On Top of The World community, Ocala (Villas, Laurel: lease, HOA)

[susie moss]

I live at On Top of The World.
On Top Of The World-Ocala, Fla-Crescentridge

Love it....

[jssa418g]

FEB. 2011-Seriously considering moving to OTOW, Ocala, Fl. I know about the high water costs and that you have to take your garbage to the bin. Any other negotives to be aware of?

[gardenlady]

I live in New England and am also looking at the Ocala, Florida area. New Mexico was my first choice! Think very carefully before you move. The ONLY reason NM is out is because of no jobs. I'd rather live there than in Florida

[mikelb]

Hi
We are 51 and 53 and thinking about moving there. Do you think that we will fit in? What is the average age? We understand that the community is over 30 yrs old, does it look old??!!! (At The Villages, the older section looked awful!)
How is the crime outside of the community?

Thanks for your help

[Mamma Miiagi]

Originally Posted by gardenlady

I live in New England and am also looking at the Ocala, Florida area. New Mexico was my first choice! Think very carefully before you move. The ONLY reason NM is out is because of no jobs. I'd rather live there than in Florida

I was thinking about New Mexico too, but I've got horses and am worried about the lack of anything green for a LOT of the year... I was wondering what you liked better about NM (than Florida).

I'm still on the fence about where to go. The art community there is SO strong (I'm a potter)... and the dry weather might be a nice change coming from water-logged Michigan.

So if you would, please tell me YOUR thoughts on this.

Thanks,
T.

[AnonChick]

Originally Posted by mikelb

Hi
We are 51 and 53 and thinking about moving there. Do you think that we will fit in? What is the average age? We understand that the community is over 30 yrs old, does it look old??!!! (At The Villages, the older section looked awful!)
How is the crime outside of the community?

Thanks for your help

The older section looked "awful" because the older section was the original trailer park. Personally, I -prefer- the way the older section looks, because it doesn't look like the contents of a sardine can. It has gorgeous, mature oaks, the insides of these double-wides are exquisite and many have add-ons such as enclosed 4-season porches, and if you're lucky you get one with the back yard being the wooded section of one of the golf courses, which means the HOA maintains it instead of you, and you get privacy. You're also allowed to paint your driveway whatever color you feel like painting it, and if it's your birthday and someone puts a "Happy Birthday" balloon on your sign post, the HOA won't come and fine you and make you take it down.

In the new section, you breathe, move, come, go, paint, decorate, landscape, how the HOA tells you to do it, period.

[jlg3344]

saw your comment about building a home in OTW, assume you have moved in by now, how do you like otw ??? we are considering moving there very soon. any feedback would be appreciated!!

[tjhotow]

I have lived here for fifteen years and I once loved it. Now I would leave tomorrow if I could. We have a tree in our yard that we would like to have taken down but the powers that be here will not allow us to have it taken out. It is dirty and coming up out of the ground and makes the whole area dirty and dingy. The roof is only four years old but is stained and ugly because of the tree. I pay the fees and taxes and want to pay to replace the tree. The answer to all of us that would like to pay and then replace these trees is NO. Also, when you go to the pool they check what you have in your drink cup to be sure it is only water....we are adults. I have become very unhappy here. We do have younger and older residents and from many income groups. It was once a nice place I cannot say it is now....also the speed bumps are not good for our cars. Hope you enjoy your new home. We enjoyed ours for a few years.

[ReikoLoli]

Can anyone tell me how high the HOA fees are and what they might include?

[TheMartianChick]

I'm no expert on the subject of On Top of The World, but the fees seemed to vary from property to property when I was house-hunting on Realtor.com. It seemed that some sections provided more maintenance than others, but I never did figure out how that worked. Most of the HOA fees that I saw listed were in the $350-375 price range per month. Coming from where I currently live, that seemed pretty high to me, even with all of the amenities. Since our goal was to minimize expenses in retirement, we're now looking elsewhere.

A couple of huge pluses that we noticed with OTOTW was the large sizes and the low purchase prices for the attached ranches. Most other lower priced 55+communities offer homes that are smaller than 1200 square feet. The attached ranches often run in the $40k+ price range.