[clouwho]

Welcome to your active retirement community and thank you for your service.
You have been given some good advice, but the BEST advice you got is to RENT (at LEAST for one month).

We rented one month in the swampy heat of summer when things are lovely and calm and friendly in the Villages. We rented the month of February when things were crazy, when restaurants, roads, and rec centers were crowded and the natives were stressed and aggressive. We prefer summer������.

The area between 466a and 466 between Morse and Buena Vista (the golden circle in realtors terms) wound up giving us the easiest and fastest access to the most golf courses, rec centers, gyms, town squares, shopping, restaurants, medical, vets, etc. and bonus points for beautiful mature landscaping.

We found lovely homes that were on the outer edges of this middle region that were LOVELY, but when we realized it took 10-15 minutes to snake our way out of those villages via golf cart to get to main thoroughfares we decided proximity to those main thoroughfare fares was a priority…hence the golden circle became our target.

We heard the old wives tale that the young are in the south/new areas, which is ridiculous. Every one of the older villages has had its original population age out and be replaced by younger people. On our street of 19 residents (another strategic decision…we did not want to be in a huge village on a busy street with a lot of traffic…we wanted a NEIGHBORHOOD where we could actually know and enjoy our neighbors), we have 1 residents in 50s, 7 in 60s, 2 in early 70s, 7 original owners in 80s, and a couple in their late 40s who are snowbirding til they retire.

My older neighbors are lovely and beloved surrogate parents for my young 60s self and the rest of our younger people. The “youngsters” watch out for and help our aging neighbors with all manner of practical daily living challenges. I believe my life is RICHER for having this spectrum of terrific neighbors of two generations living well together.

The new areas are riddled with a lot of investor-owned Airbnb rentals, higher percentage of snowbirds, etc. One person posted recently that in their section of their new village they are the ONLY owner-occupied home. They are extremely bummed that they do not have neighbors, have the chaos of short term rentals with noisy children and/or younger gens at the houses and at the pools and rec centers, and the camaraderie and safety net provided by such. People moved here to be in a 55+ NEIGHBORHOOD with their peers. Do not under estimate the value of having old-school neighborly relationships. They are a quality of life factor! The other challenges in the new areas will be the quarries blasting, heavy trucks and construction traffic for another 5 years or so, and radical lack of shopping, dining, medical, vets, salons, etc.

It has historically taken about 10 years for each new section of TV to get basic retail and commercial infrastructure, and 20 years to get truly diverse amounts of the same. Brownwood is not fully leased out and it is 10 years old and surrounded by 10s of thousands of homes. If you are a golfer get yourself at least north of 44.

I wish you good fortune in your search for your next chapter home. And I think it would be helpful if you posted what village your dad lived in and what you liked or disliked about it. That would help people steer you in a helpful direction.

DEFINITELY work with both an MLS realtor and a TV salesperson.