[LI SNOWBIRD]

We managed to blossom from Flake to Snowbird and and are loving it! In reading TOTV it is heartening to see people from all walks of life and from many diverse areas with at least one thing in common--love for TV.
I was just wondering how did you learn about TV?
For us it was my wife's coworker telling her abou this place she visited in Fl. We were interested in a condo in the Orlando area and politely ignored her suggestion to check out TV. She kept it up and up, and up until we actually came for a visit and fell in love. We bought soon after and never regretted it. She never bought here! I still can't figure that out.
Now we recommednd TV to all-- invite family and friends to visit and borrow the life for a while.

[kb8tpw]

We first saw the villages in the early 1990s when we were looking to possibly settle in Florida after retirement. Went to a small place which had about 6-7 manufactured houses on 42. It naturally is complete now and looks very nice, but the villages is all around it - then it wasn't. We opted out for the time being and returned to Ohio. Some years later we saw the ads on FOX News, and said "oh I remember that place" lets check it out, as I was retiring a second time. Two life style previews and 3-4 years later we reserved a lot in August of 2009, purchased a year ago last week, closed on 22 March, moved on 14 May and now call St Charles our home. We listen intently when family members bend our ear on the phone about their snow and ice, but setting on the deck for dinner at the Harborside Bar and Grill on New Years day with temps in the 70s watching the herons and sea gulls dive bomb Lake Sumter prompted us to decide we had made a good move.....

[JohnFromMaine]

I first saw TV ads for The Villages, while watching golf tournaments, at least 8 or 10 years ago. The line; "Free golf for life" got my attention. In 2003, when I retired, I Googled TV and asked for the DVD package. After I moved onto a golf course (Highland Green) in Maine and got re-hooked on golf, I rented here in January 2009 and was sold. In September of 2009 I came back and bought my place in Amelia. I'm now a very happy seasonal resident playing golf year round.

[seashorecaroline]

My friend has known about the Villages for over 11 years. She has relatives who live nearby and always wanted to retire to the Villages. She was going for a lifestyle visit in November and asked me to join her so I did. I fell instantly in love with the Villages! She is retiring April 1st and purchased her dream home last weekend. I put my house up for sale last weekend and once it sells I will be able to purchase my dream home in the Villages too!

[Bill-n-Brillo]

My parents spent their winters down in the Haines City area for a number of years. When Sandy and I would drive down from OH to visit them, we'd drive right through TV. But that dates back starting 20+ years ago. So we'd been aware of TV but only started getting interested in seeking out our own place to spend winters a few years ago...........and TV came to mind. Friends of my sister (who owns a wintertime RV lot in Davenport) had bought in TV - they invited us all to come over to see their place about 2 years ago when we were visiting my sister. That little visit led to a couple of other visits "while we were in the neighborhood" shortly after that.....then some vacation time taken to check things out further......and the rest is history! We couldn't have found a better place to suit our needs and taste!

Bill

[logdog]

I first "heard" of The Villages about 6-7 years ago while watching golf tournaments. My golf buddies back then used to talk about the free golf advertised on the TV commercials.

I "learned" about The Villages here on TOTV.

After that, it only took one lifestyle visit to confirm that everything I learned on TOTV was true and that this was the place to come and croak.

[Pturner]

First heard of it from the hokey ads. Then hubby met people who lived in TV and loved it. Then visited.

Girl (me) meets boy (well, TV)
Girl falls in love.
Rest is history.

[lightworker888]

to clog in The Villages. That was about 5 years ago when she gave us a video to watch and I always thought it would be a great place to vacation as we have 2 dogs.

In 2008 we were looking for some place to visit and remembered the video so we sent for a new one and then decided to try it out. I discovered thevillages4rent while googling and found a CY for a month that looked just right for us. We didn't have any idea about location but took a chance.

Well as it turned out the lady whom we rented from, was selling, as she had remarried and it was a turnkey setup so after 2 weeks renting, we decided to take the plunge and become owners.

The real selling features were the neighbours, the location (Poinciana) and the activities. We get down for 2 months in the spring and fall and we rent out the winter to help defray costs.

I figure that we have summer weather for 8 straight months so winter in Canada is something we can handle. And fortunately in Stratford, ON we aren't getting hit as hard as most locations I am reading about.

We really feel blessed to have found our piece of paradise down south and in fact for us it is still even more terrific than anything we could have imagined.

Dreaming of being back down there,
LW888

[KayakerNC]

Reading Leisureville by Andrew Blechman was my introduction to The Villages concept.
Love the villages....the book, not so much.

Saw it about 15 years ago and did a tour. Had looked a couple of times after that. Only day visits. Visited a friend about 3 years ago for a few days and was hooked. Came back in 2009 and bought a patio villa. Move full time in July of 2011.

[mikeandnancy1112]

We first heard about the Villages in 2000 while watching the golf channel and living in the Smokey Mountains of North Carolina.

[rirlam]

We checked into it and found we knew people who lived here. We checked it out with them, got the DVD, came for a visit and fell in love with the place.

[Double Bogie]

We live in Michigan. Years ago while renting cottages "Up north" as the northern part of the state is referred to, we stayed at a place in Central Lake and another on Torch Lake. We used to go to this tourist place called Brownwood Acres where they made cherry butter along with various jams, mustards, etc. There were a few gift shops, a schoolhouse that had fallen thru the icy waters of Torch Lake while being moved and a great restaurant. We eventually bought a cottage up there and enjoyed it for many years. One day while at Brownwood someone said something about a man from the area starting a retirement community in central Florida where you could golf free for life. It was called The Villages. Then we started to see the ads on TV and wondered if it was the same place that people "up north" were talking about. We were visiting family in Winter Haven and decided to check out TV and came for the day and took the trolley ride. Then we did the LSV in Sept 2009 followed by a month rental in April 2010, another week over the 4th of July last year and a week over Labor Day last year, staying in different villages, different types of villas, homes. We looked at many places and found our little pre-owned home. Closed last October. Hope this isn't to long but I just viewed the latest update to the newest town square. You will find it along with videos of Brownwood in the latest edition of the villages magazine on line. Just brought back some amazing memories. Sitting up here in Michigan with a foot of snow on my patio. Hope to be down there as a part time resident next year after retirement!

[ladydoc]

My uncle's daughter told us about it. I never thought hubby would be interested, but I was, happily, wrong. We are coming in Feb-March for a look around and maybe buy. We don't fly and it is a 3600 mile round trip drive, so we are not inclined to do a lot of looky loos. We usually know fairly quickly if something is right for us. Since we have four legged kids, we have to get a courtyard villa, but some I have seen online look lovely.

[Army Guy]

Fox News Channel during the Presidential Election Coverage from the Square.

Army Guy