TheVillagesFloridaBook.com

The VillagesCheat Sheet

1 In this brief guide, we’ll take a closer look at all the reasons you might like to join 100,000+ other retirees who call The Villages home.

About

Related Links And Media:

Order your copy of Complete Guide to The Villages:

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The Lay of the Land

http://www.thevillagesfloridabook.com/villages-academy-preview-1/

82 Cool Facts About The Villages

http://www.thevillagesfloridabook.com/82-cool-facts-the-villages/

50+ Reasons to Love The Villages

http://www.thevillagesfloridabook.com/50-reasons-to-love-the-villages/

2

Located about an hour north of Orlando, The Villages was not even called The Villages when it first began.

It started as a mobile home park called Orange Blossom Gar-dens. Though it struggled in the early years, the community ex-perienced staggering growth in the mid-1980’s because the community offered an impressive collection of amenities. As that amenities-focused community continued to grow and de-velop, it eventually evolved into The Villages, which has be-come the premiere model for what a master-planned commu-nity should be.

Today, The Villages is known for having the largest and most-diverse collection of amenities of any community on the planet. Residents have access to an amazing collection of golf courses, recreation centers, and town squares, as well as an un-paralleled number of clubs covering just about any topic you can imagine.

With all of the advantages that The Villages offers to its resi-dents, it is no wonder that it consistently ranks as the fastest-growing community in the entire country. There were an as-tounding 3,419 new homes sold here in 2013.

About The Villages

2 One of the greatest conveniences of living in The Villages is that you can get just about anywhere by golf cart.

It’s a Golf Cart Life

Related Links And Media:

CBS Sunday Morning - Town of Custom Golf Carts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQvom4x5MD0

Golf Cart Citation Story

http://www.thevillagesfloridabook.com/golf-cart-citation-story/

4

Set foot in The Villages for the first time and you will instantly note that just about everyone here uses a golf cart for their day-to-day travels.

Almost everywhere you need or want to go in The Villages is golf cart accessible, which makes getting around much simpler.

When traveling in your golf cart, you will want to be sure to ob-serve all traffic laws, including some that apply specifically to golf carts.

There are several golf cart dealerships throughout The Villages and there are also regularly scheduled golf cart safety clinics which are great for newcomers.

It’s a Golf Cart Life

3 The idea of “Free Golf for Life” has been attracting people to The Villages for as long as most can remember.

Golf & Tennis

Related Links And Media:

Golf The Villages

http://golfthevillages.com/

Playing Tennis in The Villages

http://www.thevillagesfloridabook.com/tennis/

6

There is a good chance that the reason you are considering The Villages is because residents here have access to an amaz-ing number of golf courses. At completion there will be a total of 621 holes spread across 32 Executive Courses and 12 Champi-onship Courses. 

All of the Executive Courses are available to residents with no greens fees whatsoever, and for a reasonable annual fee resi-dents can have priority access to the Championship Courses as well at reduced greens fees. You will have to pay a trail fee to use your own golf cart on the courses.

In addition to great golfing, The Villages also contains a large number of tennis courts. There are courts available at most of the recreation centers, and there are also three larger tennis centers located throughout the community.

Golf & Tennis

4 Don’t play golf? Don’t worry! There are still plenty of things for you to do in The Villages. It’s simply impossible to ever get bored!

Active Lifestyle

Related Links And Media:

List of Clubs and Activities

http://www.thevillagesfloridabook.com/clubs-and-activities/

The Villages Lifelong Learning College

http://www.thevillagesfloridabook.com/the-villages-lifelong-learning-college/

8

There is a whole lot more to life in The Villages than just golf and tennis! The Villages is a great place for pickleball, which is one of the fastest growing sports in the country. There are also active softball leagues, and if you want to try something new, Dragonboat Racing is very popular.

If active competition isn’t your thing, that’s fine too. There are more than 2,000 different clubs and organizations that cover topics ranging from watercolor painting to scrabble to political debates. One of the biggest clubs is The Villages Woodworkers Club, which maintains an 8,000 square foot woodworking shop where members can design and build just about anything they like. 

Continuing education is also at the forefront of the active life-style promoted in The Villages. Residents have access to a wide range of classes at The Villages Lifelong Learning Col-lege. There is no pressure in these classes, because there are no tests or grades. If you have always wanted to learn another language, study art history, or learn ballroom dancing, you can do that here. I recommend the cooking classes!

Active Lifestyle

5 With three popular town squares and scores of other shopping and restaurant venues, you can find pretty much everything you want in The Villages.

Dining, Shopping and Entertainment

Related Links And Media:

Spanish Springs Town Square

http://www.thevillagesfloridabook.com/spanish-springs-town-square/

Lake Sumter Landing Market Square

http://www.thevillagesfloridabook.com/lake-sumter-landing-market-square/

Brownwood Paddock Square

http://www.thevillagesfloridabook.com/brownwood-paddock-square/

10

The active lifestyle of The Villages isn’t confined to sports, clubs, and classes either. Residents here also have plenty of op-portunities to hit one of the three town squares or various other commercial areas for great dining, fantastic shopping, and plenty of fun entertainment. 

Depending on your location in The Villages, you might prefer the Santa Fe plaza feel of Spanish Springs Town Square, the beautiful lake views at Lake Sumter Landing Market Square, or the rustic feel of Brownwood Paddock Square. Each of these town squares contains great restaurants and shops.

Dining, Shopping and Entertainment

6 You can rest easy knowing that all of your healthcare needs can be met in, or within short drive of, The Villages.

Healthcare

Related Links And Media:

The Villages Regional Hospital

http://www.leesburgregional.org/about-villages.html

The Villages Health

http://thevillageshealth.com/

12

One of the biggest concerns for many people looking to relo-cate to The Villages is whether they will be able to find accept-able healthcare solutions here.

The thought of leaving the family doctor you have trusted for years can be very scary for many potential Villagers. However, the healthcare infrastructure available to residents of The Vil-lages is truly second to none. 

There is also an impressive VA Outpatient Clinic available for qualifying veterans.

Healthcare

7 This is where a lot of people have concerns and where its easy to get tripped up.

Cost of Living

Related Links And Media:

Cost of Living Article and Spreadsheet

http://www.thevillagesfloridabook.com/cost-of-living/

14

Another popular question that many people researching The Vil-lages will have is, “How much does it cost to live in The Vil-lages.”

The answer to that question is actually a bit tricky. Like any part of the country that you might be considering relocating to, you will have to compare the costs of just about everything in your monthly budget, and those costs are different for everyone. 

If you have requested and received your “Lifestyle Portfolio” package from The Villages, you probably saw that the esti-mated amenities fees, utilities, taxes, and insurance cost a little over $1,000 per month. But, unless you plan to lead a relatively Spartan lifestyle, I believe that amount is quite a bit off.

If you are looking for a more realistic breakdown, you will want to check out all of the expenses covered in more detail in the article linked to on the left, which also includes a great budget worksheet.

Cost of Living

8 Shopping for real estate in The Villages is different from how you’ve done it anywhere else.

Real Estate

Related Links And Media:

The TRUTH About Buying a Resale in The Villages

http://www.thevillagesfloridabook.com/platinum/

Finding Rentals in The Villages

http://www.thevillagesfloridabook.com/rentals/

16

Once you are sold on The Villages as the ultimate place to spend your retirement, the next step is to begin finding a home in The Villages.

There are two options here: buy a new home or a resale. There are pros and cons to each, which you will certainly want to ex-plore further. 

Because the developer controls pretty much everything in The Villages, buying and selling real estate here is a little bit differ-ent than it is in the rest of the country, so you will want to do your homework. Start by watching the video I’ve linked to on the left.

My book does a great job of expanding on new homes versus resales, and it also covers some other important real estate top-ics like home inspections and warranties, financing in The Vil-lages, the final walkthrough, and closing on your new home.

Real Estate

9 There are several acronyms Villagers need to know. Here are three of the most important.

HOA, POA and CDD’s

Related Links And Media:

What Exactly Does “No Bond” Mean?

http://www.thevillagesfloridabook.com/what-does-no-bond-mean/

Villages Homeowners Association

http://www.thevha.net/

The Villages Property Owner’s Association

http://www.poa4us.org/

18

As you further explore real estate in The Villages, you are likely to encounter a few acronyms that you will want to be aware of.

The Community Development Districts (CDDs) are a tool that the developer uses to pay for infrastructure that needs to be de-veloped. The CDDs issue bonds that are then repaid by the homeowners through their taxes over the following 20-30 years. 

This is a very complicated issue, and I’ve got an entire chapter in my book devoted to giving you a thorough understanding of this, as well as the costs involved.

Unlike typical Homeowner's Associations you might be familiar with that actually make a lot of the community decisions, The Villages Homeowners Association (HOA) and Property Owner’s Association (POA) were formed as watchdog groups to ensure that the best interest of residents is taken seriously by the devel-oper.

HOA, POA and CDD’s

10 Alright, you made it to then end of this brief overview of The Villages. Still curious what else there is to know?

What is Your Next Step?

Related Links And Media:

Order your copy of Complete Guide to The Villages:

http://www.thevillagesfloridabook.com/about/

20

As you can probably tell, this rough overview of The Villages just barely scratches the surface of all of the information you are going to want to consider before making the decision to pick up and move here.

There is an incredible amount of information you are going to want to know about The Villages that goes well beyond the scope of these few pages. 

The next step in continuing your education about The Villages is to order and read through the Complete Guide to The Vil-lages, which covers all of these topics in much greater detail.

What is Your Next Step?