[Sidney Lanier]

Certainly recognize the value of a community bulletin board; have had this experience here up north. A few questions, and thanks to all who already responded (and will respond):

Regarding the suggestion to read what zcaveman put together, how do I find a specific individual's posts?

No, we are not near the lake; in fact, we are not anywhere yet! We are first looking for a place in The Villages, which brings up a major question:

We've visited The Villages, fell in love with the place and the concept, and did some exploring. But how does one choose a particular area to buy in? We understand that people have specific interests, for example, some might want to be near other family members or friends already living here; others who anticipate spending their days in, say, the woodshop might want to live near that facility; some might want to be near a particular church; others who see themselves frequenting one or the other town center could choose to be close to one; and so forth. Other than these specific and often personal considerations (and I know this can be a touchy question...), are there particular benefits to some areas over others? Older versus newer neighborhoods? Preowned versus new construction? Amount of traffic and/or other sources of noise?

Will the same house in different locations sell for different prices (generally speaking, of course)? Is there something that makes certain houses/neighborhoods more valuable than others, beyond choices based on personal issues such as those I've mentioned? Is one better off buying a more basic house and doing one's own improvements, or does one do better focusing on houses costing more that have already been improved over the original construction? We are familiar with the bond issue; beyond this, we're looking for whatever information might make our search more focused and hopefully easier, since in spite of visits to The Villages, we're essentially looking from up north.

Will appreciate all input and suggestions; many thanks!

P.S. Hi snowflakes, my family is Canadian (originally from Montreal, now scattered, with some in Florida...), and from time to time I've toyed with the idea of trying to regain my Canadian citizenship, especially in recent years, and now that the U.S. does permit dual citizenship status. Other than one inquiry to the immigration and naturalization department, I haven't done any more than toying.... So much else to keep me busy!