Plenty of Retirees Tour the Communities Chasing The Villages and Never Buy. One Reason Comes Up Every Time
Thousands of retirees tour the communities built to rival The Villages every year, walk away impressed, and still never sign. The sticking point surfaces in almost every conversation, and it has nothing to do with the amenities.
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It should go without saying that there are several 55+ communities in Florida built to compete with The Villages. The list includes, but is not limited to, Solivita near Kissimmee, On Top of the World in Ocala, the Del Webb projects south of Orlando, and Latitude Margaritaville.
Their amenities include golf carts and pickleball clinics, and each publishes a monthly fee line that buyers consider alongside the purchase price. That line adds an HOA, a Community Development District (CDD) assessment, and a club fee, and it continues running after the house is paid off. Below are the costs of that line and what it costs to carry it for 25 years.
Fee Stack Buyers Price Last
Around Orlando, combined HOA, CDD, and club fees in 55+ communities run $376 to $653 a month. The CDD piece alone adds $128 to $220 per month, and the operations and maintenance portion continues indefinitely even after the bond is retired. Solivita adds a required $195 amenity fee on top of its base HOA, bringing the real monthly cost to the mid-$400s. On Top of the World lands in the same range, and its fee covers yard care, cable, and internet.
The Villages uses a different structure, as new buyers pay a $204/month amenity fee, plus a CDD assessment of $1,200 to $3,000 per year and a maintenance assessment of $600 to $1,400 per year. Copycat HOAs bundle services that Village owners pay for separately. So you can only compare the two once both are converted to a full annual figure.
A Working Budget for a Couple at 67
Take a couple paying cash for a resale home near Solivita’s $375,000 median. Florida’s income-adjusted state and local tax burden of $5,110 ranks among the lowest in the country. Insurance is the exception, averaging $3,000 to $4,000 per year.
| Annual Line Item | Estimate |
|---|---|
| HOA, CDD and club fees | $6,000 |
| Property tax after homestead | $4,500 |
| Homeowners and wind insurance | $3,500 |
| Medicare Part B for two ($202.90 each monthly) | $4,870 |
| Part D and Medigap for two | $7,000 |
| Dental, vision, out-of-pocket care | $3,000 |
| Groceries and clubhouse dining | $13,000 |
| Utilities and phone | $4,500 |
| Golf cart and vehicle replacement | $5,500 |
| Travel, clubs, gifts | $8,000 |
| Maintenance and emergency reserve | $5,000 |
| Federal tax on withdrawals | $2,500 |
| Total | $67,370 |
After the 2027 COLA, the average senior couple receives $3,355 a month, or $40,260 a year. That leaves a $27,110 gap, so covering it would take $677,750 at a 4% withdrawal rate, or about $775,000 at 3.5%. If both claims rest on full retirement age, waiting until 70 raises benefits to about $49,900. The gap then shrinks, and the 3.5% target falls to roughly $499,000. Some retirees cover the three years in between with a short treasury ladder.
Why the Fee Line Compounds Differently
The Villages amenity fee is linked to CPI and can rise no more than the CPI. Copycat HOA dues have no such cap as they follow the board’s budget, including clubhouse insurance and staff payroll. Over time, the fee functions as a recurring cost that can rise with inflation.
To see what that cost requires in savings, convert it to portfolio dollars. A total fee of $653 runs $7,836 a year and requires $195,900 in savings at 4%. Inflation for Americans 62 and older recently ran 3.6% year over year. If dues grew at that rate, a $500 fee would reach about $1,014 in 20 years, adding $6,168 a year to spending. Social Security will not always keep up. COLAs were 0% in 2009, 2010, and 2015.
Fees also weigh on resale, because the next buyer prices them in. Over the past year, home prices in Wildwood-The Villages rose 2.61%, as Cape Coral-Fort Myers fell 0.9%. For a retiree, home equity growth varies by market, as these figures show.
What It Takes to Buy and Stay
This lifestyle for a 67-year-old couple requires a paid-off home and about $680,000 to $775,000 invested. Under this model, the portfolio supports withdrawals of 3.5% to 4%. Delaying Social Security to 70 brings the invested target closer to $500,000. Add a fee reserve on top, since dues may grow faster than Social Security COLAs.
Multiplying a community’s full fee total by 25 gives the long-run cost of the fee line, which you can compare against the portfolio available to cover it alongside the list price.
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David Beren has been a Flywheel Publishing contributor since 2022. Writing for 24/7 Wall St. since 2023, David loves to write about topics of all shapes and sizes. As a technology expert, David focuses heavily on consumer electronics brands, automobiles, and general technology. He has previously written for LifeWire, formerly About.com. As a part-time freelance writer, David’s “day job” has been working on and leading social media for multiple Fortune 100 brands. David loves the flexibility of this field and its ability to reach customers exactly where they like to spend their time. Additionally, David previously published his own blog, TmoNews.com, which reached 3 million readers in its first year. In addition to freelance and social media work, David loves to spend time with his family and children and relive the glory days of video game consoles by playing any retro game console he can get his hands on.
