I think you misunderstood

It's like buying and moving in and then asking if there is a roof. Would you just assume there is a roof? Would you assume thre is good water? Would you assume there is anything when spending what amounts to the largest ?purchase most people make.

My point was why buy in the villages before you know what you are buying. Quality of construction was a number one concern when we were looking into purchasing. Asking after moving in if the homes are built well, seems a bit too late, whether there is a hurricane coming or not.

I don't feel that is condescending at all.

I definitely misunderstood and apologize. There are definitely things I, as a lifelong northerner, would not have even thought to ask about til after I had already decided to move to the Villages.

The lovebug issue is one - we don't have them up north, and I would never have thought to even ask about it, until reading posts here and seeing an actual infestation INSIDE one of the homes we looked at last September.

Another would be visibility in the golf cart tunnels. Until driving through one in the Villages, I didn't even know they existed, let alone wonder whether or not visibility inside them is difficult or that one's golf cart needs to be specially equipped to handle them.

The smell of the water when you get your car washed after driving through love bugs...never, ever, ever. Not ever, in a million years would I have ever thought to ask about that. And I didn't ask about it. The single-most disgusting smell, worse than when I went to summer camp and had to take my turn cleaning the latrines.

And then to find out that this is what the entire neighborhood smells like at 6AM when everyone's sprinklers go off...if I had known then - but I didn't know to ask because this kind of thing just isn't a thing in the north. It's a foreign concept to us. It's like when someone comes up north and doesn't know to ask about snow tires or all-weather radials.

1. What does the length of time to build the house have to do with quality?
2. I had three houses built up north. Quality builders. One or two workers would show up then delays for the next tradesman to appear. In the Villages I have never seen less than three on a site or a day without activity.
3. I trust The Villages. The better question is "Can I trust my homeowner's insurance?"

Absolutely agree, there are things that are "obvious" (build quality) and things one can not know - you can't know what you don't know.

That is why so many take multiple trips and stay sometimes for months until they are comfortable with what they think they know before buying!

In our case we came 4 times before purchasing, each trip had a different purpose. Wife and I then had a couple long discussions and came to our conclusion. One of the conclusions was that there were still a lot of things we didn't know, and if they were bad, we would deal with them when they happened.

According to https://www.techjunkie.com : "According to the Google Earth blog, Google Earth updates about once a month. However, this doesn't mean that every image is updated once a month – far from it. In fact, the average map data is between one and three years old"

Yep. I’ve definitely seen that three-year-old-aerials thing many times for myself.

Trying to gauge TV pond level fluctuations using Google maps would not yield any meaningful results.

According to Google Earth our home that we are moving into next week is an open field with no roads or houses.

Seriously? Do you believe that those are live images?

I've lived in Florida for over 30 years now, but much further south. I weathered many a 'cane down there, but in 2017 we had a mandatory evacuation (only 5 feet above sea level) and I evacuated to - ta da - The Villages. And now I live here. I feel much safer here, than I did 250 miles south of here.

First, in my opinion, there is no worry about a storm surge here, and secondly, by the time a 'cane gets here, from further south, it's usually a Cat 1 or less. When I had my home inspected, I did a wind mitigation inspection, and the roof is tied down to code, and I received an insurance discount. I don't know about the mobile homes, though, nor tornado codes. With all that said, any storm, given the proper angle the wind hits your home, it could cause damage.

I agree...…………….

Its not TV. any company is only as good as its worst employee, just hope the employees of the sub contractors who worked on your house ,really cared--then you're safe--inspectors, can't check everything--they , and I know I owned a construction company, put their faith on your integrity--in general they knew my men & I exceeded the code requirements

The OPs original post contained a valid question, and did not seem to imply the construction was bad. The title of the thread was unfortunate IMO, seeming to imply there was reason to not trust "The Villages".

I would think a buyer in Florida would ask the seller or builder about the Hurricane protection built into the home if they are concerned. It's hard to answer that question here not knowing your home.

I was not actually just thinking about me when I was contemplating these questions. But in general, as I have friends in TV who are interested.

My realtor (the seller had dementia) would get upset if I asked so much as how to change the electricity into my name after closing etc. preferred not to have me ask too many questions. The realtor was not representing me.

I found out the rating of my house through research myself. I appreciate you trying to answer though.

Yes, it did seem to imply. In fact, I believe that it did indeed imply. It certainly did not seem like a search for information.