[Villages Kahuna]

Come down and visit. Put on your most disbelieving and cynical hat. Visit at all times of the year--snowbird season when traffic is heavy, the restaurants full and the golf courses busy, and the hot summer months, as well. If you're like almost everyone who lives here, you'll conclude that there really must be something in The Villages Kool-Aid. It's a wonderful place with wonderful people and almost everyone finds that there is little reason to want to leave very often, even in the hot summer months.

We have a beautiful home on Lake Michigan that we went north to visit for 3 months during our first year here, then 2 months the second year. This year, we've already concluded that we miss TV too much when we're gone, so our trip up north may only be the month of August. I'd love to see the fall colors again, but not at the expense of not being here!

There is one potential mistake I'd warn any serious visitor to try to avoid. Don't buy a small place for less money because you think you'll only come down here a couple of months each year. Buy a place that's big enough to satisfy your lifestyle if you were to live here full time. I say that because I can't tell you how many people I know who found it necessary to sell their first Villages residence and buy something larger because they found they really wanted to spend a lot more time down here as opposed to up north.