Candler Hills, Ocala

Candler Hills is a residential community in southwest Ocala, not only a golf club. Candler Hills Golf Club is the semi-private course inside it, but the neighborhood around the course is where people live, and that is what this page covers. Candler Hills is one neighborhood of On Top of the World, a gated 55+ community, and it has its own association, Candler Hills Neighborhood Association, Inc. Listing sites sometimes show “Candler Hills East.” That is a data label, not a separate community.

This page comes from SwanGate Real Estate Services, an Ocala brokerage led by Broker-Owner Mika Harris. It is written for people deciding whether Candler Hills fits, and for owners who live somewhere else. If you searched for Candler Hills and mostly found tee times, this is the real estate side of the name: how the neighborhood works, what it costs each month, and what to ask before you buy.

What it is like to live here

Candler Hills has two neighborhood buildings of its own. The Lodge at Candler Hills, at 8575 SW 87th Circle, has a ballroom, a card room, meeting rooms, a catering kitchen, indoor lounges with fireplaces, an outdoor fire pit, a covered pavilion, barbecues, a beach entry pool with lap lanes, and a dog park. The Candler Hills Community Center, at 8139 SW 90th Terrace Rd, has a ballroom, a card room, and a heated pool and spa.

Golf is the other anchor. Candler Hills Golf Course is a semi-private championship course with five sets of tees. The club describes it as a Gordon Lewis design, and it opened on January 21, 2005. The Club at Candler Hills restaurant is on site. The developer’s fee sheet also lists two private 18-hole courses, The Tortoise & The Hare and The Links, and says annual golf memberships are available but not required. Living here does not mean joining a club.

Candler Hills residents and guests also have access to the larger On Top of the World facilities. The Recreation Center has a fitness center, pickleball and racquetball courts, and a heated pool. The Arbors has a tennis center, an indoor heated lap pool, and bocce courts. The Hobby Building has a library and a woodworking shop, and Veterans Park has a community garden and a dog park.

The community’s own site counts more than 175 resident clubs and social and service organizations across On Top of the World. Residents get resident rates at Circle Square Commons and the Circle Square Cultural Center, and golf carts can reach both Circle Square Commons and the golf club.

The age rule is the community’s own. Candler Hills is part of On Top of the World, whose current resident application says at least one person living in the home must be 55 or older and no one under 17 may live there. See the full list of 55+ communities SwanGate covers.

Homes and prices

SwanGate does not publish a price range for Candler Hills. Recent sales, days on market, and typical prices change too quickly for a fixed range on a web page to stay honest. Ask Mika for current listings and recent sales here.

What can be said is how Candler Hills is set up, because that shapes what you are buying. It is a fee simple neighborhood, which means the owner owns the land under the home. That is different from the OTOW Central neighborhoods, where the land is leased. If you are comparing Candler Hills with other parts of On Top of the World, ownership type is the first difference to check.

The developer also markets newer neighborhoods, and one of them, Balfour, has been described both as part of Candler Hills and as its own neighborhood. If a listing says Candler Hills, ask which association the home belongs to. The answer decides which monthly fee and which rules apply.

A buyer who lives out of state can settle most of these questions before a trip: which association, which fee, and which rules. That saves a showing weekend for the homes that pass. Owners who are thinking about selling can find out what a home is worth.

Fees and rules

The Candler Hills community service fee is $366.10 a month. That figure is based on the operating budget for January 1 through December 31, 2026, and comes from the developer’s fee sheet dated March 2026. Additional fees apply for more than two occupants.

The fee covers fire hydrants, curbside trash and recycling, street maintenance, street lighting, basic internet, golf cart paths, complimentary bus service, an electronic and video-monitored gate system, and landscaping of common areas. Golf memberships are separate and optional. Because basic internet and curbside trash are included, the monthly figure is easier to compare with a neighborhood where those are billed on their own.

Fees are set each budget year, so use the sheet for the year you plan to buy in. Other On Top of the World neighborhoods pay different fees, so do not use this number for anywhere else in the community.

Candler Hills is gated. The developer lists an electronic and video-monitored gate system. Candler Hills has its own recorded rules, and the copy SwanGate could read was a scanned image. Ask Mika to confirm the current rules for any home you are serious about.

Getting around

Candler Hills is in ZIP 34481, and the Candler Hills Neighborhood Association office is at 8445 SW 80th Street, Ocala, FL 34481. Golf cart paths run through the community, and complimentary bus service is included in the monthly fee. Circle Square Commons, the public town square next to On Top of the World, is reachable by golf cart, so a short errand does not always mean getting in the car.

For trips into Ocala, downtown is about 27 minutes by car, roughly 12.2 miles, measured from The Lodge at Candler Hills with no traffic. The nearest hospital checked, HCA Florida West Marion Hospital, is about 19 minutes away, roughly 7.4 miles. These drive times are approximate and change with traffic and time of day.

Homes at the far side of Candler Hills will have a slightly different drive than these figures, because they are measured from one point inside the community, not from every street.

Renting and owning from out of town

Owners can rent their homes with approval and minimum terms. Under the On Top of the World resident application, a furnished home may not be leased for less than six months plus one week, and an unfurnished lease must run at least one year and up to three years. Short-term and interval use are not allowed, tenants must carry renter’s insurance, and non-owners go through a background and credit check. At least one person living in the home must still meet the age rule.

Candler Hills’ own recorded rules may add detail, and SwanGate could not read them in full. Confirm them with Mika before you plan around a rental, and ask how long association approval has been taking.

If you own a home here and live elsewhere, or you have inherited one, read the out-of-town owners page for how SwanGate helps from a distance. If you are still looking, it helps to see more than one neighborhood before you decide. Compare Candler Hills with Stone Creek, another community in southwest Ocala, or start with the wider On Top of the World guide.

To talk through Candler Hills, call Mika Harris at 352-850-6477.