Quote:
Originally Posted by EPutnam1863
Yet it amazes me that it seems none of the TVers have bothered to explore other communities first before deciding on TV.
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My wife and I visited TV a few years before we retired and were knocked out by it. We visited again the next year and it was just as good as remembered. The next year, we got serious. We visted retirement communities in the Carolinas (we lived in North Carolina for 20 years) and researched many in Florida. We made a trip to Florida specifically to visit 8 or 9 communities we'd narrowed it down to, hoping to find one that had the things we liked about The Villages in maybe a smaller environment and perhaps at a lower cost. Trouble is, nothing really compares. We decided on moving to The Villages on the ride home. We considered doing a lifestyle preview visit the next year but instead talked ourselves into buying a new house we had toured during our visit. That was one of the best decisions we ever made as the neighbors and neighborhood have been great and we love the house.
The Villages isn't for everybody. We talked to people in other communities who had moved
from The Villages. They had their reasons, but they didn't resonate with us. We've been here for a year now as full-time residents and I still wake up with a smile every day, looking forward to the adventure that is The Villages.
I don't know that I would recommend renting here for a year just to see if you like living here. Look into the lifestyle preview or rent a house from individual owners or a week or a month. That should be enough to convince you one way or another. I would think you might want to rent for a year if you really want to be sure which exact neighborhood you want to move to or if you want to build a new house but can't wait until it's done to move here (not that they take a year to build houses here!).
If you've never lived in the South, the summers
can be intimidating. We got used to them by living in North Carolina so we are OK with heat and humidity. The first summer can be a bit of a shock though. Just keep in mind that there is a ton of things to do here indoors as well as outdoors. You can still play golf, tennis, pickleball or whatever in the summer by doing so in the early evening and can still hit the square for dancing after the sun has gone down. Between those times, there are myriad clubs in the many recreation centers plus movie theaters, bowling alleys, etc., etc. It's actually pretty doable. Plus there are fewer people here then so it's easier to get into restaurants and everything else.
Good luck with wherever you end up deciding to live!