My wife and I came to the Villages about 2 1/2 years ago on a Lifestyle Package and did not buy at that time. Prices were quite high. This year we decided to take a house-buying trip to Florida. If we did not find something, we were going to stay in Maryland. We went first to St. Augustine, found some nice houses but not on the beach and prices were high plus high insurance. Next stop was The Villages. We first worked with a Villages Realtor and then with an outside Realtor. We bought a pre-owned home with the outside Realtor.
We settled on our Villages home BEFORE even listing our home in Maryland. We had a contract in 8 days on our Maryland home, though! Packing was a nightmare and going through 24 years worth of "stuff" and deciding what to take was nerve-wracking.
The first couple of days in The Villages was "iffy" with a couple of unfortunate incidents of merchants renegging on sales - but that is a different story. We just will never go to the jewelry stores in Spanish Springs or Lake Sumter Landing again and will advise all others not to shop there, either.
On the whole, we love it here. We have a golf course home on a championship course - no balls hitting house or golfers looking for balls in our bushes. We have a low bond on the house (being pre-owned for 7 years).
I like the lower insurance rates than on the Florida coasts, the warmer weather than in Maryland, and especially NO TRAFFIC as compared to the DC suburbs.
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