TOTV educated us so much prior to our move to TV last fall. I would encourage you to research TOTV for any questions you may have. I found my beautician, nail tech, landscaper and many other services right here thanks to all the nice folks who take time to answer the forum questions. Thanks all!

we bought the first house because thats what fit in our budget, the second house because it fit in our budget, when we are full time i am sure it will be the home we love not due to our budget:$:

Ya, that lady came to my house too. I said I was busy, but would take the basket and look through it. She said 'oh no, I have to help you review the information'. Don't let her in the house. Just say 'not interested, thank you'

I agree with this first post! Give yourself a little time before deciding on "stuff to do".

Don't panic about rumors.
 

Do NOT believe rumors. We do rumors as well as a hundred thousand people with time on their hands can do. We excel at them. We jump, leap and catapault to conclusions and we are excellent at theories of all kinds.

If you want to know the truth, call Janet Tutts office, or the Daily Sun or send a PM to Village07. I have NEVER known her to post any incorrect information.

This is a great post - thanks to Gracie and all who contributed!! Hope to be there in about a year!

The only negative to having an unlisted number is the fact that you won't be in the Villages phone book.

Thank you GG and to all who gave such great advice.

Posting this for two reasons:
1) Just bought in Hillsborough and will be up in a few months.
2) "Bumping" so others may give their advice !!!!

Keep the advice coming - it is REALLY HELPFUL !!

:BigApplause:

Before you pick any service tell them NO money till job completed to your satisfaction. Landscapers are notorious for one half down.

We just spent 2 weeks in our new Designer Home in the Village of Fernandina setting up media equipment, kitchen essentials, linens, bedrooms, etc......and am interested in Gracie's comment about waiting to add Gutters in rear of house at patio area..........as this was one of our concerns that we were going to address as a first priority. Seems gutters were installed in front only.

Also the model of home we purchased lends itself to screen enclosing the front area thus providing an ideal outdoor seating area that would catch morning sun. Was thinking an added attraction would be to open front door and lanai door to allow cross ventilation during cooler season.

Any thoughts about screening and/or adding gutters?

All homes here come with front gutters only. I believe that is because they REALLY aren't needed anywhere, other than when you emerge from the front of your home during a rain, the drip off would fall on your head. Up north most gutters are to direct the rain away from the foundation because there are so many basements. Many folks who install gutters will argue that you need to have that moisture away from your house so as not to breed termites. Well the base soil most everywhere around here is sand and sand really absorbs water and quickly wicks it everywhere. I know this because I taught kindergarten for thirty years and I have a graduate degree in sandbox. I think the termite thing is a bit of a scare tactic, but I could be wrong and frequently am. They treat a new house for termites and it should be protected for several years and most people buy the termite protection too.

AND we just got gutters installed for less than five hundred dollars and they did a terrific job and the only difference we can see is that now the water doesn't sheet off the back of the house but runs through gutters and comes out the spout. It disappears almost immediately both before and after the gutters and in five minutes, unless you have a low spot, you can't tell it rained.

I don't know why we had them installed now that we did.

As far as phone numbers are concerned, sign up for Gmail and then get a Google Voice phone number, it's free. You can give that number out and control it from Google. You can have forwarded to your regular number and it will tell you who is calling (it requires the person say a name before it forwards the call). I use it for my house that I am renting right now and it lets me screen out unwanted calls. You can also use it to make calls, so they can not "capture" your number.

Gracie-

((I taught kindergarten for thirty years and I have a graduate degree in sandbox.))

I loved your comment. I enjoy reading all your posts!
I also taught elementary school for 32 yrs- K to 6th grade.
Once we arrive in the villages, I hope we have the occasion to meet.
We are currently trying to sell our place in MA. Once sold, we'll rent a CYV and start the hunt to buy.

Gutters across the back were the first thing we installed on our new home. This was because the rain was bouncing off the ground and splashing into the lanai. The gutters took care of that problem immediately.

Then we notice staining beginning on the driveway from water running off the garage roof. So up went gutters across the garage. we didn't gutter the sides or the front (other than what was there over the front porch) as we hope the rain will help water the landscaping.

We used the lanai for six months and bounced landscaping ideas back and forth. We finally came up with what we wanted most--something beautiful to look at when sitting back there. The front is landscaped too, but we really concentrated on the back, where we would see and enjoy it most.

One more thing--at the risk of starting another poop thread!--IF you bring a dog, keep it off of other people's property, pick up after it, and don't deposit bags of poop in the trash cans at the mailbox centers--PLEASE!

Save time and energy
 

Especially if you are building, get the "messy" things done before you move in, like the garage floor, crown moulding and painting. If you are changing counter tops or flooring try to get that done prior to moving in as well. It will save you from having to move furniture and avoid a mess throughout your home with stuff in it. The house is easier to work on and clean when empty. Also, if you are having multiple contractors in to do things, keep a calendar with who's coming and what time. It will get very confusing if you don't and you may miss an appointment. Lastly, when having contractors in your house, make sure you put away your purse, wallet and valuables.....you never know. Have fun with the whole experience!

Yes I use Google Voice/Chat as well.
If you have a particularly annoying caller you can program it so if they call again they hear a "This number no longer in service" message. You can have custom voicemail messages for every different number if you wish.

I purchased a cottage home a year ago and it did not include gutters. Told they were not needed. After a few rains had stains in the front and rear walkways and rain pouring in as you entered the house.
I called the warranty department and they recommended a village builder who cost less then $500 and $1,100 less than having the big box vendor install!

As was mentioned in a pervious post, try to get together with your neighbors and hire the same lawn maintenance company, especially if you will be away for any extended period. It is easy for a company to skip one house once in awhile, but not easy to skip a whole neighborhood.

Watch out for the phony welcome to the villages lady! She will tell you she is from the villages just to get into your home . She has a basket full of little trinkets that are all linked to company's who are selling stuff and she also is trying to push a water softening company. Don't let her in the front door . I asked her to leave around 5 minutes into her act. You have lots of time to find the right contractors to get things done around here. You might want to use Angie's List to see what contractors are recomended in this area.

Just a bit of information, if you are looking to have these installed ,they range from 3 bucks a foot to 1 dollar a foot. Downspouts run 30 bucks and down installed. You can use the search box on here and find all the info you need about gutters.

Gracie, we should have known you were a Kindergarten teacher! Remember the poster "Everything I Needed to Learn I Learned in Kindergarten"? It should also say ...and on TOTV!

Just my 2 cents worth -

Came up for an LSV 2 weeks ago. Had a definite house in mind - Cottage home - Hammock! Even had an exact house/address.

Long story short - loved the house but not the lot. Everything is a give and take. Found a house - an Anchor. Not our ideal house but loved the lot so we bought it.

Not telling anyone to "settle" but unless you build your dream house you will eventually have to ascertain what features are important to you.

:wave:

Absolutely. I so agree. Gracie's warmth and diplomacy shine through. I thought she might have been a teacher or a therapist. Now that we know she taught kdg. it makes perfect sense.

Point well taken. I was unwilling to spend the money on the lot premium to build my originally anticipated house. Then again, even if my dream house existed, I probably couldn't afford it anyway. So, we all settle one way or the other, but I remind myself that it's the people that make TV special.

How does one access "Seniors vs Crime" ? We are moving to the Villages in October. We may need to add a few touches to the preowned home that was taken care of so well.

Depending on what county you are in they are listed at this link for "Seniors vs Crime".
Office Locations

We just closed on our pre-owned courtyard villa in April after close to seven years of studying the situation in TV and religiously following this forum.

It was LOCATION-LOCATION-LOCATION up north and it is the same here... although for different reasons.

If I could offer any advise at all it would be to be doubly cautious of any units location to roads (lanai facing road/cart path) , pickle ball courts and lanais in close proximity to neighbors lanai.

Cart ride distance to groceries is important too.

Maybe it's just me but I think about getting a quart of milk when I'm 80!

Other than that you can hardly miss here.

We just started using cell phones exclusively...no issues.

No sales people of any kind have shown up at the front door...just great people with dinner for two newbies that were obviously worn out!

Graciegirl... great idea for a thread. Thxs. I can only stress, having been a frequent reader here, that anyone with a concern or seeking advice may want to voice themselves here on TOTV. So many friendly and wise contributors.

thinking about moveing to the villages what about the maintance fees

Best bet - scroll down to the bottom of the main forum page to "Nuts and Bolts of The Villages."

Good 3 part post with a lot of information. (Don't know when it was updated last). Good reading.

We don't enjoy renting, so we did just the opposite of what rjm suggests. We decided we wanted to live in "central Villages", and bought on our first visit in 2007. We've never regretted our decision for a minute! We wanted to get to know our neighbors and not rent in a new area every year. We wanted to hang our clothes in the closet, buy a king size bed, and customize our home with solar tubes and a birdcage. We wanted to know that when we travel, we can return to our home in TV, and our bed that is reserved only for our use!

I'm not suggesting this is the right way to do things. Some peeps like to go slow and take their time. Others like to jump in and swim. It's all good.

Thanks for the input......I think we may be trying to do too much. We are trying to get insight from someone who has been there. The hot garage has got to go.....😝
Pauline

Be aware of the Palm tree door knockers too!! I'm not saying that the Palm trees they are trying to sell you are good or bad. I heard pros and cons so do your homework before purchasing.. Again, talk to neighbors. If it is to good to be true then it is.

The problem here is that usually an issue cuts as much as it kicks. for instance a repeated complaint has been he abuse of a land line. Up north in Minnesota as the population increased instead of recycling phone numbers the stat expand its area codes hence no one had a recycled phone. Like one poster we too were assigned a recycled number and that guy was also a dead beat and for about five years we had collection agencies calling at all hours.. We want a land line in he event of an emergency. Comcast solved our problem with ID caller and now we can dcide if we want to answer a call or not.....

When you get here, drive around everywhere and observe the place. Find out where everything is located, and check out what everyone has done with landscaping, driveways, gutters, etc. It's a pretty fascinating place and you can learn a lot just by looking at what's here.

ABSOLUTELY great advice and couldn't have put it better. We're retired. We have the time to scope things out, talk to neighbors etc. There is NO urgency to hurry anything.

TO MOD:

Great idea to make this a sticky !!!!


:BigApplause: :BigApplause:

Newbie in Village of Pinellas
 

Our close date is July 2nd. Move in date July 9th. Thanks for all of the "newbie" advice. I like to have my eyes wide open!!!

Call Seniors vs Crimes first before you hire someone. I did exactly what your not suppose to do, I paid a tree trimmer Rob Williams of "Quality Tree" for work and he took off. I reported it to SVC and learned he did the same thing to at least 8 other people.

Be aware about leaving your garage door open when just moving in. Car in the driveway, garage packed full of boxes and all your stuff from your former home. It's an open invitation to the "Village Street Cruisers", looking for the new one moving in, deals, one time offers, trees, driveway, lightning rods, lawn & shrubs, pine mulch, stones, water softners, etc, etc.
Yee Gods, Our first weeks of residency just passed before my eyes..........