The activities are the best part of the Villages.The summer HEAT is the worst part. Stick around for hurricane season to REALLY become informed.

Realize that you pay for a bond one way or the other. You may have a 30 K bond on new property but if you buy a house that the bond is already paid off, they'll charge you roughly the same, for the same house that has a bond or something to that effect.

Bought my house in 2022 and I believe the bond is 30K. I have no intention of paying it off. I plan on living here till I croak. Let my heirs worry about it.

We moved here in 2020 and our bond has another 12 years or so to go.

Real estate pros suggested not paying it off as we would mostly not get the money back on selling.

If house has been built say 10 or so years ago bond to purchase price of house is not going to be very high so do not see it as a big issue.

Same with us. Bought brand new in 2022, paid cash for our 4/3 veranda home, and have a bond at 3% that we won’t pay off. Our kids can deal with it after we croak. Even with the bond payment added to our property taxes we’re still paying less for our annual taxes than we did in SoCal. It’s all good.

That it was not! That is more of an exception than the rule, but how did all of that go within 23 months on a 6 year old home? My goodness!

We love older people! That isn't a concern! ;)

That I did not know, and will try that! Thank you!

Quick reminder, as for the heat thing. I grew up outside of Orlando while father was in the AF. So years of being an AF Brat, born in Edwards AFB in California. Last place he was enlisted was Grand Forks, AFB in North Dakota. Now that is windy and cold! I will take sweating at 6:OO getting the newspaper, vs my body being frozen stiff by the time I get to my newspaper! :)

As for Hurricane's well you get a little time to plan for them, doesn't ease any devastation afterwards however. I believe The Villages doesn't get "truly" affected, but high winds are an issue. Now compare that to a Tornado that pops up you maybe have 3-15 minutes as a heads up.

I can share this, holding my 2 year old son, looking out a large front window, we were admiring the different dark and green colors of the clouds on a storm coming in. My now ex was at the back of the house, and mentions we should bring our son downstairs as she didn't like the look. (She grew up on a farm in WI, so she has seen strong winds with nothing stopping them and huge storms so no fear from her!). I stayed a couple of more seconds, and went well alright buddy let's go down with mom. More to appease then to say fearful, as it wasn't daunting IMO. Low and behold, I took about 20 steps to get to the door to our basement, got half way down the stairs and as those with tornado history or close calls, there was a very loud freight train noise. Hustled down the last remaining steps, gave my son to her hands, and ran over to the steps to see what in the heck that was. From the gap between the floor and the bottom of the door, I could see water, leaves, etc, I went you have to be kidding me! Waited for most of the sound to leave, popped up stairs. Huge old outdoor cast iron chair came through my large from window, from someone's deck a few blocks away lodged into my wall. From window to back wall was 25ft. All the popcorn in access ways to attack where sucked up and turned in the attack, and the worst thing of all was the house behind the entire 2nd and 3rd floor were gone except for a piano. Nobody injured as they were not home, thank goodness!

So, pick your poison lol... blizzards, snow, -50+ windchills with steamy 95+ Summers with high humidity, or Hurricane Season, and Steamy Heat for 4-5 months and rain! I will take that.

I can easily adapt to AC all the time, do it now, I cannot stand the Snow and Bluster anymore! I will miss the cabin, pontooning, jet skiing, etc... but time to Bass fish Lake Sumter! ;)

We do have to worry about tornadoes here but not so much damage from hurricanes. The Groundhog Day hurricane of 2007 hit a small section of the Villages very hard . But not much in the way of damage before that nor after to the Villages from tornadoes. We have had some in house home care ladies who have lived here all their lives. A few of these are in their fifties if not older.

I was near a natural disaster on Memorial Day of 1983 while working at a food service at Bower's Mansion in Washoe Valley in Northern Nevada. An avalanche on Slide Mountain went into a mountain lake which pushed a mass of water down Davis Creek. I saw a lot of panic in the park visitors but we did not know what was happening until I went outside and saw a mass of mud pushed over the highway to the north.

You can find the bond info per property here.

Finance & Bonds - The Villages Community Development Districts

As others have suggested, be careful to not a bond be the tail that wags the dog.

Be aware the bond is not a personal debt It does not impact your credit. The interest is not tax deductable.

It is a debt against the property and transfers to the next buyer when the property is sold.

Most sellers do not recover the full bond cost when selling the property. Especially in the current market.

It's been said the average Villager move three times. I know several that said not me, paid off their bond, then sold 5 years later and assumed a new bond.

If you have the funds to pay off the bond, better to invest that money and use that interest to offset the bond interest. That way you only pay bond cost for the time you own the home.