[Heyitsrick]

Originally Posted by blueash

In another thread a person suggested they were lied to about whether people under 55 could reside. That got me looking at the FAQ on Developer's website

FAQ | The Villages

While they don't exactly lie, they certainly get right up to the edge of lying. It makes me wonder why they bothered to post a FAQ if they didn't want to give a truly honest answer. The only possible reason is to mislead with a misleading answer. You think you've learned something about TV, but you've not had your question answered the way I believe it should be answered. Maybe I'm wrong about that...

Examples:
Does TV have their own Police Department? We all know the honest answer is NO. Is that the answer the FAQ gives? It is not. It gives a weasel answer that strongly suggests that the answer is yes..

The average person would very likely believe the word LOCAL means TV has a local force.

What would the practical difference be were The Villages to have its own police force? Residents would have to pay for it, of course, but what would the advantage be? Is there a crime issue that's not being addressed by the area police forces now? What if a "Villages Police Force" amounted to three people? The FAQ could then say "Yes" to that question, and most people would find that much more misleading, in my view. I don't see the issue with the way they answered this question. They clearly state that policing is handled on the local/county level. I read "local" as the towns in the counties involved.

Originally Posted by blueash

Is The Villages a city or a town?

The honest answer is NO. There is no citizen elected government in control. For good or for bad we are residents of a privately held corporation that sets the rules.

Again true, but they did not answer the question they posed. Misleading. We could well be a 55+ community in a city or in a town.

Again, I don't see what the issue with this is. When the question is posed whether TV is a city or town, the answer is that it's a 55+ active retirement community. What difference would it make as to whether TV existed in a city or town? Do The Villages rules/regulations/restrictions supersede federal/state/county/town laws? Are you or any prospective buyer unaware of HOAs and how they impact community life? They exist all over the place. Due diligence is key.

Originally Posted by blueash

Even a simple question which is easily fact checked

How far is TV from Orlando?

Perhaps from the closest tip of Orlando to the closest part of TV it is 45 miles, but that is certainly misleading.

From Brownwood to MCO is 60 miles, to the Premium Outlet which you see from the Turnpike exit is 51 miles.

From Lake Sumter Landing add 6 miles, from Fenney Grill it is 49 miles to the Outlet.

I don't know why TV chose 45 miles as the distance from TV to Orlando for the FAQ, but it is a less than honest answer. If you just use Google and enter distance from The Villages to Orlando it gives 61.3 miles. That would have been an honest answer, or even round down to 60.

On this, I agree. The way they chose to answer this question is misleading. I don't know if that was an intentional motive, of course. Here's the thing: they are absolutely correct about the point-to-point mileage between TV and Orlando. Where they skew the answer is by adding "via Florida's Turnpike".

Many people are not aware that you can do "point-to-point" mileage calculations in Google Maps. You do so (on a desktop/laptop, at least) by opening Google Maps and find your starting point. Then, right-click on that starting-point location. A context menu will come up on screen. You'll see "Measure Distance" as one of the options in that menu. Left-click on Measure Distance. Now, find your end-point that you want to find the direct point-to-point mileage for and left-click on that. You'll see a straight-line appear between those two points, and the mileage will be shown at the bottom of the map. Of course, roads don't usually go on straight lines. There's water, communities, etc., that the roads circumvent. But were you able to fly, this would be the distance between the two points.

What I did was find an easier way. I opened up Google Maps, and then did the "Directions" routine. I entered "The Villages, FL 32162" as the starting point, and "Orlando, FL" as the end point. Then I did the "Measure Distance" routine. Google Maps chose the intersection of Buena Vista Blvd and 466 as The Villages starting point. (I know this because I zoomed in on the map to see close up where Google Maps was selecting its location balloons.)

Google Maps chose downtown Orlando - essentially the center of town - as the end point. The direct point-to-point mileage between these points? ~46 miles. However, the Florida Turnpike directions (and Route 301) between these two points was ~62 miles. That's not insignificant.

See image below. I put a red rectangle on the image of the map where the Measure distance is stated. You'll also see the Florida Turnpike calculations: