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Hi, new to the forums. My wife and I have been spending time in Florida for years and are now ready to purchase a retirement home. We are looking for a newer, true 55 and over community that consists of single family homes that have units or plans available with a 3 car garage, not condominiums, mobile homes, or apartments. We don't golf so we're not interested in paying a premium for a community owned golf course. We do however want to be in a community with a pool, club house, and a lot of activities available, and a secure gated complex. Prefer a smaller community, nothing like The Villages. We do like the Vero Beach area but that is not a must, would prefer being no further north than Melbourne, don't want to be right on the ocean or golf, but less than one hour away from one or the other would be nice. We would start out spending 4 months each winter and work our way up to 7 months or even full time as we get older. We are currently retired, in our mid 60's and our price range would be in the $250/400,000.00 range.
Wish I could help, but I'm not an expert on FL and so don't have any advice to give. I thought I'd give the question a bump, though, so someone else who can help you sees it. This is a great question, BTW, and it's something I think a lot of people are seeking. So... as you continue to gather information, I hope you'll come back to this thread and post the results of your search. It would be very helpful to a lot of people.
Maybe.... although to be honest I've had extremely bad luck posting questions about 55+ communities on the city & state forums. Seriously, there have been a few times I've gotten interested in a city and made a dogged effort to get information from the corresponding forum--and gotten very little help. There have only been two forums that ended up having posters who could answer my questions, out of all the ones I've tried.
So give it a try, but if it doesn't help come back here and I think you'll have better luck finding someone who has answers for you.
We are looking for a newer, true 55 and over community
...3 car garage, not condominiums, mobile homes, or apartments.
...we're not interested in paying a premium for a community owned golf course.
We do however want to be in a community with a pool, club house, and a lot of activities
I don't think it exists.
That new(er) construction, real (and large) homes, pool, club house, and a lot of activities...
is the gravy that comes with the golf course. Not the other way around.
We have lots of non-golf 55+ communities where I live. If only the OP was moving to Nova, I could steer him to several. There's one just 3 blocks from my house, and another about 2 miles down the road. Both are smaller 55+ communities (about 100 or so homes, pool, walking trails, & clubhouse). If Virginia has them, it makes sense that Florida would have them too.
I don't think it exists.
That new(er) construction, real (and large) homes, pool, club house, and a lot of activities...
is the gravy that comes with the golf course. Not the other way around.
In SC there are 3 Del Webb over 55 communities. Only one is built around golf courses (3 of them). The other two do not have golf courses but all have clubhouses, pools, and differing amenities.
I know the OP said FL but the point of my post is even from the same company, things are not all the same.
To add to this, most (actually all) will have Covenants, Deed Restrictions, Bylaws, House Rules, etc. so when a place sounds/looks good the next step is to get a copy of the "docs" to read, read, understand, understand before going beyond the looking stages. Need I repeat...read...understand...LOL
I'm well aware of hoa by-laws, declarations, etc. they are not that hard to understand after you have been involved with a few of them and I agree, you must read them and ask questions before making your final decision. What I find dificult to locate are the "rules and regulations" that the boards can make and enforce without a vote of the membership these are usually discovered when you put a green door mat on your deck and find out they have to be brown, or you have a bumper sticker on your car and find that they are not allowed. Now that I think back to the power hungry boards that we've dealt with in the past, I might be having second thoughts.
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