Should We Buy or Should We Rent in THE VILLAGES FLORIDA – Part 1

Should We Buy or Should We Rent in THE VILLAGES FLORIDA – Part 1

[Music] should we rent or should we buy in The   Villages we’re going to answer  that question coming up next So to give you a little background about us,  by 2019 we were already downsized and lived   in a three-bedroom apartment. David retired  during Covid, I was working part time and we  

Had no grandchildren at the time but that  since has changed. We’d already downsized   out of our house and rent was going up in  the apartment we were renting and we had a   time where we could decide do we want, to stay  where we currently were at or we were going to  

Move to a different apartment or really we  could have moved anywhere in the country to   experience something new. Now interest rates  were low so we thought maybe now is the time   to buy and we had no house to sell. Winters  were really cold in Ohio, good time to think  

About moving so we decided to try living in  Florida and we called it the Florida Experiment. [Music] So why did we choose The Villages so we  started watching some YouTubers that lived in   The Villages and it made us familiar with the  surroundings and the things to do and kind of  

Gave us a comfort level that it would be an area  you’d want to live in as opposed to just vacation   in and we did see that all the town squares  had music which we love to dance 365 days in  

The year so that was one draw we also have ebikes  and I thought you know for our first experience   living in Florida it had a nice central location  so we could be to the be to the East Coast or the  

West Coast beaches in an hour and a half. We were  near the Springs the other things around Disney we   thought there’d be plenty of things to do outside  of The Villages as well. We’re also close to the  

Cruise ports, we like to go on a cruise now and  then. We decided to do the lifestyle visit. During   the lifestyle visit we came just a short period  of time but before Thanksgiving we were here for  

About 4 days. It really wasn’t long enough but  we got a chance to see the development at the   time Richmond was the area where new homes were  being built. We got a chance to look at those  

And the nice thing too about the lifestyle visit  is they provide you with a golf cart you get two   bikes so you can go out on your own. The sales  people the sales consultant wasn’t pressuring us  

To buy anything right away and you know it gives  you a chance to really experience The Villages.   At the time Richmond had about 30 homes left they  were basically sold out. They were going to have  

Some Villas up for sale as well so there was a  an opportunity to buy. Doubt started to creep   in our minds and we were like “will we really  like it here” yeah I was concerned about it  

Getting really hot in July and August so I just  wanted to experience that to see what that would   be like and also we’re going to be a long ways  away from our friends our children. I had never  

Lived outside of Ohio for any long period of  time so that’s something to think about. The   homes were really close together in Richmond and I  I just wasn’t sure if that would be for me but the  

Low interest rate was there but the high prices on  the homes were also up. The houses that have small   lots and no basement it just was something for us  to think about in retirement you probably don’t  

Want a lot of maintenance type issues and taking  care of big yards, we weren’t used to [Music] [Applause] [Music] that. There’s also the bond  to consider which brought the cost up and we   just couldn’t decide. I wanted to be in between  the sixes and try to look at some pre-owned homes  

And David kind of liked Richmond we didn’t have  enough time, we needed more time to decide. So   where is between the sixes between the 466a and  466 okay so if you didn’t know more of a central   location than down in the southern area where  the new home construction primarily was right.

So we basically just didn’t drink the koolaid not  yet. From there we thought the perfect situation   would be rent for 6 months. Rent a furnished house  with a golf cart provided come down and spend some  

Time, get familiar with it, don’t move a bunch of  stuff down here yet, just put it in storage up in   Ohio and come down and experience The Villages.  Make sure that this is a good move but we thought  

Let’s just do this 6 months, just six months. But  the problem was this wasn’t easy to find now you   know time of year we were looking was like right  around December and the most active time here for  

People is obviously when it’s cold up North  so people jump on those rentals ahead of time   or they come back year after year for December  January February March, or some group of those   months. There wasn’t a lot available and what was  available were only like 2 months but it was 4,000  

– 5,000 for a home. It was really high and there  were no golf carts included so there was no time   left and we went back to Columbus and re-thought  this. We did decided, we can’t find anything for  

6 months let’s just go all in and we will rent for  a year. Once we made the decision to rent it kind   of made it more flexible to find a way for that to  happen. It was getting near the end of our lease  

In Ohio so we had to make a [Music] decision so  we began our search and basically what we found   were a lot of homes were between $1,500 and 2300  for a year lease. There were three sources that  

We used first was corporate owned homes and it was  hard to communicate with them and they had really   long complicated leases. Not very tenant friendly  leases is what our experience was so and you try   to negotiate them and you know you’re just hitting  brick walls where they didn’t want to make any  

Changes. They had a lot of fees and penalties and  they even wanted to charge for power washing after   your lease ended. The second is individual owners  and they were kind of hard to get a hold of,  

We played a lot of phone tag and they’re not  Realtors so their leases were not Florida State   statute friendly. They were very restrictive too  because it seemed like they were more like VRBO   leases. No parties because we were going to have  a lot of parties. we’re going to have a lot of

[Music] parties. They didn’t even want you to have  anybody staying over at your house. No visitors no   visitors which that was you know all the leases  are different but that was some of the things we   started running into we were looking for a lease  so we went to property management companies. This  

Is where we found privately owned homes, but they  were professionally managed, and they were willing   to send us sample leases, willing to negotiate  certain terms so after about 6 weeks we found it! [Music] So here’s our tips for finding a place to  rent in the village especially if you’re thinking  

6 months instead of a year first of all don’t  start looking in December. For something that,   your rental would start in February per  se it’s just a lot harder there’s fewer   choices and there’s fewer price categories  for you to choose a house from. So if you can,  

If you’re thinking about moving in January  or February, maybe you want to be looking   at the beginning of the summer before  that January or February. Now if you’re   here in The Villages one of the best places  to find a rental is if you go to the pools,  

The neighborhood pool. Most of the people live in  that neighborhood, you strike up a conversation,   we heard about rental after rental but we had  already moved here so that’s one source. Also if   you’re driving around neighborhoods when you’re  here you’d be looking for small signs that are  

On the garage doors and in the windows there  aren’t big yard signs in the yard, those are   prohibited. At least for rentals or for houses  for sale. If you’re not here in The Villages   you’re looking online like we did, first start  with emailing some of the people that actually  

Have short-term leases available and ask them  if they’ll go long-term. They might be willing   to at a certain time of year if they haven’t rent  it out they might be willing to change and start   a one-year lease with someone. A lot of these  people ask for credit checks which will cost  

You money. Just be aware of that one thing we  found is if you could get somebody to send you   their standard lease not filled out or anything  but just so you can review the lease just to see  

If it’s something you can live with and maybe  ask to see if they’re open to changes. If they   tell you they’re not going to make any changes and  they send you a very landlord sided lease that may  

Not be the place you want to continue to pursue.  Go to the auditor site and check out the street   and the house number that they gave you. You can  see the aerial views, you can get dimensions and  

Know how large the rooms are. Ask them if the  photo is current on the listing when you see   it on some of these websites and we’ll give you a  list of those we have some resources at the end of  

This video. One thing too is some people think  if you see a golf cart in the photo that means   it’s included and I would say probably a lot of  the times that is true but I wouldn’t assume that  

Because we’ve noticed people don’t update their  pictures For example you might see a house that’s   full of furniture and there isn’t any furniture  included or there might be a golf cart sitting   in the driveway and for whatever reason they’ve  decided not to rent out or include a golf cart  

In a house rental. So ask lots of questions don’t  assume anything and always confirm everything in writing. We hope this video has helped you  if you’re planning on renting or buying   in The Villages. Look for our next video  where we’ll talk about the pros and cons  

Of renting and give you some negotiating  tips. Click the thumbs up button to let   us know you like this video. Leave a  comment or question below and share   this video with a friend if you haven’t  subscribed to our Channel click our logo  

Right here watch this video next thanks for  watching catch you on the flip [Music] side

Rent or Buy in The Villages Florida. This video is Part 1 of a 3-part series about renting full-time in Florida. We talk about how we made our decision to move to The Villages Florida. A resource sheet is below to give you online websites to find a long-term rental in THE VILLAGES FLORIDA.

📢Click to Watch This Next: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLkkPvtuYKy6UDuv8QbiBm4S8F-g5u4NTW

📢Click to Watch More Videos: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLkkPvtuYKy6VOlcuvG0w1jlOWPZ02BX8N

SUBSCRIBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4qHy9uOVunU2Nzu-w1FgiA?sub_confirmation=1

📲Connect with us on Social Media:
OUR WEBSITE: https://igowhereyougo.com
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100095595935614
X Twitter: https://twitter.com/IGoWhereYouGous

#thevillages
#thevillagesflorida
#55plus

QUESTIONS? Have a question about our content? Drop it into the comments!

🚲CHECK OUT OUR BIKE GEAR WE USE:
https://amzn.to/3PZGimZ (Amazon – LECTRIC BIKE XP) latest models
https://amzn.to/3LHDUQp (Amazon – WSDCAM Bike Alarm)
https://amzn.to/3Rzwh2q (Amazon – Via Velo Bike Lock)
https://amzn.to/480Hm2n (Amazon- Sena Helmet)
https://amzn.to/45VVUOD (Amazon – Motion Sensor Alarm)
https://amzn.to/44DfKNL (Amazon – Lumen Bike Light)

🎬CHECK OUT OUR CAMERA GEAR WE USE:
https://amzn.to/45NU8j0 – Amazon – (DJI Mini 3 Drone)
https://amzn.to/3sQE3uB – Amazon – (DJI Pocket 2 Creator Combo)
https://amzn.to/3EABLlM – Amazon – (DJI Mic 2 TX + 1 RX + Charging Case)
https://amzn.to/3PA8jCP – Amazon – (GoPro Hero 12 Camera)

“As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.”

***** This video is NOT sponsored, but it does include affiliate links. If you click on a link here in the description and then do your regular Amazon shopping, we receive a small commission. It DOES NOT cost you anything extra. We greatly appreciate your support, if you choose to use these links. *******

Resources for finding rentals:
www.trulia.com
www.zillow.com/homes/for_rent
www.homes.com
www.rentfromavillager.com
www.nationalhomerentals.com
www.villagershomes4rent.com

Florida County Property Appraiser websites:

Lake County
www.lakecopropappr.com

Marion County
www.marionpropertyappraisers.com

Sumter County
www.sumterpa.com

CDD website for The Villages
www.districtgov.org

About:
David and Kristy reveal how they made their decision on buying or renting in The Villages Florida in Part 1 of a 3-part series on renting in Florida.

Disclaimer: The information presented is for general informational purposes only. All information is provided in good faith; however, we make no representation of any kind, expressed or implied, regarding the accuracy, adequacy, validity, reliability, availability or completeness of this information. We will not be accountable for any losses, injuries, or damages from the exposure or usage of this information. Your use of this website does not create a professional-client relationship between you, and I Go Where You Go, or any of its professionals, employees, owners, agents or contributors. The fair use of such material is provided for under US Copyright Law.