Quote:
Originally Posted by MX rider
Same for us.
We retired last fall and spent 6 months at our home in TV and loved it. Our plan was to keep our Indiana home for 2 summers and do the 6 and 6 thing.
But after being back in Indiana for only a month we were already bored and missing TV. We also decided 6 months is too long here. Yes, we got to see the kids and the grands, but that's not enough for us since we like to stay active and busy.
Plus, keeping up 2 homes was more work and hassle than I anticipated. When we were in TV I worried about our home here, and when we're here I worry about our home there.
We decided we don't need a home to come visit for a couple weeks at a time. So we put our house here in Indiana up for sale. They start showing it tomorrow. Our plan is to rent an Airbnb when we want to come back here to visit.
That said, our good friends just bought a home in TV and plan on doing 6 and 6.
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I really think that this is the question that so many people grapple with. There are a LOT of snowbirds in The Villages. I have never seen a definitive percentage, but I think it's higher than many estimate.
I talk to my wife about this all the time. CT is slightly cooler in the heart of the summer, and starting in September it goes from slightly to much cooler for a couple of months. And our friends and family are here, this is where we are from, and all that.
Yes, we would save a LOT of money by having one house in The Villages. It's not insignificant....no more state income tax....no more high property tax on our home AND our cars...no double utilities, home owner's insurance, and the interest that could be made on the proceeds from the sale of the property....it adds up to a sizeable number.
However, we can't take it with us, and money will not be the deciding factor. But the same things you talk about in your post we think about all the time. I got a call in the middle of the night from the Villages Community Watch saying my garage door was up. Sometimes remotes are on the same frequency....ughhh...thank goodness I was able to get ahold of our home watch services first thing the next morning and thank goodness they are outstanding. When we are down there, I have to make sure our home in CT is visited, plowed if it snows, the pipes don't freeze, even dealing with the post office and mail order pharmacy is a challenge...and any number of other things. Driving 20 hours in one shot with dogs in the back seat is not fun, when we came back in early May I drove 21 hours straight. I don't know how long we will do this for, but we are talking about moving full-time to The Villages more often and more seriously than ever before.
I have successfully subscribed to the "happy wife, happy life" theory and it worked for me for 24 years and hopefully many more to come and I think my beloved wife is pretty much on the same page with me now that we should reduce to one home and that home should be in The Villages. This is perhaps not the right thread, but I would love to read others thoughts on this decision, I know that many people are in this situation. Good luck to all.