Coming soon to The Villages

[iandwk]

My wife is retiring June 30th. We have a house rented for the months of July and August. We will both be looking for some type of employment. My wife has been a teacher and an elementary school principal, so she should have no problem. I'm retired from raising poultry, so don't have much of a shot of staying in that field (not that I want to anyway), but we also want to experience everything The Villages has to offer. We've never played golf, pickle ball, or even shuffleboard.

Hopefully in two months we can find a village we like and a home we like. We already know we love The Villages. Any suggestions or ideas will be greatly appreciated.

[graciegirl]

Welcome to you. I think that the more you talk to your neighbors and visit every open house you can, the happier you will be with your choice. I am glad we bought new because we are all starting our life here together. Not much difference in price from new to resale, but the resale homes have been upgraded in lots of ways. Sometimes I don't like the choices though and prefer to paint the house inside in the colors I like and choose the kind of landscaping upgrades I like. Sometimes you can hit on someone selling their house with just your choices. Good luck. A bad choice is hard to find!

[nancy thereader]

Would you all say that it is better to have a new home than one that is used? Wouldn't an older home have more mature landscaping, though? Do any homes have wood floors or fireplaces ?

About the colors.... are there restrictions as to what colors one may select for the shutters and doors of a house? How about flower gardens? Are they allowed in The Villages?

[ConeyIsBabe]

If you go to The Villages' home page - Thevillages.com you can click on all the NEW homes for sale..... (many choices) and all the pre-owned homes for sale (many choices) . Then there is thevillages4rent.com where you can peruse all the rental homes (many choices). To answer your question about hardwood floors.... YES, that is what I'd be looking for also !!

As far as the restrictions go on what is allowed in TV and what is not, I'm sure some of the actual residents will know.

I've been taking notes for almost a year now, and there are a lot of elements one must consider when looking for the perfect match = location/closeness to neighbors/closeness to stores/style of home/CBS or manufactured/etc.

iandwk ........ from my hanging out at TOTV, one thing I've learned is that there are endless choices!!

[Bogie Shooter]

The job outlook is rather bleak. Teachers are being laid off and all budgets are being cut.
Here are some sites that may answere your questions.....some you haven't even thought of.

www.thevillages.com
http://www.thevillages.net/
http://www.golfthevillages.com/
http://www.districtgov.org/vccdd/home.asp
http://home.comcast.net/~thevillagesgourmetclub/page1.html
http://www.thevillagesdailysun.com/
http://www.thevillages.com/newsletter/200810/RE/happenings.htm?src=newsletter-November08&code=VR0811&acct=2759547&auth=607632
http://www.sumterpa.com/
http://virginiatrace.com/

[jeffy]

My wife volunteers and subs at the charter school. The kindergarten class that she works in just lost their assistant teacher because the assistants husband got a transfer. They will not be replacing her due to budget cuts. :sad:

jeffy

[nancy thereader]

hi coney

It's YOU!!! Wouldn't it be great if we both decided to move to TV ? We would actually meet in person then. I see that I keep drifting back here . Must be a reason (maybe because it is snowing AGAIN here in New York and it's seven degrees outside :ohdear: ).

[faithfulfrank]

I hear ya Nancy.......although today was the warmest this week, almost hit 30 degrees!!

I'm no expert here, but I'd look at the square foot cost between new and pre owned......I'd guess that the pre owned would be the better value. Some pre owned are only a couple of years old, so you are not talking about ancient outdated houses.

As CIB says...there are many things to consider.....location, neighborhood, lot size, home layout, etc.

Deals come to the patient. Renting first immerses you in the place you may end up buying in........you become an informed buyer, and are then there to get your best deal. Sometimes you have to live it to find what you really want.

Frank D.

[nancy thereader]

Thanks, Frank. That's what I was planning to do ~~ rent for a month or so so that I know which community I would prefer although I think I would like the older home with their more abundant trees and all.

[iandwk]

We just signed a rental agreement for two months and already the kids and grandkids are making their plans to visit. Since we are not permanent residents (yet) can we get them a guest ID? I know I can find this out some other way, but this forum is more fun.