If You Could Not Live In The Villages
 

There have been a lot of posts recently about other 55+ communities. I'll admit that I haven't found anything that compares to the Villages, but , for the purpose of this thread only, what if the Villages was officially closed, no more new homes or resales. What would have been your 2nd choice?

My choice would then would be to live in Beautiful Cincinnati.

Downtown Chicago . . .

I ditto, downtown chicago

Detroit

Back down to SW Florida...just in a gated community this time...

All of these must be beloved hometowns. I understand perfectly, as I love my hometown, also, even though as I type this we are currently buried under 18 inches of new snow on top of a foot of old snow.

When telling people of our decision to retire to the Villages, everyone said "look around", there are many, many other good choices. But they never seem to say what they are.

Definitely the Gulf Coast. Somewhere between Clearwater and Ft. Meyers. Within a gated community with amenities.

We would be at a development on the Winter Haven Chain of Lakes, probably. We were originally looking at a development with a marina and one golf course in that area, but once we visited TV, all thoughts of Winter Haven went south.

As far 55+ communities, probably in Timber Pines in Spring Hill, Florida (Hernando County). Otherwise, outside a community it would maybe the towns of Safety Harbor, Clearwater, Dunedin, somewhere in northern Pinellas County. Maybe yet, Pensacola, Florida somewhere in Escambia County. I have lived in all these places before on the Gulf Coast.

We would have stayed in Winter Park, FL

Back to San Francisco for me.

Stonecrest by Spanish Springs, The Villages is a very nice 55+ community. Peaceful, with plenty of activities, pools, softball, courts, golf and is a golf cart community with shopping by cart close by. Well maintained and run association.

I would have gone to a Del Webb or Sun City.

The places we looked at and liked were Sun City Hilton Head, Sun City Texas(in the hill country), Sun City Palm Springs, and Del Webb Lake Ocone.

We looked at several others but really didn't consider them either due to the limited size of the development or lesser amenities.

The Villages has them all beat by a lot.

Lakeside Landings with a street legal cart!

Halfway between Ft Lauderdale where my son lives, and Palm Beach Gardens, where my cousin just moved to.

It's all about family for me. :smiley:

Probably near Tampa.

Tampa Bay golf and country club near dade city fl

Under a bridge in Hawaii?
 

Coming from the Northeast, I would have to say that I have never been a fan of Florida weather, but "The Villages" offsets that for me and I am very excited to join you all when we retire.

However, to answer the OP, if "TV" did not exist I would say it is a tossup between living in a trailer or some other inexpensive roof over my head in San Diego or under a bridge in Honolulu.

Stayed in St. Mary's County, MD probably, or if I had my wish, out West in the Rockies.

I would have stayed in San Diego County, just not in the house I left.

John W, do you remember how much the ammenties are in Timber Pines?

Naples, Florida

Sun City Hilton Head.

If TV did not exist there would be no reason to live in Stonecrest or Del Webb. I would have liked Mazatlan, Mexico until the drug lords took over so now I will say in my children's backyard so that I can be a burden to then. LOL

I have no idea.

Isle of Palms, near Charleston SC
The ocean and friends live there.

Actually I live in StoneCrest. Been here since 2004. Just a note to let you know there is no problem with the Developer. There have been two developers and two builders in StoneCrest. The first developer, I don't remember the name. Its was Florida something, went bankrupt. The current developer, who picked up the project, so far has done an excellent job. Within the next year, based on the development documents, the Association will now be run entirely by the residents. Currently meetings are being scheduled to inform and educate the residents, and those that will run for the Board of Directors, on just how the association works and what is necessary to run the association. Hall Robison is the current President of the Board and has done a very good job of trying to get the residents trained to take over even if some do not believe so. You can lead the horses to water but you cannot make them drink. Financials for the Association are in excellent shape. Since the development survived during the down turn attests to the fact that the facilities are well run as some good developers went belly up a few years ago. The first builder was a Company called Oriole Homes, they built my house. Oriole is no longer in existence due to the down turn a few years ago. Another casualty of the recession. The second builder, Armstrong Homes is currently building here. Both builders were and are about normal for Florida. The only problem I've seen so far here are people that speak and complain before they research what they are talking about. We have some very nice facilities that the developer built and gave to the association and the amenity fees are very low. Monthly amenity fees are $105 per month.

Hummm, then I wonder why there are almost 15 different 55+ communities between here and Orlando. They are not even close to the Villages. I do thank the Morse's however for taking your money so he could build the nice shopping areas and provide the land for the restaurants. Saves me from driving to Belleview, Ocala, or Leesburg.

We would move to the Tellico Lake area south of Knoxville near either Lenoir City, Tennessee, or Venore, Tennessee in Tellico Village. Although they have some winter there, the summers are beautiful, the lake is huge, and the area is scenic. We are boaters and miss being able to jump in the water without fear of alligators.

Steve, Stonecrest sounds like a nice place. Good luck with the transition.

Thank you. These things always work their way out. Transitions are never easy.

Fairfield Glade, Tennessee

Have friends there. It is a very nice area.

Since I could never convince my wife to move back to beautiful Miami, we would probably just stay in our second home in Melbourne.

1126 Pearl St, Key Weird, FL.

If TV didn't have CYV we never would have considered living here. Does anyone know of any other 55+ communities that have homes with fenced properties? I came from an area that had many, many adult communities and NONE of them ever had any with personal fences. All the amenities were just the bonus that pushed us into purchasing. If TV didn't exist and we couldn't have found any other with fences we probably would have found a home in NOLA in the Quarter or in Algiers.

Touché :beer3:
You're welcome!

I am merely quoting a HOA meeting that is on youtube, that was recorded in May 2013 8:23 seconds long, you can google, SHO meeting, and watch and listen for yourself, it came out loud and clear that the board was very concerned about the developer. This was May 2013 so perhaps by some stroke of luck everything has changed, I certainly hope so for all of the owners there.

Now as far as Armstrong Builders go, I would not want to have them build my home. I looked at a development that they put in on 25A, about 8 miles east or so from Belleview.