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!