[SusanStCatherine]

There is no other place quite like the villages, especially the social activities (thousands of clubs) and amenities (100 pools) including golf (50 courses) . 55places.com has a lot of information on all retirement communities if you want alternatives.

[KRMACK55]

Originally Posted by Pairadocs

Probably should not reply unless I have useful information, but, been through this myself and since we live here, have made visits to many places just out of curiosity and to take a day trip, try a new restaurant on the way, etc. Really have not found anything compelling. We love the beach, and found Margarita Ville VERY nice.... our problem is even with some faults, TV's still works best for golfers. If not for that, we'd probably go to MV near Daytona, but just too spoiled by NOT having to load clubs in the car, use fuel and mileage to drive to a public course or a country club, etc. etc. MV provides a shuttle bus to take residents back and forth to the Atlantic beach, but not to local golf courses. The development itself does not have golf courses, they do have a "town square" model, entertainment, and IF you like the style ( and I DO !!!) the home plans are great. Have neighbors who have sold home here and moved to MV and are VERY happy they did so, but... they are not golfers. We can't go back to that having to driver car to a course, load and unload onto a rented cart, etc. Otherwise, have personal friends, also devout golfers from our old home town, who moved to Top of the World in Ocala. They have never had any regrets and we visit often, have played there, many advantages to Ocala... a great place to live. We also might (if we had to move) consider a university town...as nice as it is here, a university town offers a bit more in general, but we ranked our priorities as #1 Golf, #2 reasonable drive to beaches, and #3 be able to cruise often without added expense of air fare, hotels, cabs, etc. Seen some nice areas for retirement in the Winter Haven area... but probably true in each area of Fl. I can tell you the prices everywhere, as you probably well know, are HIGH ! Good luck in your decision.... make a list and rank your must haves is all I can say. Footnote, we had THREE neighbors move in the last 10 days... one was a health issue to moving to be near adult children, another just wanted to stay here but in a condo like place so they can travel often without any responsibilities of a traditional home, and the other couple found a home on a golf course they wanted. But... none of the homes were ever actually advertised ! All three were actually listed by The Villages properties and SOLD before they were ever listed on the website ! One is directly across from us, never an open house, never anyone came with an agent, it was listed and then a sign "pending" was put in the window two days later ! ! So, it must be very difficult .. they do seem to have a lot of new homes for sale in some of the very newest villages.. have you seen those ?

Tell them about the bond the maintenance besides the amenity fee and the increases semi annually on everything here !

[KRMACK55]

Originally Posted by Tripngirl

The experiences of your neighbors are all so true. As for buying a home here now you can't be loyal to just one Realtor or The Villages sales peop!e......with the market so actve and several offers on one property it is frustrating. Our experience was frustrating in that often the home would show up on the listings,we'd find out it is prending. It was by chance that we found a property in McClure...spoke to a Village sales person about a home that had a sign, got told that was gone and he asked what/where we were looking ...said he'd call us as he thought he had a listing coming on in two or three days...he called, we ran and we put an offer in. We avoided a bidding war and now we have a place come August. For years we have come to The Villages and never thought this would be the experience when we went to buy.

They are not realtors. They are sales people for the developer a big difference

[OrangeBlossomBaby]

Originally Posted by Topspinmo

Where I can from. Look at resales, IMO usually get more for you’re money anyway, but some have to buy new and the pay for it.

You get more for your money, and you get a lower (or no) bond on top of the sales price.
You get the promise of more some time in the future.

Personally, being in the last half of my life, I'd rather not wait for what I want. I already waited 50 years.

[JMintzer]

Originally Posted by KRMACK55

They are not realtors. They are sales people for the developer a big difference

People keep saying this. Pray tell... What is the "big difference"?

[lstevenson1470]

I was sold on The Villages from our first visit but my husband wanted to look further. We looked at MANY other similar communities in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina. He finally had to concede that noplace compares to The Villages! We moved here in October of 2020 and haven't regretted it for a minute! Contact Chris Smith at The Villages and I guarantee he will find you the perfect place. His contact info is: (352)391-3587 chris.smith@thevillages.com. Hope to see you in The Villages soon!

[Babubhat]

Originally Posted by KRMACK55

Tell them about the bond the maintenance besides the amenity fee and the increases semi annually on everything here !

It’s peanuts compared to in increases in the Northeast.

[bobk544]

Thanks again everyone for all your very helpful information and suggestions and this is one of the reasons we really like the Villages and so we now have the makings of a very good visit plan and so when we get down there, we can maximize every minute there!

[Jim1mack]

And they’ll have mature landscaping.

[brfree1411@aol.com]

SOLIVITA look it up, it's much smaller but nice house plans or Margaritaville, it's much smaller. I also liked Valencia, near Ruskin, Fl close to Tampa.

[GrumpyOldMan]

Originally Posted by JMintzer

People keep saying this. Pray to tell... What is the "big difference"?

I could be rude and say something like, as Sales People for the Developer, they are more ethical...

But, that is inviting a fight. Some people who live here could be much happier if they moved to someplace else, they obviously hate everything about the villages. However, they continue to live here; maybe they enjoy being unhappy.

I have purchased several homes in my life (I am sure most here have). I can assure you my purchase experience here was orders of magnitude better in every conceivable way than any other purchase experience I have ever had. They were patient, answered every question, never rushed me, never tried to upsell me, and have continued to be a "friend" since I moved here. During my shopping, I mentioned to my "sales agent" that I was impressed with the low-pressure approach. His reply was classic, "I don't need to pressure you; if you don't buy, someone else will. We can't build them as fast as they sell."

Without a doubt, my experience with realtors has always been different (in a bad way).

[Spalumbos62]

Originally Posted by irish2468

You want to live in The Villages right?
But you're asking on ''Talk of The Villages'' where are alternative communities. !!!
Please just move to Myrtle Beach or somewhere else.

Why......why so nasty?

[Bogie Shooter]

Originally Posted by KRMACK55

Tell them about the bond the maintenance besides the amenity fee and the increases semi annually on everything here !

Originally Posted by KRMACK55

They are not realtors. They are sales people for the developer a big difference

Always more sour grapes.
Has your house sold yet?

[Babubhat]

I agree. No place else I would rather live. I don’t understand why people are unhappy here. They can just move. Life is too short to suffer. You have a choice

[Spalumbos62]

Originally Posted by DAVES

Yes, prices are up in the Villages but, I think you will find they are up everywhere. "We're not so much in panic mode." You should never allow yourself to panic. My view, you can be happy anywhere. We retired, a bit of a shock you no longer need to get up early, work late etc-truly a shock. We are ex-New Yorkers. I got stuck entertaining a Japanese
couple. Places to take them? I bought a tourist guide. Tons of people ,from Florida go to New York to vacation. Truth some of them were in my way as i was rushing to work.

As I said, you can be happy anywhere

Your post is confusing...I got lost when you were talking about the Japanese couple.???