[tophcfa]

I am currently up north in Massachusetts and went out to do some errands today. When I pulled into a parking lot a young women noticed I have Florida plates on my car and came over to strike up a conversation. I would put her in her late 20’s and she had a couple young kids with her. She said she loves Florida and wanted to know if I lived there, so I told her we have a second home in Florida. She asked where and I told her at a retirement community called the Villages. Her response was that her and her friends love that place and have been there several times and can’t wait to go back. She said they used to go to the beach towns but it has gotten too expensive, so they now rent AirBnB’s in the Villages so their kids can use all the beautiful pools and they can go to the town squares. She said it’s the cheapest way her and her friends can take their kids away on a family vacation in Florida and have access to so many fun things to do.

So much for the Villages being a 55+ retirement community with amenities reserved for its residents and guests. Something seriously needs to be done about this out of control AIRBnB thing! I’m not making this up!

[Michael 61]

Originally Posted by tophcfa

I am currently up north in Massachusetts and went out to do some errands today. When I pulled into a parking lot a young women noticed I have Florida plates on my car and came over to strike up a conversation. I would put her in her late 20’s and she had a couple young kids with her. She said she loves Florida and wanted to know if I lived there, so I told her we have a second home in Florida. She asked where and I told her at a retirement community called the Villages. Her response was that her and her friends love that place and have been there several times and can’t wait to go back. She said they used to go to the beach towns but it has gotten too expensive, so they now rent AirBnB’s in the Villages so their kids can use all the beautiful pools and they can go to the town squares. She said it’s the cheapest way her and her friends can take their kids away on a family vacation in Florida and have access to so many fun things to do.



So much for the Villages being a 55+ retirement community with amenities reserved for its residents and guests. Something seriously needs to be done about this out of control AIRBnB thing! I’m not making this up!

Yep - there are quite a few Air BnB’s here I. The Village of Richmond - I see lots of young families here.

[oldtimes]

Originally Posted by tophcfa

I am currently up north in Massachusetts and went out to do some errands today. When I pulled into a parking lot a young women noticed I have Florida plates on my car and came over to strike up a conversation. I would put her in her late 20’s and she had a couple young kids with her. She said she loves Florida and wanted to know if I lived there, so I told her we have a second home in Florida. She asked where and I told her at a retirement community called the Villages. Her response was that her and her friends love that place and have been there several times and can’t wait to go back. She said they used to go to the beach towns but it has gotten too expensive, so they now rent AirBnB’s in the Villages so their kids can use all the beautiful pools and they can go to the town squares. She said it’s the cheapest way her and her friends can take their kids away on a family vacation in Florida and have access to so many fun things to do.

So much for the Villages being a 55+ retirement community with amenities reserved for its residents and guests. Something seriously needs to be done about this out of control AIRBnB thing! I’m not making this up!

If I knew this when we bought here I would have bought elsewhere

[Altavia]

Troll alert....

[VApeople]

Originally Posted by Altavia

Troll alert....

No, these posters are not trolls. They are just people who point out facts that obviously make you uncomfortable.

[Pairadocs]

Originally Posted by tophcfa

I am currently up north in Massachusetts and went out to do some errands today. When I pulled into a parking lot a young women noticed I have Florida plates on my car and came over to strike up a conversation. I would put her in her late 20’s and she had a couple young kids with her. She said she loves Florida and wanted to know if I lived there, so I told her we have a second home in Florida. She asked where and I told her at a retirement community called the Villages. Her response was that her and her friends love that place and have been there several times and can’t wait to go back. She said they used to go to the beach towns but it has gotten too expensive, so they now rent AirBnB’s in the Villages so their kids can use all the beautiful pools and they can go to the town squares. She said it’s the cheapest way her and her friends can take their kids away on a family vacation in Florida and have access to so many fun things to do.

So much for the Villages being a 55+ retirement community with amenities reserved for its residents and guests. Something seriously needs to be done about this out of control AIRBnB thing! I’m not making this up!

LOL, I'm not making this up either; you should have been at Churchill rec center two days ago. The pool was filled with teens, possibly high school senior (?) possibly college freshmen ? Males and females, many different ages and races, came in two or three extra large golf carts. At first I thought perhaps they were students from our charter high school just having a swim party. Lots of harmless (at first but got quite dangerous as the day went on) horse play (girls riding on the shoulders of boys, a lot of running and horse play on the deck bricks around pool, running full out and diving in the deepest end, shoving each other into the pool with.... another person ON THEIR SHOULDERS, but not really bothering any others, except it got very dangerous and went on for hours. Since it was impossible to read because they were very very loud, and because of the loud music at rec center pools, after a couple hours everyone had left, probably going to a smaller neighborhood that does not (usually) have younger people or outside music. After about 2 hours, I was the only adult left in the entire pool area and it was quite early yet. I was so close to the area that has the covering, the overhead fan, and several tables (where they had camped out for the day), that I could clearly hear their conversations as various ones used their cell phones. Apparently, they were at least 17, 19, but did have a few who seemed to be 15 or 16 but a brother or sister of one of the 18, 19 year olds. They had (again apparently) rented an entire home here, and drove down in a van, without parents, to celebrate high school graduation before going off to various colleges (it was easy to over hear their conversations about where they were heading this fall), but there were no adults over 21 with them the entire day, and, various ones would sit from time to time and call home, tell their parents what a great time they were having, and ask things like " what's going on in Chicago, is it hot ?" I quickly picked up that none of them were hear visiting grand parents. And they would talk about going to the squares for free entertainment every night, and how they were at one of pools right then but there were so many pools here, one young lady said, "mom, no, no, there is no way I'd ever be able to send a picture of every one of them (meaning so many pool". I was just amazed, thinking of the "old days" .....LOL... when I'd do to Saddle brook, or Pimlico, etc. and sure enough, I'd just get in the water and the "pool guard" would ask us to get out and please show them our resident cards or guess past if a guest, same over at El Santiago rec center, you had to show your ID at rec center pools just like at the country club pools. And our grown ADULT OVER 21 children could not go over to Pimlico or Saddle-brook swimming with out us ! Things have certainly changed. Over the Easter/Spring vacation I met some lovely young women for Indiana. All were students and on the university golf team. I talked with one of them at the Pilmico pool, she said for spring break, being none drug users and non drinkers, they had rented two large homes here, one with it's own pool, and they could sun and swim and play so many golf courses for half the price they could go to Mexico with the drugging and drinking crowd for spring break, and they loved the gyms that allow AB&B, etc. renters to pay daily and weekly fees so they were able to work out and stay in shape. The ones I met were such lovely young people and I told them, I follow golf closely, especially our USA collegiate young women who hope to make the tour one day ! I'm sure their parents were happy about the mature decision to just rent here and spend spring break staying in shape in a "relatively" safer environment ! I do believer things have changed so drastically since we bought a lot here and delayed building on it for a time, The Villages is well know all over the United States now, as one of the lowest priced (might not seem like that to us, the residents, but to others it's a real bargain) golf resorts in all of Florida, and again, I use the word "relatively" safe (as safe a place as any resort anywhere these days) place and all inclusive resort, except you have hundreds of food options or can prepare some of your own meals in the much better kitchens than any vacation condo we've ever rented ! It's gone from a sleepy little senior community to a very desirable and affordable resort.

[Pairadocs]

Originally Posted by oldtimes

If I knew this when we bought here I would have bought elsewhere

We "probably" would have too, but, thinking rationally, not emotionally, there was no way to know how popular the resort aspect, (all inclusive golf, plus all the lessons, classes, activities open to anyone as long as they are registered renters) would become, here, and any other places we considered. We have relatives who chose a 55 plus life style community in Arkansas, and relatives who also chose a senior life style and golf community in Tennessee. BOTH are now experiencing a number of very unpleasant experiences since one of the communities does have a list of restrictions on owners renting out: renters must also be 55 or older, no rental periods of less than a month, must PURCHASE a separate "gate pass" no matter how short the visit, but, NONE of these are enforced, in fact, the local police do NOT enforce community restrictions and rules, and the community HOA administration never made ANY plan for enforcement of these "restrictions" and employ NO "enforcers"... so as they told us, "it was all smoke and mirrors". They other relative in a Tennessee senior golf community turned out to have no actual restrictions, the administration tells them at the time the development began, they had no idea that sometime in the future there would be Verbo, or AB&B, and other such businesses. So, though we agree, we don't beat ourselves up over our "mistake", it's happening all over, and all over Florida too ! We had friends who moved to Margarittaville near Daytona. Loved it, now they tell us it's just like here, more a resort than the senior, age restricted planned community it represented itself to be. So same there, nightly rentals, weekly rentals ... they don't like it all !

[JGibson]

Good thing I'm not married to TV, if it gets to bad I would find a real gated community and just pay for my golf.

I don't even really go to the Squares in the winter anymore because it gets so crowded and to hot in the summer.

Even the gyms in TV has gotten so crowded with a much younger crowd trying to be the next Arnold.

Yeah, I can see TV becoming one big Time Share. Sad, but true.

[Bay Kid]

Better than going to Disney. My grandchildren prefer to come to The Villages.

[margaretmattson]

Originally Posted by JGibson

Good thing I'm not married to TV, if it gets to bad I would find a real gated community and just pay for my golf.

I don't even really go to the Squares in the winter anymore because it gets so crowded and to hot in the summer.

Even the gyms in TV has gotten so crowded with a much younger crowd trying to be the next Arnold.

Yeah, I can see TV becoming one big Time Share. Sad, but true.

I am beginning to dread the building of new homes which will be nearest to Eastport. I think investors will be all over that! Homes near squares are quite profitable.

[cmcaputo77]

Originally Posted by oldtimes

If I knew this when we bought here I would have bought elsewhere

You would not have. How do families, at the family pools interfere with your peace and joy? You love that they exist because it gives you another thing to complain about.

[cmcaputo77]

Originally Posted by margaretmattson

I am beginning to dread the building of new homes which will be nearest to Eastport. I think investors will be all over that! Homes near squares are quite profitable.

Homes near squares are not profitable? That is dumb and not factual. Check selling stats and where people like to rent. They are profitable for investors and appreciate very well for the owner.

[Craig Vernon]

I believe the investment value of the Villages is dropping fast, increases in all expenses make a new purchase very tough if not impossible to profit from. The answer for now is short term rentals, Airbnb, ****, etc. to make ends meet. The other end of the argument is that this is why property values are currently so bloated and once the investment losses are realized be prepared for lower and more normal home values. I hope for the latter because the Villages have priced themselves out of the 55 and over market for high saving seniors as they made their hay on over the years. Enjoy what you have because you are blessed to be a Villager.

[kenpoboy]

I guess none of the people on this post were every teenagers. I can only wish I had a place like this to come and see my grandparents/parents, knowing that they are in a happy, safe community. These are visitors, not residents......if it's really that hard to deal with, move..... please.

[Normal]

Originally Posted by margaretmattson

I am beginning to dread the building of new homes which will be nearest to Eastport. I think investors will be all over that! Homes near squares are quite profitable.

But, it will steer the younger rental customers away from senior areas. It will be much more desirable to rent near a group your own age than rent 20 miles away where all there are are old people.