Owning a $400,000 Villages home costs owners roughly 4.5% annually in forgone investment income alone, before taxes, insurance, or CDD bond payments. Annual rentals run between $2,200 and $3,000 a month, but renting beats owning only for stays under eight years once all costs are counted. A 75-year-old facing a forced sale in a narrow buyer pool at 3.98 million existing home sales risks losing the flexibility a lease ending provides.
Two retirees, same $1 million, same 4% rule, buy one finished with $1.4 million, the other hit $0 in 12 years. Our free reader guide explains the flaw that separated them, and the income-first method built to avoid it. At the end of the day, renting versus buying in The Villages comes down to one thing: math.
More owners are running the numbers and finding that renting wins on the spreadsheet, so here is what the comparison actually looks like when every line is filled in. Start with a comparable two-bedroom designer or courtyard villa in the mid-priced range. Current asking prices cluster in the $350,000 to $450,000 band, but the purchase price is only the entry ticket.
Almost every lot includes a bond obligation: the CDD infrastructure debt that funded streets, drainage, and utilities. Remaining balances typically run $10,000 to $40,000 depending on section and vintage, amortized on the annual tax bill at rates often in the 5% to 6% range with terms that can stretch decades. The amenity fee, contractually adjustable by CPI, currently sits near $200 a month and escalates annually.
With headline CPI running from 308.417 in January 2024 to 334.980 in August 2026, that clause has been active. Property taxes in Sumter, Lake, and Marion counties run at an effective rate of roughly 1.0% to 1.2% after the Florida homestead exemption. Homeowners insurance in central Florida now commonly runs $2,500 to $4,000 and is still rising.
Maintenance realistically absorbs 1% to 2% of value annually. Every retiree knows about the 4% rule, but it frames retirement as a slow liquidation and still causes retirees with seven-figure accounts to agonize over a dinner out. There's a different way to run the math that makes more sense today.
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