Not much of interest here so Let's get it going!

[eweissenbach]

I think it would be interesting (to me if no one else) to find how everyone first learned of The Villages, and what brought you to visit and perhaps buy. I'll start: I first saw the old ads on Golf Channel in '09. They intrigued me, though I had never had any interest or inclination of settling in Florida. I had been to Naples and Orlando a few years earlier and really didn't much like the state. I retired in '08 and we went to South Padre Island in Texas in '08 and '09, and found it nice but lacking in activities. After seeing the ads I began looking at the website and ordered the CD. In looking at the real estate I was surprised at the reasonable prices and began thinking it might be worth a look. As fate would have it, my brother-in-law passed away in late '09 and at his visitation I began a conversation with a long time mutual friend by the name of Mark Germann. Mark said he was now living in Florida, and I asked "where in Florida"? He said The Villages, and I said "that's interesting as I just began looking at it online and found it intriguing. I asked how he liked it and he said "I love it, I play on two softball teams and play golf three or four times a week and pickleball regularly". That got me more interested and I soon found TOTV, and began getting a ton of positive (and a little not so positive) feedback about TV. We signed up for the Lifestyle Preview in April '10, and invited a couple of friends to join us. Well, obviously, we all fell in love with TV. The first night we were here we went to Sumter Landing and I stated I felt like a freshman in college again. We started talking to a snowbird from New York and asked him how he liked it here. His response became our goto phrase for the rest of our stay, "What's not to like" he said. We rented a place in 2011 through 2014 with our friends, until they bought in '14. We then stayed with them in '15 and '16, but didn't come down in '17 due to my wife's health problems. We came down in '18 and ended up buying a villa in Sanibel about 3 blocks from our friends. We are coming for the month of August just because we want to see what it's like in the summer, but we will mostly continue to be snowflakes as all our kids and most of our grandkids live within minutes of us in the Kansas City area. Okay, I've bored you with my story, now bore me with yours. :throwtomatoes::throwtomatoes:

[jebartle]

Kids live in Winter Park, so we always made trip south from NC, on the way down, I'd say let's check out the villages, NC friend already moved here, as we were driving BY the Villages, the ole boy would say, "There it is!"and kept driving. After 3 trips, finally got him to stop. Rented from peeps that were furnishing rental WHILE we were renting, ugh!
Next trip, stayed in villa, owner gave us a golf cart driving lesson, hmmm!, we must have stupid written on our forehead, after 20 years of golfing, oh well, we played along. Next trip, LOOKING TO BUY! Bad time, prices outrageous, condo near SS, double and lottery purchase, lost interest, went home, got on line, made another trip to see house, got as far as walking in courtyard, told realtor we'd take it, realtor said, would you like to look inside, sure! SOLD. Love this place and our GREAT NEIGHBORS.

[manaboutown]

I was starting to cast around for a good place to settle for retirement and had investigated both coasts of Florida to some extent. Somehow I stumbled upon "Leisureville" as I was reading whatever I could find about retiring in Florida. That book is what inspired me to do a lifestyle visit followed by a couple of month long stays. I was ready to make the move when my daughter's sudden health issue pretty much brought most everything in my life to a halt. So far so good with her but we still need to monitor her situation closely. The Villages is a great place in which to retire!

[John_W]

I had grown up in St. Petersburg but lived the last 22 years before moving here in Baltimore, my place of birth. In 2003 I saw the 30 minute infomercial on the Golf Channel one night and ordered the VHS tape and info. I reordered updated versions in 2007 and 2010.

I knew I would eventually return to live in Florida again one day but wasn't sure if it would be Spring Hill, where my parents had retired, or Pensacola where I had lived in the 70's and 80's. Now TV was on my mind, so we took a LSV in April 2011 for seven days and returned to Baltimore and listed our home, we sold it in one day. We purchased a new CYV in the Village of Tamarind Grove on July 5th 2011, so we just had our 7th anniversary here.

[Kenswing]

Was on a cruise having a conversation with some "old" folks and of course it led to where we all lived. They raved about the Villages so we started our research.

[Wiotte]

Started heading south and stopped at a Kool Aid stand.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[B-flat]

Back in 1994 when we were just adolescents ( not exactly we were 42 at the time) my in laws who lived in Oak Run Ocala took us on a tour, they said “you’ve got to see this place called The Villages.” Thru the years we visited just about every yearly trip to see the in laws, our thought was The Villages is nice but too busy for our taste, so we continued to go to Oak Run and even wound up owning a home there. After 2 years as snowbirds in Oak Run we sold the place, then this winter we rented in The Village of Chatam.............after one week we decided it was for us, so we just purchased a CYV.

[ColdNoMore]

Decided to check it out...IN SPITE OF the dumb, corny commercials 10-15 years ago. :oops:


Rented three times, loved the proximity to so much golf and using a cart for most every day things...then bought. :thumbup:

[sdedes]

We live in Massachusetts and for the past several years have been looking down the East coast for potential places to move for our upcoming retirement, but never had any intention or desire to move to Florida. Last year in April we booked an AirBNB in Hilton Head SC to check out that area. We first went to the Villages to visit my husbands sister who happened to be renting for a few months in Amelia. We only intended to stay one night but ended up staying 4 days. We fell in love and did not want to leave. We liked Hilton Head but bought in the Villages instead. Just closed on our home in the Village of Summerhill and will be moving by the end of this year. Can't wait!

[2BNTV]

I'll give you two Ed.

I worked in CT with an older gentlemen who I became close friends. When he retired, he moved to TV but never mentioned TV to me beforehand. He keep bugging to come down for a visit. One year I didn't have anything planned for vacation so I decided to visit TV. He wanted me to stay with him and his wife but chose a LSV.

I was in SS having a couple of drinks and Donna Moore was singing "Crazy" by Patsy Cline. I thought to myself, there can't be a better place to retire than TV. Here I am and still "living the dream" :smiley:

Close friends of mine were told of TV by a friend of theirs. There were in south Florida and decided to drive up. When they got off the 304 exit in Wildwood and were coming north, The wife said. "what's so great about TV, as this place looks like, "cr*p".

After making their turn onto 466 and after a few blocks, the wife said, "OMG". After being here for two days, she told her husband, "I want to move here". After 4 years, they still love TV.

What really drove the nail home was they were use to NY prices and when they ordered a beer and it cost $1.50, they were blown away. :1rotfl:

[fw102807]

We came with friends who asked us to do the lifestyle preview with them. We went home found our dream home online, bought it, put our house up north up for sale and have spent 2 wonderful years here anticipating many more. We have seen too many people die before ever realizing their dream.

[KSSunshine]

We were on a cruise in March 2012 out of Ft. Lauderdale and ended up having dinner twice with a couple originally from Michigan. She had driven a school bus for children with disabilities; he was still consulting with a division of Ford...or another automobile manufacturer. She was here permanently but he was still "working". The woman couldn't stop raving about The Villages and how they had 2000 clubs from which to choose. She was a member of the Parrothead group from TV on this cruise. So, we went home, got the packet, scheduled our first visit in July 2012 to see if we could stand the heat. It was cooler that summer in TV as we came home to 106 degree heat in Kansas, so we figured we were adaptable. We've been watching TV just waiting for our opportunity. Came back in October 2017 just to make sure this was an option. Most of our friends think we're nuts, but if we don't try it, we'll never know. Had hoped to be in TV by now, but life has a way of slowing decisions down. So we are still coming, just not until 2019. If you are that wonderful woman who we met on the cruise with her hubby, I'd love to reconnect and thank her for her enthusiasm and sharing of TV.

[Doro22]

It really is everything one would hope for ....and much much more. We’ve been here 7 years now, having moved ”UP” here from Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood area. No place like this! Although I must say...”it’s not for everybody.”

[redwitch]

I ran an online bridge group. Due to circumstances, I needed to move out of state, preferably to a gun-friendly state. Since I think snow is something to play in but not something I care to live in, that left southern states (and Texas was out of the question). Anyway, told my bridge friends that I was going to take a tour of the South and would love to visit some of them. One member happened to live in The Villages. It fit basic requirements, had the advantage that I wouldn’t have aged out of the job market, lots to do and friendly people. What more could a girl (well, woman) want? So, I moved here. Still miss the Bay Area and probably always will, but I enjoy my life and my friends here.

[jojo]

My husband's brother moved here. When we visited him, I picked up the rec news (circa 2006) - just a few pages compared to now. While we enjoyed the squares, the beauty of the place etc. etc., it was the rec news that sold me. The decision was further solidified by logging on to TOTV. When we moved here in 2008 I had many TOTV friends.

[BobnBev]

While on vacation in the Tampa area, in our 45' motorhome, we needed some work done so we came to Alliance Coach in Wildwood. They were behind and said it would take approx. 3 weeks, but they had a private campground, so we said OK. After the first week, we were looking for something to do, and they said check out the Villages. We set up a LSV, found the house we wanted, sold the m/h, and bought the house...great move cause we're still here....call us FROGS!!!!!!!! No more snow!!!!!:BigApplause:

[Madelaine Amee]

We had been spending the winters in Reddington Shores on the Gulf. We loved being on the water, but it was very transient with people coming and going a week at a time. On the way home to NH we stopped to visit friends here in TV. We came off 75 and drove through Wildwood and I said to my husband "you have to be kidding". We turned onto 466 and drove up to B.V. and into TV and he said "this is where we are going to live". We found a home, went back and snowbirded for a couple of years, then sold up and now live full time in TV. No regrets.

[Sgroemm]

I spent most of my teaching career at a small elementary school on the NJ shore. With a staff of approximately 40-50 people, five had moved to TV upon retirement and raved about it. I didn't think it was a coincidence but rather a pretty strong indication that something was worth a look! When it finally became my turn to look for a retirement nest, I spent a week on Marco Island, Naples, Cape Coral, Sanibel and Sarasota....."pretending" I was retired and living there....looking for the feel and the events that would fill my days once I was truly retired. While each has its strong points, I have to say none had enough for me to do! Along comes my visit to TV with the perfect combination of a safe, well maintained, beautiful place to live and enough choices of activities to keep me entertained and active. I bid on a CYV on my third day here....lost out to another buyer..their deal fell through a month later...snatched that beautiful CYV up from my NJ home and followed that yellow brick road right to TV. Baby, when it's meant to be, it's meant to be! So thankful!

[perrjojo]

In 2000 we were not yet ready to retire but saw the add on the golf channel. The lifestyle visit sounded fun and inexpensive. :-). We knew this was the place for us. Meantime we moved to another state and would rent here often during February. In 2008 we put a deposit on a designer home but could not sell our home in Atlanta. Finally in 2012 we were renting and said, “just do it”. Many buy the first visit. I guess it took us awhile.

[patfla06]

We moved to Tampa and lived there for 17 years.
I always knew we needed a “Plan B” when we were ready to retire.

I took my husband up to T.V. when still in my forties.
The first time only Spanish Springs was built.
The second time LSL had just been finished.
I remember standing and watching all the golf carts going by and we were just in awe.

After our Son got married we were finally ready to move.
We had looked at other 55+ and it was the same 1 pool, 1 clubhouse, and nothing going on.

I told my husband we needed to check out T.V. again.

It was February 2013 and we were at LSL watching everyone go by with smiles and energy all around us.
We came back on Good Friday and bought our house.

We absolutely love The Villages.

[tomwed]

the short version
I retired from teaching in NJ but continued to coach golf. I was paired up with a 40 year old female golf coach who told me her father retired someplace in Florida with 50 golf courses and they are all for free.

fast forward

I have a place in Hilton Head. Relatives were staying with me and when they left I googled free golf in Florida. It's was a short drive and instead of a day trip, stayed for a week. I was hooked.

[EPutnam1863]

I first heard about TV from friends living in TV back in 1995. I was living in Melbourne, FL then, so I knew they were not telling the truth about the heat and humidity. I decided not to live there then - and still have no wish to do so. We are not outdoor people or social butterflies anyway although we do love Florida winters. If we should spend winters in Florida, it would be somewhere along the coast. Finally we enjoy living in age-mixed communities.

[kcrazorbackfan]

We moved to Smithville, MO from St. Louis in Aug. 2012 and hated the winters all the years we were in the Midwest. We saw a segment on The Golf Channel in 2014 about The Villages and the next day my wife booked a LSV.

Now mind you, we had owned a golf course lot in Bella Vista, AR for 8 years and were going to build our dream retirement home there; we had looked at many, many home plans, had it site planned on the lot and even had some trees removed.

We drove down and several times the wife made the statement that we were still going to build the home in AR. We turned off 301 onto 466 and made our way toward Morse, admiring the beauty of The Villages, especially the golf courses. Before we even made it to Morse, my wife turned to me and said "we're selling the lot and moving here".

After returning home after our visit, we found our home online, bought it and the furniture and closed on it Thanksgiving week of 2014. My wife had spent 34 yrs. in Law Enforcement and decided to retire 2/28/15 and we moved her down the next day. After a week here, I went back to Smithville to sell the home (it took 2 months) and came down full time in May, 2015.

And the rest is history...………. We miss being close to the kids and grandkids but they enjoy coming down here to visit The Villages and doing everything there is to do throughout central Florida.

[tophcfa]

We were still in our mid 40's and had never heard of the Villages when some good friends invited us to their new home in the Villages. We were very impressed with how nice the place was, but we were young it was a place for old people. Over the years we visited our friends a few more times, each time growing more fond of the place. Then our friends offered us a week at their beautiful home, and we had sooooo much fun. During our vacation, we realized that we were quickly becoming old people and could not believe how much activity was available for the residents. After lots of research, we finally decided to rent for a month and make a decision about weather or not we would invest our retirement in the Villages. After a few days, we were finally sold. We looked and looked at homes and only found one that we really liked, so we bought it. Almost 15 years after our first visit to the Villages, we are now proud owners of a beautiful home that we have had for 3 years. And yes, we are now officially old, and living the lifestyle!

[eweissenbach]

Come on - there are a lot more good stories out there! Enjoy reading them all......

[My Post]

the short version
I retired from teaching in NJ but continued to coach golf. I was paired up with a 40 year old female golf coach who told me her father retired someplace in Florida with 50 golf courses and they are all for free.



Enough about you, tell us more about the golf coach! :kiss:

[skyking]

About seven or eight years ago I began seeing ads for The Villages on television. They ran ads showing "old people" walking off the golf course. I told my wife that I would never want to live there.

I couple of years later I retired and continued doing accreditation surveys of health care facilities a couple of times a month to keep me occupied. I was asked to lead a team survey of an outpatient surgery center in "Lady Lake" (wherever that was). My wife came along so that we could look for a place to rent in Florida during the winter months. (I had previously done a survey in Tavares and liked Mt Dora.) We stayed at the Hampton Inn for the survey and asked at at the desk for a good place to eat. They suggested going to Lake Sumter Landing. After completing the accreditation survey we decided to check on rentals in The Villages. We stopped at the sales office in Lake Sumter and asked if they handled rentals. They said "sure" then they gave us some free kool aid and pulled out a pocket watch on a chain.

It gets a little fuzzy then but the rest of the story is the same as everyone else's on this board. Next thing we knew we owned a house. :-)

[eweissenbach]

About seven or eight years ago I began seeing ads for The Villages on television. They ran ads showing "old people" walking off the golf course. I told my wife that I would never want to live there.

I couple of years later I retired and continued doing accreditation surveys of health care facilities a couple of times a month to keep me occupied. I was asked to lead a team survey of an outpatient surgery center in "Lady Lake" (wherever that was). My wife came along so that we could look for a place to rent in Florida during the winter months. (I had previously done a survey in Tavares and liked Mt Dora.) We stayed at the Hampton Inn for the survey and asked at at the desk for a good place to eat. They suggested going to Lake Sumter Landing. After completing the accreditation survey we decided to check on rentals in The Villages. We stopped at the sales office in Lake Sumter and asked if they handled rentals. They said "sure" then they gave us some free kool aid and pulled out a pocket watch on a chain.

It gets a little fuzzy then but the rest of the story is the same as everyone else's on this board. Next thing we knew we owned a house. :-)

:thumbup:

[asianthree]

We came in 07 on LSV, during the crazy houses sold in a day. Came in 09 for a few days, one of us still not sold.

Returned in 2010, another LSV, and bought our first house, PV. We were still working but wanted to give our parents a place to winter, and a vaca home for us.

2012, bought 3 bed cottage with 2 car garage, cause everyone needs a bigger garage, still working full time, but parents enjoyed the houses.

2014 bought third house, a designer with 2 car plus golf cart garage, cause everyone needs BIGGER garage. One is retired, and lives here except for summers, so our kids come down, during the summers. Still have house up north, and love the summers and I really do love snow.

This may or may not be our forever home in TV once we both are retired.

[JerryLBell]

My wife and I wanted an active retirement community but had largely settled on South Carolina. We'd lived in North Carolina for 20 years and enjoyed the weather, people and food and new that SC had better tax breaks for retirees than NC. Never really considered Florida, which seemed just too stereotypical a thing to do for retirees. My wife's cousins were at their time share in Kissimmee when former neighbors tracked them down and told them to come visit them in this place called The Villages, to which they had moved. Cousins visited, took the tour and decided to continue to live in South Carolina to be closer to kids and grand-kids. However, they thought of us and the way we liked to vacation and what we'd said about retirement communities and called us up and basically told us, "I know where you guys are retiring to." We'd never heard of it but had a Florida vacation already planned so we visited, took the tour and were 90% convinced. The other 10% was us thinking, "This CAN'T be as good as it seems!" As we hadn't retired, there was no rush. We visited again the following year and were 95% convinced. We decided that, as good as The Villages seemed, there just HAD to be something almost as amazing but scaled down and possibly cheaper. We researched and researched, came down to Florida and visited several other communities plus stopped at The Villages one last time. On the way home, we decided we were not only 100% convinced that The Villages was all that and then some, but had found a house model we loved during an open house tour. We got home, narrowed it down from the dozen or so of that model that were for sale to just one (which happened to be the exact house we'd toured). We contacted the realtor we'd talked to a couple of times previously and told her to arrange the sale for us. We rented it out for a little over a year and then retired and moved here. After a year and a half here, we still love The Villages, love our house and, luckily for us, love our neighbors. Given that we hadn't met them when we bought (not sure if any of them had even moved in then), it could have gone any which way with them but they are all wonderful, friendly, fun, great folks.

By the way, our first impression of The Villages really centered around two things. First, we came down off 466 onto Morse and over the bridge. We saw the amazing view and the golf carts zipping by, pulled into Lake Sumter Landing and just couldn't believe the place. Think of what that entrance and that town is like compared to what it's like to drive into just about any other retirement community, no matter how nice they are. This place takes it to a whole 'nother level. Second, we had to use the rest rooms pretty shortly after we parked near the square and went into the public ones down by the lake. We each came out and said, "Can you believe how CLEAN and how AMAZING these bathrooms are?" We figured that if the folks that run the place took the effort to make something as minor as that as perfect as that, then they probably did the same for everything else. So far, that seems to be the case.

Before we moved here, we'd told our best friends in NC about the place. In fact, I'd told them so much they were probably convinced I was either crazy or getting a commission from The Villages or both. They offered to help us bring a load of stuff down when we started the moving process. They knew it wouldn't be for them as they wanted to stay in NC near kids and grandkids and also because they like the quiet lifestyle of living in the woods on several acres. In fact, they'd even told us that we were the only friends they had who had any interest in moving to a retirement community, that everybody else planned on "retiring in place." After 3 or 4 days here, they were already starting to ask, "Do they rent houses here for a week at a time?" By the time we were all headed back to NC, they were asking, "Do they rent houses here for the winter?" They are still several years away from retiring but they now definitely see the appeal of the place.

[Barefoot]

I think it would be interesting (to me if no one else) to find how everyone first learned of The Villages, and what brought you to visit and perhaps buy. We heard there was a retirement community that allowed large dogs.
Bought in 2007 and have never regretted it.

[dewilson58]

I was homeless, living under a bridge on I-75. Gracie was driving by.......she stopped.......she offered me a meal and a warm bed to rest. The next morning she offered me her house. She moved out and purchased her second home in TV. I understand she owns TV and is on her 3rd home.



:gc:

[Nucky]

I was homeless, living under a bridge on I-75. Gracie was driving by.......she stopped.......she offered me a meal and a warm bed to rest. The next morning she offered me her house. She moved out and purchased her second home in TV. I understand she owns TV and is on her 3rd home.



:gc:

That was you under that bridge? You cleaned up pretty good.

[Noreenzak]

We are not residents, we vacation here most years.
We saw an article in The Sunday Telegraph, an English newspaper. This was in the late 1980's. We were bringing our sons to Disney, and decided to try to find this Retirement village.
Driving up Hwy 27 was an eye opener!! It seemed to me to be a 2 lane dirt road!! Now look at it. I said to hubby, are you sure about this, it does look a bit wild.
Well, we found The Villages.
We already owned a home in Kissimmee, so we would come up at least twice every time we were in Florida. Sons loved the square. Then it started to grow, and grow:)
Im a Jimmy Buffett fan and was a member of a Parrothead club here in the UK. A lovely lady contacted me and told me about her Parrothead club, it was in T V !!! We arranged a meeting, and have been good friends now for about 12 years!! We met many great friends through the club.
We will be back in October :)
We live by the beach on the south coast of England, we have transformed our home in to our version of a Courtyard Villa. We cant live in the villages, but we now have the villages lifestyle. Happy Days :) :)

[tomwed]

Enough about you, tell us more about the golf coach! :kiss: She coached for Pennsauken and I forgot her name. I never did meet her father down here. That would be something if her dad reads this and pm's me.
[big correction---it was not Pennsauken it was Pemberton]

[eweissenbach]

We heard there was a retirement community that allowed large dogs.
Bought in 2007 and have never regretted it.

Glad that you and fireboy found it!