How long did you research and plan, before moving into TV?

[Charlton Dude]

See thread title ^^^^ :posting:

[mrsanborn]

3 hours

[swimdawg]

3 hours

We Wheatfield people don't take long to make up our minds.

We know a good thing when we see it. :wave:

[Dirigo]

Twelve years.

We close on our house "up Nawth" on Nov 10th.:thumbup:

We arrive in TV tomorrow to look at houses Mon and Tues and visit friends.

With any luck we'll be living in TV by the holidays :MOJE_whot:

[pooh]

Only a few hours, really. We just came for a look around....but, you get here, rub your eyes because you can't believe what you see...and before you know it, you're hooked...and begin looking for your new home.... ;)

[ladydoc]

Only a few hours, really. We just came for a look around....but, you get here, rub your eyes because you can't believe what you see...and before you know it, you're hooked...and begin looking for your new home.... ;)

Ditto..there was no logic or deciding or rationale to it....we bought on the second day.

[GTTPF]

We came to visit for 1 day in late Feburary and knew within a few hours TV is where we wanted to live. We set up a lifestyle vsit for 9 days for late July to see how hot it would be. A piece of cake compared to NJ coast with 95%+ humidity. During the time from Febuary to July We did a lot of research. In July we picked out a lot and set an appointment with the design center. Our house is being built right now. Never any doubt!:thumbup:

[John_W]

I grew up a Floridian but lived in Maryland since 1989. I knew I wanted to return and if it hadn't been for TV I would of probably chosen Pensacola.

I saw the infomercial in 2003 and received the DVD and brochures. In 2008 I got another DVD packet but this time a Villages sales agent called later asking when I was retiring. That's the first time I started thinking of a date. In 2009 I began writing down the prices of every new courtyard villa and cottage for sale on the internet.

Now possessing several pages of new home prices in April 2011 we took a seven day LSV. With our salesman Tony Trussler we toured all the cottages, courtyard villas and patio villa models. We decided it was between a Cabot Cove patio villa or a Woodlawn courtyard villa, but now it was time to return to Baltimore and sell our home.

We listed our home for sale in May and it sold the next morning, 18 hours later. We hurriedly scheduled a second LSV and began seriously looking at the cottages, patio and courtyard villas for sale on their website. We selected a new Cabot Cove patio villa with vaulted ceilings, white cabinets in Bayport Villas in Buttonwood for $140,000.

I called Tony to see if we could skip the second trip and buy the home over the phone. As we were speaking I flipped over to the Woodlawn courtyard villas and noticed the price on the six available in Tamarind Grove had been discounted $6,000. This caught my attention because these are concrete constructed with privacy fenced yards. While I was still speaking with Tony I refreshed the page and the Woodlawn that we ended up buying was dropped another $6000. At this point I asked Tony if the price was for real on the Woodlawn on Nautilus Lane and he said yes, I gave him my credit card and with $2500 we made the purchase sight-unsight.

Unlike designer homes or cottages, villas have no choices available, what you see on the website and what it contains is what you can buy. As it turned out, we were very pleased with the colors, the cabinets and the neighborhood and had we come in person we would of made the same decision. However had I not done three years of homework, I can't imagine how things would of turned out.

[jblum315]

3 days

[LvmyPug2]

Over 5 years. In 2006 I read something on the web about a " Disney for adults". We decided to check it out and stopped for 1 day as we headed to Miami for a cruise. We immediately booked a LSV for later that year and started planning and dreaming of the day we could join the fun. Even though we knew it would be a few years before we could retire, I spent many a cold and snowy Saturday looking at real estate on the net. We made 3 more visits over the next few years. Finally after all this time we close on our home in St James next week. Can't hardly believe we are finally going to become frogs :MOJE_whot:

[getdul981]

We had talked about moving to FL for several years. Began looking around the Orlando area in 2009. A friend of ours from Orlando brought us up to The Villages in April of 2010 and we came back twice and bought a piece of dirt in May 2010. Went back home to VA and put our home on the market. Got it sold and moved down here in October 2010. Moved into our new hose in Pennecamp in December 2010. We are now in our new, new home in St. James. The house in Penneamp just didn't work out for us, so we moved to St. James. Hopefully, this will be our last move!!!!

[memason]

A co-worker introduced me to TV in 2004, as he was building a new home here. We decided to come for LPV in 2005. All I could say was, "This place is unbelievable". Too good to be true... I was too young to think of retiring, in 2004, so we came for another LPV in 2008. Still too young, but I was on a mission to find out just what was wrong with this place... I was from the midwest, so if it's too good to be true...you know the rest. Well, I still couldn't find anything wrong, but on the drive down to Florida [in 2008], my employer called and asked me to move to Europe for a couple years...So, I did. We had our third LPV in 2010 and this time, we bought in St. Charles, then flew back to Europe for 7 more months.

I've stopped looking for what's wrong with this place... I've decided, if it's too good to be true, it must be The Villages!

[Yorio]

I'll first tell you the decision of my friend who went with his wife who was initially not interested in even visiting TV. It took them 4 days after seeing TV and came back with a furnished designer home. It started with my rave about TV as they were visiting Orlando on business. This was about two weeks before their curiosity peaked when I mentioned TV. They bought the place before we did. Some posts mention bringing the check book. How true this is.

As for us, we did three visits to our friends place each year mixed with two LSP the latter of which we brought in-laws. They will move in 2013 when they retire. They saw and they loved the place. For me convincing my wife took a while but once she agreed, it took about a week. Good luck. Incidentally, the friends we used to visit looked from North Carolina down to Florida visiting dozens of retirement community and settled on TV. They had sizable boat before, so thought they would retire by the water but didn't and have not regretted the move to TV. They are in their second bigger home now.

[villagegolfer]

We had decided to move to Hilton Head Sun City back in 2006 but we had to wait until 2010. In 2008 we discovered The Villages. We were worried that TV would be too big and thought we would prefer the much smaller Sun City.
We decided to take a LifeStyle visit in 2009 anyways. We were hooked right from the beginning. Sold our house in October 2010. We purchased a new CYV over the phone before we took the 3 day drive down here. When we arrived we changed our mind on CYV model but bought another one in the same neighborhood.
No regrets.

[Yorio]

We had talked about moving to FL for several years. Began looking around the Orlando area in 2009. A friend of ours from Orlando brought us up to The Villages in April of 2010 and we came back twice and bought a piece of dirt in May 2010. Went back home to VA and put our home on the market. Got it sold and moved down here in October 2010. Moved into our new hose in Pennecamp in December 2010. We are now in our new, new home in St. James. The house in Penneamp just didn't work out for us, so we moved to St. James. Hopefully, this will be our last move!!!!

We've moved to Pennecamp and was curious to read that Pennecamp did't work for you. Is there something I don't know about.:duck:

[villagegolfer]

We've moved to Pennecamp and was curious to read that Pennecamp did't work for you. Is there something I don't know about.:duck:

I live in Pennecamp and think it is great. I love the location and all the golf courses.

[barb1191]

Was staying in Sarasota for a visit and decided to take a ride to see The Villages and bought that very visit. Bought a FSBO and have been thoroughly pleased with our home for ten years.....b

[TednRobin]

Over 5 years before we bought. Coming in 2 weeks for our first 6 months. Can't wait. :clap2:

[Debfrommaine]

Seven years

[getdul981]

We've moved to Pennecamp and was curious to read that Pennecamp did't work for you. Is there something I don't know about.:duck:

I live in Pennecamp and think it is great. I love the location and all the golf courses.

We actually liked/loved the neighborhood and especially the Eldridge Loop community. It was just that we wanted/needed a slightly larger house and yard. The Lily we now have is laid out better to our liking than the Begonia was for our needs. We loved the Begonia, but this Lily has a room that is more suitable for my wife's crafting.

[getdul981]

We've moved to Pennecamp and was curious to read that Pennecamp did't work for you. Is there something I don't know about.:duck:

I live in Pennecamp and think it is great. I love the location and all the golf courses.

We actually liked/loved the neighborhood and especially the Eldridge Loop community. It was just that we wanted/needed a slightly larger house and yard. The Lily we now have is laid out better to our liking than the Begonia was for our needs. We loved the Begonia, but this Lily has a room that is more suitable for my wife's crafting.

[whartonjelly]

At least 10 years. My husband came upuon it thru a contractor he met. The man offered to show him an up coming area. My husband came home and told me all about it. i was sold! Researching still. House has not yet sold. Waiting for the right time and right people to come along.
:BigApplause:

[mayBavillager]

We have been looking at TV for 14 years. Just waiting for the day when we could retire... we just sold our house on Fri. and signed the contract tonight. We rented for a month in April and loved it. Now we wait till the closing and will come down and buy something.... whether it is a lot or a new home.

[momesu]

I guess I am an fickle and impetuous person. I first heard of TV 3 1/2 years ago checked out the web site decided it was not the place for me. Had some friends that moved to TV about 3 years ago and about 2 years ago when my husband left they started encouraging me to come down for a visit. Since I was so sure I would not like it I put them off till last January. It took me less than two hours to fall in love with TV and after a two week visit I decided it was the place for me. I signed a one year lease on a furnished home and will be moving in next Monday night! Moral of this story is "never say never." I can't wait till I can call TV home!

Suzanne

[Bosoxfan]

3 days

Us too...exactly 3 days that was the duration of our one & only lifestyle preview!

[Barefoot]

3 days

Ditto. We returned home after a few days in TV and bought a house on the Internet, sight unseen. A long life isn't promised to any of us.

[rhredd1654]

I started serious research in January. Attempted to get a Lifestyle Preview, but was told they were booked thru March, and had a freeze thereafter. Was told too many people were only using the Preview for vacations, and not serious buyers. Finally was put in touch with a sales agent, and he apparently decided I was a potential buyer. Got scheduled in April. By then I was super saturated. Decided if it was half of what I envisioned I would be here. To make a longer story short, I closed mid-June.

[debzaranti]

Friends who moved here before us had been "bugging" us for a couple years to come down and take a tour w/a realtor. We resisted, but finally relented to get them "off our backs about it". WELL.....about 10 minutes into the tour w/our realtor and we were both ready to BUY!! LOL! We still thank our friends for being so persistent. We would have missed out on the opportunity of a lifetime, had it not been for them! People just don't "get it" UNTIL they get here and see it for themselves! We are definitely FROGS! :MOJE_whot:

[2BNTV]

Tooooooooooooooooo long on research and tooooooooooooooo

short on moving to TV. :)

Seriously. I first saw TV in 2006 when I was asked to visit by a friend. I fell in love with TV but was short a few years before I could retire. I didn't know the existent of TOTV or if it was around at that time.

The smart members would have convinced me to move immediately. I wish I knew the phrase, "bring your checkbook", as I haven't heard of anyone regretting making an impulsive purchase. TV is a place that has to be seen as there are enough words that can describe how wonderful it is.

I don't work for the developer either. :)

I am still waiting on the sidelines.

:popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn:

[Posh 08]

We did go into a couple of Rec Centers during our visit and talked to some TV residents. Their advice "take your time" on making a decision. Met a couple on the train yesterday that bought back in the original days. They said "don't wait".

I feel I would need at least a week and a lifestyle visit to decide. Then again maybe if this house sold today.......

[Irish Rover]

Did anyone look at Sun City in AZ? We have friennds who are going to fly out there tomorrow to look at a home and will most likely buy. I've tried to tell them that TV is a better option but my knowledgae of Sun City isn't extensive so I kind of hedge what I say. It's TV for my wife and I. We've been renting for 12 years now and could buy this year. Thanks
Irish

[jblum315]

Friends looked at Sun City near Tampa and signed a contract. Then they saw TV. They said the difference was so amazing that they sacrificed their deposit and bought in TV.