[Lil Dancer]

Graciegirl, I don't agree that the homes are of not good quality. I have an engineering background, and my husband and I did a pretty close inspection of the home before buying (a gardenia) and feel that our home is quite good quality. A plus for the developers, in my opinion, is the way the immediately came to the rescue of people whose homes had been damaged by the tornado last year. The tornado hit at night, and the very next morning, construction crews that had previously been laid off, were sent to put temporary tarps on the roofs of damaged homes, to prevent water damage. That same day, crews were sent in to begin picking up the incredible amounts of storm debris. We have friends in Punta Gorda, an area that has still not recovered from hurricane damage a few years ago, but The villages looks like new.

As far as the decorating of the rec centers, I guess it depends on which ones you go in. When you visit, check out the O'Dell center, on O'Dell circle. Its new, and its done in an African theme - absolutely beautiful. Coconut cove, in Mallory is a another really pretty one - its a tropical theme.

We always felt that it was pretty hard to find the "perfect 10" retirement community. There are always compromises. In our mind, the activities offered in The Villages make it the place we want to be, at least for now.