Villages Questions (The Villages: fit in, for sale, renting)

[titorivera]

Planning on moving to the Villages early 2022. Thinking about renting first. I do have a couple of
questions.


1. What are the downsides of living in newer developed areas like The Village of Citrus Grove?
2. Are some neighborhoods gated?
3. Use of gyms are not included in the recreation fee, correct?

[rjm1cc]

Originally Posted by titorivera

Planning on moving to the Villages early 2022. Thinking about renting first. I do have a couple of
questions.


1. What are the downsides of living in newer developed areas like The Village of Citrus Grove?
2. Are some neighborhoods gated?
3. Use of gyms are not included in the recreation fee, correct?

Try
https://www.talkofthevillages.com/forums/index.php
https://villagershomes4rent.com/

[Ghaati]

Originally Posted by titorivera

Planning on moving to the Villages early 2022. Thinking about renting first. I do have a couple of
questions.


1. What are the downsides of living in newer developed areas like The Village of Citrus Grove?
2. Are some neighborhoods gated?
3. Use of gyms are not included in the recreation fee, correct?

That side of the Villages is mostly still unlandscaped. It'll be several years before the landscaping can be considered "mature." That means few shade trees that actually provide shade. It's also further from "hotspots" - shopping plazas, medical centers, etc. It's also right next to the Florida's Turnpike, which might bother you - or not.

A few of the neighborhoods in the Villages are ACTUALLY gated. They are exclusive neighborhoods with home prices starting at over 500,000 and going up to a few million. You will rarely find any homes in them available for sale.

The Villages is a community with gates, as opposed to a gated community. There's an important distinction: the gates in all (but those few mentioned above) the community exist for traffic control rather than exclusivity or security. Because this is a golf-cart community with over 70 square miles of roadways and multi-modal paths, it's important that cars are slowed down at certain crossroads and intersections where they'll find a lot of mixed vehicular traffic. The gates do "deter" crime somewhat - but that's not their function.

The fee is called an amenity fee, and gives you access to ALL amenities, not just recreational amenities. There are dog parks and meeting rooms as well as recreational facilities. There are a couple of outdoor exercise parks (with machines), and those are also included in your amenity fee. But the gyms inside the rec centers that have them, I believe incur a fee. Your amenity fee gives you access - you can't use them at all if you're not a resident or a guest accompanied by a resident.

There are also some commercial gyms, but of course those are not included in your amenity fee. I believe Villages residents get a discount at them though.

[Ghaati]

Also I recommend you -not- visit talk of the villages. It's basically stormfront for seniors and doesn't represent the majority of residents. It is the ugly alt-right minority. Yes it's primarily a conservative, republican community and very few of us are something other than that. But most of them are rather lovely people, who don't call people names, and don't troll forums, and don't show off their big huge anonymous ego (that they don't actually have off the internet).

[titorivera]

Are there any obscure closing costs that I should expect? I read that The Villages charges $100 for use of the mailbox.

[Ghaati]

Originally Posted by titorivera

Are there any obscure closing costs that I should expect? I read that The Villages charges $100 for use of the mailbox.

I don't remember what the fee is for the mailbox, but it was a one-time charge that covered the maintenance of the postal station where your mailbox is located (there are no mailboxes in front of each house).

You should check with The Villages to see what other closing costs would be.

[titorivera]

They charge $100 every time that the house is sold. This is a great profit center for The Villages. Normally developers do not charge a fee for this.

[Ghaati]

Originally Posted by titorivera

They charge $100 every time that the house is sold. This is a great profit center for The Villages. Normally developers do not charge a fee for this.

There is no profit from these mailbox fees to the developer. The money is used to maintain the buildings that those mailboxes are in, including the structure, the inside where the postal worker does the actual delivery, the roof, the sidewalk surrounding the building, the public restrooms, the air conditioning system for the inside of the structure.

It is a one-time fee for the homeowner.

[titorivera]

From what I read postal center maintenance,etc is paid for with the recreation fee that all homeowners pay.



"The utilities are covered in the SLAD (Sumter Landing Amenity Division) or RAC (Village Center Recreation Division) budgets."

[CrosbyStills]

Originally Posted by Ghaati

Also I recommend you -not- visit talk of the villages. It's basically stormfront for seniors and doesn't represent the majority of residents. It is the ugly alt-right minority. Yes it's primarily a conservative, republican community and very few of us are something other than that. But most of them are rather lovely people, who don't call people names, and don't troll forums, and don't show off their big huge anonymous ego (that they don't actually have off the internet).

Completely disagree. YOU are unhappy because you are left of center (you've mentioned this before) and therefore think anything remotely to the right of you is Alt-right.

You are correct, however, it is primarily populated by conservative republicans. If you match that demographic, you may enjoy The Villages. If you are not, then you may not enjoy The Villages. It matters not whether you are married, single, LBGT, white, black, Hispanic, Asian, etc. You only need three things to fit in and enjoy The Villages:

1. Similar income level to fund the lifestyle;
2. Similar age as others (peer groups);
3. Similar ideology as the majority.

No one there cares about your race, your orientation, your religion, etc. They care about the above listed three things and whether you are good neighbor or not.