Curious About the Villages
 

Good Morning and thank you for taking a moment to read this post. I am in the final stages of making my decision as to whether or not to relocate from Atlanta to the Villages. I've heard so much "chatter" on the web about the social life there and would appreciate it if some of you kind folks that live there would mind sharing with me the real truth about how much opportunity there is to be socially involved. To give you a sense of a little about me, here's a brief comment - I'm in great shape physically and am 6'6" tall. I've been recently widowed due to COVID and am desire being surrounded by lots of people as a support system. I love to have fun and and want to enjoy life ....again.

Thanks for reading this blurrb.

I am really sorry for your recent loss. While I really enjoy The Villages, I would recommend renting for a season to see if it is really for you. This has two advantages. First, your will be totally immersed in The Villages without any serious financial commitment. Second, you can easily visit other retirement communities within Florida using this as a home base. As a golfer, I enjoy the wide number of courses both within TV and nearby. There are also more clubs than you can imagine. Finally, if you decide to take the plunge, spend a month looking at a variety of home styles to see which you would prefer. Also, think about the type of homesite you would like. (For some, an interior lot is just dandy. Others want a view from their lanai. Basically, you pay more for the better view. ) Good luck and have fun!

Sorry for your loss.

Before moving here earlier this year we rented for a month which was great in helping us to decide to come and where to look for house.

With hindsight would have rented for longer.

Spend a lot of time here on the boards and info will help to tell you what you should do

I agree with above, rent and explore. There some differences between the older and newer areas, some good some maybe not so good. Also you will need to decide on new home (southern areas only) or resale, the rest of TV. This site has a book available which I believe is a very good resource for background info and things to think about. As others said, sorry for your loss. Just as a note, you will not be seeing TV at its best, the epidemic has put a damper on many activities and limited attendance on others, but I am hoping that the country will find a way to fix this.

So sorry for your loss. To answer your question, if there's one thing the Villages provides, it's opportunity for a social life. It's unlikely you'll find any retirement community in the country, or perhaps the world, that has more opportunities to get involved and take part in activities and events. The action has slowed considerably since the pandemic, but when it's over, you'll have a hard time narrowing down all the options at your fingertips. All the best whatever you decide.

Here's a taste of what you can expect. Recreation | The Villages Florida

Sorry to hear about your wife. The Villages is whatever and as much as you want to make of it. Of course it's slow right now. Just like every where there are some bad apples, but theyt are out numbered 50 to 1 with very nice people.

Many Thanks!
 

Thanks very much to each of you that responded to my original post. You have helped me confirm that my strategy to rent, is a good one and in fact, I fully intend to do exactly that for at least the first year.

FYI ~ I am making another trip to TV November 4 - 7 and if you have any specific suggestions of "must see or do", or some social event or activity you feel worthwhile, please drop me another note.

Lastly, feel free to give me a call on my mobile: 770 331 1586

Larry

Rent for at least three years. People are nice because so far people are nice. You will find that it is claustrophobic in the sameness of everything. A new town square is like the old town square dressed up in a different theme. You are not that dumb. Calling it a different name doesn’t make it different.

Due to the virus not a lot of social activity going on now. Bunch of exercise like stuff.

I would find a real estate agent to take you around some and walk around the squares you should find some folks to talk to and discuss life here.

3 days is not enough time to figure out this place and IMHO think 3 years to rent is too much.

As I said before on this thread we rented for a month and it gave us a better idea as to where we wanted to be it was not enough time to really know this place.

I highly recommend that you not publish your phone number on this site, especially since you also used your e-mail address as your forum name. This is a public forum, anyone in the world with internet access can view it. Including people who would LOVE nothing better than to send you thousands of phone calls every week telling you how much money you won in an irish sweepstakes, or how you can help them get money transferred from the prince of Nigeria to your bank account.

I just returned from my first visit, and among the other things that were "different", not negative just a change.....were there is very little or no diversity. I live in the Dallas area, and it's like the UN here. I mentioned it to someone I met at pickleball, and she said, "No one moves here for "diversity"! Well, I guess I knew that, I just wasn't prepared for the total lack of cultural diversity. Did anyone else have this same feeling the first time they came to visit?

What I first noticed was most folks are here to escape long cold northern winters. We are pretty old demographically so not diverse age-wise.
"In Sumter County, Florida, the oldest county on this list, there are 141 residents age 65 or older for every 100 adults between the ages of 18 and 64. Jul 15, 2019." Retirement hot spots: The oldest counties sorted by state
After all, The Villages is the world's largest 55 and over community. What has driven most of us here is we no longer want to deal with shoveling snow and all that goes with long harsh winters. We also may have been motivated to move here to seek relief from high cost of living states since we are mostly retired. Although some are native Floridians and from the southern tier of states, such as the great state of Texas - Hook 'em Horns - we are pretty much a yankee colony plopped down in the middle of Sumter County, an otherwise rural relatively sparsely populated Central Florida agricultural area. It is more like Manhattan, KS than Manhattan NY, culture-wise. After all TV is not a megalopolis although you might be amazed at the lives many Villagers have lead in careers taking them all over the world and their accomplishments. Some come from Europe or elsewhere around the globe and of course many Canadians enjoy wintering here.

Well, my family added diversity to TV. My uncle’s family is from different parts of Europe, later my mom and dad came to TV from another area of Europe, and now I am from another continent myself. We all spoke several languages, none of them was English initially. So yes, we do contribute diversity to culture here.

I concur, tv is not the most diverse area to buy a house, but then TV is more about the 55+ active lifestyle, and there is a minimum income and wealth to buy and live. . . not excessive, but a decent social security/pension income and enough resources to not have a mortgage. That can range from buying a villa to a designer. Renting here in retirement would be expensive.

But outside the villages, there is plenty of diversity if you are interested in a near by development.

sportsguy

My wife is from Malta. Do I get extra credit? lol