Info needed for first visit.

[RCM1210]

Hello Friends,

How many times have you heard these requests for help?

My wife and I have been seriously thinking of moving to The Villages by the later part of 2012. However, we want to make a couple of vacation visits to the area. We are looking to make our first visit in the middle of December 2011 for one maybe two weeks, the second visit sometime summer of 2012.

There is an overwhelming amount of info here and apparently I'm not refining my searches well enough. We need help.

First, are there homes within The Villages that would rent like this or can someone suggest to us who to talk to on a place to stay?

Do we need to go through an agent for help? Can you provide us with some information as to what we should do, who can we talk to, recommendations on what to plan for, etc. We both are in our mid fifties. I'm retired and my wife will be working a few more years. We want to be active and socialize. We enjoy eating out, cooking out on the grill and just want to live our lives as worry free as possible. Although this criteria is our hope, we would like to be looking at an area of single family homes around five years old or less, with a view of water or golf course.

Any tips or help to make our first visit a success would be greatly appreciated. We are looking forward to having "The Villages" style of retirement, just as your television commercial advertises.

Sincerely, Roy

[Larry Wilson]

I would go to the Villages site and set up a lifestyle visit. This place is so big and there is so much to learn. You can also try ***********************. Many homes for rent and sale. You will pay more for the house if it is on a golf course or has a view.
Please try Search again. You will hear you need a MLS realtor and a Village realtor to see all the homes.
Hope someone will help you more. I'm one of those guys who is so busy having fun here, I really don't have time to be on the computer. But welcome again.

[cybermuda]

[QUOTE=Larry Wilson;392098]I would go to the Villages site and set up a lifestyle visit. QUOTE]

A Lifestyle Visit is the easiest way to see TV for the first time, but be aware that TV realtors are often more interested in selling you one of their new homes than a pre-owned. As Larry says, also find a non-TV realtor to provide you with some balance.

Happy hunting!

(oops, shouldn't say that in MorseWorld)

[graciegirl]

[QUOTE=Larry Wilson;392098]I would go to the Villages site and set up a lifestyle visit. QUOTE]

A Lifestyle Visit is the easiest way to see TV for the first time, but be aware that TV realtors are often more interested in selling you one of their new homes than a pre-owned. As Larry says, also find a non-TV realtor to provide you with some balance.

Happy hunting!

(oops, shouldn't say that in MorseWorld)

Our TV rep gladly showed us a lot of Villages resales. He said they make commission on them too. We did in the end choose to build.

I only have our own experience to go by, but Jim Mclaughlin didn't try to push us one way or the other or to push us at all. I think that is part of their training...not to push.

[Schaumburger]

Hello Friends,

How many times have you heard these requests for help?

My wife and I have been seriously thinking of moving to The Villages by the later part of 2012. However, we want to make a couple of vacation visits to the area. We are looking to make our first visit in the middle of December 2011 for one maybe two weeks, the second visit sometime summer of 2012.

There is an overwhelming amount of info here and apparently I'm not refining my searches well enough. We need help.

First, are there homes within The Villages that would rent like this or can someone suggest to us who to talk to on a place to stay?

Do we need to go through an agent for help? Can you provide us with some information as to what we should do, who can we talk to, recommendations on what to plan for, etc. We both are in our mid fifties. I'm retired and my wife will be working a few more years. We want to be active and socialize. We enjoy eating out, cooking out on the grill and just want to live our lives as worry free as possible. Although this criteria is our hope, we would like to be looking at an area of single family homes around five years old or less, with a view of water or golf course.

Any tips or help to make our first visit a success would be greatly appreciated. We are looking forward to having "The Villages" style of retirement, just as your television commercial advertises.

Sincerely, Roy

RCM1210 - Welcome to TOTV :welcome: I believe the Lifestyle Preview Visits are between 4 and 10 days, and I believe you would call The Villages sales office to arrange one of those -- someone correct me if I'm wrong on that. If you want to rent a home for a couple of weeks or one or more months, try www.thevillages4rent.com. I rented in July through this web site, and I am renting again in October through this web site. The Daily Sun classified ad section, furnished homes for rent, may also be of help to you in looking for a rental home. That web site is: www.thevillagesdailysun.com. Good luck to you.

[Ohiogirl]

I agree with Larry - do The Villages lifestyle visit if you can still set it up for December. Call right away to reserve, ask about cancellation policy. Sometimes during the season I think they are reserved months ahead of time. December is not technically "the season" but I'd call.

You get some freebies and some discounts and a good opportunity to talk to others staying there and in the pool who are going thru the same process, might get some insight there, plus some more questions to ask.

Just go to TheVillages.com and click on Lifestyle preview. 4-14 days - or, alternatively, stay there for a week and rent for a week, not too hard to find a weekly rental for December.

[RCM1210]

My wife and I really appreciate the quick responses. We will make the calls within a day or two for the lifestyle visit. We are so looking forward to this visit. Thanks again!!!

[herbaru]

Hello Friends,

How many times have you heard these requests for help?

My wife and I have been seriously thinking of moving to The Villages by the later part of 2012. However, we want to make a couple of vacation visits to the area. We are looking to make our first visit in the middle of December 2011 for one maybe two weeks, the second visit sometime summer of 2012.

There is an overwhelming amount of info here and apparently I'm not refining my searches well enough. We need help.

First, are there homes within The Villages that would rent like this or can someone suggest to us who to talk to on a place to stay?

Do we need to go through an agent for help? Can you provide us with some information as to what we should do, who can we talk to, recommendations on what to plan for, etc. We both are in our mid fifties. I'm retired and my wife will be working a few more years. We want to be active and socialize. We enjoy eating out, cooking out on the grill and just want to live our lives as worry free as possible. Although this criteria is our hope, we would like to be looking at an area of single family homes around five years old or less, with a view of water or golf course.

Any tips or help to make our first visit a success would be greatly appreciated. We are looking forward to having "The Villages" style of retirement, just as your television commercial advertises.

Sincerely, Roy

To find links to rental sites go here;
http://www.virginiatrace.com/
Scroll down look towards bottom right for "Rentals"
Oh and while you are there I am sure you will get lost looking at all the other information. One visit and you will be sure to get a great feeling for TV, a few visits and you will know your way around. Get a map, the $5 one. If you go out with a TV sales rep ask for one or you can buy it.

Good luck and have fun!
Oh and another place to find rentals is CraigsList, Ocala. That is how I rented on my first visit.

[ijusluvit]

The Lifestyle visit is probably the best way to start because of the cost, freebies and central location of your first experience. But before you come, do lots of homework. First, familiarize yourselves with the map of The Villages, the names, "character", age and location of different Villages. If you are not too "map challenged", look at the major roads and try to get a clear mental imprint of how to get from one section to another. Second, study the resale homes offered by MLS and Villages realtors. Do this to learn what homes cost and what 'extras' you might expect to get for your dollar. Discuss not only your budget, but what you want in a home. The obvious differences are surprisingly simple: manufactured homes, villas, designers and premiers; golf/water/open land fronts, or lots surrounded by walls or neighbors; location north/central or south. After that it's a matter of what add-ons each place has. If you concentrate on studying the resales, it will be easy to compare them to new-builds when you tour a few of each. Thirdly, go to the TOTV home page and scroll down to "Nuts & Bolts" of The Villages. Read all of this stuff carefully.

If you do these three things you will not be overwhelmed on your first visit. Contact an MLS and a Villages realtor ahead of time and tell them what type(s) of homes you want to see during your visit. ONLY A FEW to start, then let your experiences guide where you go from there.

Finally, keep most of your time unscheduled. Take the trolley ride, drive your golf cart around, visit the squares at least a couple of times, and be sure you see how large the variety of restaurant and stores are available nearby. Then, just have fun!! Talk to residents and employees of businesses about life in The Villages. Those casual conversations will provide you with far more information than you expect and really help you make your final decisions. Good Luck!!

[buggyone]

Glad to see you are asking questions before jumping in the pool.

A re-sale home in my opinion is a much better deal than a new home. A new home is kind of like buying a stripped down car. Everything extra - and I mean everything - is extra cost. The bond is much much more than in a re-sale. The bond on new homes is at least $20,000 and can be upward of $50,000. My bond 2 years ago on a resale was $2,300. Landscaping is mature, upgrades inside and outside are already there so you can see them, and there is no construction going on around you.

A great neighborhood is called Caroline; Virginia Trace is also beautiful as is the area by Mallory Hill Country Club. All of those are around 5 years old.

Yes, you will need a Villages agent as well as a MLS agent as neither can show each other's homes.

[LvmyPug2]

I agree with all the advice given. My two cents is make sure you rent a golf cart and don't be afraid to get lost. On our first lifestyle visit we got hopelessly lost and pulled to the side of the golf cart path to consult the map. A very kind man stopped and asked if we needed some help. We told him where we were going and he told us we were at the extreme opposite end of TV as to where we were trying to get to. He didn't give us directions to where we wanted to go. Instead, he turned his golf cart around and offered to lead us to our location. When we insisted he did not have to go so far out of his way, he simply smiled and said "hey, we were all new at some point and here in TV we help each other out" From that point on, we started making plans to move here.

[jccampana]

Lifestyle visit is the way to go.
Do your homework and look at listings on the villages website and on a mls site to see all the used homes for sale. After narrowing down your choices check to see if the lanai faces West, We avoided this direction as we didn't want the afternoon and evening sun on the lanai.
Another great tool we used was Google Earth. This enabled us to see what is around the house, if it was private, and which direction the rear of the home faced. It helped us eliminate some properties and help us find our dream home.

Good luck and have fun

[RCM1210]

Well, my wife and I really want to thank everyone for their advice and suggestions. We checked on private rentals and the lifestyle visit. For only minimal dollars more than renting private home, we decided on the lifestyle visit. Convenience with location, "gas" golf cart, golf, cards included, no separate cleaning fees. Just the overall convenience of not having to deal with the extra fees or worrying even if there were some things we weren't advised.

We have received and are already studying the map. Out of our eight day stay, we are considering two or three partial days for viewing homes, one with a TV rep and one or two with an outside agent(s). We will plan our home viewing about two weeks in advance.

We will be chatting with lots of our future friends at TV during our visit.

A home facing west? :agree: Actually, this IS an important criteria for us. We enjoy cooking on the grill (a lot) in the evening, in the shade!

Anyway... again, we are very thankful to everyone who commented and volunteered your opinions. Any other opinions will be also welcomed.

[2BNTV]

RCM1201:


:welcome: to TOTV. Keep on reading and asking questions. There is a lot of great info here by it's knowledgable members.

Take the trolley tour as you will see how big TV is and give you a general overview. TV needs to be seen and experienced as no amount of words can do it justice. You will be blown away.

Have a great time and enjoy.:)

[CarGuys]

Old saying in the Auto Repair Field. SLOW down to Speed up.

Take your time and let it all settle in.

We were sooooooooooooo set on several used homes. I thought it was a done deal until we saw the homes. Upgrades galor, landscaped and then the wife walked into the Lani stared into the neighbors and said let's go.

For some this is fine for us no way.

As Graci stated, sometimes new just works out but that is a decision you have to make. SOme folks have made some great deals

Water view! Get your checkbook out!

Any way this place is GREAT!!!!!!