[Hape2Bhr]

Originally Posted by Michael G.

I just read the best place to retire for all-around weather was S. Carolina

Years ago I would head to Myrtle Beach 2/3 times a year golfing. One November it snowed and from then on Florida became our golf destination.

[MEbner2805]

It’s a bubble away from real world crime, country setting, way more expensive to live anywhere else in FL and we all come here for the social life. It’s a beautiful utopia! Very obvious reasons for most so not sure why you asked this question? You want to pay 400.00 or more association fees elsewhere in FL to live in a bubble or golf course place, Or live in the crime ridden trashed world, go for it!

[Stu from NYC]

Originally Posted by MEbner2805

It’s a bubble away from real world crime, country setting, way more expensive to live anywhere else in FL and we all come here for the social life. It’s a beautiful utopia! Very obvious reasons for most so not sure why you asked this question? You want to pay 400.00 or more association fees elsewhere in FL to live in a bubble or golf course place, Or live in the crime ridden trashed world, go for it!

I am enjoying this thread very interesting stories.

[BigSteph]

On Christmas Day, 2020, my sister informed my parents and my wife and I that she was moving to Florida.

My wife and I have threatened to move to Florida for over a decade, but honestly figured we would wait until our 60's to even think about it.

A few weeks later, my parents called us and stated they were moving to Florida with my sister.

A few hours later, my sister called and said that my parents were definitely not moving in with her in Florida.

A few months later, we went to Disney for 2 weeks. My parents asked that we check out retirement communities in Florida if we had time.

We've been to Disney a dozen times, so we decided to take a look at The Villages. We found several homes that my parents would love. In looking, my wife asked if we could be happy here. During that vacation, we can back up to TV a couple of times and ultimately found a house we like.

We signed a contract a contract on it, got a 60-day close, and came home to Virginia to a cyclone of activity to make it all happen.

By the way, neither of us were retired or 55. My wife works from home and her employer didn't mind she moved. I had to find a place to work. I had extensive interviews with The Villages, but on the last meeting, something happened that I still don't fully understand -- I think it was money. Anyway, I didn't end up working for the Villages and was unemployed for a few months, but we had savings to carry us. I found a good job with a local college.

We are here. We are still not adapted to Florida or TV, but we plan to stay.

By the way, my sister moved to St. Pete and my parents live about 1 mile away from us, South of 44 in The Villages.

If I could go back in time 365 days and ask my 2021 self if I thought I would live in the Villages by the middle of 2021, I would ask me if I had just smoked something.

I don't find Florida or The Villages to be paradise, but I don't hate it either. I'm really just still reeling from everything that happened in 2021 ending in us moving to TV.

Originally Posted by Michael G.

There are retired people from all over the nation that settled down in The Villages, some snowbirds, and some full-time residence.

My question is: "What's your story that brought to TV, and why not other areas in Florida?"

Cheers!

[jbartle1]

We are/were golf nuts. A good friend moved here, we made a visit, 3 times was the charm, found home, love neighborhood, location and weather. We thought NC would be our forever home but our kids live in Winter Park and we wanted to live closer to kids and grand kids. We love this place, I mean REALLY REALLY ❤ this place.

[ChicagoNative]

We had been snowbirding in St. Petersburg since 2000. We liked St. Pete a lot, but after several years of near-miss hurricanes, in Fall of 2017 we started looking for alternatives to Florida Gulf Coast living. Had lunch with a cousin in Chicago earlier that summer who was snowbirding here and told us about the Villages. We booked a lifestyle visit and immediately started researching the area. We had driven up here a few times from St. Pete before our lifestyle preview and really liked the whole concept. We were convinced and set to buy, but decided on a whim to check out a couple communities outside of the bubble, and absolutely fell in love with, and felt at home when we drove through the gates of our current subdivision. After only one visit in mid October of2017, we came back the next week and put a deposit down on a new home being built.

Our lifestyle preview happened the week before Thanksgiving and we used that week here to line up contractors for work we wanted done in our new home. A combination of hurricane fatigue and family who lived in the Villages is what attracted us to the area, and it’s kind of ironic that the hurricane that had St. Pete in its crosshairs took a slight turn at the last minute and came up through here. We also ended up buying right next to the bubble. (Our community shares a border with TV on two sides). After the Floyd riots in 2020, we sold our properties in Chicago and are now full-time Floridians. There are those who make a point of saying that we aren’t true Villagers, that we are “stealing” amenities we don’t pay for by driving on the golf cart paths, using the Squares, yada yada, but it rolls off my back. We love it here. Our next move will be to the cemetery.

[Viking55]

A few years ago we were introduced to pickleball, and began to look for vacation spots where we could play. The Villages came up, and it looked promising. For four years we rented a home for a week in various locations in TV. TV was beautiful, sunny, warm and the pickleball people welcoming even to us strangers. During the last rental my significant other wanted to take in some open houses. We connected with a realtor and ended up (long story) finding a home we liked. Made an offer, which was prescient as, unknown to us, the house had an open house the next day and ended up with 4 couples looking to buy. We were close to retirement, but COVID pushed us out of work, so retirement to TV it was. Love it here.

[bark4me]

Originally Posted by Michael G.

There are retired people from all over the nation that settled down in The Villages, some snowbirds, and some full-time residence.

My question is: "What's your story that brought to TV, and why not other areas in Florida?"

Cheers!

We moved to Fla in 2008 and were living in South Fla. We heard about the Villages in about 8 yrs ago. We have friends that live here too so we started coming up here alot to visit and decided this is where we want to be. So we pulled the plug last year and moved here! And the rest is history

[VILLAGERBB]

Started watching AAN and Jeremiah Hartmann selling Florida real estate. Couldn't believe the prices so after exploring Nevada, Texas, Arizona decided to leave California in 2015 and moved to The Villages. It was not an easy decision.

[Bilyclub]

The OP asked what brought you to The Villages, not Lakeside Landings.

[twoplanekid]

Around the turn of the century, a couple in our church announced that they were relocating from Ohio to a small retirement community in Florida called The Villages. While my dad lived in Englewood, Florida for several years, I had no desire or interest in leaving Ohio.

Several years later around 2007, good friends of ours in Urbana, he is a fellow Urbana High School classmate of mine tried to bid on houses in a retirement community only to always be out bid. Then in 2014, this same couple asked us to share a rental in the Villages for several months. As my wife loves to spend months in Florida during Ohio winters, we agreed and had a very good time although I could only spend one week a month doing so because I was not yet retired.

Because my wife wanted to continue this rental thing, I decided to look at homes I would feel comfortable to own to use as a second/vacation home. She was delighted with my idea and we spent the summer of 2014 looking. We visited in the fall to view a specific house which sold as we were traveling to Florida. However, it only took us two days to find and then offer to purchase our current home in Lake Deaton.

In January of 2015, my wife and I traveled to the Villages to furnish our new home. My brother came down not long after to purchase the last new house on our street some 7 houses from us.

Our only regret with the house was to not have a view of the water. However, this last summer I talked my brother into going in halves with me to purchase a very nice condo unit 75 miles away in Hudson that does overlook the gulf and has a boat dock to boot.

P.S The one couple is still living in the Villages and my classmate/couple is now living in Marsh Bend. Who would have thought?

[patfla06]

My Husband’s company built a Campus in Tampa and moved 4,000
Employees from NYC in the late 90’s.

We lived in Tampa for 17 years with the search for ‘Plan B’ for when
we would retire.

We looked at various places from Ponte Vedra Beach to Sarasota.
We came to T.V. when only Spanish Springs was there, right after they finished Lake Sumter and then, finally, bought in 2013.

T.V. has no competition in our minds. We never saw such energy at any other 55+ communities.

Another plus it is only an hour from where we lived in Tampa.

[cswett5234]

My Mom and StepDad lived in Belleview, FL (just outside of TV). My wife and I would visit them, we're from Maine. Once when we were there, they took us for a tour of TV, said everyone drives around in golf carts, have shows in the square every night, they sorta made fun of it, but we LOVED IT! The energy, the activities, (hardly no children!), so we said were were going to retire there when we're old enough.

Shortly after that, my folks moved to SpanishSprings....Dad's loves playing bridge with his harum of women, plays pickelball, Mom plays golf, they are having a ball.

Can't wait to move down there! I'm 58yrs old now, will probably move down when I'm 63, work fulltime until I can retire at 67....we just had 14" of snow last week, so trust me, I"m ready!!

Clint from Freeport, ME

[kcrazorbackfan]

Back in 2015, we turned the Golf Channel on one night when we lived in Kansas City and Jimmy Robert’s was talking about The Villages; my wife said we should go visit it; been here 7 years now.

[PersonOfInterest]

Originally Posted by Michael G.

There are retired people from all over the nation that settled down in The Villages, some snowbirds, and some full-time residence.

My question is: "What's your story that brought to TV, and why not other areas in Florida?"

Cheers!

Looking for retirement communities and ran across the Villages. Noticed 'free golf', multiple Softball fields and all the recreation. After a few months of research had to come and see it. Bought our house on the 2nd day we were here on a Lifestyle.