Terra Vista at Citrus Hills
Terra Vista is the gated, hillside "flagship" village within the larger Villages of Citrus Hills master-planned community in Hernando, Citrus County, combining golf-course and clubhouse living with a mix of age-restricted and all-age gated enclaves.
Located in Inverness, part of the Tampa Bay region.
- 55+ Age-Restricted
- Golf
- Gated
Terra Vista at Citrus Hills sits atop the highest terrain within the roughly 14-to-15-village Citrus Hills master-planned community, on Florida's inland Nature Coast in Citrus County. Citrus Hills traces its roots to 1968, when developers Sam Tamposi Sr. and Jerry Nash purchased the first roughly 2,000 acres of what was then rural farmland; home construction reportedly began in the early 1980s, and the community has expanded in phases since, with newer sections such as Davis Reserve still being added. Terra Vista itself is described by multiple sources as Citrus Hills' most exclusive village: it is reportedly the only village with a 24/7 manned security gate, and reportedly the only one where golf carts are legally permitted on the roads. Housing consists of single-family homes, plus condos and townhomes in some sections, spanning over 20 home styles from roughly 1,666 to more than 4,000 square feet. Golf is central to the village's identity: the Citrus Hills Golf & Country Club's Skyview course and clubhouse sit physically within Terra Vista and underwent a renovation with a reopening event in 2019. Because the area sits on elevated, inland terrain roughly 10-20 minutes from the Gulf of Mexico rather than directly on the coast, it lacks storm-surge exposure, which tends to keep homeowners insurance well below what buyers see in barrier-island or direct-Gulf-front Florida communities, though this specific claim came from a community marketing site rather than independent verification against FEMA maps. Real drawbacks include the area's rural, remote character (everyday big-box shopping requires a drive of over an hour to Tampa, Orlando, or Gainesville), a layered, multi-part fee structure (master fee, section fee, and optional deeded club dues) that makes the true all-in monthly cost harder to pin down than a single HOA number would suggest, and conflicting age-restriction signals across sources that could genuinely confuse buyers about whether a specific address is 55-plus-only. The Citrus Hills Property Owners Association was also named as plaintiff in at least one 2024 civil case against a property-management firm; the substance of that dispute could not be determined from available sources, so it is flagged only as a documented piece of litigation involving the HOA, not characterized further. No nearby commercial airport and no coastal waterfront are real trade-offs for the inland, golf-and-amenity-focused lifestyle and lower storm-surge/insurance profile the location offers. Community-wide (across all roughly 14-15 villages of Citrus Hills combined), one source cited approximately 10,000 homes and about 23,000 residents as of January 2023 — a whole-master-plan figure, not a Terra Vista-specific count, and it should not be presented as Terra Vista's own total. Everyday big-box shopping requires a drive, though a Publix near the community entrance covers daily needs. Buyers specifically interested in golf should note that the club's course count and naming are reported inconsistently across sources — some describe three courses (Skyview, Oaks, Meadows, roughly 54 holes total), others describe four — a discrepancy this research could not resolve, so prospective buyers should confirm the current course lineup directly with the club rather than relying on any single source.
Age Restriction
Sources disagree on age restriction. Terra Vista overall appears, per some descriptions, to be an all-ages, family-and-retiree mixed community, but it reportedly contains at least three separate gated enclaves restricted to residents 55 and older, and at least one well-known active-adult aggregator lists "Terra Vista" broadly as a 55-plus community. This is a genuine, unresolved conflict across sources — buyers should confirm the specific deed restrictions for any individual section or subdivision before assuming 55-plus status applies community-wide.
Housing Types
- Single-family homes (detached, including a low-maintenance "Care-Free" line)
- Townhomes
- Condos
Pricing
New construction in Terra Vista/Citrus Hills has been advertised from the $400s to over $2 million (developer pricing, undated). Resale listings surveyed in September 2026 ranged roughly $249,000 to $1,450,000 across single-family homes, condos, and townhomes (21 active listings at that snapshot). Some newer subsections, such as Bellamy Ridge, start in the $700,000s. These figures come from real-estate aggregator and developer sites rather than a single verified MLS pull and should be treated as directional, not precise.
Fees & Assessments
HOA Dues: The reported fee structure is layered and cited inconsistently across sources: a master community fee cited at roughly $258/month covering community grounds, roads, and 24-hour security (and, per one source, basic internet/cable); a section/sub-neighborhood HOA fee ranging roughly $11-$205/month depending on whether the home is in a "Care-Free" maintenance package (lawn care, exterior painting on a roughly 7-year cycle, and in some tiers pool/fence upkeep); and a separate Citrus Hills Social Club membership, deeded to certain homes rather than freely purchasable, cited at roughly $180-$189/month (billed quarterly at about $565 for a couple or $485 for a single member) plus a one-time refundable $2,000 deposit. These figures vary by several dollars a month across the sources checked and could not be fully reconciled — buyers should verify current dues directly with the HOA/club for any specific address.
CDD Assessment: Multiple sources state that legacy Citrus Hills, including its older villages, does not carry a Community Development District fee, and that CDD financing has instead been used for at least one newer section of Citrus Hills (Davis Reserve). No source directly confirmed or denied a CDD specifically for Terra Vista; given Terra Vista's older vintage within the master plan, it is not reported as CDD-financed, but this is an inference from general Citrus Hills reporting rather than a Terra Vista-specific record, and should be verified against the Citrus County/Florida Special District Accountability Program registry before publishing as fact.
Club/Golf Fees: The Citrus Hills Social Membership (clubhouse, indoor/outdoor pools, fitness center and spa, dining venues, tennis and pickleball courts, dog park) is cited at roughly $180-$189/month, billed quarterly, plus a one-time $2,000 deposit described as refundable upon sale of the home. Not all homes carry a deeded social membership, and the membership reportedly cannot be purchased independently of a qualifying home purchase. Golf itself is pay-as-you-play for social members rather than included; separate golf membership tiers exist but specific current dollar figures could not be confirmed.
Amenities
- Skyview golf course and clubhouse (within Terra Vista), renovated with a reopening event in 2019
- Oaks and Meadows golf courses community-wide (course count/naming varies by source, roughly 3-4 total courses)
- BellaVita Spa & Fitness Center (roughly 50,000 sq ft)
- Indoor and outdoor pools, including an indoor lap pool
- Skyview Tennis Center (8 Har-Tru courts) plus additional hard courts elsewhere
- Pickleball courts (a larger Rockwood Sportsplex was reported in development)
- Walking and biking trails and a dog park
- 24-hour manned security gate (reported unique to Terra Vista within Citrus Hills)
- Golf-cart-legal streets (also reported as unique to Terra Vista)
- Multiple dining venues
Getting Around
Healthcare: The nearest hospital is HCA Florida Citrus Hospital in Inverness, about 8.5 miles away. Tampa General Hospital Crystal River operates a facility in Crystal River, roughly 14 miles/22 minutes away. Ocala, about 26 miles/40 minutes away, offers additional hospital options and a broader range of specialists. For advanced or tertiary specialty care, residents typically travel toward Tampa (about 78 miles/1 hour 25 minutes) or Gainesville.
Airport: No commercial airport is located nearby. Tampa International Airport is the nearest major commercial airport, roughly 78 miles and about 1 hour 25 minutes by car — a genuine drawback for residents who fly often or host visitors arriving by air.
Similar Communities to Consider
- Kings Point at Sun City Center
Kings Point at Sun City Center is a large, age-restricted 55-plus gated community developed from 1973 to 2015 with 5,277 homes and villas, governed by more than 100 separate condo associations and anchored by two clubhouses totaling 126,000 square feet, 27 holes of golf, and free internal and external tram service.
- On Top of the World (Clearwater)
On Top of the World in Clearwater is one of Florida’s longest-established 55-plus condominium communities, with roots dating to 1947, spanning 96 buildings and 4,959 units, and offering residents free access to two on-site golf courses within a notably low, largely all-inclusive HOA fee structure.
- Del Webb Bexley
Del Webb Bexley is a Pulte-developed, age-restricted 55-plus gated community in Land O’ Lakes offering up to 850 home sites across 489 acres, anchored by The Meridian clubhouse, a resort-style pool, and an outdoor amphitheater.
- Valencia Ridge
Valencia Ridge is a smaller-scale GL Homes 55-plus guard-gated community in Wesley Chapel, under construction since 2023 and planned for 395 single-family homes, anchored by a resort-style pool with beach entry, eight lighted pickleball courts, and a full-service clubhouse restaurant.
How Inverness Compares
- Crystal River vs Inverness for Retirement: Spring-Fed Manatee Town vs Historic Lake-Chain County Seat Compared
Crystal River and Inverness are Citrus County’s two incorporated cities, roughly 18 miles apart on Florida’s Nature Coast, but they offer genuinely different retirement experiences built on different water. Crystal River sits directly on Kings Bay, a spring-fed basin where the public can legally swim alongside wild manatees, giving it a nationally distinctive identity and real Gulf-adjacent storm-surge exposure that has produced documented flooding in both 2023 and 2024. Inverness, the county seat since 1919, sits on the freshwater Tsala Apopka lake chain around a genuinely historic Courthouse Square, trading Gulf access and manatee tourism for lower storm-surge risk, a 46-mile paved rail-trail, and one of Florida’s more productive bass fisheries. Both are small, retirement-skewed Nature Coast towns with their own in-town hospital and thin commercial-air access, but the choice between them comes down to whether a buyer wants Crystal River’s spring-and-Gulf eco-tourism identity or Inverness’s inland, historic-downtown, lake-chain character.
Guides Worth Reading Before You Buy
- Is 55+ Community Living Actually Right for You?
A lifestyle-fit guide, not a fee guide — this covers whether age-restricted living actually matches how a specific retiree wants to spend their days, how to genuinely test that fit before buying, and the real tradeoffs of choosing age segregation over an age-mixed neighborhood.
- Golf and Golf Communities in Florida
Florida has more golf courses than any other U.S. state and a range of golf-oriented retirement community models — from mandatory-membership country clubs to sprawling age-restricted golf cities — each with sharply different cost structures, environmental obligations, and long-term risks.
- HOA Fees and Governance in Florida
A statewide explainer on how Florida homeowners associations and condominium associations are legally structured, funded, and regulated, and what buyers are entitled to review before closing.
- Community Development District (CDD) Fees in Florida
A Community Development District (CDD) is a Florida unit of local government, created under Chapter 190, financing a development’s roads, utilities, and amenities through bond and O&M assessments billed with property taxes.
Sources
- Terra Vista at Citrus Hills | Gated Golf Community — Citrus Hills Info
- Our History — The Villages of Citrus Hills
- Terra Vista Of Citrus Hills — The Villages of Citrus Hills
- Citrus Hills Social Membership — Citrus Hills Info
- Citrus Hills Golf & Country Club — Citrus Hills Golf & Country Club
- Terra Vista - 55+ Community in Hernando, Florida — 55places.com
- Citrus Hospital | HCA Florida Citrus Hospital — HCA Florida Healthcare
- Citrus Hills G&CC Reopens Skyview at Terra Vista Course — Club + Resort Business
- The Villages of Citrus Hills 2026 Review — Florida for Boomers
Last reviewed 2026-09-27.