[eweissenbach]

I think it would be interesting (to me if no one else) to find how everyone first learned of The Villages, and what brought you to visit and perhaps buy. I'll start: I first saw the old ads on Golf Channel in '09. They intrigued me, though I had never had any interest or inclination of settling in Florida. I had been to Naples and Orlando a few years earlier and really didn't much like the state. I retired in '08 and we went to South Padre Island in Texas in '08 and '09, and found it nice but lacking in activities. After seeing the ads I began looking at the website and ordered the CD. In looking at the real estate I was surprised at the reasonable prices and began thinking it might be worth a look. As fate would have it, my brother-in-law passed away in late '09 and at his visitation I began a conversation with a long time mutual friend by the name of Mark Germann. Mark said he was now living in Florida, and I asked "where in Florida"? He said The Villages, and I said "that's interesting as I just began looking at it online and found it intriguing. I asked how he liked it and he said "I love it, I play on two softball teams and play golf three or four times a week and pickleball regularly". That got me more interested and I soon found TOTV, and began getting a ton of positive (and a little not so positive) feedback about TV. We signed up for the Lifestyle Preview in April '10, and invited a couple of friends to join us. Well, obviously, we all fell in love with TV. The first night we were here we went to Sumter Landing and I stated I felt like a freshman in college again. We started talking to a snowbird from New York and asked him how he liked it here. His response became our goto phrase for the rest of our stay, "What's not to like" he said. We rented a place in 2011 through 2014 with our friends, until they bought in '14. We then stayed with them in '15 and '16, but didn't come down in '17 due to my wife's health problems. We came down in '18 and ended up buying a villa in Sanibel about 3 blocks from our friends. We are coming for the month of August just because we want to see what it's like in the summer, but we will mostly continue to be snowflakes as all our kids and most of our grandkids live within minutes of us in the Kansas City area. Okay, I've bored you with my story, now bore me with yours.

[jebartle]

Kids live in Winter Park, so we always made trip south from NC, on the way down, I'd say let's check out the villages, NC friend already moved here, as we were driving BY the Villages, the ole boy would say, "There it is!"and kept driving. After 3 trips, finally got him to stop. Rented from peeps that were furnishing rental WHILE we were renting, ugh!
Next trip, stayed in villa, owner gave us a golf cart driving lesson, hmmm!, we must have stupid written on our forehead, after 20 years of golfing, oh well, we played along. Next trip, LOOKING TO BUY! Bad time, prices outrageous, condo near SS, double and lottery purchase, lost interest, went home, got on line, made another trip to see house, got as far as walking in courtyard, told realtor we'd take it, realtor said, would you like to look inside, sure! SOLD. Love this place and our GREAT NEIGHBORS.

[manaboutown]

I was starting to cast around for a good place to settle for retirement and had investigated both coasts of Florida to some extent. Somehow I stumbled upon "Leisureville" as I was reading whatever I could find about retiring in Florida. That book is what inspired me to do a lifestyle visit followed by a couple of month long stays. I was ready to make the move when my daughter's sudden health issue pretty much brought most everything in my life to a halt. So far so good with her but we still need to monitor her situation closely. The Villages is a great place in which to retire!

[John_W]

I had grown up in St. Petersburg but lived the last 22 years before moving here in Baltimore, my place of birth. In 2003 I saw the 30 minute infomercial on the Golf Channel one night and ordered the VHS tape and info. I reordered updated versions in 2007 and 2010.

I knew I would eventually return to live in Florida again one day but wasn't sure if it would be Spring Hill, where my parents had retired, or Pensacola where I had lived in the 70's and 80's. Now TV was on my mind, so we took a LSV in April 2011 for seven days and returned to Baltimore and listed our home, we sold it in one day. We purchased a new CYV in the Village of Tamarind Grove on July 5th 2011, so we just had our 7th anniversary here.

[Kenswing]

Was on a cruise having a conversation with some "old" folks and of course it led to where we all lived. They raved about the Villages so we started our research.

[Wiotte]

Started heading south and stopped at a Kool Aid stand.


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[B-flat]

Back in 1994 when we were just adolescents ( not exactly we were 42 at the time) my in laws who lived in Oak Run Ocala took us on a tour, they said “you’ve got to see this place called The Villages.” Thru the years we visited just about every yearly trip to see the in laws, our thought was The Villages is nice but too busy for our taste, so we continued to go to Oak Run and even wound up owning a home there. After 2 years as snowbirds in Oak Run we sold the place, then this winter we rented in The Village of Chatam.............after one week we decided it was for us, so we just purchased a CYV.

[ColdNoMore]

Decided to check it out...IN SPITE OF the dumb, corny commercials 10-15 years ago.


Rented three times, loved the proximity to so much golf and using a cart for most every day things...then bought.

[sdedes]

We live in Massachusetts and for the past several years have been looking down the East coast for potential places to move for our upcoming retirement, but never had any intention or desire to move to Florida. Last year in April we booked an AirBNB in Hilton Head SC to check out that area. We first went to the Villages to visit my husbands sister who happened to be renting for a few months in Amelia. We only intended to stay one night but ended up staying 4 days. We fell in love and did not want to leave. We liked Hilton Head but bought in the Villages instead. Just closed on our home in the Village of Summerhill and will be moving by the end of this year. Can't wait!

[2BNTV]

I'll give you two Ed.

I worked in CT with an older gentlemen who I became close friends. When he retired, he moved to TV but never mentioned TV to me beforehand. He keep bugging to come down for a visit. One year I didn't have anything planned for vacation so I decided to visit TV. He wanted me to stay with him and his wife but chose a LSV.

I was in SS having a couple of drinks and Donna Moore was singing "Crazy" by Patsy Cline. I thought to myself, there can't be a better place to retire than TV. Here I am and still "living the dream"

Close friends of mine were told of TV by a friend of theirs. There were in south Florida and decided to drive up. When they got off the 304 exit in Wildwood and were coming north, The wife said. "what's so great about TV, as this place looks like, "cr*p".

After making their turn onto 466 and after a few blocks, the wife said, "OMG". After being here for two days, she told her husband, "I want to move here". After 4 years, they still love TV.

What really drove the nail home was they were use to NY prices and when they ordered a beer and it cost $1.50, they were blown away.

We came with friends who asked us to do the lifestyle preview with them. We went home found our dream home online, bought it, put our house up north up for sale and have spent 2 wonderful years here anticipating many more. We have seen too many people die before ever realizing their dream.

[KSSunshine]

We were on a cruise in March 2012 out of Ft. Lauderdale and ended up having dinner twice with a couple originally from Michigan. She had driven a school bus for children with disabilities; he was still consulting with a division of Ford...or another automobile manufacturer. She was here permanently but he was still "working". The woman couldn't stop raving about The Villages and how they had 2000 clubs from which to choose. She was a member of the Parrothead group from TV on this cruise. So, we went home, got the packet, scheduled our first visit in July 2012 to see if we could stand the heat. It was cooler that summer in TV as we came home to 106 degree heat in Kansas, so we figured we were adaptable. We've been watching TV just waiting for our opportunity. Came back in October 2017 just to make sure this was an option. Most of our friends think we're nuts, but if we don't try it, we'll never know. Had hoped to be in TV by now, but life has a way of slowing decisions down. So we are still coming, just not until 2019. If you are that wonderful woman who we met on the cruise with her hubby, I'd love to reconnect and thank her for her enthusiasm and sharing of TV.

[Doro22]

It really is everything one would hope for ....and much much more. We’ve been here 7 years now, having moved ”UP” here from Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood area. No place like this! Although I must say...”it’s not for everybody.”

[redwitch]

I ran an online bridge group. Due to circumstances, I needed to move out of state, preferably to a gun-friendly state. Since I think snow is something to play in but not something I care to live in, that left southern states (and Texas was out of the question). Anyway, told my bridge friends that I was going to take a tour of the South and would love to visit some of them. One member happened to live in The Villages. It fit basic requirements, had the advantage that I wouldn’t have aged out of the job market, lots to do and friendly people. What more could a girl (well, woman) want? So, I moved here. Still miss the Bay Area and probably always will, but I enjoy my life and my friends here.

[jojo]

My husband's brother moved here. When we visited him, I picked up the rec news (circa 2006) - just a few pages compared to now. While we enjoyed the squares, the beauty of the place etc. etc., it was the rec news that sold me. The decision was further solidified by logging on to TOTV. When we moved here in 2008 I had many TOTV friends.