Close friends of ours (fellow New York retirees who were living in a lovely spot in south FL) recognized that one day the TWO of them would be ONE of them, had heard about the great sense of community in TV, and came for a month on a LSP a year ago May. Found a place, bought it, closed in August and moved in. We were on our way to an annual trade show in Orlando early in Sept (my wife is a travel agent) and they asked us to come a few days early to see their new place.
We arrived on Labor Day '07 and I was immediately struck with that lightning bolt accompanied by that voice that said, "This IS the rainy day...." And that was it; the next day we were sitting with a TV salesperson. Assumed we were looking for a Patio Villa as we're snowbirds. Left after a couple days to the trade show and then as always went traveling after that.
After we got back my wife started researching online about TV--and there is WEALTH of info available online; it's pretty amazing.... We returned in mid-October with appts with TV salesperson, MLS salesperson, and some FSBOs to look at. Meantime our friends also took us to meet their neighbors who HAD to sell (in real estate parlance, "highly motivated sellers") and we ended up buying their home privately and now own a small Designer home that cost us barely more than the upscale Patio Villas we had been looking at, with bond fully paid and many extras. We swear by resales!
A few months later other friends from up north were visiting and asked about the trolley they had seen. "A tour," we explained, "want to take it?" "Sure!" they replied. I said, "Well, I'll join you; we've never been on it, never did a LSP, never went through what others who want to consider TV usually do."
We're here and without a doubt very happy with the product that's been developed here. I walk out early in the morning to pick up the newspaper in the driveway, look around me, and still can't quite believe it!
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