Age Requirements
 

Ok, another one for the experts. . .

I understand that a home must be occupied by someone 55+. Does that mean that I can not purchase before I am 55? Could I purchase before hand and then not move in until I am 55?

How strict are they on this requirement?

Thanks,

Tim

The requirement to qualify as an "age restricted community" is that at least 80% of homes must be occupied by someone 55 or older. My understanding is that far more than 80% of homes meet this requirement, and therefore persons under 55 are not excluded. No one under the age of 19 may reside in TV for more than 30 days per year, but otherwise, if you got the money honey, they got the homes.

So I could buy and move in before I'm 55?

Move on In
 

:) Yes, you can move in any time you'd like.

Question (probably a dumb one)....the under 19...30 days..am I correct in assuming that this means a particular individual..not various grandchildren visiting for a week each. (not that I'm anticipating this, just checking...heck, that's why I'm moving 1200 miles away) :p...just kidding

Trish,
It does mean one particular individual. Various grandchildren can visit for a week each-- and I hope they do and you enjoy them all!

Is this Vezina Tim...Are you fond of Black & Gold?

Nope -- Tim from a suburb of Detroit.

anyone of any age (over 18) can be resale homes in the villages. Just cant have children living with them. No age restrictions on buying resales.

Would that be Davison Michigan?

Sterling Heights

As an addition to your grandchildren question.......does anyone really count the number of days each grandchild visits???? If so, how do they manage to do that? Thank you in advance.

Also, we never knew that the resales could be purchased by anyone of any age. We did know about the 80% law. So a young couple in their twenties could buy a resale? A couple in their thirties and forties? But, what if they have children later? The baby gets evicted?????????

You better believe eviction will occur and it should and probably a few fines along the way. We moved here to get away from crying/screaming kids. I love the fact that the number of days kids can visit is limited to 30 per year.

Funny. How would they go about taking the baby away from the parents?
First of all, they probably should not allow people under the 55 to purchase if they are of child rearing age.........

I cannot believe TV has the "power" to evict a baby born to someone who bought a resale.

Does anyone know for sure??

Really....who counts the days of each grandchild's visit so that they know when the 30 days timeframe has expired. I'm serious. Thanks.......

The visitor must have a guest pass to use any facility (pool etc.), and they are issued in 30 day increments.

Thank you for that info. Appreciate it.

The restrictions are there and can be enforced. This article explains how the law came about.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age-restricted_community
This one explains the HOPA law.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Housing...er_Persons_Act
This one is also helpful in understanding the law.
http://www.manufacturedhousing.org/p...10&article=120

SC, they don't take the baby away from the parents. The parents and baby would be required to vacate the property under the authority of the deed restrictions - no exceptions. We all know there are these restrictions when purchasing or at least should know. So if someone has this problem after purchasing a home, they don't have a complaint since they entered into the deed restrictions with eyes wide open. As they say, ignorance is not excuse under the law!

As for your last question, there are a few ways they could find out as far as I know. One would be neighbors who might complain. I do emphasize might! The other would be if they obtained a guest pass for the underaged individual.

My cousins live in a 55+ community in Tavares. Their neighbor divorced and married a much younger woman. She became pregnant and they were told they had to move. When the baby was born they did move but their house didn't sell for a long time and they lost a lot of money as well.

Ayup........we just read all the laws. Good to know. Protects the neighbors.

At 66, we will not be having any more babies, that's for sure. What made me wonder was after reading that people of "any age" can buy the resales.

So, who actually evicts the family? Like a court order? What if they refused to leave? We've never heard of anything like this before. What if they can't sell the house.........and thus, have no place to go.........being in their twenties or thirties and house poor? This is a hypothetical question. Has it ever actually happened in TV?

Our daughter in law did send us the bylaws to read before we enter into any contracts......actually, we have a very angelic 4 month old grandaughter who never screams and cries. Very contented baby.

We live in a neighborhood where everyone is our age and actually when all their grandchildren visit, we never hear a thing. People respect other's properties and "hours of rest and relaxation". Guess it's just a silent thing as we all turn in early. Not to say that the grandparents aren't exhausted after all the fun and games and happiness floating around. Thanks again.

I can't answer all of your questions but I can tell you that the deed restrictions state that the developer is the party that determine who under 55 can purchase under a "hardship exemption" as defined within the DR's and depending on the current 80/20% status. As for who actually evicts? I don't know or know if it's ever happened. But I would presume that the developer could obtain an eviction order from the courts if it became necessary. The owner would probably then either have to sell the property or rent it out! You can find an "example" of a deed restriction at the following pdf document and what you'll be looking for is subdivision 2.25 at the bottom of page 3:

http://www.districtgov.org/images/De...207/S7-140.pdf

or if you have a problem with the above link, go to this link where all DR's can be found:

http://www.districtgov.org/departmen...standards.aspx

Senior. All I can say is that these convenants are enforced. That is the reason we all chose to live here. When you visit it will be clear to you that this place is unlike any other.

Appreciate it. Was just wondering.

Don't worry Gracie.....we have no babies or children moving in with us.

I can well imagine. I think I did read about that case.

There was also a case whereby a family of children lost their parents via death; not sure if it was an accident or what. The grandparents were the only surviving next of kin. What to do? Up here, it would not be a problem to take in the orphans. This can be looked at through many perspectives.

I do "get" the reason for living in an age restricted community, but why would TV even allow "resales" to be sold to people who might conceive a child?

Just thinking aloud.

To me, if it's really 55+ then keep it that way.

There are well behaved intelligent polite children and then there are the ones that drive all of us nuts with the late night skateboarding........which we had in another home we lived in. It all depends on the children I guess.

Thank you.

Federal law won't allow the exclusion.

Boy Howdy.

I have a reputation for loving little ones back in Ohio. I taught kindergarten for several decades and LOVED it and loved my students.

but...I like the restrictions here.

Another good thread with links
 

Here is another thread if you would like more info:

https://www.talkofthevillages.com/fo...hlight=federal

The part most misunderstood about the law is people think the 55+ community MUST allow a person under the age of 55 to purchase up to the 20% threshold. This is not correct.

The law states to be a 55+ community it MUST have 80% of the population over the age of 55, but makes no requirement they allow ANYONE under the age of 55.

I am under 55 (a TV wannabee at this point), single, no human kids (I have a fur kid). When I have gone to open houses in TV I have asked both TV sales reps. and MLS real estate agents if I could buy as I'm under 55, single, no kids. I have been told -- no problem, just have extra paperwork to sign acknowledging the rules about no permanent residents under the age of 19.

Last year when I went to an open house in TV, a TV sales rep. told me about a couple over 55 in TV who gained custody of their grandchildren after their child and their child's spouse were killed in a car accident. This couple had to either sell their home in TV, or only occupy their TV home for one month out of the year to be able to abide by the 30 day rule for visitors under the age of 19. The agent didn't know what they decided to do.

I heard a similar story about a Villager's single child who was a soldier and got killed. The grandparents got custody of the single parent's child who was around 7 or 8. They tried appealing the situation but were told they had to move out of The Villages.

Sounds harsh - but rules are rules. Their neighbors did not buy in The Villages to be next door to children. If you would allow one child who may be extremely well-mannered to stay permanently with grandparents, how would the board justify the same situation with a very loud and ill-mannered child?

I know I'm probably asking for trouble, here...but:

I'm an under 55 wannabe (and an empty-nester). I understand that TV is a +55 lifestyle community, but it would seem that there should be a "hardship exemption" for situations such as these? Forcing the residents to sell their home because their grandchildren were orphaned in a tragic twist of fate and had no other surviving family seems a little harsh...after all, this was neither a conscious choice (but something that no one could have possibly foreseen), nor a situation any of us would ever want to find ourselves facing. I agree that rules are rules, but as my elementary school language arts teacher always told us, "For every rule, there is an exception." (IMHO) :undecided:

I wonder what this couple decided to do...situations like this can happen where grandparents end up raising grandchildren...it happened in my own family. My paternal grandparents got custody of 3 of my cousins who were orphans, and my cousins lived with my grandparents for several years. Not a pleasant situation to think about, but people with kids should have a plan on who would raise their kids if something would happen to both parents at the same time. Now I will stop being Debbie Downer.

One way to look at it, thousands of buyers in The Villages paid the extra cost of living here just because of the Kids rule. It would be a slap in the face to every one of those folks if one exception was granted. To change any rule so controversial after the fact is a very very slippery slope. Keep it just like it is and enforce it. I would rather see my fees go toward compensating the loss of money for someone that had exceptional circumstances rather than bend a firm rule.

Furry ones are often sometimes very "human".

Now, I'm just curious. Would you or anyone else say that the large majority of folks who buy in TV only buy in for the lack of children allowed?

Or would you say, that it's just one of the nice things about being in any 55+ community for those who loved their own kids, their grandkids but prefer a quieter lifestyle.......or neighborhood in their mature years....which I can relate to.

How do TV residents truly feel about the visiting grandchildren of neighbors?
School vacations come around every few months it seems and I would think April would be a prime time to visit the old folks.......plus summer vacation.

But that would be when everyone returns to the north, correct?

I did read Leisureville awhile back........our adult kids seemed shocked by it as did the author who couldn't understand why his neighbor across the way, who by the way, had no children......was so happy to leave a neighborhood up north with children.

The author felt that children enriched the neighborhood and that the older population certainly enriched his child's life.

We can vouch for that as when we were raising our family, we had neighbors who were like additional grandparents to all of us. We would entertain them in our homes and they would have all of us over for dinner and parties.

We miss them all now that they are gone.

Would anyone care to answer this question? How many child lovers do exist in TV? Besides Gracie.

(versus say how many truly would prefer never to see a youngster on their street).......thanks in advance.

Well, that is interesting. So, it's all in the interpretation....not so much the enforcement. Thanks......

My wife and I were denied purchasing a condo in an over 55 community in MA a couple of years ago as we were under 53 at the time. I spoke with the grand poobah of the community (I forget his title), explaining we had no children living with us, how close we were to 55 and that we already owned a home in The Villages. Unlike TV, their community had no exceptions, you must have one person 55 or older.

In this economy, it was actually a good break for us ;)

Let me start off by saying that I love children. We live in a neighborhood in VA close to all the military bases. So every two to four years (usually four) we get a new group of children coming in. Hubby and I are known as the grandparents in the culdesac! (that's funny as we do not have any grandkids of our own...and really we are too young to be grandparents anyway!) The neighbors always include us in everything. And when the husbands are away the families know we are just a phone call away.

I love to see the grandkids at the squares dancing with their grandparents and I also like to see the pride and happiness they bring to granny and pops. Maybe someday (when we have grandkids) they will be dancing on the squares with us. I do not like to see the older kids driving golf carts...it seems most of them drive irresponsibly and quite frankly I do not see any reason why they are aloud to drive carts w/o supervision.

Hubby and I just love TV. We are moving to TV because we love the friendliness, the beauty, the recreation, the fun...the lifestyle! I love the fact that kids can come visit for thirty days at a time...what a great place to come for summer vacation! What a sad situation for a child to lose his/her parents and and their grandparents having to raise them. But if everybody's grandkids started moving in full time it would become like any other neighborhood. It would no longer be a 55+ community with the lifestlye we all moved here for!

That makes quite a bit of sense to me. I agree that people's grandchildren should not be moving in with them. It defeats the purpose of what a 55+ community was intended for.

You explained your love of children very well. Children brighten all of our lives.

Children can come to visit for 30 days at a time, meaning a stretch of 30 days or is it 30 days per year?

Ours have already said that yes they would come to visit, but I'd bet they'd be spending most of their time at Disney World, Sea World, MGM Studios, Harry Potter, etc. I also would not want children driving the golf carts.
Thanks for sharing.

That's true.