[OldDave]

Thank you all so much for such kind wishes. I must say you have really touched me. I had not intended to post anything further, but several people have asked about Sun City Texas, so I will respond to that.

My reasons for not coming to Florida and TV in specific are many, but they are really mostly things we have all discussed many times here, so I see no point in rehashing them. And certainly something that might be a big stumbling block for me, might not be an issue at all for someone else, so I'll just point out the postives we saw.

1. Sun City is located just a couple of miles outside of Georgetown Texas (40,000 population. Although it is legally a part of the city and has full city services.) Georgetown is a lovely university town with an extremely strong arts community. It has every service you would need. In fact just outside the gates of Sun City you'll find one of the best grocery stores I've ever seen, HEB and other important stores.) About 5 miles further south is Round Rock Texas (100,000). Round Rock is also strong in the arts and has huge shopping areas including an IKEA and COSTCO, which pretty much made my wife's mind up. Then another few miles is Austin, the state capital and fastest growing city in the US for the past 4 years. It is a mecca for hipsters, or so my son tells me, lol, whatever they are. Great city. So, bottom line, the area has all the shopping and services you need, that you really don't see outside the campus at TV. Also there are 3 major hospitals within 5 miles of Sun City and numerous clinics, rehabs, and I saw 3 funeral homes. They seem well prepared.

2. Sun City itself is beautiful. Certainly no palm trees, which I miss, but rolling, heavily wooded hills. Almost all houses have trees or some green area behind them. The original builders went out of their way to save old growth trees wherever they could.

3. The Del Webb brand, while it has had some ups and downs, is certainly well thought of in most circles. I didn't understand until this visit that developments labeled Del Webb are 1-3,000 size with limited amenities. The ones labeled Sun City are 7-10,000 with a huge emphasis on amenities. We were told by one of the original builders that when they started in the early 1990s golf was listed as the most wanted amenity. It is now number 8 and falling. Walking is number one and there are more trails to walk than you can shake a stick at. Golf carts are welcome anywhere on the streets there, but sidewalks are reserved for people only. All major buildings have separate golf cart parking lots, and you can still double in regular spots.

We set out to find some places that could approach the wonderful activities we found in the villages. This Sun City has 6,000 roofs, aiming for 7,500. They have 3 huge indoor pools, 2 outdoor pools. 3 golf courses (you pay to play) Two really large and well equipmented fitness centers with indoor running tracks which are totally free to all residents. They have an enourmous wood shop. 3 activity centers with multiple purpose rooms. They have a large ballroom. My wife was most impressed with the art center. They have separate permanent studios for: 2D art, ceramics (poured), clay (thrown), stained glass, photography and a huge fabrics building with about 30 sewing machines. There were a couple others but I cannot remember what. My wife is an art teacher, so this was really a selling point.

4. The houses were well built. They were not the best I've seen. That would probably go to the Robson Ranch property north of Dallas, but they were good quality. They were noticeably better built that what we saw in TV. Keep in mind though we want a preowned house. We aren't interested into new, but want mature trees, etc. I know that would make us an exception in TV. A nice two bedroom of 1,550 sq. feet is about $175,000.

5. The list of clubs, special interest groups, planned activities were very long indeed. Of course TV has more, but when I started doing the numbers per capita, it seemed Sun City actually offered more choices. Also, while all facilities were busy, none seemed over crowded. Each one had a flow chart that showed the busiest and slowest times of day for each activity to guide your schedule. One of the nice things is that two indoor pools are in one building. One is used only for classes, the other only for free swimming with 4 lanes for laps, the two for walkers or other excersices. (The grandkids can swim, with you, from 1-3pm each day in one designated pool.) One really cool thing was the computer club. $8 per year. They have nearly 90% of the place as members. If you have a computer problem you can report on their web site, and someone (a volunteer) will come to you house within 48 and attempt to fix it, for free!!

I have to digress for a second. My wife came back and said, "Hey I found out they have a free pick-up service!" I thought, oh cool a taxi. Nope. If you fall and can't get up, you can 911. The city provided service comes out and helps you for free, whenever you need it. Hope I don't need it, but I do fall over.

6. The total HOA fee is less than $100 per month. There are no other fees or bonds on new houses. The HOA, or CA-Community Association here has a sliding scale for its governance. It started with total developer control and is moving toward all resident control which will happen at build out in 3-5 years.
Prices for classes are similar to TV. If it is a structured class with a teacher you pay more. If it is a SIG, Special Interest Group which is essentially an informal club, you might toss in $2 for snacks. Their actual clubs are chartered and have bylaws and an annual cost which seems to be very low.

7. Sun City is very strict about renting out your home. The minimum is 3 months. So you have a much more stable population and don't seem to have many tourists staying there. We're told there are snowbirds, but it doesn't effect things much.

In the end we found it to have weather temp averages not very much different than Florida. Just a few degrees cooler in Winter, although it was warmer every day there than in TV the week we visited. It is hotter in the summer, but low humidity, we're told. Again it hit 113 last summer here in Kansas so it takes a lot to impress us.

The people were tremendously friendly. No only did everyone we meet make us feel welcome, but almost to a person said, "we sure hope you move here." We saw lots of nice people in TV, but my wife said she was made to feel like an outsider in the classes she attended in TV. In the classes she attended in Sun City she said she felt like she was home. She drug me to free swimming one day. We were greeted by a lady in the pool who said to my wife, "oh hi, you're from Kansas." They'd been in a class together the day before.

I'm not surprised at this. Texas feels much like home to us. Florida was a long ways away both geographically and in other more personal ways to us.
Texas, I"m sure, feels foreign to others. Although Texas is known for its friendliness. And nutty Presidents. (OK, one parting political shot! I apologize)

I hope this helps, If you want to know something further, I'll check back on my account a few times. While I appreciate being encouraged to keep posting, I'll likely not do it very often. I've got to get my head around trying to uproot and move, which scares the hell out of me.

My best wishes to you all,

Dave