Rooms full POA meeting
 

I attended the POA meeting last night to be seated in a large room watching a meeting on a screen. At first, I thought I was watching a rerun of a previous meeting. As the main room was totally full, I and others were seated in the annex which was also totally full. A man from Realty Executives tried to calm the fears of some that the resale worth of their homes was slipping. If you have a Courtyard Villa you’re a lucky one. Newer houses are sold faster than old and sales in the winter months no longer account for the majority of sales.

Today, I am off to the VHA golf cart safety clinic. So far, I have enjoyed attending meetings conducted by both organizations.

I have returned as the VHA safety clinic was full and there were no other rooms to sit and watch. I wasn’t the only person to be disappointed and turned away. In three days I will try again to register for pickle ball 101 after two other unsuccessful tries. I told my wife that we should have rented our house this season to avoid the cold and then return in the summer to be able to do things.

POA & crowds
 

You must be mistaken. The developer would not overbuild. The amenities have just become waaaay more popular.

By "seeing what over-building has caused", I assume you mean the success of their development?

Rooms full
 

Sure the amenities are popular. However, I don't consider shopping center parking and roadways to be amenities. Those sort of things are infrastructure issues. I'm sure community developers have formulas guiding them on how much recreation and service facilities to build per capita. But they sometimes put the cart before the horse. It might be peace and quiet in your part of the TV, but from 446A and south, it's a jumble, and yet new home construction continues.

Yes, I know, it's "the season." Still, I can't bear to think what life will be like when more and more of those rental-property owners retire and decide to become full time residents.

Seems by their work ethic and employment within their company, they are in fact here on a daily basis.

Hi polar bear: The success of the development does not necessarily mean success for residents? Remember like in the world of investment for every winner there is a loser. its nature

I understand the beneficial financial affect from the increase of population growth; albeit most of it does not inure to residents. This is especially so with amenities which are utilized by renters whose rent benefits owners, some of whom purchase homes solely for rental income. It also alters the concept of a "retirement community" to one of a vacation destination.

I do not raise this issue to argue but solely as an observation of my world view.

And yes, I too love The Villages

Personal Best Regards:

I just wait and read the bulletin..........

Something to consider
 

This is an excerpt from the Jan 2016 Village Voice, page 2, by Elder Gray...
"2016 Predictions for the Villages"
Item 6 reads
6. The Villages will run out of new home inventory this year and commence selling off any remaining
lifestyle homes. The need for a lifestyle program will end as will the program itself.

Here's the thing; due to our age homes are becoming available all the time. I think without the lifestyle preview program they will become harder to sell (not much but a little).

I'd like to see the VHA come up with some sort of replacement lifestyle program on an on-going basis.

Thoughts?.......

Two questions (I'm a newbie):
1) what is the Village Voice
2) who is Elder Gray and why will I be interested in what he (?) predicts

I respect your position, but I must disagree with some of it, particularly the "for every winner there is a loser" portion.

Development and life are not zero-sum games. And I don't think it's generally "nature", for life in general, that for every winner there is a loser. Some things are that way of course...sports, some investments, other things, but definitely not development. Homeowners, businesses, contractors, government bodies, utilities...many more people can be happy when it is done right than those who will not be happy. And those who are not happy can easily find something else that does make them happy.

Also, I don't think people who choose a development rate their happiness on whether or not there is financial gain from growth of the development. But I do believe growth of the development and financial gain of the developers is a pretty solid indicator of the success of the development...and I do mean by that the satisfaction of most residents. If the residents weren't satisfied, the growth and financial gain would be very short-lived.

Village voice is the VHA newsletter and Elder is a contributor

What's the big concern about how much your house is worth. Where are you going next ? In fact if you don't have a homestead why do you want to see an increase in values. You like higher taxes? Even if you plan was to move up to another house the value of that house rises as yours does thus no net gain. And we bash the renters ?

Personally I am not concerned. I have no children to leave any estate to. Just looking for thoughts.

For once, I agree with you. Reading the bulletin beats being shoulder to shoulder with a large group of people whom you don't know and one getting freaky all of a sudden.

Concerned about full meeting rooms? Hopefully you won't have to go to Villages Hospital during peak season. Online they say 28 minute wait to see a medical professional. That would be the nurse at the desk when you arrive who will hand you a form and ask about your emergency. Then the real wait begins 5-12 hours before you actually get into the emergency department. After many more hours in there during which time you will see nurse and doctor, have some tests, maybe a glass of water only if doc says ok. Then you will wait for another 8-12 hours to get moved to a room. How do I know, this was my wife's experience this past Saturday evening after being brought to TVRH by ambulance then left in wheelchair in waiting room along with many other who attested to the 9-12 hours wait. Been back every day to visit and each time the ED waiting room has always been full. Yes, they made the hospital bigger, added to the emergency department, added new rooms that are empty but they seem to be woefully short staffed and unable to cope with the demand.

Option
 

The option to TV's Hospital ER is the Urgent Care at Lake Sumter. It is terrific. I understand Mayo Clinic at Jacksonville is not taking any more patients as they are totally filled up.:wave:

Polar Bear you have always shown yourself to be an objective and rationale individual and what you say is all true for you and many others and, not that I give it a second thought, for me in part. I am going to be happy as I make up my mind to be ( Abe Lincoln) but unlike that small Asian nation I don't hold much stock in a happiness index.

a part of this human and complex equation is why one buys here and the criteria weighted index to the whole. Also like any transaction a buyer looks back at what the seller described/promised...its like when you buy a new car and the sales guy references all the appointments but when you go to trade the car in the appointments now mean nothing.

As to satisfaction etc that's my point my concern is that what drew people to The Villages remains intact. My financial motivation is not for me but, as a concerned and caring parent, to my children who will inherit my estate.

Stay well

Personal Best Regards:

Hi rustyp: I seem to be the only poster who referenced renters so I am making an assumption your comments reflect on me.

I care about what you write because you are left with a bad impression and hence perhaps other readers are also left to that conclusion.

For the record and my point of view I was not bashing renters that would be too personal and too uncivilized. I was however, making an observation about the effect renting has in this community . I can tell you that it is an issue in many Florida/Calif/Arizona communities some of which limit its use.

There are a number of sensitive issues that float through this community and I am one that rather remain reticent than hurt someone's feelings. Apparently this is one of those issues which I will store in my memory bank under the heading "do not engage"

Personal Best Regards:

33.8% of all households in the US are renter occupied. I suspect we are no where near that number here. I do not rent my house here in The Villages but have friends that do. I also have friends that are local real estate agents. They tell renting here is not like renting anywhere else. The clientele here is upper echelon and very respectful of owners property. I also have not had a single encounter with a bad guy here that was a renter. If you want to fix some of your concerns legally - have the developer require no mortgages for house ownership here. I am so tired of renters and snowbirds being the issue here. I came here when the population was less than 40000. Rudeness increased exponentially with the population increase not the season of the year. The statement was not an attack on you but this notion of who belongs here sucks.

A question for the OP. Did they have extra donuts for you in the overflow room? or were you shut out of the real reason for some going to a POA meeting?

The POA made every effort to make us feel like we were a part of the meeting taking place in another room. A person would come into our room and ask those with questions to travel to the other room to ask their question.

At the VHA golf cart safety meeting, we were told seating was on a first come basis. Many people were turned away. The next safety meeting will be held next month. Golf cart safety must not be a priority?

Systems should be in place to handle the larger crowds at this time of year. Do whatever it takes to be accommodating and expect large groups of people to want to participate.

rustyp: Just for clarification purposes there is one main difference. Those renting here in The Villages do so as a vacation destination and not as the majority of the 33.8% do as their permanent residence. Again its not the renter its the renting effect on the community. I accept what I cannot change and have always extended myself to renters being polite, helpful and welcoming.

Personal Best Regards:

Rubicon - I understand the theory of the renting effect on the community. The theory totally holds water. However in practice I don't see it happening here. A home owner has to surrender their privileges to allow their renter to use the amenities thus there is no more usage if all homes were owner occupied. In fact renting may result in less strain on the amenities than sole home owner occupancy. Rental rates are less than 100% (not by much in high season I admit) but the owner would be here 100%. As I pointed we are so lucky most renters seem to be cut from the same mold as us demographically. I can't tell a renter from a permanent resident, can you? Last on the renter subject most of us were also renters before we purchased our homes here.

So my theory is renters and snowbirds are not the problem for overcrowding / over usage. A primary issue in my opinion is the lack of big box stores, restaurants, etc. at the south end. It seems to me a game of chicken is going on between the big box boys and the developer. Where is the boundary line when the build out does occur. The Wildwood government may have helped to expedite the boundary issue by not allowing the next expansion. Another game of chicken. The other issue is not enough infrastructure to support the community during high season. Great for those who stay in the summer months - no waiting. You can't compare the summer months to winter. By nature of where we live there is going to be a high and low season. Thus the infrastructure needs to support the highest demand not the lowest. But high season is going to come and the houses are going to be occupied be it by owners, renters, snowbirds or green alligators and long neck geese.

Just Four years ago there was not a home south of 466A. The developer does NOT keep businesses from coming here. Part of their business plan is to build to suit and rent to valid businesses.


Commercial entities are not stopped from building here. I would guess that they can choose having the developer build it on their property or building on property not owned by the developer. We have had a lot of new businesses open and have three new Publix that I can think of in the last four years.


Flooding of population in January, February and March is not limited to The Villages, but the whole peninsula. Many small businesses fail because they cannot or will not budget their high revenues to their low revenues.