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My parents live in The Villages, and I have to say, it's a pleasure every time we visit. You just feel happier once you turn into area owned by The Villages. There's so much to do... I'm getting tired just thinking about everything that it has to offer... so I'll make it short. There are 3-4 "towns" ... one modeled like Cape Cod / Martha's Vineyard, one like an old Spanish Town, and one like an old Western Village... there's also one being planned that will look like "old world Florida." Each one of these has dozens and dozens of stores... anything you could want, it's there. They even have their own shuttle service to Orlando International Airport. I mean... again... it's just exhausting to think about all the things I could even tell you about it. 57+ golf courses, maybe more... 200+ pools, tennis courts, and dozens and dozens of club-houses each one with workout machines.
My parents are never home when I call... they're always out doing stuff. There are thousands of clubs... there's a club for everything.
I don't want to sound like a jerk, but the only reason why you'd move to On Top Of The World is if you can't find a place in The Villages... market is hot right now.
the Villages is by far and I mean by far more expensive... Something 250 in OTOW is 500 in the Villages... the market is completely on fire and out of control in the villages.
the Villages is by far and I mean by far more expensive... Something 250 in OTOW is 500 in the Villages... the market is completely on fire and out of control in the villages.
We just toured both OTOW and The Villages with SIL who ended up buying in The Villages because she preferred the vibe and energy there over OTOW. Wife and I might pick OTOW for us if we were choosing today due to better value with more house and bigger yard for the money in comparison. SOme comparisons we noted between the 2 are:
- OTOW HOA fee is more than double the fee in The Villages although some houses in The Villages may have a bond fee for a period of years that would make that total amount similar for that length of time
- Most of the houses in OTOW are on a 99 year lease so you don't actually own the land
- The higher HOA fees in OTOW do include taking care of many things such as the yard that the owner is responsible for in the Villages
- OTOW requires the golf carts to be electric and The Villages allows both gas and electric (we prefer electric so OTOW is better for us)
- OTOW seems to be more remote with less activity and energy in comparison
the Villages is by far and I mean by far more expensive... Something 250 in OTOW is 500 in the Villages... the market is completely on fire and out of control in the villages.
I'll take a look.
I'm seeing the new construction starter homes at OToW are 1225 square feet and run $208k and up.
I'm seeing the current batch of new construction starter homes at OToW are 990SF and run $196k and up.
Per square foot, you might be right there. Except wait...hm.
OToW homes don't include the property. Only the dwelling. The property is leased (for 99 years). So if you judge strictly by what you OWN when you buy in OToW, it's much more expensive to buy there, than it is to buy in the Villages.
How about we look at overall expenses. HOA is $400/month. That includes lawn maintenance, basic cable/internet, 3 golf courses, 1 rec center, 4 clubhouses, 2 health clubs, one spa, one convention center, one hobby building, 6 pools, and hot tubs, saunas, steam rooms, tennis courts, putt-putt golf, exercise equipment, 2 dog parks.
The Villages doesn't have an HOA, but it does have an amenity fee. That's currently $164/month. It doesn't include lawn or cable or internet.
But it does include 50 9-hole golf courses that you pay nothing extra to use if you walk the course (it's $4 for a trail fee, but you can get unlimited trail access for $141/year). It also has over 25 rec centers, three dog parks, three archery ranges, softball fields, two convention centers, over 100 pools, 14 Country Clubs with their own 18 or 27 hole golf courses (including an Arnold Palmer course and a Nancy Lopez course), their own hospital and dozens of medical buildings, their own health care Medicare Advantage program, over 70 miles of multi-modal paths to accommodate golf carts, bicycles, and pedestrians (but no cars on those paths), access to over 3000 clubs, 3 town squares with retail shops and restaurants that range from a small family Mexican restaurant to the Bonefish Grill chain restaurant, a few Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts, ice cream shops, etc. etc. etc...several gas stations, financial services, live music and dancing every night (except for inclement weather), and so on and so forth.
All that, for $164/month. Mow your own lawn or pay someone $100/month to do that and the pest control on your behalf. Internet is $50/month for the mid-range, and you can cut the cord and watch TV for free.
I'm seeing the new construction starter homes at OToW are 1225 square feet and run $208k and up.
I'm seeing the current batch of new construction starter homes at OToW are 990SF and run $196k and up.
Per square foot, you might be right there. Except wait...hm.
OToW homes don't include the property. Only the dwelling. The property is leased (for 99 years). So if you judge strictly by what you OWN when you buy in OToW, it's much more expensive to buy there, than it is to buy in the Villages.
How about we look at overall expenses. HOA is $400/month. That includes lawn maintenance, basic cable/internet, 3 golf courses, 1 rec center, 4 clubhouses, 2 health clubs, one spa, one convention center, one hobby building, 6 pools, and hot tubs, saunas, steam rooms, tennis courts, putt-putt golf, exercise equipment, 2 dog parks.
The Villages doesn't have an HOA, but it does have an amenity fee. That's currently $164/month. It doesn't include lawn or cable or internet.
But it does include 50 9-hole golf courses that you pay nothing extra to use if you walk the course (it's $4 for a trail fee, but you can get unlimited trail access for $141/year). It also has over 25 rec centers, three dog parks, three archery ranges, softball fields, two convention centers, over 100 pools, 14 Country Clubs with their own 18 or 27 hole golf courses (including an Arnold Palmer course and a Nancy Lopez course), their own hospital and dozens of medical buildings, their own health care Medicare Advantage program, over 70 miles of multi-modal paths to accommodate golf carts, bicycles, and pedestrians (but no cars on those paths), access to over 3000 clubs, 3 town squares with retail shops and restaurants that range from a small family Mexican restaurant to the Bonefish Grill chain restaurant, a few Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts, ice cream shops, etc. etc. etc...several gas stations, financial services, live music and dancing every night (except for inclement weather), and so on and so forth.
All that, for $164/month. Mow your own lawn or pay someone $100/month to do that and the pest control on your behalf. Internet is $50/month for the mid-range, and you can cut the cord and watch TV for free.
Wouldn't it be better to do a straight up comparison of things that are included with the amenity fee or HOA fee instead of including things like golf courses or country clubs that a person has to pay extra for? Also, are there any "fees" for usage or membership in any of the other amenities you mentioned? It's my understanding that many of the activities in the rec centers have an additional fee, so that's not exactly a freebie that's covered by the amenity fee either.
And, of course, The Villages has many more rec centers, swimming pools, etc but they also have 130,000 people using them. And as for the restaurants, gas stations, etc, those clearly aren't free or included in the amenities fees, so what is the relevance of mentioning them? Do you think that people in OTOW have to drive 30 miles to buy gas or groceries or something?
There's nothing wrong with having a preference for one place over the other, but if you're going to try to do a cost/benefit comparison, then at least try to make it relevant and fair.
Wouldn't it be better to do a straight up comparison of things that are included with the amenity fee or HOA fee instead of including things like golf courses or country clubs that a person has to pay extra for? Also, are there any "fees" for usage or membership in any of the other amenities you mentioned? It's my understanding that many of the activities in the rec centers have an additional fee, so that's not exactly a freebie that's covered by the amenity fee either.
And, of course, The Villages has many more rec centers, swimming pools, etc but they also have 130,000 people using them. And as for the restaurants, gas stations, etc, those clearly aren't free or included in the amenities fees, so what is the relevance of mentioning them? Do you think that people in OTOW have to drive 30 miles to buy gas or groceries or something?
There's nothing wrong with having a preference for one place over the other, but if you're going to try to do a cost/benefit comparison, then at least try to make it relevant and fair.
The executive courses (the 9-hole courses) are paid for with the $164/month amenity fee. There is no extra charge to play on those courses. If you want to use a golf cart, you have to pay a trail fee. But you're not required to use a golf cart, you can walk it, and there's no extra charge for that.
The clubs are run by residents. Some of them require yearly dues, which are typically $10-20/year. Some of them require that you pay for your own materials, sometimes in the form of a monthly or yearly materials fee. The amenities themselves do NOT cost extra. You pay for all amenities via the amenity fee. Clubs are not amenities. ACCESS to clubs are amenities. You can use the kiln in the clayworking shop, there's no extra charge, it's an amenity that is paid by your amenity fee. Being able to have a club meet at a rec center is an amenity. The club itself is not. But you don't have to be in a club if you want to play cards. You don't have to be a member of the Archery Club, to use the Archery Range. Most people who use it are members, but it's not required. And if you choose to join, I believe it's up to $20 per year now, and that gets you access to club-run tournaments, which are sometimes qualifiers for state tournaments. It also gets you access to the workshop, which is owned by the club, so if you need to re-string your bow, or re-fletch your arrows, you can do so there.
We're comparing what you get when you buy in one place, vs. what you get when you buy in another place.
Everything I've mentioned about the Villages is accessible by golf cart, primarily via multi-modal paths that don't allow automobiles. These are things that are IN the Villages. You never have to leave the Villages to make use of anything I've mentioned.
Some other things the Villages has, that are included with your normal county taxes and/or amenity fee: fire department firehouses built IN the Villages, a Community Watch which is sort of a supernumary staff, EMTs, all the landscaping and mosquito control for all common areas of the entire 70-square-mile community, nature preserves, miles of walking trails.
THE TL;DR summary of the above, the POINT of all this: It isn't fair to try and compare the two. They are categorically different types of communities. There is no comparison. One is a sprawling city. The other is a cozy community. It's like demanding that you do a cost comparison of living in New York City, and living in Nuuk, Greenland.
The executive courses (the 9-hole courses) are paid for with the $164/month amenity fee. There is no extra charge to play on those courses. If you want to use a golf cart, you have to pay a trail fee. But you're not required to use a golf cart, you can walk it, and there's no extra charge for that.
The clubs are run by residents. Some of them require yearly dues, which are typically $10-20/year. Some of them require that you pay for your own materials, sometimes in the form of a monthly or yearly materials fee. The amenities themselves do NOT cost extra. You pay for all amenities via the amenity fee. Clubs are not amenities. ACCESS to clubs are amenities. You can use the kiln in the clayworking shop, there's no extra charge, it's an amenity that is paid by your amenity fee. Being able to have a club meet at a rec center is an amenity. The club itself is not. But you don't have to be in a club if you want to play cards. You don't have to be a member of the Archery Club, to use the Archery Range. Most people who use it are members, but it's not required. And if you choose to join, I believe it's up to $20 per year now, and that gets you access to club-run tournaments, which are sometimes qualifiers for state tournaments. It also gets you access to the workshop, which is owned by the club, so if you need to re-string your bow, or re-fletch your arrows, you can do so there.
We're comparing what you get when you buy in one place, vs. what you get when you buy in another place.
Everything I've mentioned about the Villages is accessible by golf cart, primarily via multi-modal paths that don't allow automobiles. These are things that are IN the Villages. You never have to leave the Villages to make use of anything I've mentioned.
Some other things the Villages has, that are included with your normal county taxes and/or amenity fee: fire department firehouses built IN the Villages, a Community Watch which is sort of a supernumary staff, EMTs, all the landscaping and mosquito control for all common areas of the entire 70-square-mile community, nature preserves, miles of walking trails.
THE TL;DR summary of the above, the POINT of all this: It isn't fair to try and compare the two. They are categorically different types of communities. There is no comparison. One is a sprawling city. The other is a cozy community. It's like demanding that you do a cost comparison of living in New York City, and living in Nuuk, Greenland.
Respectfully, I think that the two communities COULD be compared as far as their costs and what you get for your money as long as you stick to a COST analysis and not try to make it into a SIZE comparison. Everyone knows that TV has many times more rec centers and swimming pools and the like, but they also have many more people... perhaps 10 to 15 times as many people. I don't know the exact numbers.
I think that what someone would be interested in knowing is what are the costs/fees going to be to own and maintain a house in one place versus the other other than the cost of the house itself.
For example:
HOA fees versus Amenity fees: What are the costs in each place?
Yard maintenance costs (grass, shrubs, trees, bushes, etc): Who pays for all this and approximately how much?
Exterior maintenance of house: Does either place maintain the exterior of your house, or is this the responsibility of the owner?
Fees for Cable TV, Internet, Telephone: Who pays and approximately how much?
Utilities: Who pays for gas, electric, and water? Is lawn water paid for separately or included in some fee?
Bond Fees: Who pays and approx how much?
I don't think it matters much how many drug stores or Walmarts or gas stations are in TV because in either place, you're not likely to be more than a 5 to 7 minute drive to get to one. Whether it's inside or outside the community boundary doesn't really matter to most people.
Yard maintenance costs: for us, it's around $1/month in the gas needed to run our lawnmower, and maybe 4 cents a month to charge the trimmer.
Exterior maintenance: I think we paid $50 for the deck paint and rollers. Hopefully won't have to do that again for a couple more years. We paid $700 for driveway painting 2 years ago, and $500 for tree trimming last year.
Fees for cable, 0. we don't have cable TV. We cut the cord. We pay $50/month for internet, and we've chosen to use YouTubeTV at $70/month. We don't have landline phone, we use cell phones.
Our irrigation and tap are on the same bill, we pay for whatever we use. Same for electric, we don't have gas.
We don't have a bond.
It costs us around $900/month for ALL expenses, including groceries, dining out, gas for our golf carts, maintenance, utilities, amenity fees. Sometimes we splurge and it costs us around $1000 for that month but usually it's less than that.
Also, people who own courtyard villas aren't required to have any lawn at all. They can replace their grass with rocks, and many of them do exactly that. So there'd be zero landscaping costs for them, not even gas to run a lawnmower.
I'm seeing the new construction starter homes at OToW are 1225 square feet and run $208k and up.
I'm seeing the current batch of new construction starter homes at OToW are 990SF and run $196k and up.
Per square foot, you might be right there. Except wait...hm.
OToW homes don't include the property. Only the dwelling. The property is leased (for 99 years). So if you judge strictly by what you OWN when you buy in OToW, it's much more expensive to buy there, than it is to buy in the Villages.
How about we look at overall expenses. HOA is $400/month. That includes lawn maintenance, basic cable/internet, 3 golf courses, 1 rec center, 4 clubhouses, 2 health clubs, one spa, one convention center, one hobby building, 6 pools, and hot tubs, saunas, steam rooms, tennis courts, putt-putt golf, exercise equipment, 2 dog parks.
The Villages doesn't have an HOA, but it does have an amenity fee. That's currently $164/month. It doesn't include lawn or cable or internet.
But it does include 50 9-hole golf courses that you pay nothing extra to use if you walk the course (it's $4 for a trail fee, but you can get unlimited trail access for $141/year). It also has over 25 rec centers, three dog parks, three archery ranges, softball fields, two convention centers, over 100 pools, 14 Country Clubs with their own 18 or 27 hole golf courses (including an Arnold Palmer course and a Nancy Lopez course), their own hospital and dozens of medical buildings, their own health care Medicare Advantage program, over 70 miles of multi-modal paths to accommodate golf carts, bicycles, and pedestrians (but no cars on those paths), access to over 3000 clubs, 3 town squares with retail shops and restaurants that range from a small family Mexican restaurant to the Bonefish Grill chain restaurant, a few Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts, ice cream shops, etc. etc. etc...several gas stations, financial services, live music and dancing every night (except for inclement weather), and so on and so forth.
All that, for $164/month. Mow your own lawn or pay someone $100/month to do that and the pest control on your behalf. Internet is $50/month for the mid-range, and you can cut the cord and watch TV for free.
In general this is ok but it is missing some info so do your own research. For example all outside maint is included in the land lease homes except the replacement of the roof. The association will require you to replace the roof but they will get bids for a large number of homes at the same time. You can also buy in sections were you own the land and are responsible for all home maintenance costs. There is no bond on new construction Might be on a resale.
In general this is ok but it is missing some info so do your own research. For example all outside maint is included in the land lease homes except the replacement of the roof. The association will require you to replace the roof but they will get bids for a large number of homes at the same time. You can also buy in sections were you own the land and are responsible for all home maintenance costs. There is no bond on new construction Might be on a resale.
There would never be a bond on a resale, that isn't a transfer from the original construction.
Construction bonds are a type of surety bond that protects against disruptions or financial loss due to a contractor's failure to complete a project or failure to meet contract specifications. These bonds ensure a construction project's bills will get paid.
The bond is paid monthly by the homeowner into an account and the actual payment to the guarantor occurs yearly until the bond is paid off. OR, the bond, or balance of the bond, can be paid off in full.
In the Villages, you're not "required" to replace your roof unless it has fallen into disrepair. And when that happens, you can pick whatever roofing company you want.
There would never be a bond on a resale, that isn't a transfer from the original construction.
Huh??? Since when? Many "resales" in The Villages don't have a paid up Bond and the Bond then becomes the responsibility of the buyer.
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