In the middle of winter and experience how cold and crowded it actually is.

We came down in October 2015 and stayed at the Comfort Inn for a few days. We did not look at any houses. We looked at Spanish Springs and Lake Sumter Landing and saw people like us everywhere, so we figured we could fit in here.

Before we left, we got some info from the sales center and liked what we saw, so we went back to Virginia and got our house ready to sell.

We also found TOTV and asked a LOT of questions to help us decide where we wanted to live. Then we contacted a realtor to help us find a house or choose a lot to have a new house built. Then we moved here in May 2016.

Depends on where you are coming from, The Villages is different, laid back, and no shoveling snow !

Go to the pools and ask the people about flooding, sink holes, available golf times etc etc. Try and find people you can talk too. If you have an area picked out go there and see how the streets and lawns look and how rain water will flow.
I would do the rent for as long as you can and also look at other communities in the center of the state. Remember you will not be on vacation but yes you will want lots of activities. I ended up in Ocala after doing the above.

yes, be prepared:

get pre qualified by citizens bank if you are renting money
get an appraisal of your current house, subtract 10% for commission and unforeseen issues
have your list of requirements and wishes and a top price range.
then ask / search on those requirements on line,
see how far that will go. . .

sort the list in the order of preferences

make a life style visit or rent a house for a month, pick anywhere for a rental, but one close to what your wish list looks like/feels like.

rent a golf cart, visit the houses, make appointments
visit squares at night,

anything check all your boxes? put in an offer or agree to the new build.

all can be done in one week while here, but the prep is the key
many don't perform the prep ahead of time.

good luck. .

the difference with the poster you question is that he has practice doing such,
many who have lived in a house for 20+ years, do not.

Come in August. That's the HOTTEST month. Very important.

Visit different models of open houses in various parts of the Villages.

This also gives you a chance to meet different sales reps to help pick someone of you decide to start looking to purchase.

Look around
 

If I were making a lifestyle visit, to inspect the place, I would also check out the competition. On Top of the World is only a short drive from TV (at least, from the north end) and StoneCrest is almost across the street (although they may not let you in; Go on a weekend, and say you're there for the open houses - boom - you're in.) Twisted Oaks looks interesting, although it's still mostly vacant land. There are many other similar places, and they will help get you familiar with the geography. Maybe you'll even like them better, or maybe you won't.

I heartily agree with this. We visited in just February; we did not experience the summer. My wife has a sensitivity to the heat here, and spends the majority of her time indoors in the summer months. If we visited also in summer, we would not have moved here.

If We Could Do It All Over
 

Our life style visit was so so. We had relatives we stayed with and already knew what to expect if we moved down. We bought a house which we now use as a rental that brings basically nothing in. Our Life Style visit in Brownwood was nice, but not the best ever. If we did it all over again, I would only stay in the Villages for a small portion of our time and would also visit Peach Tree and Pelican Preserve before choosing a retirement home.

Sorry to hear that our investment homes (3) in TV have always paid the bills, and some of the OPMs. In fall of 2022 we had 19 potential tenants in 36 hours.