Quote:
Originally Posted by Warren Kiefer
I am becoming more upset with each passing year. When I moved to the Villages, Harold Schwartz was still alive and I had the wonderful privilege of discussing with him, his vision for the Villages community. Basically, Harold wanted the Villages to be a place where persons could enjoy retirement to the absolute fullest and at a very reasonable cost. I truly believe Harold had no desire to become wealthy and money to him was just a way to provide greater enjoyment to the residents. Sadly, I think Harolds's vision has gotten lost somewhere along the way. I just picked up the Country Club Golf Rates , I see the Country Club green fees have increased again this year. For a resident, the 18 hole high season rates now start at $41.00 (Orange Blossom Hills) and top out at $57.00 (Palmer Legends). It can be easily determined that generally, the MOST EXPENSIVE greens fees are right here in the VILLAGES ..and this is if you provide your own golf cart. Please don't respond by telling me how much you were paying for golf in Maine or California, it simply isn't relevant. For example, We would all scream at paying $8.00 for a dozen eggs, and yet that is what people in Alaska pay for eggs.
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Sorry you're upset, but let's be realistic here. Harold did have a desire to do well financially, and he knew he'd have to do well to pay for the original infrastructure, which included the golf cart bridge, Spanish Springs and the first three Villages. I don't know how he convinced himself he could stay afloat until he could really start selling houses. I don't know how he convinced contractors like Rainey to do serious work with deferred pay. I don't know how he convinced his son Gary to leave successful business dealings in Michigan and join him, bringing the rest of the family along as well. My wild guess was that everyone thought there was a good chance they would make a good profit. Yes, most of the original Villages have more modest "middle class" homes, but very soon the buying customers came wanting more. I'm convinced that Harold Swartz would have been the last person to deny people the bigger, fancier homes they said they wanted.
To this day, The Villages is still affordable to most of the retired middle class. It is more pricey than many other middle class retirement communities, but the lifestyle is superior as well. I'll bet that's why you moved here.
You're right, it's about $5 more to play primetime golf here compared to similar quality courses in the area. We benefit from that situation because the outside courses have to undersell TV courses. But I don't know ANY place in the country where you can play a Villages quality course during primetime for less than the prices in our area. Prices here have crept up regularly, but costs have as well. The bottom line is that those changes are in line with what has happened throughout the country in the last ten years. None of us like to pay a little more for the things we buy, but look what we've been able to buy!