I have been a non-invested observer of TV since 2008, when good friends bought a place in Largo. The Mrs. and I have been down many times visiting, and have rented for the snowbird season the last two winters, and will be renting for 6 months this coming winter. We have the dough to buy, and are keeping our eyes open for a place that might suit us, although our rental arrangement is pretty sweet. I explain all of that because I think it qualifies me as knowledgable about TV, but without the biases inherent when one has invested a lot of money in a hopeful outcome.
What I've noticed over the years that concerns me the most about actually buying a place is the increased traffic on the pickleball courts and the executive golf courses. I don't see how increasing the density of the population is going to help that dynamic at all. That concerns me.
I wouldn't be buying a place with the idea that I need the property value to appreciate in order to make it work. I'm too old to be worried about that. But, I would be making an investment in a "lifestyle" that includes golf, and pickle, and the pools, and a few other incidental activities, and I'm not sure I would want to be anchored in a place where the developers/owners have so much control over how the community will evolve over the next 15 years. As a somewhat distanced observer, I think they've demonstrated well enough that their agenda is making as much money as they can, and if it's at the expense of the existing population who bought into a marketing promise 10 or 15 years prior, well, too bad for them.
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