We're Committed...How Did You All Do It?
 

We are Pat and Tom from Michigan and will be full time villagers by the end of this year...we can't wait! Tom is retiring and I will continue to work in health care for several years when we arrive. All our planning is in full swing and we are VERY overwhelmed with it all! We have researched TV for over a year, got the book, did the Lifestyle preview plan and read so much of the priceless advice given on this forum...thank you to everyone that contributes!

It seems the advice given over and over is to take our time to be sure to purchase a home that is best suited to our needs/wants. This approach does seem to be the best and least stressful for our situation, but we're conflicted about wasting money renting and having to put our stuff in storage and then move again once we purchase our home. Does anyone have any additional insight to help make this decision clearer for us? How did you all do it?

We didn't want to do the renting/stuff in storage, etc. either.

We saw a Spec house with a water view and bought it the same day.
The hard part - we haven't sold our house yet.

We still don't regret it because the prices have gone up twice
since then.
The easy part is we only live an hour from T.V.

That being said we had been visiting T.V. For 10 years so the "decision"
wasn't all that sudden.

It's a hard decision and you really have to think about what is easiest to live with.

Wishing you good luck!

I don't think anyone could give an accurate count of how many times this story has been reported on TOTV, almost word for word. I'd also submit that it is, by far, the narrative of the largest number of folks who live in TV.

Sooo - thousands of TV'rs CAN'T BE WRONG !! Go for it !!

and, Good Luck !!!

Welcome to TOTV. Have you considered renting an UN-furnished home in The Villages to eliminate putting your stuff in storage. There are several available and can be rented month to month.

The number of Villagers moving to other homes within TV 2-3 times after getting here speaks to the notion that there isn't really a home "best-suited" to one's needs for the rest of their life. At various life stages we need varying types of homes.

Narrow down your search by price range, neighborhood/village, type of home, closeness to your favorite town square if that matters.....and then....Just Do It. Consider leaving your furniture and most belongings in storage in MI for a few months, and buying new key groups of furniture here if you can afford it. THEN go back and look at your stuff.

You'll probably see you have way too much stuff you thought you would "need" here, and it will probably look tired and maybe old. Sell what you don't want there in MI and bring the rest carefully chosen to add into your new place/decor here. It's best to not move unwanted/unneeded furniture and belongings because moving it is expensive ($1 per pound, most people say), and you may want a fresher look here....in your new life.

It is a lot less expensive to put the stuff in storage then having to sell and buy again 'cause you made a mistake. Homes do sell quickly here, but there are always costs involved and you would have moving expenses again. Think about getting a pod and putting what you won't need till you move in to your home in pod storage till you are ready. This will allow you time to decompress from the huge step of moving and give you the time needed to explore different villages and models. Hindsight is 20/20!

we rented three time before we bought and i don't think it was a waste of money at all this way we knew what we wanted when we bought

We bought after looking three days. Wanted to avoid the double move. We were willing to build if we needed to but found the perfect house. In our case we knew it when we saw it.

Bare in mind that storage here in Florida is not cheap! This due to the local environmental conditions.

When we learned of this we opted to donate our "northern" furniture.

We lucked out and bought a turn key with furniture we could live with for a year and swop out pieces we didn't care for; saved on the moving van which we dreaded from the start.

IMHO people re-buy here because of first mistakes ie. bought too much house...bought too little house...bought wrong location.

Study LOCATION. If you are going to be Frogs...how far do you want to drive the cart for the quart of milk you forgot when your 80?
Where are the pickle ball courts? How far to the square, pool,groceries, doctor?

Wow...all really insightful perspectives! Thank you!

We are donating/leaving behind a lot of our current furniture/stuff and just bringing personal/can't do without items, so if we do rent first a furnished rental would be required.

Location (to whatever you think is a priority in TV) does seem to be the most noted consideration on TOTV...we will give that a higher weight moving forward!

Here's another question...if we build is it important to be nearby and present during the building process rather than in Michigan?

The first home we bought was for us to live in half year, snowbirding home. We decorated it with found stuff and fun stuff and enjoyed it for four years.

The home we built a year ago in October was a full time residence AND we had sold our first home here and our residence in Cincy and we were homeless. One of the kind souls on this forum offered us their home in Harmeswood to rent while our home was being built and we drove down pulling a big rental trailer with our stuff to put in the large garage of the rental. We had our really GOOD furniture packed into a POD and stored during our home build, the rest we put in a storage unit in Cincy. We moved into our new house in October and in November Sweetie drove down all alone and through a snowstorm with a big rental UHaul truck. We contracted to have unloaders unload the furniture, but we brought a lot of boxes from the garage in Harmeswood to our new house in our van. Sweetie did most of the heavy stuff, I hate to admit that I can't lift heavy stuff like I used too.

I want to point out one thing that we sometimes fail to see. We are going through a LOT of life changes in this move, most of us. We are ceasing working, we are moving away from known and loved people and known and accepted ways of doing things. We are forced to give up, and sometimes give away things that we had planned for, saved for and worked for and we do not have the stamina for the physical part of the move that we once had. We, as a couple, went through more serious and tense situations that we did not expect and I feel we have a wonderful marriage but we really, really lashed out at each other due to frustration and stress. Now the stress was not over terribly important things, like a life threatening illness but it was TOUGH. Kids can really hand out a guilt trip to a lot of us for leaving them.

I have had a couple of dear friends move here and buckle under the stress or the after effects of the move for awhile, so give yourself all of the kindness and slack you can, because emotionally it is very HARD to do even if you want to do it.

If you find yourself down, or sad or unexplainably moody, seek a doctor's help. It is more common than you know and since we are old "soldiers" we tend to ignore our own emotional battles sometimes.

We hate renting. So we looked around for a couple of days and decided on an area (we wanted to be just south of CR 466). We bought right away. That was in 2007 and we've never regretted it for a second.

Wow graciegirl you have hit the nail on the head! Thank you so much for your insightful post! There are so many things to consider to make this move and being a type A personality I'm trying to get it all just right! However, I'm beginning to realize that I may have to just go with my best effort and see where it leads us! Tom reminds me everyday that we have survived much worse then finally moving toward our long time dream!

We started looking at the Villages five years ago and dreaming about getting a place here someday. Well that day has finally come. We bought a lot in Fernandina last summer and built a house which was completed in May and is waiting for us.

We both retired this year, just sold our house up here in Michigan, purged, sold, and gave away lots of our "stuff", packed and cleaned and went through the closing process. Surprisingly we survived this whole process which at times was questionable.

The movers came yesterday and pulled out with the rest of our belongings. It was sad doing the final walk through of our now empty house and pulling out of the driveway for the last time but exciting because we know what we have waiting for us.
We will be saying goodbye to our friends this weekend and heading out for our new life in The Villages.

The last month has been emotionally draining but we are ready for a new chapter in our lives with new friends we will meet and lots of fun activities that we will finally have time to enjoy!

:agree: As usual, well said GG!

Wishing you all the best with your new life! Your shared experience gives us strength...thank you! Hopefully we will meet someday!

Michiganders: Wishing you all the best. We will see you soon in Fernandina.

Graciegirl, as usual your advice/wisdom is right on. May send you a PM when I get a chance to comment further in the midst of packing.

Graciegirl - your post really resonated with me.
Very insightful and I like that you told the good and the bad.
CHANGE is never easy.

Moving and changing your life can test even decades old, GOOD marriages.
I'm hoping the end result will be worth it.
We can't wait to move to T.V. Full time.

Insurance for those of us in the same boat
 

We are in the same situation. We live all the way across the country so considering flying and renting for three months this year and then longer next season if we love it.
Just got off the phone with the insurance company.(Gieco)
CAR----If I put extra car in storage they will give us a 75% rebate on car insurance for the months we aren't driving it. It will be covered for theft and fire etc. and it will cover my rental car for 30 days but will have to get insurance from the rental car company after 30 days.

Furniture and stuff--- If house is sold and stuff in storage use sons address and get rental insurance and stuff will be covered in storage even though it's not at our sons place, sounds weird but that's what they said, they said they just need an physical address to attach the coverage to and that it covers all items even those in storage.

Golf cart in Rental--- Liability covered under umbrella policy if someone sues me but collision and injury to myself not covered and coverage not available as I don't own it. If I owned the cart could add to my car insurance policy but not as a rental.


Your insurance company may say different depending on policies available.
Just what mine said.

Great post, GG. Thank you!

These are just the kind of details that have to be handled to make this all work that can drive you to drink!! :wine:

Renting could be viewed as a waste of money but you also need to ask yourself what is the cost of buying the wrong house in the wrong area

From one Michigander to another...welcome to the villages!

The last one out of Michigan please turn out the lights.

It is/was a ton of work but worth ever bit of it!

You are so right...that is exactly what we're struggling with!

Hi fellow Michigander! How did you make the move? Did you buy or rent first?

I would do this to help make the best decision possible. Narrow it down to 2 or 3 different homes and 3 or 4 locations you like. Find a similar home in one of those locations and rent it for a month. Try another type home in another location. After 3 months buy your preferred type home in your preferred location. It is a very low cost investment to help you make the best possible decision. Low season rents are around $1200 a month and high season around $3400 a month. So for around $6000 you can make a very informed decision. You will then have the perfect home in the perfect location for you based on your experience. Many who have moved or bought something they wish they had not, would pay 3 times that for a do over.

I don't know you but I love your wisdom and sage advise given on these post!

We did the exact same thing, jojo, and no regrets so far!
Furthermore,
THE ABSOLUTE PERFECT HOUSE DOES NOT EXISTS

Yes, one plans and looks, but there will be a point when it becomes overwhelming and no longer fun...

We did about 3 LSL visits and decided THIS IS IT and we bought new. We come down as often as possible and wish we could be full time but I've got to close down my practice and it's going to take a little more time.

Go for it. You can always sell a house if you don't like it or its' location. We've had numerous people ask if we are interested in selling our place. Of course my answer is always a resounding NO.

Good Luck with your decisions!

You can pick a location you like and style of home but you cannot pick your neighbors. It is the luck of the draw. Even in an established neighborhood it would be next to impossible to determine if your neighbors are compatible with your lifestyle until you have lived there for a while. Just go for it and hope for the best. The odds are in your favor because there are so many good neighbors in TV.

Veni vidi vici. We came, we saw, we bought. It may not be the right house exactly but we have big dogs and the thought of trying to find someone who was thrilled to rent to people with more than one huge dog wasn't going to be easy. We wanted to know that our home was ours and that we could do what we wanted to with it. That the furniture we brought to fit it was going to fit and that things were decided when we moved down. We wanted done to be done. We didn't have the luxury of moving more than once and making our family of canines and us settle in again and again. We figure it'll work out. We have faith. So far we haven't moved in yet but if we have to move after we do move in then we will. I'm not really worried about it though. I like the house we bought and feel great about it. Can't wait to move into it and meet our neighbors.

lovsthosebigdogs, What village did you end up buying in? And did you buy a courtyard villa? (I understand many dog owners like CYVs).

We've been to TV twice looking at homes...you do just have to go for it at some point! Good Luck with your decisions! Thanks for the pep talk!

Feeling like we're leaning the same way even though we don't have big dogs! Looks like you'll be moving in soon..let us know how the dogs like it! Good Luck!

We are getting closer to narrowing down our choices but problem is timing and available rentals in the neighborhoods we're looking at.

Yes, we bought in Tamarind Grove and we bought a CYV. For us that was not only an easy decision, but it was the only decision since we have sighthounds and they do not respect an invisible fence.

Hello from Michigan.
We came in Jan 2012 for a visit; bought a lot; built and just celebrated our 1st anniversary in TV.
Like Nike says Just do it.

keithwand, Congrats to you on your first anniversary in TV!

I can tell you the first move is always the hardset, each additional move gets some what easier. My wife and I have moved 14 times now. Each move we clean out stuff, and each move we seem to have more stuff. We made a rule if we have not unpacked the box from one move to another then we most likely don't need it. We also believe that a house does not make a home, what makes our home is our hearts and our relationship.

Good luck with all your decisions. They are not easy ones, and we did find the thoughts from the TOTV people very helpful, especially the contradictory ones because they made us think! We waited until we sold our house in VA before committing to one here. We had visited many times and did not feel the need to rent. We had been tracking a long list of homes for sale, so when the time came, we sent a list of about a dozen to our agent and we hit the road running when we came down to buy. We knew some of the activities that we wanted to participate in and we knew where those activities met. Based on that, we drew a circle on the map that would put us closest to all of them, or at least central to most, and that became our target area. We were not concerned about being in a new neighborhood because we have found in the past that our friends tend to be those who we do things with, not just the people we live near. We also thought a preowned home would suit us well because some of the work we might want to do would already be done. As it turned out, we bought a style that was different than what we originally thought we would get because this particular house just had a really good "fit" for us. We thought we wanted a designer and ended up with a cottage "At Ease". So, I guess that's a long-winded way of saying that when you do look, be open to a lot of different things out there. The right one is there, but it may not be what you think initially! Again, good luck and welcome to TV soon!

Thank you! You're right that everyone sharing their experiences/opinions is making us think about things we wouldn't have and it's really helpful and appreciated! We have completed our priority list of things we both feel are "must haves" but have also decided not to limit ourselves too much and to keep an open mind about new build vs pre-owned until we arrive and actually shop for homes.