I would suggest you rent a house here for several months in each of 2 or 3 widely-scattered Villages to experience reality. Two days, years ago, are not truly indicative of life here. If you approach this with an open mind, you will meet lots of happy and interesting people. --(Along with a few grouches!) Find your spot and give it a try. Pre-owned houses sell very quickly here, normally within days rather than months "up North", if you don't like it. We looked all over the USA for the perfect retirement place. We have been very happy here for 10 years now, and are in the process of building in a newly developed part of The Villages. It will be our third home here and we have enjoyed all of them. New construction just continues to offer different and more desirable features and it is very easy to find your "circle" of friends because we're all in the same retirement boat and headed towards the same destination. Some residents are easy to be around and others just don't quite fit what we look for in friends. Strange thing, is as you move to different areas, you still have old friends in the former locations and they are all close enough to continue relationships easily. For us, the hard part is finding enough time to see everyone you want, when you want.

I guess the cats out of the bag. They had
a recall of all the Debbie Downers in the
world and they all came here.

http://www.dictionary.com/e/wp-conte...bie-Downer.jpg

That's the point I was trying to make and I think I was misunderstood. I think we were being trolled. I think the intention of the original post was to provoke contended individuals [99.9%] to defend the villages. Someone looks at the place 4 years ago and brings it up now. I don't think so.

That question was answered years ago for me...by a very expensive attorney golfing buddy of mine.

He said that his favorite clients are the ones that say...




"It's not the money...it's the principle." :D

"Polar opposite." :D


I like that! :thumbup:

PRINCIPLE.....a lost attribute

"Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost.

John Quincy Adams"

"Our principles are the springs of our actions; our actions, the springs of our happiness or misery. Too much care, therefore, cannot be taken in forming our principles."

"Phillip Skelton"

Hold on...what was the woman who was complaining about the OP complaining about just based on the OP looking at a house?

I don't get it.

You can get a bad neighbor, so it's best to avoid a kissing Lanai. I think the number one reason people give for leaving the Villages are small lots and they could not adjust to it.

Very few people leave, vertically anyway.

I did hear one new reason, the husband was having too much fun.

It's as close to perfect as it gets. I think. It tends to have a lot of old people though.

Being poor anywhere ain't good. Good to have enough money to travel etc.

The most interesting comment on this thread was the poster who said The Villages is a diverse community. Compared to what? I think The Villages has to be one of the most non-diverse communities in the country. And, it is one reason why I like it here.

My theory behind it is if you were basing your opinions that happened four years ago, in a two day span, you might want to either consider re-evaluating, or just looking somewhere else.
Four years ago we were on our second house in TV. I really don’t think any of us can advise you as what to do, other than mentioning you might want to consider staying longer than two days.

TV has gone through unbelievable changes in the last year, much less in four years.

OK. So I waited a while and re-read the OP three times. Here is my two cents. If our community has fallen to last on the list, then maybe the best thing to do is to follow your instincts and feelings. Most of us love love love it here. But, it is not for everyone. I certainly agree that spending more time here would be the best course to take. If you are not able to do that, do what you need to do to make sure that this extremely important decision is correct for you.

You nailed one of the major reasons that many from my home state (PA) will NOT move here, so there you go. Not because of the NON diversity itself, but the intent of residents to keep it so.

Simply based on some folks who had interest and monitored this board for quite some time.

I really don't want to have children and families. I like the grown up population and the fact that we grown ups take good care of our property, most of us.

Wow.. I mean WOW!! - In just 24 hours - 5 PAGES of Replies!

First I want to thank EVERYONE for the feedback on this forum and the PMs that were sent to me (I will eventually reply to all of the PMs).

Two initial things: #1 – Poster by the name “Ingenuity” (who was advised by another Villager while in line at the store about her lawn maintenance and how this lady was going to write her up for not keeping things tidy): I think this is the SAME PERSON who approached us when we were looking at homes. I recall a person came storming across the street and proceeded to tell us exactly how we would have to do things in our yard and if we didn’t do it their way that they would write us up and there would be “Hell to Pay”. So please understand why we got the initial impression that we did… I am sorry for your experience, but I am grateful that we were not the only ones and someone here understands exactly what happened to us.

#2 – I was ready for a blasting, but did not get one. Typically when one posts to a relatively anonymous forum, the claws come out and people can become quite vicious. What I found was that people essentially politely said that there are no higher concentrations of "whiners and busy-bodies" in The Villages than anywhere else. The population in The Villages is greater than 100,000, and since these "cranky" individuals make more noise that the average happy person, it may SEEM that there are a lot of these people in The Villages (higher than normal concentrations). I thank you all for your patience with me and being so understanding of our impressions.

Generosity: A few people went so far as to offer homes to rent and many recommended that we take advantage of the Lifestyle program for a little longer visit. I have to agree, (as was pointed out by some very astute repliers) the change from moving to The Villages from my current location is … large. I have lived in Alaska full-time since 1969. I was also here from 1960-1964 (I was an Army brat and we were in Anchorage during the earthquake). My beautiful bride (we married 24 years ago) is from Pennsylvania, but she has been here in Alaska for about 35 years. So it will not be a small change for us. We do travel and have experienced hot weather and have learned to deal with that like we deal with cold weather. I do believe that we would be best renting or leasing for 6-18 months before buying anywhere.

To all: you HAVE MOVED THE NEEDLE on the meter for me, however, as has been pointed out by a very wise person, “If momma ain’t happy, no one is happy”. So my part is.. , well .., JUST my part. Both parts must be weighed on such an important decision.

I am not sure when we can get to The Villages, but when we do I am looking forward to meeting the kind of people who have replied here. Until that time I will continue to “lurk” (monitor) on this forum, learning more each day.

Finally, thank you all again. You have been a great help to me.

I totally agree with you and I often tell outsiders or visitors that we are very non-diverse.

I like that almost all of our neighbors are just like us - seniors who are just trying to enjoy every day of life.

When we first visited here for a few days in October 2015, we did not go thru a single model home and only drove through one neighborhood, Palo Alto. Instead, we went to the Squares and talked with the people we met. We realized there were a lot of people like us trying to enjoy their lives, so we were hooked.