What is the difference between a Villa and a House?

The difference between a single-family home and a villa is not so much in the construction of the house as much as the neighborhood and the associated fees. A villa can have a common wall with another home but it can be a detached villa which can look and feel exactly like a single-family home.

Villa in "Grand Bay" of Pelican Bay

A villa in the Naples and Bonita Springs areas will be located in a neighborhood within a community with quarterly fees to maintain the common grounds within the cluster and some limited items for the home itself. Typically, there will be an organization with board members for the villa association separate from the overall homeowners association.

A good example to help clarify things is the community of Pelican Bay. A single-family home along Ridgewood Drive in Pelican Bay Woods (a neighborhood within the community of Pelican Bay) will have only the Pelican Bay annual homeowners association fee of $1536. This is the annual fee that every household in Pelican Bay pays regardless of the type of home – single-family home, villa or condo. It is the fee that gives the homeowners the privileges for all of the amenities in Pelican Bay including the community center, the fitness center, the beach facilities and more.

A homeowner of a luxury detached villa in the neighborhood of Grand Bay will pay that $1536 annual homeowners association fee to Pelican Bay, but there will also be an additional quarterly fee of $2907. This quarterly fee covers the landscaping maintenance for the neighborhood, the security guard at the gate, upkeep for the lake and fountain features, periodic exterior trim painting of each home, pressure-washing the roofs on alternating years and water usage. Each villa neighborhood in a community will vary in fees and the list of items covered.

As a buyer of a home or villa in Southwest Florida, you should compare the benefits of each type of home and how each arrangement serves your lifestyle best. If you are considering a villa, you should be aware of what each association covers in their individual quarterly fees.