My husband and I have lived in The Villages for 4 years. We are both glad to be here. There’s always something to do, it’s safe, inexpensive, and people are very friendly.
If there is a typical Villages couple, they are white, midwestern, extroverted, church-attending, golf-playing Republicans who went to a state university. That doesn’t really describe us, and our friends here tend to be on the more diverse side, but we coexist happily. Many people play golf, which is included in the amenities fee of $152 per month. Lawn service is $70. Pool service is $100. Water runs us about $50, but we do have a pool. Sewer is $40. Sanitation is $18. Electric was $126 last month. Gas was $90. We live here much more inexpensively than we did in New Jersey or Maine.
Homeowners insurance is relatively expensive in Florida. We just got our bill for next year, and it’s $1100. It will go down when we replace our 19-year-old roof. We pay another $1000 for car insurance for 2 cars, model years 2012 and 2013.
The houses range in price from $100k for manufactured houses in the oldest Villages to $2 million in the fanciest Villages. Median price is around $275-$300k. We own a house in a mid-priced area. It is 1800 sf 3 bedrooms, 2 baths with a pool. We paid $310k for it. RE taxes are $2700 per year. We deliberately stayed away from the higher-priced neighborhoods, since there is more Keeping Up With The Joneses in such places and we don’t play that game.
Most people have a golf cart. There are golf cart paths and lanes everywhere. We paid $3k for a used one, but you can spend up to $25k if you want a fully tricked-out one that looks like a Model T.
We like the fact that there are lots of people our age with similar reference points. I often describe The Villages as a college campus for wrinkly people. At least, that’s the way it feels to me. It’s not a particularly good place for meditative introverts, though.
I don’t like the fact that the landscape is manicured and the houses look similar. I like a wilder, more natural beauty to my landscape. Maine, where we lived before we came here, was more to my taste. But my husband hated the long winters there, and is much happier and more active here. I think the move may have added years to his life. I do like the people and the activities. There are 2500 different interest groups in this community of 120,000 people.
To learn more, I recommend the website Talk of The Villages. Just get on there and read the posts.
