[Goldwingnut]

Originally Posted by rustyp

Beginning of the end?

Electronic headline this morning:
"Despite encompassing dozens of individual neighborhoods, a retirement website collectively ranked The Villages as the second most popular active adult community, one spot behind a subdivision in Ocala that took the top spot."

A dozen years ago when Debbie and I started looking at a retirement community to move to we looked OTOW 55+'s #1 community in this article, and about a dozen others. We back shelved TV initially because we were concerned about the price and size of the community. During our months of looking here in Florida (we live just outside Winter Haven in Haines City, so it was all easy day trips for us to look) we looked at well over two dozen communities and weighed the +'s and -"s of each. Many of the smaller ones either had reached or were near their end of life for development and showed the disinterest by their developer in sustaining the community, "resident owned" quickly turned into a red flag. There was a commonality between ALL of the larger and growing communities that without exception ALWAYS surfaced in listening to the sales pitch, a statement to the effect of "Our community is better than The Villages because..." and there was always some nuance that they felt made them better.

I made a lot of notes on each community, there were many things to like about each- location, floor plans, unique features, etc. and many things to dislike - HOA fees & rules, cost, limited amenities, location, etc.. The "we're better than TV" comments quickly became another line item I tracked.

One thing I learned long ago, when every business compares themselves to another business, they are telling you who their main competition is. When every business compares themselves to the same business, you know who the best is, they are all telling you.

I looked at OTOW twice before making a final decision, the prices were less than TV, and they were close to a lot of businesses in Ocala - big winner on both points without doubt. But the downsides stood out like a sore thumb- limited amenities and activities, but most importantly a felling of desolation permeated the community - no one outside, no one at the pool, no one being active outside, no one using the community center, nobody around and when you did see someone not a wave or a smile was returned in exchange, the place felt like a graveyard. OTOW quickly moved to the BOTL (bottom of the list).

Even after buying in TV I ventured back to OTOW "just to make sure", over the years I've made multiple trips there and even looked at expanding my home photo business there. Working in Gainesville for 3 years while living in TV I saw their signs a lot on I75, and they kept drawing me in, I felt compelled to "look again" - the power of effective advertising. I made the right decision.

I've visited several other 55+ communities since retiring nearly 7 years ago, curious yes, in search of greener pastures, perhaps. In fact Margaritaville in on my list to visit next - AFTER this COLD weather passes. Something about the name is drawing me to the bar...

Don't loose sight of the fact that 55+ is a for profit website and they want clicks for their advertisers ads. Take a look at who's advertising and compare that to their list of "best places", 1+1=2, money talks. Based on my personal experience, there may be many communities that can give TV a run for their money for a variety of reasons, but in my opinion OTOW wouldn't make the short list.