OTOW World Tour (Orlando, Ocala: sales, lease, new home)

[aussielu]

My husband & I learned about OTOW at a local seminar. From the literature we picked up & what we’ve read online we are considering this as an option for us. As you can imagine we have some questions & we’re hoping to gain some insight from others.

We plan on buying within a year. We aren’t 100% certain we want a new home. We definitely do not want to live in Indigo. The lease hold doesn’t bother us.

What are the pros & cons to doing their World Tour stay? Is the winter a good or bad time to visit? Is it a high pressure sale event?

Thank You!

[rjm1cc]

I would go on any tour and stay at any over 55 community you might be interested in. I found all the sales people to be pretty low key and well worth my time to meet with them. My assumption is they figure they have to talk to x number of people and they will get a sale so you are not putting them out.
The time of year would depend on the location. If you were going to Orlando in the summer you would get a good feel for how the tourist affect the area. For Ocala the summer will be hot (if you think this might be a problem) and the winter will be a little more crowed from the snow birds. Ocala is not over run by tourists or snow birds so I would come in the time of year you think you would like the least. I would also not buy on the first trip and if you can rent for awhile. OTOW can be confusing. You can buy your lot and be responsibility for all maintenance or lease your lot and have a lot of the maintenance included in your monthly fee. Also so areas have electric only and some gas and electric. When you tour the over 55 communities learn about all the variables and don/t assume costs are similar for any property.

[aussielu]

Thank you for your suggestion of visiting during our least favorite weather. That does make sense. We’re specifically not interested in the Orlando area because of the tourists. I couldn’t agree more on OTOW being confusing. We have been reading as much as we can to decipher the differences in the communities.

[rjm1cc]

Indigo is a small 400 or 500(?) home community with its own amenities. As a resident you can "join" OTOW amenities for an additional fee. Candler has its own amenities and use of OTOW amentias (cost is part of monthly fee). I think the rest of OTOW is leased sites and has outside maint and all OTOW (but not Candler or Indigo) amenities. I think Candler will be about 1600 homes. Think of OTOW as a community with neighborhoods that have their own charter. Thus you have a small local area and the benefits of a large community.
I assume you have seen:
https://ontopoftheworldinfo.com/


Best spending a few days and going to the pools (one is indoor) and meeting people and ask about the life style. There is also a public square which is open to the public.

[aussielu]

Yes, we’re familiar with the site. Indigo doesn’t appeal to us as it isn’t a monitored gate entry. We are interested in Crescent Ridge III neighborhood as solar is available there. We’re still trying to figure out which neighborhoods get curbside mail & trash. Lol

We are hoping to plan a visit late winter or early spring.

[rjm1cc]

Originally Posted by aussielu

Yes, we’re familiar with the site. Indigo doesn’t appeal to us as it isn’t a monitored gate entry. We are interested in Crescent Ridge III neighborhood as solar is available there. We’re still trying to figure out which neighborhoods get curbside mail & trash. Lol

We are hoping to plan a visit late winter or early spring.

The sales person could answer the mail and trash but I think I read that Crescent III will get it. I think the property that is leased has a central pick up area and where you own your own lot you have curb side mail and trash. If you drive through you will see individual mail boxes on the street for delivery areas.


You can install solar on any of the homes but I would think since the builder is doing the solar in Crescent you will get a good financial deal.

[aussielu]

Thank you for your input. We are looking forward to visiting & learning more.