If you buy a new, or nearly new villa your maintenance will not be as bad as you think. Yards are small, but you get privacy and no shared walls like in a condo. As "some" of us age, "some" of us tend to turn the TV up very loud, speak loud etc. A free-standing home provides a sound barrier as well. Hire out lawn care, and periodic exterior cleaning, house washing etc. You can always move to a condo or an apartment later if it seems like you are doing more upkeep than you care to.

We have a condo up north and I would take a single family home any day. You have to everything approved by the board. A ring doorbell. Picky about how many flower pots I have. Only one shepherd’s pole. I understand it is to keep things nice and uniform but ...Come on man! 😝😝

totally agree with you..

2021 0429 Thursday @ 15:21
My condo was Unit 1300. I was thirteen floors up with a gorgeous view of downtown (to the west) and the college's "forest" (to the east). Had the unit been in New York, it would have been a million dollar listing.The fourteen story building had 24/7 "manned" front gate security for the entire community (condos, apartments and townhomes). The building required key access. Cameras caught all comings and goings.

Here are some of my complaints:
+ elevator issues - elevator waits / elevator maintenance (Note: I was only trapped once inside the elevator for about two hours. :-))
+ elevator issues II - construction workers only allowed between the hours of 9-4
+ elevator issues III - moving furniture (e.g. a sofa) requires reserving an elevator in advance
+ HVAC switch over from winter to summer / summer to winter (those periods during which you haven't HVAC control)
+ water maintenance (those periods during which you haven't hot water / any water at all)
+ grocery hiking - there is nothing like a covered garage >within feet of your kitchen<, which you have in a home with a garage
+ amenities limitations - we had a basketball court, two tennis / pickle ball courts, a large family pool and a playground
+ parking regulations - example: no backing into your space
+ maintenance issues, exterior - those leaf blowers can sure soil your vehicle (I'll overlook snow removal issues)
+ vehicular damage - my building was largely senior citizens who weren't the most accurate drivers
+ parking "rights" - it was common courtesy to allow the seniors the prime parking spots, but that meant every outing started with a hike and finished with a hike
+ wind - blowing so hard that it grabs the car door from your hand and damages the hinge!
+ rain - there is simply no way to avoid it (unless you have a garage)
+ BBQ - forget that, you'll have to visit a local park
+ high rise hazards - 10th floor owner left propane tanks on his/her balcony; one exploded blowing out his entire sliding door and setting the unit on fire [Good News: we learned that a ladder truck can reach the tenth floor!]
+ water "accidents" - numerous times we experienced water disasters with the lower floors experiencing the most frequent damage
+ package delivery - if allowed to your specific unit, it may make it - or not (it may be left just outside the building; it may be left inside the mailroom)
+ noise - being downtown, the fire department was very active; do not think that being up high gets you away from that, it was <bad>
+ visitor issues - quests had to navigate the "manned" front gate, the locked down building and my neighbors "stares and questioning"

I believe that our condo board was terrific. During my life in 1300 (Unit), the entire envelope of the building was completely overhauled. Believe me when I say that building was re-covered, top to bottom. Every condo owners balcony was stripped to cement, their railings removed, everything re-sealed, windows and sliding doors replaced (at the owners' expense). The building literally changed color from old to "brand new"!

I concur with the others here who mentioned noise from other condos. I still believe that my neighbors on the fourteenth floor played marbles on their tiled floors! ;-) Good News: My immediate neighbors were generously quiet. Personally, I used headphones.

Condo: You will get to know your neighbors. They will recognize you and greet you. They will also talk about you. They likely do that in TV as well. :-P

I am so happy to have chosen TV. While I am frequently away, I miss my little home in Florida. :-(

Spanish Springs have single level townhomes and condos but all single levels are 2-br, 2-ba.

You NEVER own a condo. The condo purchaser only owns from interior wall paint or wall paper INWARD. The other side of that wall paper belongs to the Condo Association. Townhomes are different. The purchaser owns the entire unit. The differences here is what the "owner" is responsible for. Townhome owners don't pay condo fees, but the condo owner doesn't have to pay for that new roof, whereas the townhome owner will pay for that new roof...

Your prices are much too high. I pay $45.00 per month for landscaping and lawn care, no pest control, do it myself for the last 20 years, pay approximately $210 monthly for amenity, inside and outside water and trash, not painted and still looks great, just paid $12,000 for a new roof after 20 years. We have a designer home on a championship golf course with custom landscaping. We love our home and would not live in a condo or other community. Your choice, but your costs list is way off. Compare apples to apples.

Well I am not one to be giving advice on this subject. My wife and I live in a house too large for just two. I NEVER liked condos and certainly not timeshares. I have bought and sold dozens of homes. And at 71 I just built a home in Maine in the foothills of the white mountains in the lakes area. In Maine the lakes are crystal clear and have no nasty inhabitants.

We currently live in a close to 4000 sqft home on over an acre and a half. We do all of our own house cleaning and yard work and most of the maintenance ourselves. We have dogs that love to run around in our large yard and we grill every chance that we get. This has been a wonderful house to raise kids in - plenty of room for batting practice in our own yard, a big pool, a large driveway to play basketball, plenty of room inside to spread out.

Now that the kids are older, we are looking to downsize. We want a house with a yard for our dogs and we want to be able to grill outside whenever we want to w/o having to haul meat down a bunch of floors and outside to a common grill area which may already be in use.

A smaller house to maintain along with an easy maintenance yard will give us more time to do fun things. We've lived in apartments and rented condos for vacations before and that lifestyle does have it's benefits. But at this point in our lives (mid/late 50's) we want the privacy and independence of a single family home and we want the space available for our kids to stay with us during the holidays and summer breaks.

Fun Question
 

We lived on the beach in a Condo in southern Florida for quite a few years . Here are the problems you may face on a beach condo. If you are in a hurricane path the owners on the 2nd floor up which have "wind insurance" want some of the insurance money from the 1st floor owners who have flood Insurance and pay less for Ins. and get more. Then you have building repairs spread among the owners, that can and will cost a bundle for each owner. You wake up and find ex felon in one of the buildings and is not the owner. Question: who is paying for him/her. Three main complaints on a regular basis are the three "P's". Poop, pool and Puppy (Dogs). Rebars in balconies are failing, all balconies have to be repaired. Heavy expense. You are governed under Florida Statue 718 which is really not bad. Maintenance fees rates between $500-900 a month. Someone brings a child in the pool and that child "poop's. Under Florida law you must drain the pool and refill. Costly. There are large parties by some owners who make very loud noise. We also had a Condo up north at the same time. Lots of on going problems although not all the same as in Florida. NET: We bought a home in The Villages and are completely satisfied.
:ho:

Exactly. There are pros and cons to condo living.

I look at it this way. TV homes are in a way similar to condos/townhomes but without common walls (homes are close to each other)...and no crazy people running the HOA as in condo living.

I do wish the Lofts were condos instead of rentals though

I have a corner Villa large enclosed backyard that my dogs just love and so do we! Never hear the neighbors who are great!

I’ve been in a few of those town homes
 

And stayed in 2 different ones , I didn’t know that any of them were only 1 floor

Spanish Springs TOWNHOMES/CONDOS
 

There are three villages . The Villas Of Spanish Springs has two and three story units. Vista Lago and Villa Sonoma have some single story units.

We lived in a condo up North for 29 years and we loved the fact that the landscaping, snow shoveling, and repairs were taken care of by an efficient Maintenance Dept. All it took was one inconsiderate neighbor next door to make our lives miserable for the last 3 years. We were happy to move into our own home in TV and not have to put up with shared walls or anyone living above us. There are condos in Spanish Springs and their HOA fees could be higher than the monthly expenses of most homes in TV.

It’s like trying to explain why some people like the color red and some blue.

You just described The Villages. Just make sure you have wide sliders to a great lania with a grill or summer kitchen.
Depends what type of dog(s) you have - our dog loves it in TV

Don’t forget about how rules in a condo

Most of us do not want to share walls with others.
I hate slamming doors in the hallway, people being loud
In the hallways of an apartment or condo. People living there tend to be more short term.

And though our lots are small I like green space around us.

I am much happier in my own house.

Having had a large home with lots of yard work and cleaning, we downsized to a Patio Villa for two and L♥ve it!
Just enough room and a lot less work to upkeep. Less work equals more playtime! ♥

You for got to mention
 

the black flys and only 2 months of summer

I am quite comfortable in my condo here on New York's Long Island. Snow is cleared for all residents and landscaping is done throughout the summer. I was considering buying a villa in the villages, but I have to consider the expense of outside maintenance again. (I had a house on Long Island for 40 years before retiring to my condo). Also I am not sports oriented, so I'm afraid I would be out of place in the villages. I know there are over 3,000 clubs with indoor activities, but really how many clubs can one person join? Please let me know your thoughts. Thank you. Marvin

I don't like being attached to another homeowner, I always worry about fire and loud disrespectful neighbors.