Talk of The Villages Florida - View Single Post - Wisdom of advice on TOTV?
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Old 04-22-2024, 07:49 AM
Justputt Justputt is offline
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I did a lifestyle visit when they were hosted next to Brownwood. I spent most evenings listening to music and had fun meeting people, which is easy to do without trying. Everyone talked about their village and why they liked it. Point being, no one I spoke with went on about why they hated their village! Of the complaints, the two most common were distance to golf and number of renters detracting from the neighborhood feeling.

I golf some but I don't live for it. For decades, I've gotten in my car and driven anywhere from 10-20 miles or more to play, and I never saw that as a real issue. Point being, there was life before the residential golf cart! Add to that, even if they let everyone in a foursome ride everywhere in their own cart would it be as fun?

As for location, we looked mainly at taxes, proximity to shopping, amenities, healthcare, proximity of town squares, etc. In the end we decided $200-300 a year tax differences weren't going to drive our decision and we purchased a preserve lot and built in Dabney. Having to forgo the golf cart for a car was a better option because of how much a cart vs. car can carry, especially in the rain and at night. As some have noted, being closer to the town square is nice when you want to go, but ultimately, we found ourselves going maybe once a week for the music and we'd both would rather be in a car than a cart going home late at night. Neither of us spend much time at the doctor's office outside of annual stuff so jumping in the car is an easy choice. Lastly and most importantly, IMO, we are close enough to get to what we want in amenities but far enough that noise and renters won't be as much of an issue. So, what we like about our village, we've met most of our neighbors and we feel comfortable that we live in a true neighborhood where there is friendliness, driveway socials, and a sense of community.