Also to agree with most of what others are saying - a single 7-day visit isn't really enough. But rather than stay a whole month in one place - I'd suggest coming a few times, and staying somewhere different each time. Think of it as a vacation, but with an eye on potential for retirement.
That's what we did. Our first year visiting was with friends. I loved my friends, but hated The Villages. They were in a courtyard villa and everything looked so boxed in. We went to the town square for dinner, and it just seemed kitchy touristy, and not something I could ever see myself enjoying for "the rest of my life." The weather was - well I don't really know what the weather was like. We came in late spring, and spent most of our time inside, in air conditioning.
The second year we came on vacation and rented a patio villa, with a shade tree in the front yard, maybe three blocks away from the Amelia pool. It was actually kinda fun. I especially got a kick out of using the rented golf cart to get to the Piggly Wiggly (yes, there used to be one here somewhere). Until one day I got back to the parking lot and the golf cart was gone. I went back in, in a panic, bawling my eyes out because my husband was at the golf course and I had milk and other refrigeratables that I'd just paid for.
Turned out, there was another golf cart rental near where I remembered mine being parked. So someone helped me get in touch with the Golf Car store, and they found out who had that other one - and we realized that the keys were interchangeable and they took the wrong one. The golf car folks said I should just keep the one I had, and they made the changes on the contracts. It was easier than having everyone wait and arrange to meet to get the right cart to the right people.
The third time was a bigger house, some kind of generic ranch home but not a "designer" home. Maybe a Stetson? It was nice, a decent area somewhere around Sumter Square, west of Morse Blvd. Loved the water oaks. Didn't love the view of electric line towers on the golf course. Fourth visit was the official lifestyle visit down in the Fenney area somewhere. Huge house, my parents came for 2 of the 7 nights since they would be helping us finance if we made any purchases. We told the agent, though, that we wanted to see the older areas, not the newer areas, because the newer areas were a deal-breaker to me. I absolutely detested them. I still don't like them at all, almost 10 years later (we've been coming down here for many years, as guests of friends, vacationers, and potential buyers). That fourth visit was the one that let me accept the idea of living in The Villages. Not because it was a lifestyle visit, but because I was finally able to see a part of the Villages that I'd be willing to live in.
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