Hello
 

Hi not sure if I am doing this right but here goes..here now lifestyle stay with my wife till Monday. The stay not my wife..love it here so far exciting and overwhelming...moving here from south of Boston in August. I have been following this site for about a year lots of nice folks helping out .we won t know anyone here so I will be asking a ton of questions . Get ready. Lol.

Congratulations on your pending move. And yes, it can be over whelming with too much to cover in one lifestyle visit. I suggest you focus on the one or two activities that you are keenly interested in. Get a copy of the Recreation News, available at the recreation centers, to find a club or activity that is of interest, and if lucky find one meeting while you are here. You will have ample time and opportunity to try new activities and club after your move.

Hi Mass288 :wave:
 

Welcome! We moved here just over 12 years ago. Joined friends for their lifestyle visit and as the story goes, we bought too! We never moved here full time, instead we return to our summer home in Ocean City, MD, four months every summer. It works for us!

Welcome!
My suggestion is to familiarize yourself with the search function on TOTV. It will answer some of the basic nuts-and-bolts questions, and for other things you can ask on here.

Welcome! This site is great for getting information. Just finding your way around TV takes months!!!!

Welcome - And ask away! I did the same starting with my lifestyle visits last summer - learned a lot from the folks here at TOTV - most here will be kind and patient with you, as we all were ‘newbies” at some point. Congratulations on your journey to TV - you will love it here!

Welcome, there are several threads about coming to TV and getting your first house. There are differences between the older areas and the newer areas. I agree with most others, rent for a month or longer and look at different areas, we are more or less in the current center of TV (close the Brownwood) and love the area, almost everything is less than a 1 hour golf cart ride, most less than 30 minutes. Be sure you read the deed restrictions, many people do not and have trouble later, these are different in different areas of TV. Ask questions if you can of people in the area you are considering, some have more renters than others, we have very few, and almost no snowbirds. July and August tend to be hot months, look at your proposed house orientation, a west facing garage will be HOT. We found a North facing front, south facing lanai to be very nice. Houses on golf courses have good points and bad points, be sure to consider both, we specifically stated we did not want a water view or golf course view due to some of the concerns we had.
Hope this helps, and I hope you find your home.

Welcome. Been here in the Villages since June of 2005. Always miss it when I go somewhere else. Even with the roundabouts and the turn signals on when they turn in the other direction.

Welcome!

Welcome!!!

Welcome! We're in our 16th year here and it just keeps getting better! Ask away!

He said they're moving in TV in August, so I think they've already found a place.

Poor english. Write full sentence so we understand. Thank you

Welcome
 

We moved down 13 years ago this July from Springfield, MA. The scariest thing for me were the roundabouts. Get a brochure, watch a video. I used to go out early in the morning and drive the boulevards to get practice and get use to signage. Sounds silly, but it helped me acclimate to my new surroundings.

Hi We are from North of Boston .and packed up and moved here full time in 2015. Difficult for me at first but in a few months -with no snow began to live it. Don’t take too much New England furniture as we had yard sale and sold everything.. would love to meet sometime.

Fire away with the questions!. And don't be afraid to not Google the answer first. Right Michael61? Some of us enjoy seeing questions that we would not have thought to ask, and answering old ones.

Please use better grammar. English is a proper noun and should be capitalized.

There is a new resident's informational meeting given each month at a rec center. Be sure to go to that as you'll gain some knowlege that way as well as from others who live here. Sign up for Villages News....not the "rag" that reports all the junk, but the one with The Villages as they put out announcements of what's happening in our community....the squares etc.

"Physician, heal thyself!"

We have a home in Pennecamp- sitting in West Dennis on the Cape at the moment!

Hello and Welcome!

We moved here less than a year ago, after enjoying short vacations many times and after finally realizing that the northern area was best for us.

It was difficult to pull away from the southern end of TV because the lifestyle sales crew kept leading us 'south'. It just didn't 'sync' with us.

We took our time, researched TV thoroughly and we tuned-in to TOTV often to "listen" to the wise sages.
Gee whiz, I miss Gracie Girl, but still see many of my old favorite sages giving advice and commenting here. Thanks all!

I continue to learn more from "listening" and hitting the 'search' button, rather than asking questions in this forum.

My advice is similar to others here.

Familiarize yourself with proper lane usage and if necessary, go for rides.. early in the morning and LEARN how to traverse the round-a-bouts properly.

Take your time. Think furniture through and through before you bring it down, whatever you do!

There is plenty of time to set your new home up, it doesn't ALL have to be done in a day.

ENJOY your new Digs!

Hello
 

Welcome fellow New Englander! Came overwhelming if you let it be. Take one step at a time and enjoy the awesomeness TV will provide.

Make sure you buy The Villages GPS app as it is much better than the free Villages app. More information and constantly being updated.

Welcome Mass288!
Where in Mass are you from? My husband grew up in Quincy, I'm from Somerville but we lived 33 years of our married life in Attleboro.
We used ABF and loaded a trailer (they allow 3 days to load), it was held in Ocala til we got here (no extra charge) and we had 3 days to unload it (we hired 2 football players from the charter school but you can get day hires here to help). Get rid of any furniture you are not in love with because it's expensive to move and when you get here you realize you want a more FL style. We stayed in a friends house here for a week, 2010, and went around and bought all floor models (40% off) and our golf cart during that week before our closing date and had our stuff booked to come hours after closing. This site was so helpful in answering any questions you may have and I depended on it for everything. You'll wish you came here much sooner when you get settled. Stay in touch.
Nancy & Ray LaRue

Welcome! You will love it here! Every neighborhood has its plusses and minuses - it all depends on your preferences. Moved here 18 months ago and absolutely love it here!

We moved almost 6 years ago from same. Contact us when you get here, we are in Fenny

I agree, Bridget. When the OP doesn't care enough to write decent sentences that make sense, I have no interest in responding to them.

Welcome

Join your village's FB page
 

Be sure to find and join your village's FaceBook group. You'll get lots of good information there, too. It's also a good way to meet your neighbors.

Rather harsh to a new poster.

Massachusetts born and bred here-Bought a few years ago, moved here full time last July. One thing to prepare for-you WILL continue to be overwhelmed. Overwhelmed with choices, decisions, conflicting advice-negatives, positives, happiness and homesickness. Do I play softball, or platform tennis, or that 'pickle' thing. Do I shuffleboard, or bocce or play volleyball in the water or just relax and save my knees? Do I buy a gas or electric cart or stove, do I buy north or south, do I become a serial joiner or just wait until a social life happens organically. Do I have my driveway painted or sealed or coated or power washed or just swept. And what the hell is Mah-Jong anyway? For all of this and more, my advice, in the words of the immortal 'Cat Stevens' (aka Yusuf something or other) is-"Just relax, take it easy......You're still young....There's so much you have to know....Look at me, I am old, but I'm happy"
Just enjoy the hell out of the journey-You can live your best life here!

Hello
 

HI , and thank you. so many folks responding makes me feel right at home already..and for you whiners about my spelling and Grammer well I guess I fail english class please don't introduce yourself to me I am leaving massachusetts due to folks like you..to the rest can't wait to meet cha ..Mark and Michelle

Welcome!

We've been here three years now, and our expectations of TV, which were high to begin with, have been exceeded in almost every way. Great people, wonderful recreational opportunities, convenient shopping for just about everything you can imagine, and people who genuinely care about one another. I take regular afternoon walks and the number of complete strangers who offer me rides (often a bottle of water as well) is impressive. I've never been to Massachusetts but my guess (correct me if I'm wrong) is that up there, offering a complete stranger a ride in your vehicle is considered the height of folly. Down here, in my experience, it is something that is done with regularity.

As for the naysayers--TV is like everywhere else. We have our share of folks who aren't going to be satisfied until everyone is as miserable as they are. But they, though admittedly noisy, are few and far between. Ignore them.

From south of Boston also! Just purchased home in April, part timer for now, can't wait to spend more time there. Love it

10 Important things...
1. Best to get south facing lanai. We are on a retention pond. Its like living in a zoo with daily entertainment.
2. Take the cart diving class. Its once a month at Colony Cottage rec center.
3. Get seat belts for your cart.
4. Learn gps driving before you get here. You will need gps as everything looks the same at every turn. I like Waze for car nav. Get the paid cart gps app for your phone. Cart navigation app Villages-GPS.
5. Learn about the medical choices BEFORE you get here. I recommend a Medicap policy rather that Advantage. Know that doctors are hard to find. Do a lot of research about medical care here before you arrive.
6. Leave most furniture behind, but be aware it might take months to get new furniture. Like sleeping on an air bed? Yep we did it for several months.
7. Forget your xxx favorite food. Its not here.
8. Buy a home that doesn't NOT need remodeling. Yes you will pay more, but worth the extra cost and way less stress.
9. Buy a low maintenance landscape home. Paid landscape care is not the same here as other areas. Ask your neighbors who they use.
10. Its very different here. Some good, some bad. Just roll with a the differences and enjoy life in the bubble!

Cheers
Bob

Get the free Villages App (not the app that charges). Your Sales Rep can help. It has a ton of helpful information and guidance once you get used to using it.