[FloridaGuy66]

Originally Posted by Normal

Absolutely, spot on. The wallet gets the punch in the gut if you move into Fruitland Park, Leesburg or Wildwood. Also, watch out for the northern Villages in Marion County/Lady Lake.

We calculated that our extra expense for being in Wildwood is under $400/year. That's around 2.5% of our total annual costs on our home.

Nothing worth losing sleep over, or choosing not to live in the nice areas that happen to be in Wildwood for that matter.

[tophcfa]

Originally Posted by Guinness835

My wife and I are seriously looking to buy a house in The Villages in the very near future. We have visited several times and have a couple of friends that have moved there, so we are fairly familiar with it.

We have come to the conclusion that we would like to be in the in an established area versus the new builds down in the southern part. We would prefer “between the sixes,” but have also looked at houses between Lake Sumter and Spanish Springs around Tierra Del Sol.

We have seen a couple of houses online recently that were completely renovated, but built in the late 90’s. I have read and heard about insurance difficulties regarding roof age and all of that, so we’re fairly informed about that. I also believe homes built after 2004(ish) had different building requirements such as hurricane clips. I know that it is preferable if a home built before that has these hurricane clips added later.

I am just curious if anyone has any other pros/cons or concerns for buying a home built in 1998-1999 or so versus something built in the 2000’s. I know that probably is a loaded question, but we have learned a lot from this site and just want to do our due diligence and look at all angles. Thank you in advance!

Our house is in the Tierra Del Sol area and was built in 1996. It has all the necessary roof truss clips and other construction requirements to pass the wind mitigation requirements insurance companies look for. As long as your roof (shingles and underlayment), HVAC system, and hot water heater aren’t old you shouldn’t have a problem getting insurance. That being said, very few, if any, well known national insurance companies will write you a policy. We had to go with Tower Hill after getting dumped by Farmers (Farmers is pulling entirely out of Florida).