Talk of The Villages Florida - Cost of living /month in the villages

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Quote:

Originally Posted by IRISHGIRL3US (Post 1920710)

Hello, please forgive me if I am not proceeding correctly I am new at this.
I am considering buying a home and would like to know what extra cost per month there are.
ORHER THAN .
Mortgage, bond, electric, insurance. Can someone help?
Kate

Your amenity fee, garbage, water and sewer bills come on one bill, you can conservatively expect to pay between $230 and $260 bucks total.
Other cost are about $55 bucks a month for lawn cutting and about $550 a year for fertilizer and bug control

For the above mentioned figure $175/mo

Quote:

Originally Posted by John_W (Post 1920915)

water the shrubs and trees by hand and use irrigation just a few minutes a week:

FYI the water from your hose is potable water at a higher cost than irrigation water

.

There are lots of other expenses that can be added to your list, all of which are optional.

Home warranty insurance (if not purchasing new) approx $65/month
HVAC Service Plan (2 yearly maintenance checkups) approx $200/year
Satellite/Cable (Direct TV, Xfinity, Dish, ect) approx $120/month
Premium add ons (Netflix, Hulu, HBO, Disney+) approx $15/month each
Internet (Comcast, Centurylink, AT&T) depending on speed $40 to $80/month

Others to add to your list
Cell Phones
Lawn and shrub care
Pest Control
Pool Maintenance (if you have one, personally, would not live in Florida without one)
Housekeeping
Golf and Car Insurance

Pest control for house and yard, chemical treatment of yard, mowing trimming, AC maintenance, tankless hot water heater maintenance, sprinkler maintenance,
Home improvements and exterior improvements appear to be regular events throughout the villages.
Also consider if you have a golf cart, you have the additional insurance and maintenance for that.

Quote:

Originally Posted by IRISHGIRL3US (Post 1920710)

I assume you are trying to budget. People are all different. I have a long time friend, I was shocked that he knows how many rolls of toilet paper he use and how many his wife uses.

My view, you are always better having more than you think you will need. It is very unlikely that social security, pensions etc after taxes will keep up with rising costs.

Inflation. We are told the goal is 2%. Food, and medical are going up far faster than that.
Using the 2% number in 36 years you will need two dollars to buy what a dollar buys today.
Two percent is way below the real average long term inflation rate.

Quote:

Originally Posted by IRISHGIRL3US (Post 1920993)

I was planning g on cash for the house and bond

We really cannot answer all this for you. Cash for the house and the bond?
I find it interesting and shocking to view reality. You can get a 30 year mortgage at the average age in the villages of 70 and pay, around 2% interest. That interest can be deductible for some. Odds of living to 100 and living in the same place for the next 30 years??????? So fuzzy math 2%-30% is 1.4%. The bond, the interest is 5% at least mine was. I was told the interest is due to go down in two years. Be sure to verify everything I am saying.

On a mortgage, I think there is a prepayment penalty if you pay it off in less than two years. That is a matter of law. It is there in a mortgage, fine print, somewhere. There are also closing costs. Roughly 4,000. That too is there. Might also be fine print. Some people, slight of hand, put the closing costs into the loan amount.

There is some value to not having to pay a mortgage and or the bond. Is it worth the cost, the loss of the use of your money. The long term 30 years return on your money,
only you can answer that.

Not having enough income to qualify for a mortgage? I was told by the bank I needed a letter from my brokerage that I signed a letter that they would withdraw ????? dollars from my account and send me a check. I'm sure both knew the reality. The brokerage told me they regularly get this request no trouble, no cost to do it and you can cancel it as soon as the mortgage is issued. A phone call no cost to do it.

The biggest expense you’ll see if you never lived in a gated community, sorta, is your amenity $164. a month. So hopefully you play golf or one of the other things TV offer. Otherwise if you just want to live in TV & do nothing get used to donating some money, another thing is paying for you bond if you have one. Water in Florida is a little higher than probably what your used to. Lots of FUN things to do there. But don’t think it’s heaven, you have the same kind of people there as everywhere. But the sign coming into TV is pretty close, “Friendliness place in America”. God Bless America & TV!

Quote:

Originally Posted by IRISHGIRL3US (Post 1920710)

The monthly fees can vary dramatically depending on what services you desire. In general it seems that monthly fees can run between $800-$1400/month for regular expenses.

Quote:

Originally Posted by IRISHGIRL3US (Post 1920710)

Just some friendly advice. Your bond payment is over a 30 year period and if I remember correctly it's at something like 6%. The interest you're paying is NOT tax deductible on your federal income tax. If you can borrow that much, take out a home equity loan, probably at a much better interest rate, pay off the bond and you CAN deduct the interest on that home equity loan. Every little bit counts! :welcome:

Potentially welcome, Irishgirl3US, John W (sage) gave a pretty succinct breakdown of his expenses. Depending on the type of house and size, your financial obligations probably won't be similar. Your area of purchase will somewhat influence what your expenses could be. I've been here about 4 years, and was leery of expenses initially, but found out quickly you are better off than you think.

If you purchase in the northern portion of TV, your bond will be much lower or paid off, but you have an older house with potential home improvements or upkeep looming. A new house in southern portion will have a new bond attached to the fees, but worry free house issues for awhile. Potential younger crowd in the south with new purchase. As far as I can tell, taxes are not the same in the 3 counties TV cover. A concrete house does not need power washing as a wooden structure with vinyl siding. Lawn care is up to owner, mow on your own or outsource to one of many lawn maintenance crews (monthly fees vary).

Regardless, if you are moving down here and selling your northern home, you really should have no financial issues. Your mortgage company will make certain you can readily afford your mortgage. The other potential fees are not out of line. You will be fine.

Quote:

Originally Posted by John_W (Post 1920905)

There isn't much in my extras I found. My amenities, garbage, water (both irrigation & drinking) and sewage comes on one bill every month and averages about $235. I have a masonry 2BR CYV built in 2011 that I bought new.

Electric last bill was $85, it's usually between $80 to $95.

I paid cash for my home, so I have no mortgage and when I pay my taxes, usually in November the bond is included with the taxes. My bond was $14,000 so I pay $1100 every year for the bond. In addition there is a yearly maintenance fee and mine was $450, that is also included on the tax bill.

I do my own yard maintenance, since I have a CYV I was able to remove all my grass and have just shrubs, palm trees and gravel. I trim my shrubs myself, fertilize and just yesterday I power-washed my back patio, and I will do my driveway this afternoon. I bought Ryobi Power-Washer with a buffer attachment type head at Home Depot. CYV are great for those who want less yard work and a privacy fenced backyard.

I have Directv and that $135 a month. I have Century Link for internet and home phone, the internet if 100 mbps and the phone is a regular type phone with unlimited long distance included. That's $90 a month. I'm going soon get rid of the home phone and go with two Consumer Cellular smart phones for $45 a month and the internet will then be $49 a month guaranteed for life.

My homeowner's insurance I bought through The Villages Insurance Agency, they are located at each square. I was with American Integrity in 2011 and it was $505 a year, by 2018 it had risen to $985. I switched to Cabrillo Coastal and in 2019 it was $565 and in 2020 it was $619. That includes catastrophic ground collapse and sink hole with 10% deductible. Living in this section of Florida, it's referred to as 'sink hole alley', don't buy insurance without sink hole coverage.

I generally don't carry or have much cash on hand. I buy gas, all food, all restaurants and most everything else with my Master Card and I get one bill at the end of each month. That's really my biggest expense, the day-to-day living costs. I buy my gas at the Walmart at Colony and I buy my groceries at the Walmart at Colony and occasional items at Publix that Walmart might out. Also by using a charge, I get 2% back on all purchases from my CC. I purchase some items on Amazon and eBay, once again the CC is used.

One of my biggest expenses was the MVP Gym membership at Brownwood. My first five years I paid $109 a month in for my wife and me, but since 2018 it has been included free with my United Health Medicare Advantage plan. United Health plan is one of two plans accepted by TV Health Care System, so that good to have since you'll see their medical buildings throughout TV. There is no premiums for the plan, your Medicare pays the costs. So once you're 65 it really doesn't cost you anything. I also have VA Medical coverage and we a large fairly new (built in 2010) medical center in the north end of TV that covers 16,000 veterans.

Honestly I don't know why so many people pay so much for extras, my monthly expenses run about $600 to $800 not counting my credit card. I have no loans, paid cash for the home, paid cash for the golf cart, paid cash for the car. I say, when retire be lean and clean. That's what I do. Here's the home I pay these expenses for, it will be ten years old next month and this photo was taken in 2019.

https://scontent-atl3-2.xx.fbcdn.net...66&oe=60839424

Thanks for the info. It was very informative and I for one appreciate the time you took to write this article. Thanks again. Rick Stone

Here is a list of all my costs (I have no bond):

Per month:

Mortgage $1280 (15 year at 2.85% - I chose not to pay off due to low percent)
Electric: $87 (each month, they "level" costs per month)
Gas $34 (each month, leveled)
Cable/Internet/Phone $146 (I like a "land line", e.g. VOIP, adds $20 to this bill however)
Property Tax $317 ($3800 per annum...include "village only taxes" of about $500)
Homeowner's Insurance $89
"LSSA" (similar to HOA...include water, trash, "amenities", etc.) $221
Lawn and Pest (necessary here) $80

Total: $974 without mortgage, $2254 with mortgage

I have small, 2 bedroom "courtyard villa".

You could cut expenses by not having a mortgage, and by having no cable TV or landline, but otherwise, you should plan to spend this much or more.

Also, local stores, e.g. the local Publix, typically charge 10-20 percent more than stores 15 miles away. The think we are all rich.