[Tripngirl]

Originally Posted by Pairadocs

Probably should not reply unless I have useful information, but, been through this myself and since we live here, have made visits to many places just out of curiosity and to take a day trip, try a new restaurant on the way, etc. Really have not found anything compelling. We love the beach, and found Margarita Ville VERY nice.... our problem is even with some faults, TV's still works best for golfers. If not for that, we'd probably go to MV near Daytona, but just too spoiled by NOT having to load clubs in the car, use fuel and mileage to drive to a public course or a country club, etc. etc. MV provides a shuttle bus to take residents back and forth to the Atlantic beach, but not to local golf courses. The development itself does not have golf courses, they do have a "town square" model, entertainment, and IF you like the style ( and I DO !!!) the home plans are great. Have neighbors who have sold home here and moved to MV and are VERY happy they did so, but... they are not golfers. We can't go back to that having to driver car to a course, load and unload onto a rented cart, etc. Otherwise, have personal friends, also devout golfers from our old home town, who moved to Top of the World in Ocala. They have never had any regrets and we visit often, have played there, many advantages to Ocala... a great place to live. We also might (if we had to move) consider a university town...as nice as it is here, a university town offers a bit more in general, but we ranked our priorities as #1 Golf, #2 reasonable drive to beaches, and #3 be able to cruise often without added expense of air fare, hotels, cabs, etc. Seen some nice areas for retirement in the Winter Haven area... but probably true in each area of Fl. I can tell you the prices everywhere, as you probably well know, are HIGH ! Good luck in your decision.... make a list and rank your must haves is all I can say. Footnote, we had THREE neighbors move in the last 10 days... one was a health issue to moving to be near adult children, another just wanted to stay here but in a condo like place so they can travel often without any responsibilities of a traditional home, and the other couple found a home on a golf course they wanted. But... none of the homes were ever actually advertised ! All three were actually listed by The Villages properties and SOLD before they were ever listed on the website ! One is directly across from us, never an open house, never anyone came with an agent, it was listed and then a sign "pending" was put in the window two days later ! ! So, it must be very difficult .. they do seem to have a lot of new homes for sale in some of the very newest villages.. have you seen those ?

The experiences of your neighbors are all so true. As for buying a home here now you can't be loyal to just one Realtor or The Villages sales peop!e......with the market so actve and several offers on one property it is frustrating. Our experience was frustrating in that often the home would show up on the listings,we'd find out it is prending. It was by chance that we found a property in McClure...spoke to a Village sales person about a home that had a sign, got told that was gone and he asked what/where we were looking ...said he'd call us as he thought he had a listing coming on in two or three days...he called, we ran and we put an offer in. We avoided a bidding war and now we have a place come August. For years we have come to The Villages and never thought this would be the experience when we went to buy.