People who have never HEARD of the villages.

[graciegirl]

New friends.

We have returned to Ohio after having settled into our new home in Hadley a couple of weeks ago. We are still settling in mentally, shopping for furniture, accessories and thinking about it all of the time it seems.

Yesterday we went to yet another furniture store and the person asked what we needed and we said..we are getting ideas for our new Florida home in The Villages.

It seems that almost every person says, "What or where is THE VILLAGES???."

Has this happened to you? How do you respond? Sometimes I sound like a commercial.

It isn't advertised a lot on billboards or even road signs as you approach the area.

Maybe that is a good thing. Maybe we should try to just keep it a secret.

GracieGirl

[njgranny]

This is a little off-subject - My daughter went to a party yesterday and, while talking with a woman, the lady mentioned that her parents had moved to the Villages. My daughter told her that her parents wanted to move there, too, and asked their last name so we could look them up. It seems the woman is very resentful that her parents moved away, and didn't even want to talk about it. She couldn't understand how they could be happy "playing" all day.

Anyway, we, too, "advertise" the Villages whenever we meet someone who hasn't heard of it.

[nONIE]

Graciegirl,

I have the opposite reaction. Everyone I mention "The Villages" to seems to either know someone that lives there or has seen the commercials for it on television. Im with you, I worry that TV may grow too fast. Mabe we should tell people what an awful place it is to live, just awful!! Not fit for man nor beast!

[Russ_Boston]

:agree: Nonie.

I can't sit in a restaurant or play a round of golf without overhearing someone mention TV.

Looks like I'll be buying a resale since all the new ones will be gone before I get there!

[swrinfla]

graciegirl:

I think TV's reputation is best known in the Northeast (New England, N'Yawk, Joisey and such places).

I never met any one in St. Louis who had even the remotest idea of what/where I yammered on and on about, once I'd decided to move here. They all just thought I'd really, really lost my marbles!

I met an English couple on a trip I took to Costa Rica in Feb '04 who not only knew about TV, they'd actually stayed here! That startled me quite a bit!

Some places seem to keep TV a secret, maybe. For instance, the Saint Louis Club here has well over 200 members, I believe. Surely they've passed the word 'round town?

I have lots of fun on cruises, telling anyone I meet about TV. 99.5% of them don't believe me! ;D

SWR

P.S.: If you see my marbles, let me know! :joke:

[redwitch]

TV is definitely a mystery in the Bay Area. When I told my friends I was moving here, they all thought I was nuts. When I talk to them and tell them what I've done during the week, the things I've smiled about, etc., they think I'm making things up to make them feel good about me being here. Sadly, I can't convince them to come visit. So, for now, they just refuse to believe how great TV is.

[barb1191]

We had neighbors in NH who approached us in the condo complex parking lot saying that they saw TV vanity plate on the front of our car. They used to live in TV and moved back to NH, having missed the g'kids and family. They chose to not be snowbirds because of the expense.

We sold the NH condo and built a one br, lr, kitchen, bath, laundry inlaw onto my daughter's home in MA which serves us well as snowbirds.

[Boomer]

New friends.

We have returned to Ohio after having settled into our new home in Hadley a couple of weeks ago. We are still settling in mentally, shopping for furniture, accessories and thinking about it all of the time it seems.

Yesterday we went to yet another furniture store and the person asked what we needed and we said..we are getting ideas for our new Florida home in The Villages.

It seems that almost every person says, "What or where is THE VILLAGES???."

Has this happened to you? How do you respond? Sometimes I sound like a commercial.

It isn't advertised a lot on billboards or even road signs as you approach the area.

Maybe that is a good thing. Maybe we should try to just keep it a secret.

GracieGirl


gg,

You are in Cincinnati now. That's why this is happening to you.

Mark Twain is credited with having said something to the effect of, "If the world is coming to an end, go to Cincinnati. Everything there happens 20 years later." (Or maybe it's 10 or 15 years later. Can't remember. But I know how it goes around these parts sometimes. I guess Twain did, too.)

Boomer

[jadebox]

Going to Ohio we stopped in North Carolina and met someone whose aunts live in TV. In Virginia we met a man whose parents lives here. Met another person who has seen the commercials and could not believe they were true. :) These people we met on the way were the only ones we had mentioned TV's too so it was 100%!

[johudd]

We are in the process of selling our home in MA and moving to TV - my son (19) isn't too thrilled - he had some kids over and when we told them we were moving to Fla. he said his grandparents live in Fla. in a place called the villages. He told my son he had a blast when he went to visit the grandparents - then he told us that his aunt also moved there. Small world - hearing that it was fun was huge for my son - can he bring his college friends to TV for semester break!

[gfmucci]

In the northwest corner of Florida, the Panhandle, 250 miles from TV, 3 out of 4 people are familiar with it or know people who moved there.

[jadebox]

I have met several kids here on Spring Break. Last year I met 3 girls who were 21 or older who told me they had been coming to TV every year since they were around 12 yrs old. Just before that there was an article in the paper about a group of teenagers who meet here every year for Spring Break.

[Russ_Boston]

My son's new girlfriend has grandparents that live in Tall Trees. Small world!

[barb1191]

Driving from our home in TV to MA last month, we were in the hotel elevator with another couple (strangers) on our way to the lobby. Got to briefly chatting and come to find out they too live in TV and are headed to MA for the summer. I recall this was in DC.

yes, small world

[barb1191]

I just realized that this subject became reversed somewhere along the line here. It seems that most, including self, ended up writing about all the peeps who HAVE HEARD of TV.

:dontknow: 040 :clap2: 024

barb

[islandgal]

Before I moved here April 2006, my friends in Virginia and South Carolina had never heard of TV.

Then when the Golf Channel ads began, I was receiving excited calls, "Is that where you really live?" Needless to say, have had quite a few visitors since then!

[tony]

Exactly where is The Villages again?

[chelsea24]

Tony, turn left at South Carolina. :joke:

We had never heard of The Villages in Illinois. We went to a Christmas party Dec. of 2006 and a couple there had just been here for a visit and raved about it. So, Feb. of 2007 we came for our first visit and by Nov. of 2007 we had moved here.

Now, the couple that had told us about did not. The husband would move here tomorrow, but the wife doesn't want to leave her family. :dontknow:

I feel we were meant to hear about it and it was simply meant to be. Everything fell into place.

[sschuler1]

We kind of stumbled upon TV during one of our vacations in Orlando. We were heading north on 27 looking for a cheap golf course on the way out of town and saw the bridge over the highway. We got curious and turned in to check it out. We ended up going on the tour right then and talked about it all the way home to Michigan. We came back on our next vacation and spent some time in TV and decided we were moving. Since then, we have found so many people that know someone that lives there when we tell them where we are headed.

[jerseygirl008]

I, being from Joisey, (I don't say it that way!!!) have bumped into people all over the place who either know someone who lives in TV, or has seen the commercials on t.v. Here's a funny one: My brother, who is only 11 months older than me, (and we are kinda young, that's all I'm saying), said, "Why do you want to live there, isn't that the place with the golf courses and a bunch of old people??" I quickly told him, "Look brother, you are one of the {old people}". That stopped him in his tracks. Now, he's interested in TV after one of his employees spent a week on a lifestyle preview and can't stop raving about it. Funny people.

[samhass]

When we travel I am amazed by the number of people that have heard of TV or know someone that has a home here.

[judylou]

When we were thinking of buying our house in the Villages, we showed our sons the video, My middle son said, "That looks too nice. Looks and sounds like a cult." So he went to work and was talking to his boss and was telling him about it and his boss said, "Oh, don't worry, it is a wonderful place. My dad has been there for ten years and we can't even get to come up north anymore. He loves it." So after three years here, we love it too and my kids think it is a great place.

[Russ_Boston]

It seems that almost every person says, "What or where is THE VILLAGES???." Has this happened to you? How do you respond? Sometimes I sound like a commercial.

To answer the original question I do have some friends who say things like "Why would you want to move to god's waiting room" or other old sayings like that. I probably do sound like a commercial when I answer but I simply tell them to join me next time I visit or to come down for a week or two when I move. Once they experience the lifestyle you won't need to explain any further. Most of my friends are into sports like I am so the idea of playing golf, softball, pickleball etc. any time they want all year long eventually wins them over. But if not then who cares?

[TomW]

I find many in my age group have heard of TV and many know people who already live there. Because of its size and the depth and breadth of available activities, it is very hard to describe the lifestyle to someone who has no concept of a 30,000 home (and growing) retirement community. Most think of Del Web or something similar. I tell them its mainly for healthy, active people and if that doesn't perk their interest, I change the subject.

We will be there in a couple of weeks. To visit, to look, perchance to buy, ah, there's the rub.

[thegreenerside]

We find that many people have heard, know, or been to TV.


Gracie - You will be glad to know that on a clear night you can tune in WLW. I purchased an XM radio for the house and keep it on WLW, so I can listen to Mike in the am and Willy during the PM.

"Mark Twain is credited with having said something to the effect of, "If the world is coming to an end, go to Cincinnati. Everything there happens 20 years later." (Or maybe it's 10 or 15 years later. Can't remember. But I know how it goes around these parts sometimes. I guess Twain did, too"

The statement above is true about Cincy. How far along is that Banks project?

[nova12]

We just got back yesterday from an Alaskan Cruise. We saw a man in Alaska with a TV windbreaker. We started taking to him and found out he lives in The Villages for the summers. Very small world!

[The Great Fumar]

A while back while playing golf in South Africa at the Tanganyika Town and Country Club reputed to be the most difficult golf course in the world. ( They had a par three hole that you had to shoot over a native village and if you dubbed your shot and it fell short ,(THUNK) and it was all over)................The 18th hole was on an Elephant burial ground and the only way to play it was to shoot an elephant and follow him to the green .......Well we did just that and followed the beast to the 18th hole on Glenview in THE VILLAGES and thats how we found this place.............

I'll never forget Dumbo fumar ;D ;D ;D

[graciegirl]

As my sainted mother would have said, " Fumar, you won't be in hell five minutes before the devil smacks you in the face for lying!" ;)

Russ. I don't know what it is on XM , but around here WLW is on 700, the 50000 volt Voice of AMERICA. ::)