[Gulfcoast]

Originally Posted by bpascani

I think your visit will be a bit different from most of us, due to COVID19. You can still get a good feel for the area, play golf, and maybe go to some of the restaurants that are now opened. If you play tennis or pickleball, and have your own stuff, the courts are opened (except when closed groups are playing, and that's all noted on the weekly activity info). Some of the shops are now opened as well, but none of the town square activities have started back up. I'm not sure if the trolley tours are working. If all was up and running, I would definitely encourage you to do 5-7day, but now, 2-3 nights/3-4 days may be all that you need. There are great maps that can be purchased in the gift shops if they are . If not, I'm sure your rep/tour guide/host person could get some for you. Open houses are now back up and running, and your host person should probably be able to get you in to some homes for sale, if you are ready for that. The Villages agents can only show you homes listed by The Villages, so, if, in riding around, you see a home listed by another group, you have to contact them. (It's perfectly ok to have an agent through The Villages, and MLS). Our Lifestyle was awesome. The villas/bungalos that they use are lovely. Ours was just across the street from Brownwood It was 3/2, 2 car garage, 2 bikes, 1 golf cart, and fenced in yard, so we could bring our dog. I would encourage you to come now, if you have the time, but, if you don't think you are ready to buy yet, 3-4 days may be enough for now, since so much is still not opened. We LOVE IT HERE, and our agent (that we had when we came back to rent, make sure we wanted to buy) was awesome! Please feel free to pm me if you have any other questions!

The villa that you stayed in sounds perfect. We also have dogs so we will definitely want to buy a house with a fenced in back yard and, in my mind right now, the idea of being within walking distance to the action in one of the town squares sounds nice. It would be great to be able to walk over to one of the restaurants for dinner and drinks. I'm really looking forward to checking TV out and I appreciate your willingness to answer our questions. Thank you.