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Originally Posted by Howie1944
After 19 years here I have witnessed the rapid growth of The Villages. Despite the developer constantly tooting his own horn in the company propaganda rag, AKA The Daily Sun, this exponential growth is a negative for many retirees. Tomorrow I leave The Villages for good. I have found a much smaller version of The Villages, with actual SECURITY GATES, gof course, golf cart community, backed by a strong financial presence, Berkshire Hathaway, and more bang for the buck in the amenities fees. AND NO CDD! . The best part is it is almost built out, and no more land available to expand. About 5000 residents. Check out Soleil of Laurel Canyon in Canton, GA.
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I went to college in Athens, GA, and student taught in Atlanta. Many moons ago, before climate change, we had some snow and some ice storms.
There may be smaller, better places than TV, and I'm not a gung-ho, this-is-heaven-on-earth person where TV is concerned, but you cannot, CAN NOT, beat the weather. Or the activities. So I put up with the sameness and largeness of the community--sea of roof tops, small lots, somewhat of a "fake paradise" look, developers' kids that yes, have taken away a bit of the stuff we enjoyed previously-- because it's WARM and active and friendly.
We left spring of 2018 and wondered if we would come back. There were some things that bothered us, and we looked at other places. But it's tough to beat what TV offers if you want to remain active, not to mention warm. I find the things that bothered me when we lived there full time don't bother me anymore because where we live the other half of the year is a complete opposite. (There's not one house the same; it's a village of 500 people in a countryside of other villages.)
Moving full time to Florida was not a good fit for us, but The Villages certainly is. What we found was it did not have to be an either-or situation.
Just my thoughts.