The Villages

Haciendas of Mission Hills, a small, picturesque neighborhood populated exclusively with villas, offers proximity to Lake Sumter and the popular town square that surrounds it. “It’s a very sough-out location,” says Jon McNeely, a Realtor with Realty Executives in The Villages. “It’s in the heart of the community. Residents can hop on their golf carts and be at Lake Sumter Landing in 5 minutes. Down here they call it the gem of The Villages. It’s beautiful; it sits on the water, and the landscaping outside the homes is gorgeous.” Neighborhood streets are densely populated with three-bedroom, two-bath villas, but there is plenty of diversity. Homes generally range from 1,100 to more than 2,000 square feet, and there is an array of different designs. The homes do share standard features such as attached garages, and small yards, which have their benefits. “Villas versus homes, the number-one thing is very low maintenance,” McNeely says. “All of them are courtyard villas, so you have a nice outdoor area with extra privacy, and there’s not a lot of yard work.” Prices typically range from the low $500,000s to the low $700,000s. The cozy confines breed a comfortable familiarity. “We’ve had four listings in Mission Hills and got to know a lot of the neighbors,” says McNeely, who recently transitioned into real estate after 25 years in the restaurant business. “It’s a tight-knit group.” There are no HOA fees, but there is a bond payment typically required of homeowners. The money is used for the upkeep of infrastructure. It can be paid off in three different ways: in total at closing, in total any year thereafter, or as an annual tax fee over the life of the bond. Lake Sumter Landing Market Square is a buzzy waterfront destination designed to resemble an old fishing village. Residents can shop and dine in the shadow of a lake that hums with the activity of guided tours, kayak floats and dragon boat races. “Everyone wants to live near Lake Sumter,” says Karen Santoriello, a Realtor with Worth Clark Realty who lives nearby. The square’s several dozen stores include Winn-Dixie, Barnes & Noble and many independent boutique shops. Residents can bank there, get their hair cut, speak with their financial advisor and visit the doctor. Residents can catch a movie at Epic Theaters Old Mill Playhouse, and the square comes alive with the sounds of music. “There’s live entertainment 365 days a year,” says Alexa Anderson, a real estate agent with KRG whose sales are concentrated in the community. Dining options are anchored by several waterfront restaurants, including Lighthouse Point Bar & Grill and the Chop House. Other eateries feature steak, sushi and pizza. Residents also can pop in for ice cream at a Haagen-Dazs store or grab a cup of coffee at Starbucks. “It gives off much more of an active vibe. It’s open and airy. It’s more vibrant than the other squares,” says Gina Befumo, a real estate consultant with LPT Realty, LLC and former resident of The Villages. Lake Sumter is large enough to support pontoon boats and fishing boats, and kayaks can be rented on-site. Dragon boat racing is part of an extensive list of clubs and social activities available throughout the community. Officials have begun plans for an expansion that will include an 8,500-square-foot floating dock for storage and kayak launches, a new boathouse for the boats that conduct tours of the man-made lake and a new pavilion at the end of a renovated boardwalk. Sunset Park is a picturesque green space on an island in the middle of the lake that offers stunning views. Residents have access to a neighborhood pool that includes adjacent space for playing shuffleboard, bocce ball and horseshoes. Several golf courses are located nearby, including the championship layout at Palmer Legends Country Club. With more than three dozen executive courses spread throughout the community, 9-hole options are always close by as well. In all, The Villages offers more than 50 golf courses. All of them are available to any resident who pays a $195 monthly amenities fee. That fee also includes access to more than 3,000 clubs and social activities. “You’re buying a lifestyle,” Befumo says, “you’re not just buying a house.” The Villages covers almost 60 square miles and has almost 150,000 residents, so getting around it can be a challenge in a golf cart, much less a car. Traffic can be a drawback, but with Lake Sumter Landing and all its amenities so close, it is much less of a concern in this neighborhood. And technology has made travel throughout The Villages much easier. “People can choose an area where golf-cart travel is preferable, and they even have an app to guide you through the community,” Befumo says. Additionally convenient from a traffic standpoint is that the neighborhood is located on the eastern edge of the community. County Road 466 borders the neighborhood and can be taken directly to neighboring Lady Lake in minutes. Once outside the community, U.S. Highway 441 connects directly to Orlando about 60 miles southeast. The Gulf Coast and the Atlantic Coast are both about 90 minutes away. The community is served by the Villages Daily Sun. The newspaper covers the surrounding area, but it is the official publication of the ever-expanding development and helps keep residents connected.

A cruise around the Village of Alhambra will likely reveal quite a few golf courts parked out front of homes or tucked away in open garages — just waiting for their owners to hop in and dash to some of The Villages’ amenities. There are so many of them to choose from, within what is the biggest retirement community in the world. And they’re available at a lower price point with a house in the gated Village of Alhambra. The houses within the Village of Alhambra are older than some others in The Villages, built in the late 1990s. But they’re still well-kept and come with compact but well-kept lawns that often stretch from just under to just over one-tenth of an acre. A lot of the homes in this neighborhood have The Villages’ “Patio Villa” floor plan, which is less than 1,000 square feet. That makes them more economically accessible. “That’s the lowest end of the market, the Patio Villa,” says Karen Santoriello, a local Realtor with Worth Clark Realty. “So it is quite popular.” There are also some bigger, ranch-style homes in the Village of Alhambra, that can reach up to around 1,700 square feet. The Patio Villa houses here can go for around $200,000, while the more expansive houses top out at closer to $400,000. The Villages requires that at least one person in each household be at least 55 years old, and no full-time residents can be under 19. Among the Village of Alhambra’s advantages is that it’s surrounded by multiple community golf courses, including Glenview and El Santiago. Glenview features a total of 27 challenging holes, thanks to its three nine-hole circuits: “Fox Run,” “Stirrup Cup” and “Talley Ho.” El Santiago offers another nine holes, on a less demanding layout. Residents are also close to the Savannah Recreation area, which includes multiple shuffleboard and bocce ball courts and a community pool building undergoing an almost $400,000 renovation. Another of this area’s draws is its proximity to the Spanish Springs Town Square, which is one of four signature town squares across The Villages. Spanish Springs, like the others, offers live music on a nightly basis — concerts happen at 5 p.m. each night except for the rare occasion that inclement weather interferes. Spanish Springs is also the spot of other special events like a Cinco de Mayo celebration and a Christmas in July classic car cruise. The close-by Glenview Country Club is not only a magnet for golf, but also for dining. There’s an on-site restaurant there whose Sunday brunch buffet — complete with an omelet station and a prime rib carving station — is popular. Locals can head over to Spanish Springs Town Square for more dining options, an area dotted with spots like Coastal del Mar Seafood Grill, where the crab cakes are a hit, and Amerikanos Grille, which blends Greek and American fare. The Spanish Springs area has a Publix and the UF Health The Villages Hospital, too. People enjoy how close the Village of Alhambra is to the Savannah Center as well, a roughly 800-seat venue that hosts several concerts every month, including tribute acts for KISS, Tina Turner and more. “It’s one of the larger venues that we have in The Villages, and it’s a great place for entertainment when you have more people,” says Sheila Davis, a local Realtor with Realty Executives in The Village, who has more than a dozen years of industry experience. A network of golf cart paths wind all around the Village of Alhambra, and locals take advantage. Residents like simply hopping in their carts to travel over to some of the nearby amenities, because it’s economical and easier to park, Davis says. It’s a preferred method for many. “The good thing there is it’s probably 10 minutes in a golf cart to Spanish Springs, which is a real pull for people,” says Santoriello, a resident of The Villages herself. Those who need to commute out of town can take Buena Vista Boulevard to Sumter County Road 466, to connect to Interstate 75. I-75 links to places like Tampa, just over 80 miles south.

When Village of Amelia residents step out of their front doors, they can fire up their golf carts and scoot over to an array of amenities in minutes. Whether they want to take a dip in the community pool, spark up a game of bocce ball or shuffleboard, or play a round or two of golf, it’s all available. These kinds of perks come with the territory for neighborhoods like these within The Villages, the largest 55-and-over development in the world. The Villages is full of more than 70,000 houses, spanning almost 60 square miles, but neighborhoods like the Village of Amelia are a draw for the central location they offer within the wider community, says Charmaine Adams, a Florida native and a local Realtor with Realty Executives in The Villages. Many of the homes across the separate neighborhoods in this swath of The Villages are similar, but spots like the Village of Amelia are even more convenient because they’re a tad farther north than sister sections like the Village of Bonita and thus closer to the area’s commercial amenities. “It does not differ significantly other than the fact it’s even closer to Lake Sumter Landing Square,” says Sheila Davis, who is also with Realty Executives in The Village and has more than a dozen years of industry experience. The modern homes here carry new traditional Craftsman and Mediterranean styling, with single-story floor plans that average roughly 1,500 square feet. Many of the houses in the Village of Amelia stand on manicured lots that fall between one-tenth and one-fifth of an acre — dotted with shrubbery and palm trees. Some properties face the rolling fairways and sweeping greens of the Mallory Hill or Havana golf courses. Price tags in this neighborhood are usually between $300,000, for an option 1,400 square feet or under, and $700,000, for a home around 2,000 square feet with golf course or lake views. At least one person in each of The Village’s households must be at least 55 years old and no full-time residents can be younger than 19. There are more than 50 golf courses in total across The Villages, and those in the Village of Amelia are particularly close to the Mallory Hill and Havana country clubs. Some homes on Amelia's north end face Mallory Hill, and some on the sound end face Havana. “That is one of the best places,” Adams says of Havana. Both Mallory Hill and Havana feature 27 holes, made up of three nine-hole courses apiece. The Village of Amelia also has its own pool, which lies adjacent to shuffleboard and bocce ball areas, all at the neighborhood’s entrance. One of the reasons the Village of Amelia’s location in relation to Lake Sumter Landing Market Square is a boon is because of the steady lineup of events there. Lake Sumter Landing Market Square, like The Village’s three other signature Town Squares, offers nightly entertainment almost every single day of the year. The only thing that cancels programming on occasion is inclement weather. Events include daily concerts, which start at 5 p.m. Adventurers in the area can also meet at Lake Sumter Landing Market Square on certain days for the Grand Masters Dragon Boat Club, a rowing club that uses nearby Lake Sumter itself as its playground. Communities across The Villages, like the Village of Amelia, are littered with cart paths. Golf carts are a preferred form of transportation for many where possible, whether they’re using the paths or the designated lanes along the area’s main roads. People here can hop in their carts for a quick trip to one of the nearby golf courses, or to grab a bite to eat by the Lake Sumter Landing Market Square, which is only about 3 miles away. Those making trips farther away can take advantage of the Village of Amelia’s location within what locals call the “sixes,” which include Sumter County Road 466 to the north and Sumter County Road 466A to the south. Sumter County Road 466A helps to connect commuters with Interstate 75 for drives to places like Havana, just over 80 miles south. Both the Mallory Hill and Havana country clubs come complete with their own restaurants. Davis notes that people go to the Havana restaurant often, a spot with daily specials ranging from lobster on Mondays to prime rib on Thursdays. The fried chicken at Mallory Hill’s restaurant is popular. People here can also make the short trip up to Lake Sumter Landing Market Square for food — the space is surrounded by places including Panera Bread, Johnny Rockets and Florida-based chain Cody's Original Roadhouse. There’s also a Winn-Dixie nearby for those looking to grab groceries and other essentials.