Talk of The Villages Florida - Help ! I need some positive reassurance

Talk of The Villages Florida (https://www.talkofthevillages.com/forums/)

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- - Help ! I need some positive reassurance (https://www.talkofthevillages.com/forums/villages-florida-general-discussion-73/help-i-need-some-positive-reassurance-117318/)

Its a wonderful place to live. Tons of friendly people. Something to do and stay active everyday of the year... Rain or shine... And your already plugged into the best site for the best information on The Villages... Welcome... Welcome... Welcome....

Hi everyone,
We are from Selden LI, we will be closing on our house on and around Aug. 15th so we should be there early Sept or Oct.. We look forward to meeting all of you. BTW thanks for the reassurance. Nick

The reality is that unusual circumstance can get you no matter where you are. The number of people here who are impacted by lightning and sinkholes in The Villages is barely negligible. Come on down and don't worry! See ya at the Square.:a040:

Absolutely Nothing

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sicknotto (Post 890754)

Hello everyone,
My wife and I have heard about TV for quite some time from friends and neighbors here on Long Island so this past April we drove down and visited. WOW, was all we could say, what a beautiful fun place to live and the people we met who live there having the time of their lives WOW. After much discussion we put our house on the market, accepted an offer and are soon going to contract. BUT now after reading about sinkholes, lightning strikes causing house fires I am afraid I'm getting cold feet while my wife has a carefree let's give it a shot attitude I'm the nervous nelly.
Could some of you PLEASE remind me of all the great lives you are now living it would sure make me feel better about our decision to become a Villager. Thanks for your help. Nick

Said in a few words, there is absolutely nothing that I don't like about The Villages. Oh, the traffic ticks up during "the season", but that's no different than any other place in warm weather locations during the winter up north. And even our elevated traffic is nowhere near what folks have to navigate in places like you live in Long Island.

If someone asked me to list the things I like about The Villages as well as the things I don't like, it would take a long time to create both lists. But one would have a whole bunch of entries, The other would be a blank page.

C'mon down.

s/ An Eight Year Frog

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cisco Kid (Post 890968)

You left out the coming range war with the Stoners.
The thousands of wild dogs that run wild on your lawn and do there business.
The evil developer.
The crime wave.
The IRS Bond Issue.
Global warming ? FL is the 1st state to flood.
just for starters,,,,,,,,,,,,

Ha-Ha " range war with the Stoners" now THAT'S funny:a040:

We are in the same position as the original poster on this subject. We just spent two weeks in the Villages and both of us fell in love. It isn't perfect, but it sure does give perfect a really good go!
We made peace with the lower quality home/much smaller quality home for the money than we have now; partially because in two weeks we basically only used the house to eat , bathe and sleep :>)
Now that we are back in the "real world" and crunching numbers and weighing pros and cons we are left with only ONE thing that is holding us back. It isn't that there are sinkholes. It is that sinkhole insurance isn't available and/or is highly tenuous as to whether it will renew and at what price.
We have good first hand experience with hurricanes, floods and tornadoes as we are originally from South Louisiana so we aren't natural disaster lightweights. The difference is that we have always had, at reasonable cost, insurance riders for said disasters.
I figure if TV averages 2 sinkholes per year that ARE NOT catastrophic and therefore not covered by normal homeowners insurance but still leave you with a massive ($50-250k) bill to properly fill them in...each home would have about a 1 in 6000 chance of having this bill over 10 years. Those are decent odds; BUT if you are the 1 and the bill eats the bulk of your retirement nest egg and leaves you unable to support yourself in retirement the odds aren't going to matter much.
On the other hand, if TV in general and/or individual Districts set up some type of "self-insurance" to cover either deductibles for those lucky enough to get coverage or cost of repairs for those who can't get it it would cost very little per homeowner to cover a guesstimate of 2 sinkholes per year. Even using a high cost of $150k each, at buildout that would mean a whopping contribution of $5 per year per household to the fund.
This wouldn't be rocket science to set up either. Perhaps charge every household that wishes to participate $50 to join the "sinkhole pool," no pun intended, and $5 per year to remain a part of the pool. The initial contribution alone with an 80% participation rate pulls in about $250k as a starter fund. If these numbers aren't adequate they can always be tweaked. Even if residents had to put in $50 or $100 every year that beats the heck out of sinkhole coverage. It is also in line with the spirit of community that TV fosters, and lets us take care of our own (think barn raising style). It also would eliminate the horror of fighting insurance companies for payments and would possible let TV find reputable, excellent service providers to "contract" with at good rates to take care of this. The developer can handle his own sinkholes :>).
Has anyone considered this self-insurance option?
Thanks everyone. We so want to be there but are financially just not able to reconcile gambling with such a huge chunk of our retirement nest egg.