If you were planning a Lifestyle Visit now
 

If you were planning a Lifestyle Visit now (for within the next six months, or so) when would you go and why?

What would you plan to do when there to get a taste of what full-time living there is actually like?

Any festivals/attractions/concerts/other "can't miss" things going on that you'd want to catch?

Anything you did (or wish you did) on your visit that you'd recommend?

Thanks

I would go two times. Once in August, to experience the WORST weather of the year. The second time in December, to experience the WORST crowding of the year. If I'm wanting to live somewhere, I want to know what it's like when it's at its worst. I already know what to expect when it's at its best - which would be exactly what the advertising, website, and their professionally-produced videos tell me it's like.

Living here full time is a whole other kind of lifestyle than spending just a few months when it's great.

Lifestyle visits are great. We enjoyed ours back in 2017 (I think...). But really they don't even scratch the surface of what TV has to offer. That was true seven years ago and with all the expansion, is far more true today.

Post #2 has some good advice. A visit in August and a visit in February would pretty much cover the gamut as far as how living here varies with the seasons. I would add to that that in addition I would also rent--say the entire month of February and the entire month of August, not just a week each. Use the time not only to explore TV but also to talk to people: we rented close to LSL and found that striking up conversations with locals at Starbucks during morning coffee and scones was a great way to learn about the place. It really takes a couple of years living here to really understand how TV operates and what it offers, but a couple of months will give you a pretty good general idea of just what TV is.

I would plan two trips that are 7 to 10 days each. One in summer, one in winter.
Rent the type of house you think you want, and rent in two different areas of the Villages, not where the lifestyle visits put you.

Lifestyles are nice, but you really need a few months to get the full effect of the Villages.

IMO, TV is more about living here than visiting here. It's not a resort, it's a place where people move, and live, if not year-round, for months at a time. A resort is set up to make sure you are never bored, no down time, during your short visit. While TV has a lot going on, much of it is best enjoyed with friends. Golf is more fun with a group. Going to the squares, or out to dinner, likewise.
I wouldn't discourage you from doing a Lifestyle Visit, but I'd caution you against putting much emphasis on the experience, and how it will relate to living here.
I would encourage you to, before you buy in, rent for a few months. We rented for 3 winters (3 months, 4 months and 5 months) in different types of homes and different neighborhoods. We obviously didn't live in all of the varying kinds of neighborhoods you can find, but we did visit a lot of them, and had a good idea of what appealed to us. And we did this without a representative of TV steering us to what they wanted us to see, which is likely to be heavily weighed with new builds in new areas. Fine if that's what you want, but you would likely benefit from at least seeing what the older areas have to offer.

BTW, do you have any friends in TV who can help with your touring?

Good luck. Enjoy.

I already knew I’d love it here in winter, so I did my first 7-night lifestyle visit the end of June 2022 for one week (Alden Bungalows). Came back and did a second 7-night lifestyle visit August 2022 (DeLuna). At this point I knew I wanted to buy, but was unsure new or resale. So I came back a third time in October 2022 and leased an existing home for several weeks (Fernandina). I rode my golf cart everywhere during these visits. Several nights I would visit the entertainment at all three squares in a single night! Ate out every night, so I sampled close to 25 different restaurants in the bubble during this time. Checked out what a Publix was like, checked out availability to doctor’s offices, visited countless rec centers, went for lots of walks, and most importantly, I talked to anyone who would be willing to chat with me, and picked their brains about endless subjects concerning life in The Villages. I found good places to meet and chat with locals was outside Starbuck’s at Lake Sumter, outside Dunkin at Brownwood, the outdoor bars around Brownwood, the folks working the front desks at the rec centers, locals lounging by the neighborhood pools, and folks waiting for shows in the lobbies of the Savannah and Sharon. I also did a few short trips outside the bubble, as I wanted to get a feeling for traffic on the turnpike going to Orlando, and for I-75 up to Ocala. I also made one trip to the beach (Clearwater) as I wanted to time how long that trip would take with traffic. Even with these three trips I was basically just scratching the surface of life in The Villages, but I felt it was sufficient to make an informed decision whether to move in (in addition to my years of online research).

Good advice, but I have found January and February to be more crowded than December. Plus, January would give a prospective buyer a better idea of how cold it can get during the winter, how expensive Championship golf is during busy season, how difficult it can be to get t times at the Executives, and what the winter golfing conditions are like after the cold weather knocks the grass on the fairways down to basically nothing but green covered dirt (ever since they discontinued the annual winter over seeding).

I second that. We came down right after hurricane Ivan and while the golf courses were closed we were impressed by the clean up efforts to get everything back to normal.

Before we moved here we spent a couple of long weekends here and than rented for a month to travel around and see where we would want to live.

If we had to do it again would probably rent for a couple of months.

Not everyone is in a position to move. I wouldn't be able to move. First off, I'd have to leave my spouse, and I'm not willing to do that. Second, even if I was willing to do that, I can't afford to move.

As I've said in other threads - I love my spouse more than I loathe Florida. That doesn't mean I don't loathe Florida. It just means I -really- love my spouse.

The red bold is the definition of market timing in an illiquid market.

The valuation of shelter costs going up or down should have little bearing on your happiness living in retirement. Your happiness should not be tied to a $ number, but should be tied to:

do you like your location?
does the house have what you want?
Can you afford the house?
Are you participating in the activities you are able to do before you can't do them any more?

The current house we are living in was purchased in 2004. The valuation of the house was underwater for 15 years, at times up to about 25%. Do we love our house? yes. . . did we care about the valuation of the house being underwater? nope, nothing we could control, and we enjoyed our weekends, paid the mortgage, still went to the store and bought meals. .

maybe, or maybe not, everyone's situation is unique, but not rushing should be more related to buying the house you want which checks your boxes versus the low cost house because of a perceived low price. . .

met a woman during our lifestyle visit, who finally made it down to TV, and just after they got there, her husband was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer. . . and her advice,

just do it!

totally agree! Our 2 visits were at opposite times of the year to experience the extremes!

I agree, it’s not about just the lifestyle, it’s Can you live in Florida. Everyone will tell you traffic and people are ridiculous in TV, January, February, and March. Apparently many of never been outside of TV to understand that all of Florida has traffic and people January, February, and March, some areas all the months.

First visit was April, 2007, so people and weather non starter.
Spending time at our first home, we found December light probably because of holiday travel, with January the least amount people influx than February and March.

Last year was our first summer, we thought all the months were extreme, so just pick any month. We maintain northern homes, so we have ability to come and go as we please

Unpopular opinion: Pick a neighborhood and jump. You’ll know in a week if you like it or not. You can analyze it to death. People responding obviously never did many corporate relocations. I frequently had one week to house hunt, select, and buy a house in an unfamiliar city. If you hate it, sell and move.

In the middle of winter and experience how cold and crowded it actually is.

We came down in October 2015 and stayed at the Comfort Inn for a few days. We did not look at any houses. We looked at Spanish Springs and Lake Sumter Landing and saw people like us everywhere, so we figured we could fit in here.

Before we left, we got some info from the sales center and liked what we saw, so we went back to Virginia and got our house ready to sell.

We also found TOTV and asked a LOT of questions to help us decide where we wanted to live. Then we contacted a realtor to help us find a house or choose a lot to have a new house built. Then we moved here in May 2016.

Depends on where you are coming from, The Villages is different, laid back, and no shoveling snow !

Go to the pools and ask the people about flooding, sink holes, available golf times etc etc. Try and find people you can talk too. If you have an area picked out go there and see how the streets and lawns look and how rain water will flow.
I would do the rent for as long as you can and also look at other communities in the center of the state. Remember you will not be on vacation but yes you will want lots of activities. I ended up in Ocala after doing the above.

yes, be prepared:

get pre qualified by citizens bank if you are renting money
get an appraisal of your current house, subtract 10% for commission and unforeseen issues
have your list of requirements and wishes and a top price range.
then ask / search on those requirements on line,
see how far that will go. . .

sort the list in the order of preferences

make a life style visit or rent a house for a month, pick anywhere for a rental, but one close to what your wish list looks like/feels like.

rent a golf cart, visit the houses, make appointments
visit squares at night,

anything check all your boxes? put in an offer or agree to the new build.

all can be done in one week while here, but the prep is the key
many don't perform the prep ahead of time.

good luck. .

the difference with the poster you question is that he has practice doing such,
many who have lived in a house for 20+ years, do not.

Come in August. That's the HOTTEST month. Very important.

Visit different models of open houses in various parts of the Villages.

This also gives you a chance to meet different sales reps to help pick someone of you decide to start looking to purchase.

Look around
 

If I were making a lifestyle visit, to inspect the place, I would also check out the competition. On Top of the World is only a short drive from TV (at least, from the north end) and StoneCrest is almost across the street (although they may not let you in; Go on a weekend, and say you're there for the open houses - boom - you're in.) Twisted Oaks looks interesting, although it's still mostly vacant land. There are many other similar places, and they will help get you familiar with the geography. Maybe you'll even like them better, or maybe you won't.

I heartily agree with this. We visited in just February; we did not experience the summer. My wife has a sensitivity to the heat here, and spends the majority of her time indoors in the summer months. If we visited also in summer, we would not have moved here.

If We Could Do It All Over
 

Our life style visit was so so. We had relatives we stayed with and already knew what to expect if we moved down. We bought a house which we now use as a rental that brings basically nothing in. Our Life Style visit in Brownwood was nice, but not the best ever. If we did it all over again, I would only stay in the Villages for a small portion of our time and would also visit Peach Tree and Pelican Preserve before choosing a retirement home.

Sorry to hear that our investment homes (3) in TV have always paid the bills, and some of the OPMs. In fall of 2022 we had 19 potential tenants in 36 hours.