We have been here since June of 2005 and I still like the Villages. Mainly because we got very lucky with our neighbors.

For over a decade I’ve dreamed of buying a home in TV and that dream became a reality 3 weeks ago. Whenever I was asked where I wanted to retire and spoke enthusiastically about TV I received “that look” or comments about STD’s, orgies and swingers. I came up with the perfect response and it works every time. With a big smile and a laugh I say “I’m so glad you heard that rumor! Please do me a favor and keep spreading it because it’s getting really crowded and I wish less people would move to TV”.

I've been gone from tv for 3 years ..when I tell people I lived there I watch there expression and there all negative,....I loved it there If you like it don't worry what they say .

I wish we were having as much fun as these other people think we're having

Let em be
 

Let em prattle on - there is NO PLACE with more to do than here. And golf carts mean even when you are old and can't drive a car you can still get by on a golf cart. I have to admit seeing a bunch of old people in one place kinda shocks me sometimes - it's like oh yeah I'm old

Heat and humidity will always beat the freezing cold, ice and snow for me. You take your life in your hands to travel in that mess. Heat and humidity does not threaten your life to go to the grocery store. But, that's just me.

After my third time of acquiring an STD here in the Villages I've calmed down and now enjoy more of the other activities the Villages has to offer.

Of course I'm kidding! But there are some things about the Villages that one could perceive as negatives, but for the most part its a great place to live IF you want to be active and involved in sports, games and hobbies. Most residents of TV are here for FUN and are very active in sports, games, hobbies and clubs. I believe relationships take a back seat to all the activities. Most have lots of 'friends' they engage with, but few close relationships. There seems to be little time put into relationships compared to activities. The commonalities are different here also. There's less chance that you have family here or a friend you went to school with. Ties with family are remote as are close friends of many years. The Villages is a usually short term place of residence in the passage of life. I doubt there are many who have been here 20+ years. And most of that is about the Year-Round residents, with even less association for those who are Seasonal residents. Is the Villages your HOME or is it your playground? For most it is not home, but just a place to have FUN. Even many full time residents spend a good deal of time going back HOME to visit with family. TV residents are burdened with high costs for much of what's available along with poor service and workmanship in many cases. Its hard to find someone to paint your house, groom your dog, install a pool, Enclose your Lanai and on and on. Most businesses and contractors in the area have too much business already and don't necessarily need yours. The activities are plentiful, but often times too crowded to enjoy. There are 'unfair' practices that you will have to accept from a community that is run by the Family. They are in full control of virtually everything and as a resident you are at their mercy. Try to get more pickleball courts in your area or remove the unfair tee time advantage of large groups (over 32), or get free access to recreation gyms and exercise equipment as other retirement communities have, and you'll quickly find that it is not going to happen even if you amassed hundreds of followers in agreement. There is no petitioning or voting to change what you may not like.

I feel that its still one of the best places to live in retirement, but you need to be accepting of its downsides. Most don't even notice the downsides or even care because they're just here to have some fun. I'm a full time resident and I like and Enjoy TV, but I do recognize its not Utopia, and I'm OK with that.

Traffic? Did you say traffic? We just drove from south Florida from a cruise. Now THAT'S TRAFFIC. What we have here is not traffic..........at all.

Sorry to inform you that "The Villages" does have a bad reputation going back 20 or more years.
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Seems when doing your homework you were using the wrong books or media.
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Do you read the "Daily (we will print only what we want you to know) Sun"? Never anything negative is published about TV as it's printed to be another sales tool.
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In time you will learn many negatives if happen to talk to people who have lived there for many years.
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If you live South of CR-44 that perhaps was your first mistake as you do not have decent Shopping and many Restaurants. You need to drive north. Too bad the new Morse generation is only concerned about making even more money than they need.
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Presently they are more concerned with building "Charter Schools" (which happens to be good for students) and low-cost housing so people will work in The Villages and can send their children to the Charter Schools. This is not a bad idea for their well-being if you think about this as it's their solution to survive. To line their pockets they need workers to survive building homes in TV and if they ever decide to build shopping and restaurants for your convenience.
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How many "Publix" food stores are open South of CR-44 in The Villages? Just how many people live on the south side? I will now call it the "South Side" from now on in my comments. Believe it or not, Recently I messaged my last Village salesperson for an answer. No reply at all seems this as well also on the do not tell list.
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When we built in "Amelia" in 2009 we were told by the cloned salespeople they would never build South of CR-466A. Then in 2018, we moved to "Pine Hills" and again were told that the Morses have no desire to build South of CR-44. Little did we know they had purchased these properties many years before by using other companies they own.
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Sorry to make your day.

That's what A/C is for. There are so many activities that can be done indoors when the heat and humitidy is oppressive. Personally, I love indoor stuff to do. I also love working outdoors in the yard but do it in the morning in summer months. Up north, there is no good time to work in the yard in winter because everything is frozen. LOL.

Back in Minnesota we embraced all the seasons. Winter was a challenge but we were outside quite a lot doing winter gardening.

In a nutshell!

Agreed, and good points, especially the one about density per square mile. I've only been to Alaska once (went there by accident) but the points made, make sense.

However The Villages isn't about population density. The name says it all. Villages. Our Village is maybe four blocks off El Camino Real, which can be a real traffic bear, but in our Village it is all about peace, quiet, and neighbors interacting. The most traffic noise we ever hear back here is the garbage truck twice a week, and the occasional landscaping crew.

It is that way, living space - wise, all over The Villages. The Villages grow OUT, not UP. Most of us come from cities where stacking the people on top of one another can lead (not necessarily all the time, of course) to housing developments where the negatives predominate. Here, in our Village, the new villages south of 466 might as well be on the moon.

The one exception to the above, is that infrastructure here doesn't seem to keep up with development--though, realistically, it is probably that way in just about every area in America experiencing explosive growth. Example, that road construction zone up near Sam's Club on 441 (and I use the term "construction" very loosely, as there seems to be precious little constructing actually going on there) is a traffic nightmare and has been for years, particularly in high snowbird season, though that is a political, not a social issue. But infrastructure catches up in time. There is no reason to think that it won't here in The Villages, as well.

That is absolutely true. Thanks for sharing. I have lived here 11 years and I very grateful to do so.

People are just jealous. All my family always want to come to The Villages.

Indeed!

Want to know just how much the negativity (media, word-of-mouth), is slowing development in TV? Well, we have some friends up north who want to come down for a week on the Lifestyle program. I recall when we did that, maybe seven years ago now. We called at the end of January and had no problem arranging a place in early March. Now? We called on Thursday last and got our answer.

May! And the person who makes those arrangements for The Villages indicated that "they fill up FAST".

There are and will always be those whose greatest joy in life is casting aspersions. But The Villages isn't the largest retirement community on the planet and growing explosively, because of the negatives.

If I told people I know back home that I live in Wildwood they would think I was living at the Jersey shore! 🤣

Yup! Many, many more die from cold weather than do from hot weather...

I'll take my chances in the heat...

Yawn... Same old, same old...

We used to cruise 3 or 4 times a year during the winter and met many people from TV onboard. In fact, before we actually drove to TV, most of our info was from cruisers and those free golf for life commercials. We should have listened to those people way back then and built a second house in TV instead of Rome WI, but we were young and dumb. We did meet a small amount of people that bailed out of TV and went to OTOW because they felt TV was too busy activity wise.

Yep.

Quite a lot of half-empty glasses around these here parts...

It’s funny, we’ve had the same experience just THINKING about moving to TV. We’ve been on two lifestyle visits and plan on moving to TV in the future. Our friends are very opinionated about it as well. Like you, I just stopped talking about it. We know what we like and don’t feel it necessary to explain or defend it to anyone. You live in a wonderful place and should enjoy it. I find most people are just envious. Enjoy your new home!

I'll never understand the criticism that The Villages is "too busy activity wise". You don't have to do any of it if you don't want to. Why move from such a gorgeous place on earth just because you don't want to play?

From people who. no longer live in TV...

Seems they must continue to trash the place to make themselves feel better about leaving...

There are some videos on YouTube of golf carting in The Villages. Just send them one of those and they will get a whole different feel just from taking a golf cart ride on line.

When the last critic came out with stuff about TV a good friend that lives in Sarasota started breaking my .... so I deceided to look up the STD occurrences in the State of Florida and Sarasota among many others had a higher rate. So life is what it is and truth and false are fungible in a media that wants to sell the outlandish. Enjoy your new home and location for the things you will find that fit your needs realizing with 130,000+ people needs vary widely.

We live here in TV fifteen years, the first few as snowflakes, and was here when Andrew Blechman's LEISUREVILLE hit the stands and caused quite a stir. I contacted Blechman through his publisher and took him to task for his focus on Captain Midnight (you can guess), STDs, and transsexual Wendy (who happened to be a friend—we played trivia on the same team). Not a word about fundraising for various situations and good causes, nothing about volunteering at the hospital in spectacular numbers, no mention of entire neighborhoods looking out for a neighbor in need.

It turned out that his beef was with seniors removing themselves from their jhome communities where they still had a viable and important role to 'isolate' themselves in senior communities, and The Villages was the best one to use as an example because of its size and popularity. I reminded him that that was a nice thought BUT ... the job of God was taken already, that he (Blechman) wasn't qualified for it anyway, and that seniors did not need his criticism for choosing a lifestyle that they felt was appropriate for them.

I notified him several years later when Wendy died. He offered condolences and said she was a 'classy lady.' Indeed she was!


Thanks for a cogent, thoughtful post. I've found that many (most?) people who come from west and south of New Jersey think only of 'that big place down there' when they hear 'New York' and are clueless that New York State has areas of stunning beauty, awesome natural attractions, unique cultural offerings, and so much more. When I describe sunsets from our (now former) backyard—'over the ridge across the fields'—at times the response is 'In New York? Not possible!'

But as the quoted points out, there's no convincing anyone, nor should there be. You're absolutely right—;That ain't gonna change.''

http://https://www.dropbox.com/s/s8p...unset.jpg?dl=0

Its what your happy with If The Villages offers you everything you want in retirement so be it . 1 shoe does not fit everyone. Even though Fl. weather in the winter is great and no income taxes the cost of living is getting expense such as home owners insurance and congestion

Great post. I agree with everything there and, of course, I would add the HEAT of the summer which is really for 6 months in Fl. And Science says that it will increase for the next 30 years. People tend to forget that there are 2 other BIG factors the affect the HEAT index (how heat is perceived).........NOT just the weather reported high temperature (which is read or forecast for IN THE SHADE.
........The other obvious factor is HUMIDITY, which runs very high in Central Florida.
........The FACTOR that tends to be OVERLOOKED is that we are closer to the EQUATOR than say Tn. or Kansas, which means that Fl SUN is butt-kickingly INTENSE.
........WIND is also a factor, but Fl is just about average in that regard (except for the yearly hurricanes).
.........So, basically, I don't think that I will get hired as a Florida Chamber of Commerce consultant.

Good neighbors can help. One of our neighbors was a couple and the man died at about age 60. His wife went back up north and left the house to deteriorate to the point of mold and RATS. Our other neighbor PPPPPed us off after moving here in ONE WEEK. That was 9 years ago and we have NOT SPOKEN since. Funny, I NEVER got that WHOLE "forgive and forget" concept. Maybe I will IMPROVE for the next LIFETIME. Who knows?

Yes! Thank you! I’m an introvert and have social anxiety at large gatherings. My husband is the opposite. I love the well maintained beauty here, the wildlife, and fun golf cart rides. He is in a big club (model trains), and loves talking with our neighbors when he sees them outside. I socialize with one or two ladies at a time, and go to the pools to swim and float around by myself or with him. We love going out to eat just the two of us, or with one other couple. It’s all good! We’re both very happy here. 😊

Yes - Have Had Your Experience
 

In this world of plenty - it is filled with people looking to prove they've made better decisions than you - and they want to educate you on how not to make the same mistake you've made again - even if it isn't a mistake. Makes them feel smarter about their decisions - and smarter about themselves.

Example. Due to my "weird career" - I've lived in 37 different homes. Various places. Urban. Suburban. Flat. Wooded. Hot. Cold. Reality - I've found a way to enjoy every place I've lived - adapt to what is best about it. It's lots about attitude.

Having said that - I continue to hear the challenges - both outside The Villages and inside.

My take:
1) There is not place I'd rather be. I wake up every morning thanking God we found this place by accident.

2) When somebody shares the "sex stories" - I simply share that I love that reputation - even though it is not true - because it does reinforce we are active positive people living hear. I then share "isn't that the most brilliant marketing gimmick by the Developer" - which reinforces the best place to live for people who are looking for an active life?

3) When I hear the complaints about The Developer, I sometimes even agree. In my opinion, they have demonstrated different values than prior generations. However, even with the annoyances of some of their decisions (closing Katie Belle's was STUPID - in my opinion) - there is still no place I'd rather be. I've checked many.

4) When I hear how big it has gotten - to me it is similar to living in a suburb of a city and complaining the surrounding city is getting too big. Frankly, our little section of The Villages feels about the same as it did years ago - with a little more annoying traffic a few times a day on the major roads. I'm just hoping we get big enough so that COSTCO builds a store closer.

5) Will the honeymoon wear off? Depends on your definition. After a while, we settled in more. We go to the Squares less often. We go to the Country Clubs less often. They were more "exciting" when we first moved here - and we still enjoy them. But, we found that sometimes staying home and watching a Netflix movie together is more relaxing. Analogy: when I first met the woman who became my wife, like many, the "affection" part of the relationship was "much more active" than now. New. Exciting. And fell in love. The love hasn't diminished because the more "exciting" aspects became less frequent - we just settled into our comfort zones together. After the honeymoon doesn't have to mean bad - success for me is blending into a comfort zone together.

Summary. Don't worry about defending your decision. Focus on what you like - why it was the best decision for you. Remember, it is not in other people's interest to prove to you how smart you are - it is in their personal interest to prove to themselves that they are smarter than you.

Hope that helps.

"It turned out that his beef was with seniors removing themselves from their jhome communities where they still had a viable and important role to 'isolate' themselves in senior communities, and The Villages was the best one to use as an example because of its size and popularity."

Interesting! We encountered kind of the same mindset among some Minnesotans when we (and a whole lot of others) decided to abandon L'etoile du nord for the land of sun and sand. Near as I could make out it really had nothing to do with our "viable and important role" in our home communities, but really more about what we were taking with us. Of course there were/are various reasons for not moving, but in a nutshell the ones who COULD afford to move, often did, and that meant taking our money, toys, spending power and various accounts with us.

Minnesota has been hemorrhaging money for some years now as the more affluent seniors as well as younger folks still working but able to move, have been fleeing the state like deranged lemmings. The population numbers in Minnesota overall have remained pretty stable, but as the people with the money leave they're being replaced by folks who more often than not see a "career" as slurping at the public trough. A third-grader can do that kind of arithmetic.

Guilt trip about shirking our responsibilities? Read "tax base". THAT is the real reason.

Excellent post and fully agree!

It CAN threaten someone's life if they are playing softball or tennis. I, personally, saw a man fall face down in the infield in a softball game from the HEAT and humidity and just BEING in the SUN. helped drag him into the shade while the ambulance was called. Same thing at a tennis match. SPLAT he hit the asphalt and was bleeding from the face.
........They were engaged in an outdoor COMPETETIVE activity in the summer heat. That is WAY, WAY, different than driving to Publix with the A/C on. Maybe someday the outdoor activities players will have INDIVIDUAL A/C, but it is NOT yet developed.

Very TRUE. Pretty much a top-down flow of authority. Maybe someone in Russia will BUY the Villages.

to summarize:

We are free to move about the country, and since we don't know how long we are going to live, I want to have fun and live an active lifestyle. If you don't like it, you can GFY. .

pretty simple concept . .

And the author writing a story with his own bias? there is no reality, there are only people's perceptions of it. and everyone is unique. . .

A "telling it like it IS" post.

Difficult to play soccer inside unless TV Land builds an indoor professional-sized field house with A/C ........I am sure that ALL TV Land residents would cheerfully OK having their activities fee TRIPLED to build that.
........Raise the taxes, build that.......and "they WILL come".

Every animal population has a "holding capacity", which depends on available food, range, and infrastructure in humans' case. At some point, for humans, the "quality of life" starts dropping. I am just hypothesizing that both the US and The Villages MAY (?) have crossed that threshold.