[Campbell soup]

We live on the preserve with a large pond behind us. We love watching the Great Blue Huron fish, Egrets motionless for 15 minute at time to catch a frog for dinner. Its beautiful and the big plus no neighbors behind us just the wonderful sounds of nature. Insects a few if any never have seen a snake in three years.

[Midvale]

You can find interesting wildlife even in a puddle in Florida.

[jojo]

We're on water and have few insects. In five years I have not been bitten by a mosquito at home. There are periods when we get the tree frog croaking but fortunately it's muted in the house. We enjoy trying to figure out the social lives and patterns of the ducks and of course we have the herons, ibis, egrets and occasional sand hill cranes. Love the reflections of the sunset. We've had absolutely no problems living on the water.

[Barefoot]

Originally Posted by shcisamax

One of the iffy things about some of the water lots is there is the possibility the "water" will dry up...TV does not guarantee the water will be there in the future. I was told that is what happened in Belvedere which annoyed some owners. I think the marshes might be concerning because in drought, everything would start to grow with the increase sun and then with a small amount of water, would grow even faster until ...no more marsh. The retaining ponds probably have a better chance because they can divert water here and there accordingly.

Most water views in The Villages seem to be of retention ponds. A lot of the ponds are on golf courses, but there are other ponds that are circled by houses. The price of a view lot is dependent on how desirable the view is. Even though the ponds are mostly man-made, they are pretty to look at and attract lots of beautiful birds. It's really magical to watch the Pelicans fishing in formation. (Some water views are of marshy environmental areas, they may well be more buggy). SamHass, who backs directly on Lake Sumter, has an absolutely incredible view lot.

It's true that The Villages doesn't guarantee that there will always be water in the retention ponds, which are connected with pipes, because the level of the water is dependent on rainfall. Sometimes the ponds are overflowing, sometimes a lot less, but there is usually a nice level of water. I know a large pond in Bonita Village that had a problem with the liner - the pond had to be drained and the liner replaced by The Villages. In Belvedere Village, we did have a problem with the water levels in one pond - The Villages repaired the liner of the connecting pipe, and all is well.

[swimdawg]

I live on a lake/pond....excuse me....an OCEAN (according to Bill'nBrillo) in St. James. It is absolutely beautiful to see the egrets, duckies, blue herons, etc. swimming in the "ocean". I wouldn't trade my view for anything. I purposely wanted a view with the lanai facing west because I love to watch the sunset over water. Now I have the lanai enclosed so I can enjoy it year round. The sunsets over the "ocean" in St. James are breathtaking!

Go for the water view....it's the best!