[John_W]

Back in Maryland electricity for January would of been $400, my last SECO bill in TV for January was $126, so I can't complain. However, it's my first bill in almost ten years I've ever received that was over $100. This is a masonry 2BR 2BA CYV. Normally it runs between $75 to $95 a month depending on the season.

I only have 4 bills a month, besides SECO, I have Century Link for telephone and internet, that was $93, without the home phone it would be $49. The other bill is the Villages Utilities, which covers irrigation water, drinking water, sewage and garbage and amenities and it was $239. I've had Directv for the past 12 years, it's higher than probably most TV services, but I enjoy having the ease of a on-screen channel guide, easy to record, have over 300 channels almost all are in HD, and convenience. Directv was $160 this past month, but I'm still paying off NFL Sunday Ticket and it will drop $50 a month.

My CYV was purchased new in 2011 and the bond was $14,000, I pay $1,100 a year onto my taxes. My homeowners insurance with Gabrillo Coastal through my Villages Insurance agent is $619. Other than taxes, that's all there is. This is a very cheap place to live.

All my other day-to-day expenses for everything else, gas, food, eating out, recreation, etc I put on my credit card and get one bill a month and by doing that I get about 2% of it back.

$126
$ 93
$239
$160

That's only $618 a month

[Bilyclub]

[QUOTE=APovi;1902108]

Originally Posted by bobk544

Hello, is there a Villages link that talks about the typical costs of living in The Villages like what the House Insurance might be on a 300k home and typical monthly HOA/Amenity fees? And in many posts, I see discussions about a "bond" purchase or something like that and haven't got a clue what this "bond" item is all about?

Originally Posted by bobk544

For whatever reason assuming a '5%+ Bond Balance' is generally accepted by 'Resale' Home-Buyers in The Villages.
It's a 'lien' on the house you are buying which should be paid off by the seller, just like any other 'mortgage'. If not - Why not?

Because TV is a sellers market. Have you gone and looked at what houses are selling for and what the seller originally paid for the house?

[CoachKandSportsguy]

With the number of sights and places to check out while living in FL an RV is the perfect solution for summer travel while cruise ships are still laid up.

Yes, agree with all of the above for the summer vacations in CO, PEI, NE, etc. Spend a month seeing the grandkids in the Northeast, then heading west for mountain and national park living in the summer time golfing in the rockies where the drives go farther

Have an F250 6.7 Diesel all purchased, ready to tow the remains of New England down to the TV house, as it will be just clothes, computer equipment, and a handful of furniture pieces and a tool chest, as we moved most everything down in two trailer trips two years ago, and furnished in the correct FL style down there. . .

My brother and there are friends who will join us as well. . .

travel trailer guy

[Hifred]

My biggest shock when I came here to live from downtown Chicago was the price of food and water. The cost of groceries here is crazy to me. I was at Walmart today and the cost of a watermelon is $6.79. I spend about 1.75 times more in groceries than I spent in Chicago.

I bought my homeowners insurance from State Farm because it covers sink holes at the standard deductible. All the other homeowner policies we looked at came with catastrophic ground collapse but had very large deductibles such as 10% of the policy. So if you had a problem you would pay $30,000 before the insurance would kick in. Our State Farm policy is $1200 a year on a $380,000 house.

The cost of water here is very expensive compared to Chicago. You get two water charges. One for portable water that you can drink and bathe with and the other which comes from the ponds which is for your yard. Every month I pay about $250 dollars for both types of water, sewer, amenity fee and trash collection.

The bond is based on the CDD you live in. We have paid off our bond. When we bought our home in 2019 the house was 12 years old and the bond was reduced to $17,000 because those who owned the home before us had paid the bond fee. In addition to the bond we pay a maintenance fee for our area which is 196 that is in The Village of Charlotte. The additional maintenance fee is $703.82. We also pay a fee for the fire department which is on our tax bill in the amount of $124. If we wouldn't have paid the bond off our fee would have been $1626.68. In total with the bond paid off our property taxes were $4,635.49. The year prior before we paid the bond they were $6074. If you find a home with a bond paid you will save quite a bit on your property taxes each year. In the new areas the bonds are $45,000 and are amortized over 30 years. The thing is that you pay interest and they stack all the interest upfront so the actual amount of the bond doesn't decrease sizably the first few years.

Internet for a mid range speed through spectrum is $50 a month when bought in conjunction with cable TV. So my whole bill is $150 for a silver package that does not include HBO or Showtime but gives us a lot of channels. We get our electricity from SECO and it runs from a high of $390 a month in the summer to a low of $130 a month in the winter. Our home is all electric. With Covid we eat at home but it was less last year before Covid because we would go to restaurants and wouldn't use the electric stove.

Other costs to consider are lawn care services. We bought a battery powered mower and cut our own grass. But we spend a lot of money on palm fertilizer and plant food.

[OrangeBlossomBaby]

Originally Posted by Hifred

The cost of water here is very expensive compared to Chicago. You get two water charges. One for portable water that you can drink and bathe with and the other which comes from the ponds which is for your yard. Every month I pay about $250 dollars for both types of water, sewer, amenity fee and trash collection.

Some parts of the Villages don't have two sources of water, only one.

Your amenity fee takes up $150 (minimum, since you say you bought in 2019) per month out of that $250.

So you're paying $100/month for water, sewer, and trash collection.

That's not expensive for a large property that requires a lot of sprinkler system activity.

We pay around $70/month for everything - on a small piece of property, and we make attempts to conserve water when we can.

[Bilyclub]

Originally Posted by Hifred

I bought my homeowners insurance from State Farm because it covers sink holes at the standard deductible. All the other homeowner policies we looked at came with catastrophic ground collapse but had very large deductibles such as 10% of the policy. So if you had a problem you would pay $30,000 before the insurance would kick in. Our State Farm policy is $1200 a year on a $380,000 house.

Do you have the actual sinkhole coverage or the standard catastrophic ground collapse coverage ? I just got my bill from State Farm for this year and it went up $200.

[Topspinmo]

Originally Posted by charlieo1126@gmail.com

to pay cash ,why tie up your money with such low interest rates, put 20% down let the home rise in value and leave the other money to invest in whatever savings.vehicle you choose

Interest has nothing to do with principal. So you payment little lower, but that don’t equate to principal. Why do you think they want people to refinance every time interest rate drops. ????? Wait for it??? So you start over paying principal where the money is made.

[BayLady57]

Originally Posted by bobk544

Hello, is there a Villages link that talks about the typical costs of living in The Villages like what the House Insurance might be on a 300k home and typical monthly HOA/Amenity fees? And in many posts, I see discussions about a "bond" purchase or something like that and haven't got a clue what this "bond" item is all about?

Thanks very much for any help on these questions and or pointing me to a link on these kinds of topics!

My husband and I are life long Rhode Islanders and are strongly considering relocating to TV primarily to escape our cold winters when I retire in about 1.5 years and doing our 2nd lifestyle visit next month. I have been doing COL research on TV for several years now, and in addition to the wealth of info provided on this forum about this topic, I recently came across a YouTube video by Dave Monty who works in real estate in the TV area which he breaks down the bonds and assessments costs in a very understandable way which you should check out.

[Psacc0]

Originally Posted by nicksgram51@yahoo.com

New to the area. I thought the amount was only the balance that we pay on it, did not realize they add interest. Does anyone know what interest they charge?

Link to Example of 30 year Amortization Schedule on a courtyard villa bought in 2017. You can find these on districtgov.org

https://www.districtgov.org/departme...o%20Villas.pdf

[bobk544]

I've got a lot of great information to go through now and I see first hand why The Villages really is a nice place to live with everyone being so helpful! thanks again everyone!

[elevatorman]

This video explains the bond. Bond Information and The Villages 5-30-19 Construction update - YouTube