[graciegirl]

Originally Posted by Jazuela

The home I live in was built in 1958. The home next to mine was built in the early 1800's. The apartments behind my house were built in the early 2000's. Our town hall was built in the 1700's. Our town was chartered in the 1600's.

I'm not concerned at ALL about how old a house is. I'm concerned how well it's built, whether or not it can accommodate our needs.

Next: yup lots of really old people in the trailers. Lots of trailers being razed and new plaster/cement homes going up to replace them. In addition, one would think that the really old folks might enjoy some younger Seniors in their neighborhoods. Youth (as relative as it may be) brings freshness, verve and invigoration by virtue of its existence. Lastly, the older they are, the more likely they are to die, and be replaced by someone younger. Such is the cycle of life. If one of my neighbors is 90, when I'm 60, and the other side of my house has a 55 year old living in it, I'll be fine.

Our house currently sits in front of Senior housing. Almost everyone living there is over 70, many are in their late 80's and early 90's. The rest of our neighborhood is relatively young, new families and their babies, and a few mid-aged families with teens.

Next: I have -never- lived in a community that had strict deed restrictions or HOAs. Our condo association had rules but these were multi-unit buildings, so there wouldn't have been much we could "do" with our homes anyway.

We have a blight committee. If someone is *neglecting* their property, they can be fined and a lien put on their home if necessary, to cover the cost of the town getting the old tires off the front lawn, or pruning the hedges, etc.

We also have a variety of homes; capes, ranches, and our next door neighbor's historic home is a brick colonial with a HUGE pair of gargoyle statues in front of the steps up to their door. They are back lit at night, so their shadows are cast on the walls of the house. It's awesome, and the whole neighborhood loves it.

Each of us puts up fences (or doesn't) based on their desire to have one, and the type they can afford to own. Ours came with one we didn't like, but it was brand new and we we couldn't afford to replace it. So we just left it to fall apart, til we were able to get it replaced with a newer vinyl one that looks more like most of the other fences in the neighborhood. Our next door neighbor (the one with the gargoyles) had a wood fence, custom-carved and absolutely exquisite, but the plows kept knocking pieces of it over so they finally replaced it with vinyl. His is similar to ours, a slightly different color.

There's a tacky flamingo on a lawn in our neighborhood and it adds a touch of whimsy, one of those "oh haha look at that tacky thing, how fun!" things and we have homes that go hog-wild for Christmas and Halloween on their front lawns. I personally have a big plaster tortoise that I uses a planter on my front lawn. The tortoise is realistic looking EXCEPT for the hollowed out area on the top of its shell. It contains a "hens and chicks" plant that turns a beautiful purple in the summer and fall. It is a "landmark" in my neighborhood, people use it when they're giving directions. ("Oh, you'll see my house right across the street from the one with the turtle on the front lawn" for instance. Or "When you see the house with the turtle on the front lawn, take a left at that corner.") When it snows, we move it up to the steps, and then place it on TOP of the snow bank after the plows come, so everyone knows it's still there.

In other words, we have variety, and tons of diversity, and we LIKE that. So if we're going to move to Stepford, we want to live on the side of town that's closest to normal. Even if we can't do a pair of huge back-lit gargoyle statues or a huge turtle planter in the front yard, at least we can see the chritsmas tree lit up down the street for a few hours a night in December.

Here is a lovely home in Orange Blossom Hills;Homefinder - The Villages(R) Homes and Villas for Sale