See The Villages through the eyes of someone who lives here
The Villages is more than a collection of Florida neighborhoods. It is a 55+ community spread across Sumter, Lake, and Marion Counties — built around golf-cart paths, recreation centers, town squares, and the freedom to decide what each day looks like.
Tammi Montgomery lives in The Villages. She carts to dinner, plays pickleball, sits in the town squares at night, and works here as a licensed Florida Realtor. This page is the introduction she wished she had before the first visit: what daily life actually feels like, and what to think about before you buy.
You do not have to know which village you want. You do not even have to be sure you are moving. Curiosity is enough.
What Makes The Villages Different
The first thing visitors notice is how easy it is to get involved — and how little pressure there is to do everything.
Residents have access to dozens of golf courses (executive play is included with the monthly amenity fee; championship courses charge a green fee), more than 100 recreation centers and pools, pickleball courts in nearly every village, thousands of resident-run clubs, and free live music most nights on the town squares.
That is the marketing version, and it is true. The lived version is simpler: you can fill a calendar or you can stay home. Both are normal here.
What Tammi notices after living here is the rhythm. Mornings start early on the courts and courses. Evenings belong to the squares. Golf carts are not a novelty. They are how you go to dinner, the rec center, the grocery store, and a neighbor’s driveway without getting back in a car.
The community is large — tens of thousands of homes across a footprint that now stretches many miles north to south — so “The Villages” is not one neighborhood. It is a collection of villages, each tied to a town square, a rec center, and a set of daily routes.
The Town Squares
The town squares are the social center of The Villages. They are open, walkable, and built for dinner, shopping, people-watching, and free live music most nights of the year. Each one has a different personality. Where you live often comes down to which square you expect to use.
Spanish Springs
The original square (1994), on the north end in Lake County. Spanish colonial plaza, the most established surrounding neighborhoods, and The Sharon L. Morse Performing Arts Center nearby. Older homes here often carry lower — or paid-off — CDD bond balances.
Lake Sumter Landing
The waterfront square (2004) in the central part of the community. Key West character, boardwalk, and the postcard view most visitors photograph first. A waterfront makeover is underway in 2026. Central and scenic.
Brownwood Paddock Square
Opened in 2012 with an old-Florida cattle-town look. Strongest evening energy of the original three squares — restaurants, bars, and a crowd that stays later. UF Health The Villages Hospital is in this part of the map, which matters if golf-cart access to healthcare is on your list.
Sawgrass Grove
A newer, less-themed square south of the older core. Buyers looking at mid-2010s and early-2020s construction often land in this orbit.
Eastport
The newest and southernmost square, opened in 2025 on Central Lake. European-inspired architecture, hotel, waterfront dining, and still-building entertainment programming. Newer homes, newer commercial, and typically higher remaining CDD bond balances.
Tammi’s photos and videos are meant to show these places as part of a week, not as a vacation stop.
Yes, Golf Carts Really Are Part of Daily Life
In most towns a golf cart is a toy. In The Villages it is transportation.
A separate path network connects neighborhoods to squares, rec centers, grocery stores, medical offices, and friends’ houses. The pace is slower than a car, and that is the point. A dinner reservation becomes an outing. A three-mile errand does not require a parking lot.
Location still matters. A home that is “in The Villages” can be a short cart ride from the square you love — or a long one. When Tammi walks a house with a buyer, one of the first questions is: where will you actually go in a normal week, and can you get there by cart without turning it into a project?
You will also budget for the cart itself. That is as much a household cost here as a second car is somewhere else.
Recreation, Interests, and How People Actually Meet
The question everyone asks before they move: How will I meet people?
The honest answer is: you show up to something you already like, or something you have been meaning to try. Pickleball, golf, water aerobics, a club, a rec-center class, a standing dinner on the square. Friendships here form around a calendar slot more often than around a block party.
Pickleball is not a side note. Courts are everywhere, open play starts early, and the social part of the sport is half the reason people keep going back. Tammi plays here.
The problem is rarely a lack of options. It is choosing what to try first — and leaving room on the calendar to do nothing.
Is It Hot in The Villages?
Yes.
If you are coming from Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, or upstate New York, it is hot. It is also a good hot — sunshine, long evenings, and a calendar that stays outdoors most of the year.
If you are coming from Dallas or a lot of the inland South, you may be surprised. Central Florida sits on a peninsula between the Gulf and the Atlantic. Summer highs here typically run a few degrees milder than North Texas, and the geography keeps the worst furnace heat from settling in the same way. It is still summer in Florida. It is not Dallas in July.
Villagers adjust the clock more than they cancel the day. Mornings and evenings do the heavy lifting. The squares, the pools, and the cart paths still work.
Choosing the Right Part of The Villages
You probably do not know which village you will live in yet. That is normal.
Ask fifty Villagers which village is the best, and you will get fifty answers — all of them their own. That is how good it is. There is no bad village. There is only a better fit for how you want a Tuesday and a Saturday night to feel.
Some buyers want to be near an established town square. Others prefer newer construction, a particular golf course, a quieter street, or a short cart ride to healthcare and grocery. Some want to be close to the music. Some want to hear it only when they choose to go.
Before you fall in love with a floor plan online, sit with these questions:
- Which town square will you use most — and how far is it by golf cart?
- Do you want an established neighborhood (often lower remaining bond, more mature landscaping) or a newer area (newer construction, higher bond, more of the community still being built around you)?
- Is golf-cart access to healthcare, grocery, and your preferred rec center a requirement or a nice-to-have?
- What home style and maintenance level do you actually want — villa, ranch, designer, premier?
- Full-time residence or seasonal?
- Have you looked at the monthly amenity fee (currently in the neighborhood of $200 a month, covering rec centers, pools, executive golf, and the common lifestyle infrastructure) and the CDD bond balance on that specific address? Older northern homes often have little or no remaining bond. Newer southern and Eastport homes can carry a substantial balance that transfers with the sale.
The bond is the line that surprises out-of-state buyers. It is not the list price, and it is not the amenity fee. It has to be verified on the house you want, not estimated from a map.
The right decision starts with how you want to live — not with picking a house that looks good online.
What You Should Know Before You Buy
A few facts that belong on this page because they change the decision:
- It is a 55+ community. At least one permanent resident in the home must be 55 or older. Permanent residents under 19 are not permitted under the community rules.
- Florida has no state income tax. For buyers coming from Louisiana, Texas, or other states, that is part of the long-term math — along with insurance, flood zones where they apply, and homestead exemption if this becomes your primary residence.
- The community is not gated. It is open, large, and designed to function like a small city with recreation layered on top.
- Homes range widely. Entry villas and older northern homes can start in the low-to-mid $200s. Newer and waterfront product runs well into the high hundreds of thousands and above $1 million. Median values in recent market reads sit in the mid-to-high $300s, depending on the slice of the map you measure.
Tammi will not pretend every village is interchangeable. She also will not tell you there is a bad one. The job is to match the house to the week you want to live.
Tammi’s Life in The Villages
Tammi is a longtime real estate professional and a resident. That combination is the point of this page.
She notices the contract questions — bond balance, amenity fee, restrictions, resale patterns, which side of 466 or 44 you are on. She also notices the ordinary ones: how long the cart ride really is after dark, which square fills up on a Saturday, what pickleball feels like when the courts are full at 7 a.m., and why some people love the energy of Brownwood while others want a quieter street and a shorter trip to Lake Sumter Landing.
She is a licensed Florida Realtor with the Tammi Montgomery Team, affiliated with Realty Executives in The Villages. She is also licensed in Louisiana and Texas, which matters if you are selling a home in Shreveport-Bossier or North Texas and buying here in the same chapter.
She is not a sales associate for the developer. She works for her clients.
On this page, and in the photos and videos that follow, she will keep showing the place as it is lived — not as it is advertised.
Thinking About The Villages?
You do not need a short list of villages yet. You do not even need to know if this is a move or a long visit.
The useful first step is a conversation with someone who lives here, sells real estate here, and will tell you if a house that looks perfect online sits on the wrong side of the life you want.
Call Tammi Montgomery at 318-540-6108, or start at tammimontgomery.com.
FAQ
What is it like to live in The Villages, Florida?
It is an active 55+ community where golf carts, recreation centers, and town-square nights are part of a normal week. You can be as scheduled or as quiet as you want. The scale is large, so the village you choose matters — and Villagers will tell you theirs is the best.
Is it hot in The Villages?
Yes. If you are from the Upper Midwest or the Northeast, it is hot — a good hot. If you are from Dallas or much of the inland South, it is often a little milder than what you already know, because Central Florida sits between the Gulf and the Atlantic.
Is The Villages only for golfers?
No. Golf is the headline amenity, but pickleball, clubs, rec centers, swimming, and the town squares are how a large share of residents spend their time.
Do I need a golf cart?
You can live here without one. Most people do not want to. Daily life is built around the cart paths.
Which village is the best?
Ask fifty Villagers and you will get fifty answers, all of them their own. There is no bad village. There is a better fit for your routine.
What extra costs should I budget besides the house payment?
The monthly amenity fee, any remaining CDD bond on that address, a golf cart, insurance, and normal utilities. Verify the bond on the specific property before you offer.
Is Tammi Montgomery part of The Villages company?
No. Tammi Montgomery is an independent licensed Florida Realtor with Realty Executives in The Villages. She is a resident. She is not affiliated with Holding Company of The Villages, Inc. or Properties of The Villages.
Can Tammi Montgomery help me buy in The Villages?
Yes. She lives here, is licensed in Florida, and works with buyers moving full-time, buying a seasonal home, or coordinating a sale in Louisiana or Texas at the same time.
THE VILLAGES® is a registered trademark of Holding Company of The Villages, Inc. Tammi Montgomery and the Tammi Montgomery Team are not affiliated with, or sponsored by, Holding Company of The Villages, Inc. or its affiliated entities.
Tammi Montgomery, licensed Florida Realtor, Tammi Montgomery Team / Realty Executives in The Villages.