[birdiebill]

Before we decided to move to The Villages from up north, we rented for an entire month in The Villages in the month of May. We picked May because rentals were much less than in the winter months and were much easier to find; we also knew if the heat of May was too much, summer would be worse. We had lived in Georgia and Alabama during military assignments, so we had experienced southern summers. We rented for a month rather than do the "Lifestyle Visit" because we wanted time to explore, time to go to open houses and observe various floorpans, time to acquire all the information we needed to make a well informed decision, time to learn about the requirements of the financial aspects of buying such as time to closing, amount of down payment, mortgages, etc. We wanted to learn everything positive and anything that might be a negative deal breaker. We planned to downsize from our northern home, but still wanted the square footage of a designer (1900 to 2000 sq ft) with two bedrooms and a den or three bedrooms, two baths, a golf cart garage, a Roman shower, an extended lanai, and a slightly extended garage. Our planned budget did not allow a premium lot nor did we want one.

We are very satisfied with our choice of location, lot size, home design, and the multitude of activities we "could" choose to participate in. We do not run ourselves ragged with activities and actually have more time to ourselves than time obligated to "doing something". I now need to go get ready to go to a concert. Good luck on experiencing The Villages and hope you gather the right information to make a decision that will make you both happy.