Our Villages Buying Experience 

Thanks so much for your encouraging comment. We are excited to share with others like yourself and we hope it is helpful.

Thanks so much for your very encouraging comment! We should have our next one out this weekend. So do you already live in TV and if so what Village did you choose? Thanks again.

Thanks for your encouraging comment and we are honored to serve.

Thanks so much! That was Abbie, our little Yorkie. Allie may have also got in the picture at some point as well. They love to go on the Lanai, so whenever we record they get to enjoy the Lanai. They also love our backyard and with it being enclosed they can run around freely. This is a huge positive for the Veranda homes.

@@thevillagesnatives3491 So sweet!

Thanks for your comment and great point. We have seen those as well.

Thanks so much and we are very excited for you and your new home. The Eastport area will have a tremendous amount of amenities and we know that you will love it there.

Thanks so much, and we appreciate your wise recommendation. We are seeing the need to pace ourselves.

Thanks so much!

Thanks for your encouraging comment! Yes, our Veranda style home has a concrete wall about 7 ft. tall between our backdoor neighbors as well as a wall on the corner side of the lot and a PVC fence with our next door neighbor along the common wall of their house. The gates are PVC fencing also. We really like this and we have a great sense of privacy. Depending on your area, some of the courtyard villas and verandas have different fencing. Our version seems to be the new way that they will be moving forward, with some of the older homes having full PVC fencing. Hope this helps, and thanks again.

Thanks for your comment and that sounds very exciting; we are so happy for you all. If we can be of assistance just let us know. Have a great time!

Thanks so much for your comment and it is very exciting to hear about your home closing and upcoming move to The Villages; we are very excited for you. Right now there are a good diversity of homes if you are looking at new as well as pre-owned, so it seems like the market is trending in the Buyer's direction for a change. We would love to meet up with you all when you arrive. The best way to contact us is via email at thevillagesnatives@gmail.com. We look forward to hearing from you about your journey. Have a Blessed Weekend.

Thanks for your comment and that should be a great time. The heat should be less of an issue and it should be before it gets crowded. We are excited for you all, you are going to have a great time!

Thanks so much and we appreciate your encouraging comment and question. Okaloosa Island is wonderful! We weren't in that area very long so mainly what I miss is my church and friends from church and especially our daughter who still lives there. The Villages actually has a very active singles scene, and we have a few singles on our street. Rusty Nelson has a very popular RU-vid channel and he is single and has done some videos on being single in The Villages, www.youtube.com/@RustyNelson. There is also The Villages Chief and Robyn Cavallaro who are single and have RU-vid channels. Have you visited The Villages? If not I recommend that you give it a try. Thanks and have a great week!

Hi and thank you so much. I'm glad our video helped answer some of your concerns. The Villages has done this so many times that it's as if they have it narrowed down to a T. They figured out what works and what doesn't. Everyone we dealt with was extremely pleasant and proficient in their job and the process. Touch back with us and let us know what you decided on. We are so excited for you!

@@thevillagesnatives3491 Thank you so much. I'll definitely let you know what we decide on. ❤️

Thanks for your encouraging comment and we do believe the Lord was/is in control. June will be here very soon; the St. Catherine area and Sawgrass Grove and the Ezell Rec area is really nice. We really like the new home; it is truly a blank canvas for us to create the home we truly desire. Have a great time and let us know if you would like to link up during your visit.

Thanks so much for your encouraging comments. We do plan to share as much as we can and we hope that it is helpful. Those items that you mentioned are definitely significant factors of living in TV. We do want to share some key factor regarding living expenses and yes, insurance and taxes are major factors and the age of the home you buy will impact those expenses significantly. We are having our landscaping done this week and we are taking over mowing our grass and we will be doing a video on that as well. The maintenance of lawns here is also a significant undertaking that you can hire someone to do or choose to do yourself. We promise to keep them coming much more frequently now that we are here full-time with no work responsibilities. Thanks again.

@@rethinkcps2116 Good question, the closing costs can get expensive but not unlike any other house purchase. If you finance they will be more. We closed in December so our property tax and bond portion of the closing costs were less because we only had to cover one month. Our closing costs were less than 4% of the purchase price of our home. Hope this helps and thanks for your question.

​@@thevillagesnatives3491- in my past six home buys, all but one from builder, there was some negotiation flex in closing costs. Hence my query. TV appears to be rigid in this regard. Either I'm misinformed or they can, in fact, remain rigid on that fee.

@@rethinkcps2116 I think you are correct. We have bought and sold homes in a similar fashion that you mentioned but with TV it is very systematized. On new homes, the price is the price and buyers pay the traditional buyer portion of the closing costs.

Thanks for your comment and you are right, all of the new ones that I have seen lately have carpet in bedrooms and closets. The fact that ours had LVP throughout was a huge factor and saved us money. We will discuss in upcoming videos, but when you buy new here there are usually already several things that most people upgrade, such as landscaping, etc. We wanted to minimize as much of that as possible. Thanks,

Exactly, we love the floorpan. To us it hits the sweet-spot for overall size and key features like the separated 2nd BR suite area, third bath and 2 Car w/Golf Cart Garage to mention just a few. Keep us updated on your progress to The Villages.

Wow! Congratulations to you all as well! That sounds exciting and we know that you will love it there.

No need to hurry -- there's nothing built in Eastport yet. I don't think they even started building homes. ;-)

@@billredding2000 Yes, Eastport won't be available for a while but they are actually building homes in Moultrie Creek and people have already moved in. I was at the Architectural Review Committee meeting last week and there were already requests from homeowners for exterior upgrades.

@@thevillagesnatives3491 Well, I know you have jump on new homes EARLY, but since I wasn't seeing anything @ Eastport actually being built yet (not even close) -- meaning around the new Town Square that is in the VERY early stages of construction -- I thought it was a bit TOO early. But yes, I know of Moultrie Creek...but thought they meant something by/around the town square. -- BR

@@billredding2000 Oh, got it. Yes, I see what you mean. Thanks so much.

Thanks so much for your encouraging comments, and we are honored to have served our nation. Our little Yorkie, Abbie, is always on guard; we call her the Guardian of the Inner Sanctum. At some point we will do a video showing our home once we get some key upgrades done. We have painted the interior, installed gutters and our landscaping is being installed this week. We will do a video of the landscaping soon. Probably in the next 6 months or so we will have the lanai glassed in with a mini-split and then we will furnish it, so that would probably be a good point to share more of the interior. Thanks so much for watching.

Thanks so much and we truly appreciate you sharing. The new homes are really enticing and the discounts now are related to TV wanting to close out the Villages of Lake Denham and Dabney so they can focus on Moultrie Creek area. This is fairly common when they make a big shift. Warning: this may seem a bit complicated but if you follow the link you can get a good idea. The bond is part of your property tax bill as a non-ad valoram assessment. Every home has a unit number and a lot number which you can find on the home plan on the Villages listing for the particular home. The district map on districtgov.org shows the overall area that a home will be in. For example, our home is in Lake Denham, which is in District 14. To find our bond I would go to the following link: districtgov.org/departments/Finance/amortization.aspx and go to district 14, and then find the unit such as Unit 47 for Newell Verandas East (not our specific neighborhood). When I selected that link the amortization schedule for the bond on a home in that neighborhood is listed with the principal amount, interest rate and bond payment by year. I also encourage you to go to the county property appraisers website. If you have the unit and lot number you can get the yearly bond payment. We hope this helps and let us know if you have further questions or if we can clarify. Thanks again for your encouraging comments and to hear about yours as well.

Love that your channel popped up and we subscribed. We’ve been there about 3 times and in June and July will stay about 5 days each time…off megason in newer area …so excited

@@ourfamilyvideos7283 That sounds great and thanks so much for subscribing! We know that you will have a great time.

Thanks for your comment and question. Yes, it is an Ottawa, and did we say that we LOVE IT? Yes we do! We know the feeling of having to leave and not want to. You are right about Eastport and we think it will be in full swing when you are ready. Be encouraged! Those 2 years will go quickly. See you soon...

Thanks so much and we do love pics on the fridge! We are still getting things worked out and we look forward to sharing. Stay tuned...

Hi and thank you so much. It's actually not too bad. We are only 20 minutes from our doctors and hospital, Publix is about 5 minutes by car or 20 minutes by golf cart at this time. Shopping such as Target, TJMaxx and so forth are about a 25 - 30 minute drive, but I think in many years to come they will make their way closer down to our area. I hope this help. We are excited for you and your adventures here to The Villages.

Thanks for your comment and very good question. With Destin you get the beautiful beach, but the threat of hurricanes with greater intensity than TV. Also, the crowds in Destin during tourist season are much worse than "Snowbird" Season in TV. Have you looked at the Margaritaville community just north of Panama City Beach? We toured it and there is a lot there to like; almost a hybrid Villages in beach community and it is a bit off of the ocean. If you are considering Destin we definitely recommend touring that community. Hope this helps.

Thanks so much for your encouraging comment. We chose the Ottawa model, Veranda home series. It is the same floor plan as the Indigo and Oriole. Hope this helps.

@@thevillagesnatives3491 It's beautiful! Wishing you both a lifetime of happiness and fun.

@@pattiebravata7462 Thanks so much. And about shopping, our area is like most of the new areas. The shopping usually lags behind housing. The RU-vid channel, Goldwingnut tracks most of the commercial development such as the new Target, Costco, Home Depot etc. He provides very good information with great drone footage. Hope this helps.

Love that model! Love hearing your story. Thanks for sharing. I live love your barstools! Where did you buy them?

@@KimSilverio-qx1zl, hey thank you so much. I bought them at Bealls Outlet up in Lady Lake.

Thanks for your comment and we hope you had a great time on your Lifestyle Visit. We were concerned also about the Doc situation but we got a referral from a neighbor for an Internist who was accepting new patients and we got right in and established. I have also been very pleased with the VA clinic here. The Villages Health is a big provider, but we have not gone that route primarily because we are not yet eligible for Medicare. Glad that you liked the Oriole/Ottawa floor plan. There is one still available on Lawrenceville Way at $429K and an Ottawa in Dabney for the same price, which are great deals. Not sure if you are more interested in a Veranda or a Designer home. Thanks again, and all the best.

We really enjoyed our lifestyle visit. We looked at that one on Lawrenceville. We really want the back of the home facing west for sunset views. We like both the verandas and designer homes. Good to know about the docs. Hopefully we’ll find one!

Thanks for your great questions. We are in Lake County so the taxes are a bit more than Sumter County which is the bulk of the Villages and the new areas they are building now. We were not surprised at the amount because we have been watching things for a while. One of the reasons we decided for a new home is because of the insurance situation, and we went with State Farm. We got quotes from The Villages Insurance and USAA, but State Farm was the best. I had not heard that USAA is not insuring any newly acquired properties here; in my opinion they are very conservative. Not sure if you are a veteran but in Florida those with Service connected disabilities get a reduction on property taxes and if you have a 100% P&T rating your ad-valorem taxes are waived. That is a good incentive. Hope this helps. Are you considering/planning to relocate to TV?

We are in the Village of Lake Denham, and thanks so much. Have a great visit!

Good question and thanks. We opted for the Lake Denham area primarily for two reasons. This area is fully built out therefore we have minimal construction traffic and this was the area where new homes were being offered at the time. Thanks again for your comment.

Thanks for your question and for your service. I (Everett) served and April was the “Quintessential Army Wife”! How about your family; dual military? So glad that you will be visiting soon. Is your focus to discover and research or are you actively in the market?

@@thevillagesnatives3491 we’ve been a few times, watched all the videos, have an agent…our last child is fixin to move down there so that’s the nudge we needed..the question now is FT or PT…that would determine price too. Oh, hubby is the vet of navy/Army.

@@ourfamilyvideos7283 Thanks for watching all of our videos and we sure hope they are helpful. Lots of people moving here, both young and older and lots of opportunity. The FT or PT is definitely a major question for a lot of folks who move here. We have a few neighbors who are PT and this is their first time to return "home" and two of them did not want to leave. I have also talked to some folks who were PT because of various factors and bought something small and then sold that house and bought their FT home. Lots of avenues and we will keep you all in prayer as you visit.

@@thevillagesnatives3491looking forward to meeting y’all. Thanks for all your input. We appreciate it.

Thank you so much; great questions. We have attended a bday party the food was provided and we took a card and a gift card from Starbucks for $15.00. In our area the ages run approximately 55 -70's with a few older ones would be my guess. I could only wish to be 35 again!! Those days are long gone. LOL. Everett is 61 and I am 59 years old. Thank you for your sweet comment! You are most kind! I hope this helps.

Great question and thanks for your comment. First of all in The Villages you really need to have a standard MLS realtor to show you the pre-owned homes listed through the conventional Multiple Listing Service as well as a Villages Sales Agent who are the only ones who can show you the pre-owned and new homes that The Villages sells on their Villages Listing Service. We contacted Dave Monty, an MLS realtor through his RU-vid page and worked with him and he recommended Daniel Collins, a Villages Sales Agent for new and pre-owned homes through the VLS. Having two agents like this seems odd at first but it is highly necessary. Now if you only want a new home then you only need a Villages Sales Agent and we highly recommend Daniel Collins. As to finding the top realtor, that is very subjective and was not our main concern. I am sure the area brokers list their top performers so that might be a good place to start if that is your main concern. There are two main ways to visit, 1. the Lifestyle Visit which we describe in one of our videos. To book this the best way is to go to thevillages.com and then select the Visit tab at the top of the page. This will give a good description and provide you with a phone number to call and book your stay. If you don't have a Villages sales agent then will assign you one. The benefits of the Lifestyle visit are the included amenities such as golf, discounts, event tickets, etc. 2. book your own accommodations through a private party such as VRBO, AirBNB, or rentfromavillager.com. I hope this helps and I can clarify if needed, but I do highly recommend Dave Monty's RU-vid page. He also has some great resources which he shares very graciously. Thanks again and let me know if you have any further questions and keep us updated on your visit and how we can help.

@@thevillagesnatives3491 Thanks!!

Thanks and great questions. By area I assume you mean the area of The Villages. First we decided we wanted a newer home so that meant south of State Road 44. Second, when we began to consider new homes we realized that we had to sync up our purchase timeline with where they were selling new homes. Specifically on the lot direction we only considered homes where the lanai faced east or north; this was because of the intense heat and sun of late afternoon. The main difference between Villas and other homes is that you cannot design a new Villa or Veranda, they are spec built and released as a unit. You can custom design a designer or premiere home by purchasing a lot and going through the design process. It seems like this is the quickest way to get a pool if you are buying new. Some Veranda lots are large enough for pools and some of our neighbors are having them installed right now. Again, great questions and I hope this helps.

Thanks so much. I have been looking at the designer floor plans. Yours is one of my favorite models. We are the same way with a lanai direction.

We’re also thinking like y’all did, but first then sale precious home..would make the move easier we believe. When picking the home-Trying to get a lot of light in the home during the day and we too would love being on the porch…what facing would you suggest?

@@ourfamilyvideos7283 Great question, I think three main things significantly impact light in our home. Our lanai faces east so we get the morning sun through our lanai and sliders and into our living area which is helpful. Our model has two sets of sliders which really facilitates the light. The color scheme of cabinets, paint and flooring is another key factor that helps out. You mention sitting on the porch; do you mean the lanai in the rear or by your front door? Keep in mind that the sun/heat in the late afternoon early evening is much more intense here than in the morning. Another factor is do you want privacy when you sit on your porch or access to others on your street. Some models now don’t have a window in the front door or sidelights. The window and sidelights help significantly as well. Hope this helps.

@@thevillagesnatives3491 good points to consider, thanks so much,I’ll write them down.

Hi, and thanks so much for your question. We purchased an Ottawa model. It is a Veranda home (fenced side and back yards) and it is the same floor plan as the Indigo and Oriole models, just with a fenced yard. Hope this helps and thanks again.

Great question, and there were a few reasons. Primarily it had to do with the age of the homes and specifically the roofs, but also the overall appearance and condition. Secondly we wanted to be in neighborhoods with others who were closer in age to increase our longevity with them. We also wanted to have more immediate access to family who live near by. Another thing that we will mention is the walking paths in our area; they are AWESOME! One of our upcoming videos will have to highlight them; they are an added value that we really enjoy. Hope this helps, thanks.