An you tell me…..
 

I’m new to TV, having moved here in September. I see frequent references to the developer on these forums, and a lot of them are really negative. I’m really curious as to what the cause of the negativity might be. I don’t know much about the politics of The Villages, but would love to hear (read) what you all think. So far I’m still in my honeymoon stage here. Looking forward to your input, and now, off to golf!

Some are envious. Some are jealous. Some think they can run things better than the developer, but with no investment or risk. Etc.... stay in your honeymoon mode and enjoy the lifestyle.

Agreed. Everyone is an expert on how the developer should be benefitting the masses.
Instead, it's capitalim. Enjoy TV

Cause they got sooo much money. Boo hoo hoo. They took a chance, not us. Don’t like it move to Dell Webb

///

They are rich and powerful. They got that way by developing a very successful senior living development. They did that by having an idea, or a bunch of ideas, and they made it happen. They made it happen by not letting too many other folks try to tell them what to do, or how to do it. They still don't let many other people tell them what to do, or how to do it.
When it is in their best interests, they'll spread some money around, maybe get some political support for their developments based upon who they know, and who they've supported with political donations. Some people don't like that. Some don't care. Some think that's the American Way, and love it.

At times they were less than totally forthcoming about what their plans were for future development, and their agents spread misinformation about what they called "build-out"...to the point that the term "build-out" is now a joke. Some people are deeply resentful about what they feel was essentially a lie, others don't care. Others love it. They no longer, from what I hear, promote the idea that they are going to ever stop developing. Some people don't like that, some don't care, and others love it.

They do what they do, and are making a good buck doing it. They have never forced anybody to live here. Yet, the people keep coming.
And coming. And coming. Some residents don't like that, some don't care, and some love it.

Ignore anyones take on the villages owners or developers and just enjoy your time retired. Everyone who posts here has an angle...good person....bad person....whatever. Why base your feelings or received information when you don't know the poster or their views on things???

I base my opinion on how much I enjoy it here. That's it. Retirement should be less stress...not more and opinions(mine included)are like arseholes....everyone has one and they mostly stink. And remember that a famous man once said, " you can't talk to stupid people."

Keep reading the comments here.

You will find some people will always post negative comments about the developer and some will always post positive.

Overall they have done a great job building this place but they do have a lot of control over local govt.

Not thrilled about that but we are here 16 months now and very happy to be here.

I think all comments, positive and negative, about the developer are silly. You buy a house and pay the amenity fees. If you don't get your money's worth, then go somewhere else. It's just a contract, like buying a car.

Some people will be miserable no matter where they are

:bigbow:

If you want to enjoy The Villages, you will. If you want to find reasons to be unhappy, you will. Some folks complain about everything. Some people don’t like change and TV is continuing to evolve. I like evolving better the becoming stale and stagnant.

I recognize that some folks dislike the developers just because they are wealthy. That is, of course, stupid.

The current generation of "the developers" - the family - have earned disrespect by ignoring the promises made by the previous generation of their family. The plan to build high density apartments at the previous Hacienda country club site is the most egregious example. There have been many comments on that subject if you are interested.

Many residents were promised by Harold Schwartz that their homes would be centered around a country club and they would live that lifestyle for the rest of their life. Granted this promise was made orally and in person but the current family HAS to know it is true. They have chosen to break this promise and have gone to great lengths to make it happen.

I cannot respect any family (or organization) that will willingly break a promise made purely to make a few extra bucks.


BTW, I am a happy resident of TV. Being content does not mean one must be blind to what is happening around them.

I only have one complaint about the developer, and that is the use of socialism in place of impact fees. They are/were in bed with the politicians to get government to relax the impact fees, which means those of us already here pay for the impact created by those making the impact. But, it's not just this developer, they all do it. They even got the Governor to sign an impact fee ceiling. And then they turn around and tell us we need to accept personal responsibility.

With the impact of so many people, the roads will need to be widened, especially 301, from Warm Springs to Route 44. The other roads are Rolling Acres from 466 to 441 with 2 left hand turn lanes at 466 and Rolling Acres. Granted, those roads are not in TV, but they are impacted by the growing number of people in TV. Other than that, most things run pretty smoothly, at least what I'm aware of.

They're not impacted by the growing number of people in TV. Rather, they are the direct result of the growing number of people in TV. The development of the Villages is the root cause of the need to widen those roads. Were it not for the further development of the Villages, the traffic would be less dense, and there would be no need to widen the roads.

Your tax dollars are paying for the expense created by the developer's choice to expand the community, precisely because they are granted heavy discounts on impact fees that developers in other parts of the state don't get.

When people talk about the "Developer" they speak as if the developer still owned The Villages and that they controlled every aspect of life here in our community. While it is true that the "Developer" built the community and still own most of the commercial buildings, a lot of us residents forget that we now OWN the rest of it. When a new housing area is completed, the developer essentially sells the community properties to a CDD and then We, and our respective CDD's & county government, are now the owners of our house and those community properties.

In any other new housing area anywhere in the rest of the country, once all the properties are sold the developer moves on to somewhere else and that is the last those people ever see of them. Here in The Villages, the developer has continued to build into new areas so they have remained visible and involved in the community. But a lot of the Villages residents feel that the "developer" still is running the entire community in a benefactor role. They expect the "developer" to continue being responsible for everything that happens and needs to happen in The Villages. We seem to forget that they are strictly land developers in business to make a profit. They have provided us a FANTASTIC place to live and play, and are continuing to provide things that from a marketing standpoint will make the selling of newly developed areas possible.

Yup, the comments pretty well sum it up.

Another point, TV has been here around 25 years, and yet, even the oldest parts still look great - everything is maintained and kept clean and manicured. Look around the country at other "TVs" and you will see most seldom make it more than a couple years, and those that do are dirty, run down and not some place I would want to live.

The developers are making a nice living (lots of money I assume) and I am happy they are, I hope the continue to make money and that TV grows and thrives.

More power to them.

One example of the issue was posted here a while back, a person moved here and THEN found out about the covenants. Many people mentioned that all of that was explained at closing. The complainers response was "there was so much paperwork, we didn't have time to read it all". Seriously, they were blaming the developers for "hiding" things in all the paperwork that they signed when handing over more than a 1/4 million dollars - because they didn't read the contract?

LOL... yup, I do not feel too sorry for them.

Our fault for not taking the time to read all the covenants.

I do wonder how the folks handling the resale if they sat and watch me read everything for a couple of hours.

///

As for looking at the covenants: This is the same complaint I have about condo association agreements. Those can be an actual book - 2-inch thick binder filled with documents that you agree to, and aren't allowed to look at, until closing.

How do I know if I want to close at all, if I don't know what I'll be agreeing to, until the day of closing? How do I know if I'd agree to all the rules and regs, if I don't know until the day of closing?

The documents should be made public, available at the town/county assessor's office. For every single dwelling in every single condo complex or deeded community. There are some condo complexes that have different rules and regs for each building, or each set of buildings (Century Village is one of those complexes).

Barring that, a potential buyer should be given a copy of the rules/regs/deed requirements/community standards/contracts on the day they put down money to make an offer on a property. No one should have to be made to wait until closing to decide if they want to abide by the rules of the community.

And here is a perfect example of what the previous posters were referring to. This is a GREAT place. Been here 5 years and love it. Walked in with eyes wide open and no regrets. No clue why people move here and immediately want to change TV into what THEY think it should be.

The developer is changing it into what THEY think it should be, why is it bad for someone who actually lives here to want to change it into what THEY think it should be? It isn't what it started out - someone decided to change it into what they thought it should be.

And then, when it changed into what the developer thought it should be, he changed his mind and changed the community again. And then his son in law took over, and changed it again. And then his son in law died, and HIS kids changed it again.

Every time it changes, it moves further and further away from what it was ORIGINALLY intended to be.

If you don't have any problem with that, then you really have no argument against anyone else wanting to change it into what THEY think it should be.

If I was buying or selling and the other party did not want to wait for me to read all the documents, I would run - not walk - away. Once upon a time in the US a long long time ago people did business with a handshake. No longer.

Sorry, it is not a democracy. It is a business. And from what I can see it has been a successful business for over 20 years.

How many people living in TV have 20 years of successful track record running a senior community? Just asking. Because I for one purchased here because it has been successful for that long. I don't know anyone that lives here well enough to trust any of them to make sound business decisions for me.

I purchased BECAUSE of the developers, not in spite of them. Nothing personal but I hope neither you nor anyone else that wants to change that ever gets the chance.

The person who originally developed the Villages is dead, and has been dead for a long time. His son-in-law, who took over, is also dead, and has been dead for several years.

"The Developers" are not the same developers who developed this community. The current batch of developers have a completely different vision for the community than the one you dealt with when you moved in. The current batch of developers didn't even have pubic hairs yet when their father took over the business, so no they haven't been doing this for 20 years.

///

Just look around. I find it amazing here and it seems like “the developer” keeps coming up with innovative ideas to make it better. Is it perfect? Is the developer perfect? No. But they’ve done a he11 of a job, and I appreciate their efforts and vision. Some here have unhinged hatred for them for various reasons but I just consider the source.

Yup

Exactly.

And yet there are the constant complainers stating, "Many residents were promised........... ".

Nothing never changes, adapt and enjoy life.

Some people, in the Villages and in the area, don’t think the developer should make a profit on his vision to build a retirement community that out does every other retirement community in the world and some people just can’t be pleased.

Spot on

Reminds me of people who leave $hithole countries and move to a place where everyone is happy and then try to change the new place into the place they moved from.

We have been here for 10 years and love it because of the vision for a different retirement community. I have never heard any of the developer’s family make any “promises”. In fact they generally don’t announce anything until it is signed sealed and in the works. No good business person would make any “promise”, because they can not control the future. Most of the so called broken promises are just good business decisions. Katie Belles and Hacienda Country Club were closed because of poor management and loss of patron business. The developer generally only owns the property and leases the business. When the property fails, attempts were made to correct, but it continued to fail. Now they are complaining because they don’t want change. Compare TV to Sun City Florida and you will see why we like the developer, hope they continue.

Almost 19years. People change, place changes. Not the warm friendly community that had soothing landscape and Buffalo. People change places change. Miss the Buffalo. The younger generation of developers are pandering to younger retirement people. They were not privileged to grow up with their grandfather or great-grandfather. They did not know the Buffalo.

By George......I think you've got it!

Developer
 

Most are very happy with what "the developer" has created here, or they wouldn't be here, and are always free to move on! I would be pretty certain that they can get more for their home now than they paid for it, originally.

I think the business plan for this place is brilliant and I am happy for the powers that be to enjoy all the fruits of their labor as they continue to make it possible for more to enjoy its beauty. We have been here 17 years and have never been disappointed . It seems every year, more amenities are added. New walking trails, exercise areas, rec center activities, and golf courses. Just never enough for some. Recently, the bridges took a little longer than they thought, but most of the time, when they say something will happen, it does.
I know there are many complaints about apartments, but the new apartment dwellers in The Lofts, near Brownwood are thrilled to be able to have rental property here, with NO upkeep. Some like that lifestyle , sooo the developer is creating it for them.

There are always those who will complain and blame, any time there is change. Enjoy your honeymoon. We still are!

Read the villagenews.com TOTV Utube and speak to others, lots of it is well founded. It will not change almost 50 years of the best marketing ever created. The power and influence not just here but the state of Florida is breathtaking.

Wrong there are a lot of valid points by residents. Obviously it’s difficult to be objective.

We moved here about 16 years ago,what we learned don't get involved with The Politics of the Villages it a great place to live.Play your golf go to the pool go out to eat join one of the thousands of clubs.And ENJOY your self you won't find a better place to live.

The villages sales staff have been less than ethical and are very aggressive in getting folks to buy here. Your vote is meaningless in the 3 counties. It’s not enough to keep some of us here and I’m hoping my sale goes through. There is a sense of entitlement here and that’s not who I am. To those who were kind to me the last 2 years i am grateful.