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! ♥