I prefer the see and touch and feel as well, however, ours was an impulse buy having seen the success of these types of developments. And having done many of those check it out behaviors, the final buildout from a very early purchase, is unable to anticipate ALL the changes which might have come about.

Sometimes the highway noise is unnoticeable, other times very noticeable. .
The developer decorated the softball field with baby trees under massive live oaks, with the trees right in line between my front patio and the home plate, blocking my view of the actions. . several houses on my road have their line of site to home plate blocked.
Sometimes pools go in after the house is sold, and changes the vies from the lanai.

The future is uncertain, sometimes at times more uncertain than at other times.
Sometimes the future works like you hope, sometimes it doesn't

But everyone has different tolerances and desires,
so its better to just observe the other crazy people,

and just keep saying "I am the only sane one, I am the only sane one"

On a lifestyle visit, we almost had a deal signed for a pre-owned home in one of the Villages. Seemed like a nice area.

Then we decided to take the golf cart there from Brownwood. It was a neverending journey and we realized how isolated that Village was. That one hour golf cart ride saved us from making a not so great decision with 400k on the line.

We then decided to take the golf cart to all potential properties and found a new home south of Brownwood that was under 10 minutes by cart and also under 10 minutes by cart to a major plaza. Exactly what we wanted, but would've had no idea without spending the time comparing in person.

Looking at a map doesn't scale well at all in TV. What might look like 5 mins away can be 20 minutes.

Thanks to everyone who responded. A lot of good information and advice here.

On the note of medical care and hospitals I came across this video from villager Skip Smith concerning the one star rating of TV Hospital. What are your thoughts on this and how accurate do you believe it is ? What do you believe will/should be done to correct this if anything ?



Is The ONE STAR RATING At The Villages Florida Hospital as Bad as it Sounds ?

Be careful of buying a home without the necessary commercial and grocery stores nearby. Middleton has a town center being built but it may be awhile before the stores are leased. The same with Eastport. Many erroneously expect once the squares are built, everything will be at fingertips. It doesn't work that way. You can build the store and commercial frontage but you can't make a business lease them. This takes time! It took Brownwood several years before it reached full capacity.

That's a bit draconian to say that one can't/shouldn't/must be careful to buy prior to services being available nearby. All depends upon one's needs versus wants versus wait time versus what's available. .

Although true you have to wait, prior to buying in Marsh Bend, we would drive our car to get groceries, and before magnolia plaza was completed, we still drove the car to get groceries, so if you know how to drive a car, you can still get groceries, and even gas, doesn't mean you can't buy a house where you want to buy it, and wait for the stopping plazas to get built out.

getting golf cart gas is a bigger issue nearby than groceries, so if there isn't gas nearby, getting a 5 gallon container for buying and storing golf cart gas is almost a requirement.

Rent
 

It’s much cheaper to rent a house for the year and look around. Renting is between half and 2/3;the price of monthly payments of buying right now. There is no need to rush for sure.

I wouldn't be surprised if cart gas become available at a local maintenance shed as happened at Fenny.

Maybe part off the problem is growth is so fast here commercial business start construction late relative to demand. Parking lots fill the day new business open.

Magnolia Plaza is already so busy it's hard to find a parking spot during typical busy shopping times.

We can walk or cart to Magnolia plaza, so we tend to go shopping on off hours or during dinner time, after dinner, to avoid the rush. .

finding parking sports is indicative of the balance between too many grocery stores being too close together that each doesn't become profitable (sales cannabalization of each others' stores) and the developer building small parking lots. I have see architects in other scenarios also grossly underestimate parking requirements. . . like toilet requirements at work, there were several hundred people on the floor, and two johns and one urinal for the mens' room. . . some stupid arcane formula which doesn't nearly work well when you have to go, usually all at the same time.

For the above reason, the developer wants to start commercial with enough demand that the store owner doesn't go bankrupt waiting for the house sales and occupancy. . I am sure on that one the developer and the retailer are in agreement on behind closed doors.

No doubt there.

I'm not sure they foresaw the numbers of Wildwood/Middleton customers shopping there.

Not a complaint, good to see some diversity, just an observation.

LOL Boston Post Road! Lived on it for 40 years!!