On Top of the World or the Villages (Ocala, Country Club: best city, real estate)

[WindSurfer29]

Originally Posted by rjm1cc

This might be of interest https://www.talkofthevillages.com/forums/index.php
You may find some open groups on Facebook for OTOW
Note that the villages is in 3 counties. Also natural gas is not available in all locations.
This site may also help https://ontopoftheworldinfo.com/

Excellent information. Thanks for the links!

[Ghaati]

Originally Posted by WindSurfer29

Certainly good to know. I guess my next question is are people “friendly” and welcoming. Rental issue hadn’t entered my mind, but glad you brought it up and glad it is limited.

Friendly and welcoming is subjective. In my neighborhood, everyone was amazing when we moved in this past year. In one of the neighborhoods we checked out while on our "Lifestyle Visit" we didn't see a single neighbor the entire week we were there, and we know that most of the properties in the neighborhood had been purchased and were occupied by their owners. We chose the "Historic" section of the Villages because it was the closest thing to a real neighborhood that we could find. In our opinion, the rest of the Villages was more like Stepford - where everything is a pretty facade with very little substance within.

Bear in mind that the entirety of the Villages is predominately Republican, if politics means anything to you at all. Most of the folks don't go on about it at the weekly luncheon, but some of them are die-hards that plaster signs and bumper stickers all over their cars and golf carts, and will be confrontational if they come across an opposing viewpoint.

Conversely, there are also Democrats, but they are in the minority and don't tend to be quit as outspoken as their opposites. On the other hand, there are a few extremely outspoken ones, such as Ed McGinty (who is actually famous and made the National news as a result of his outspoken-ness).

Politics aside, most conversations with neighbors are congenial, neighborly, and the folks are some of the genuinely nicest people you'll ever meet.

Although this is a 55+ community, there are very few disabled Seniors in the Villages. It is an active community, most of the homes are not wheelchair accessible, and there aren't any sidewalks. The pools DO all now have mechanical lifts for the disabled to get in and out; that was a new addition in the past couple of years.

Most people living in the Villages drive golf carts everywhere; it's rare that you ever truly need a car, since everything - from your doctor's office and the hospital to dancing in the town squares (when there's no virus shutting down the entertainment), to Walmart, Belk's, Target, pet stores, supermarkets, furniture stores - it's ALL accessible by golf cart.

The only exception at the moment is the newer areas of the Villages, south of SR44. One of the golf cart bridges was just placed over the highway last week but it doesn't connect to anything yet.

[WindSurfer29]

Originally Posted by JohnN

I've lived in The Villages since 2008. Prior to moving here, we did visit many 55+ communities including OTOW.
On one visit in particular while visiting Del Webb, I asked the sales rep, "who is your primary competitor in this market?" and he said "No doubt, The Villages". So we visited there next and it's been GREAT, no where else like it. Here's what we like.

You can choose to be as active (or not) as you like. There are a couple of thousand clubs, tons of sports, more golf than you can imagine (I'm not a golfer). We do use the entertainment venues a lot (free music in the 3 squares, lots of traveling shows in the auditorium venues and mostly reasonably priced). We take free yoga, visit a lot of the health expos, art and crafts shows, christmas shows (ie: train club). So we took a rental, bought a small patio villa and snowbirded for a few years, then moved down full time in 2012. One big plus is that you can (if you choose) golf cart to grocery stores, doctors, recreation centers, libraries, etc. You can't do that at any other place. We bought a 3 BR courtyard villa which gives us privacy at home and plenty of neighbors and folks when we go out. Our taxes and amenity fees are quite reasonable. Last, I didn't much care for the Ocala traffic on highway 200 every time we'd be leaving OTOW, it's rough. We're absolutely happy where we are in The Villages.

Thanks John, very helpful and informative and it’s great to get a comparison perspective.

[WindSurfer29]

Originally Posted by Ghaati

Friendly and welcoming is subjective. In my neighborhood, everyone was amazing when we moved in this past year. In one of the neighborhoods we checked out while on our "Lifestyle Visit" we didn't see a single neighbor the entire week we were there, and we know that most of the properties in the neighborhood had been purchased and were occupied by their owners. We chose the "Historic" section of the Villages because it was the closest thing to a real neighborhood that we could find. In our opinion, the rest of the Villages was more like Stepford - where everything is a pretty facade with very little substance within.

Bear in mind that the entirety of the Villages is predominately Republican, if politics means anything to you at all. Most of the folks don't go on about it at the weekly luncheon, but some of them are die-hards that plaster signs and bumper stickers all over their cars and golf carts, and will be confrontational if they come across an opposing viewpoint.

Conversely, there are also Democrats, but they are in the minority and don't tend to be quit as outspoken as their opposites. On the other hand, there are a few extremely outspoken ones, such as Ed McGinty (who is actually famous and made the National news as a result of his outspoken-ness).

Politics aside, most conversations with neighbors are congenial, neighborly, and the folks are some of the genuinely nicest people you'll ever meet.

Although this is a 55+ community, there are very few disabled Seniors in the Villages. It is an active community, most of the homes are not wheelchair accessible, and there aren't any sidewalks. The pools DO all now have mechanical lifts for the disabled to get in and out; that was a new addition in the past couple of years.

Most people living in the Villages drive golf carts everywhere; it's rare that you ever truly need a car, since everything - from your doctor's office and the hospital to dancing in the town squares (when there's no virus shutting down the entertainment), to Walmart, Belk's, Target, pet stores, supermarkets, furniture stores - it's ALL accessible by golf cart.

The only exception at the moment is the newer areas of the Villages, south of SR44. One of the golf cart bridges was just placed over the highway last week but it doesn't connect to anything yet.

Thank you so much for the post!! So much valuable information, really, added to your reputation and others here that gave an inside perspective of things.

[Bette]

Originally Posted by Ghaati

Friendly and welcoming is subjective. In my neighborhood, everyone was amazing when we moved in this past year. In one of the neighborhoods we checked out while on our "Lifestyle Visit" we didn't see a single neighbor the entire week we were there, and we know that most of the properties in the neighborhood had been purchased and were occupied by their owners. We chose the "Historic" section of the Villages because it was the closest thing to a real neighborhood that we could find. In our opinion, the rest of the Villages was more like Stepford - where everything is a pretty facade with very little substance within.

Bear in mind that the entirety of the Villages is predominately Republican, if politics means anything to you at all. Most of the folks don't go on about it at the weekly luncheon, but some of them are die-hards that plaster signs and bumper stickers all over their cars and golf carts, and will be confrontational if they come across an opposing viewpoint.

Conversely, there are also Democrats, but they are in the minority and don't tend to be quit as outspoken as their opposites. On the other hand, there are a few extremely outspoken ones, such as Ed McGinty (who is actually famous and made the National news as a result of his outspoken-ness).

Politics aside, most conversations with neighbors are congenial, neighborly, and the folks are some of the genuinely nicest people you'll ever meet.

Although this is a 55+ community, there are very few disabled Seniors in the Villages. It is an active community, most of the homes are not wheelchair accessible, and there aren't any sidewalks. The pools DO all now have mechanical lifts for the disabled to get in and out; that was a new addition in the past couple of years.

Most people living in the Villages drive golf carts everywhere; it's rare that you ever truly need a car, since everything - from your doctor's office and the hospital to dancing in the town squares (when there's no virus shutting down the entertainment), to Walmart, Belk's, Target, pet stores, supermarkets, furniture stores - it's ALL accessible by golf cart.

The only exception at the moment is the newer areas of the Villages, south of SR44. One of the golf cart bridges was just placed over the highway last week but it doesn't connect to anything yet.

Do people just walk in the street? Are there really no sidewalks? What if you have a pet?

[Ghaati]

Originally Posted by Bette

Do people just walk in the street? Are there really no sidewalks? What if you have a pet?

The neighborhood roads don't have sidewalks. People walk their dogs on the side of the road, it's not a big deal at all.

The speed limit within each residential neighborhood (called a village - there are many of them, thus the name of the community being The Villages) is only 20MPH max. In courtyard villa neighborhoods (a specific type of home style and property layout) the speed limit is only 10MPH. Near the rec centers it goes down to 15MPH. So it's not likely you'll see people going at such high speeds that they'll not notice someone walking their dog at the side of the road.

There are no traffic lights or roundabouts within any of the villages - only outside them.

There are also multi-modal paths for golf carts, pedestrians, bicycle riders, roller-skaters, and Segway users, throughout the entire (70+ square-mile) community. There are also hiking trails, and dog parks. These paths are used in lieu of sidewalks, near the main roads of the community. Those main roads also don't have sidewalks, because the multi-modal paths replace the need for them.

Most people travel by golf cart to and from all of this, even to the doctor's office. The hospital has a section in their parking lot reserved for golf carts.

And yes people walk on the street in the residential neighborhoods. That's how I get to the postal center every day to pick up my mail.

[rjm1cc]

Originally Posted by Bette

Do people just walk in the street? Are there really no sidewalks? What if you have a pet?

In OTOW the answer is yes with some separate sidewalks and some all purpose roads for golf carts and walkers.

You will see a few motorized wheel chairs and they follow the golf cart rules.

You may also see a few people using walkers.


The biggest problem with walkers is some do not walk facing traffic.

[Ghaati]

Walking on the side of the road is really not a problem for anyone who grew up in the burbs or rural areas of the country. We had sidewalks on the opposite side of our street, but the sidewalks were in such horrible condition that it was safer to walk on the side of the road. Less risk of twisting an ankle. Trees root under those sidewalks and bust them open, and then homeowners just pour cement right over the root, creating a rise in the topography. Gets messy.

I guess if you're a city-raised person this would be unheard of. But for most of suburbia and rural America it's just another day.

[Bette]

Always had sidewalks....always

My mom even went door to door in the 70's for our neighborhood - which had them on the main streets but not the other streets. She and 5 other ladies made it happen. Would not happen like that today. Kind of sad.

[middle-aged mom]

Which villages within the Villages are considered “ historic”?