that is exactly what the developer (Del Webb) did after those communities were “built out” - Though still nice communities, deeds and restrictions became less restrictive, giving more control to the residents, which have created an “inconsistent” feel in their respective communities. The pristine and beautiful community we live in, is because of the control the Developer has over The Villages, and why many of us chose to retire here.

There lot moles in this area of Florida…

[MX rider]

Originally Posted by margaretmattson

Sorry to hear that. No one wants a natural disaster to strike their community. You can rebuild but you never forget. I did not mean to strike a chord. Best wishes to all your loved ones in Indiana.

It's all good! Your comment didn't bother me at all.
I was just saying that people accept the risk for the most part. I know we do. Just part of life's journey.

Truth is, neither of us know the answer. lol

[Laker14]

Originally Posted by margaretmattson

The OP question was about the sustainability of the Villages. I believe a hurricane could ruin the Villages. Do I worry and lose sleep over it? No! I have properties up North. If my home is destroyed, I will rebuild and choose if I wish to stay. I WAS MERELY GIVING MY OPINION ON THE SUSTAINABILITY OF THE VILLAGES. Sorry, my answer rubbed you the wrong way. However, I will not change my opinion. A hurricane most likely will ruin the Villages.

I don't see why the threat of a hurricane, or the actual event, would impact the long term viability of The Villages any more than it would a place like Charleston SC, or Jacksonville, FL, or any of the other large metro areas in harm's way. In fact, hurricanes weaken significantly once they hit land. While the impacts of a large storm do affect inland communities, they are significantly mitigated by distance from landfall.

Charleston, Miami, Ft. Myers, New Orleans, just to name 4 of many, have all had catastrophic direct hits from powerful hurricanes, yet they sustain. Why would TV not sustain in the aftermath of a storm that had travelled a minimum of 40 miles over land before reaching it?

[Altavia]

Originally Posted by margaretmattson

...

A hurricane most likely will ruin the Villages.

Maybe to ease your concern a little, being over 100 mi from either cost, we're in the lowest risk for severe damage in FL.

When a hurricane threatened FL recent years, the power companies staged thousands of repair crews and equipment just south of Eastport.

Florida energy companies prepare for hurricane season | wtsp.com

On a 65-acre site in The Villages, you can find enough trailers for 2500+ workers to sleep in, more than 100 mobile generators and thousands of utility poles ready to be put up.

“The site is a year-round staging site, an area they typically set up so crews can respond to areas hard hit by a storm, a crucial part of what companies like Duke Energy do come hurricane season."

[asianthree]

Our oldest has a stilt home on barrier island NC. It is always a mandatory evacuation for storms. So far house has water flow through stilts but no damage. He keeps hoping for new roof but no luck.

If he doesn’t worry about every storms head to his house, I defiantly wouldn’t worry about the small percentage of damage in TV. But worry doesn’t stop all things destructive

[Robnlaura]

Originally Posted by Bill14564

They are talking about the bond but implying it is an HOA fee. For some reason they want to insist we have an HOA.

I may get some of this not quite right:
- Infrastructure (roads) in new development areas are typically paid for by the developer with the costs rolled into the home prices
- Roads to connect to new developments and road improvements to support the additional traffic are paid for by the County with some of the cost covered by impact fees.

In the Villages, we do things differently:
- Infrastructure is still paid for by the developer but the costs are not added to the home price; instead, they are allocated to each of the homes as the bond.
- Roads to connect to new developments are sometimes paid for by the developer and then sold back to the County.
- Road improvements to support the additional traffic are paid for by the County. There is a road impact fee but a recent study found it to be inadequate. An attempt to increase the impact fee worked out poorly.

I don’t get it that fee is used to develop every amenity you use
roads, sewers, street lights, utilities then they charge you a fee to actually use the facilities It pays for the recreation buildings, pools and executive golf courses. So call it what you like if that makes you feel better. You are STILL paying for everything.. ps most new home builders don’t add a huge fee for the roads and stuff they build it comes out of their profits..

[Bill14564]

Originally Posted by Robnlaura

I don’t get it that fee is used to develop every amenity you use
roads, sewers, street lights, utilities then they charge you a fee to actually use the facilities It pays for the recreation buildings, pools and executive golf courses. So call it what you like if that makes you feel better. You are STILL paying for everything.. ps most new home builders don’t add a huge fee for the roads and stuff they build it comes out of their profits..

HOA fee: Homeowners association fee. Periodical (monthly, annual) fee for operating and maintaining amenities and common areas. Sometimes also pays for landscape maintenance of every unit.

Amenity fee: Periodical (monthly, annual) fee for operation and maintenance of the amenities. May pay for landscape maintenance around amenity facilities but does not pay for work at common areas or individual unit.

CDD Maintenance fee: Annual fee (at least for us) that pays for maintenance of infrastructure and common areas within the CDD. Does not pay for work at individual units (cutting of my grass is all on me)

Bond: One time fee (though amortized over 30 years) to pay for the buildout of the initial infrastructure. Does not pay for any maintenance at all. I don't believe the amenity facilities (pools, golf courses) were funded from this but I could be wrong about that.

So yes and no. Yes, the builder pays for it but no, the builder does not lose money on the effort. The price of the home is increased to cover the cost of the infrastructure while still returning a profit to the builder. In the case of the Villages, prices are kept artificially low by assessing the infrastructure costs as a bond rather than an additional $40K on each home.