New Construction vs. Resale in The Villages

Lili Whittington has sold resale homes across The Villages since 2016, with more than 450 homes sold in her career. New homes here are sold directly by the developer, which doesn't work with outside agents, so she can't represent you on a new build. What she can do is point out the trade-offs a sales office won't, including the bond, so you choose with the full picture.

If you're leaning toward a new home, it's worth knowing what tends to change the picture when we compare real homes side by side. In our experience, it's usually one of these three.

Getting the home. New homes in The Villages are sold directly by the developer's sales office, and build times come from them. If a new home means waiting while you pay rent or carry a home up north, those months are a real cost. A resale is already built, and you can walk through the actual house you'd be buying.

The lot and the location. Resales usually sit on more established lots with mature trees, and many are a shorter golf cart ride to a town square. That access is a big part of daily life here.

The bond. The bond is the cost of building the community's utilities, paid once a year with the property taxes. A new home usually carries the full bond, which can make its yearly cost noticeably higher than a resale with a lower balance or none left.

None of this makes a resale the better choice every time. New and better aren't the same thing. The right answer depends on your timeline, your budget and how you want to live your first year here, which is why we compare the specific homes, not the categories.