I may be wrong but from the ages you provided you will have to wait 3 years before you can move to the Villages because one of you has to be 55 to own in the Villages. :police:

My wife and I recently moved to TV and our situation is very similar to yours. I am 50, my wife is 52. We purchased our house for cash. My wife is an ER nurse at TVRH (the local hospital) and because she has some advanced certifications (CEN, etc.), her pay was competitive. I am currently substitute teaching (I am a certified teacher but prefer the flexibility of subbing). We sold our business overseas so neither one of us needs to work, but we both feel we are too young to retire and having insurance benefits without having to pay out of pocket is beneficial.

As mentioned above, 20% of home sales can be sold to those under 55.

We moved to TV primarily because my mother-in-law is in her mid-eighties and we were concerned about being too far away from her geographically if she needed us. We miss living overseas, but we are really enjoying living in TV.

PM me if you have any questions.

Age not a problem
 

We started looking when we were 51 years old. The Villages told us we could buy here as long as we had no one under 19 living with us. IMHO you need to look at your retirement income and determine if you can afford to live here when one of you "dies". We have lived here 6 months and know of 2 people who have to down size because they loss some or all of their spouses income.

2 Oldcrabs:

The Villages told us the same thing, as long as we didn't have any kids under 19. We do have retirement income. Just not enough to retire at are age. As far as downsizing: We will be going from almost 4000 square feet to probably around 1200. I guess that's why we are doing so much research. I want to make sure we could make it without the other.

Thanks for your help

Most people who move to TV from the north end up with MUCH smaller houses, especially when basement space is considered. Our feeling is the lifestyle here mitigates the need for a large home, but we will also continue to maintain a home in Missouri, so our needs may differ from yours. There are many homes available through both the villages and MLS that have more than 1500 square feet for less than $185. Most would be in the 10-15 year old age bracket, but they are here.

We are hoping the lifestyle will be worth it. We have 3800 without a basement, so it will be a bit of an adjustment. I don't think I'll like having neighbors in my back yard but we'll adjust. I don't mind an older home. I like the idea of buying at least 1500 square feet. I wish our budget was higher but it is what it is. I don't feel comfortable going over $185,000.
Thanks again for your help,

Butch