Yes, we rented before buying
 

We rented a furnished home for 2 years and ended up buying it! We were so glad to be able to test the neighbors and neighborhood before making a decision. We liked it so much, we bought it, furniture and all. We had sold all of our furniture before moving to TV because we knew it wouldn’t fit in Florida and the cost to move it was astronomical. So glad we did because we would never have been able to sell it here. We have about 70 boxes of stuff in a storage unit that we brought with us, personal things we couldn’t do without. Anyhow, we are SO glad we did it this way. We had lived in our house for 34 years. Moving was stressful. Doing it the way we did reduced a lot of that stress. We’ve been here 5 years, Sept. 1, and love it.

All you need to know is if what you want is to indulge yourself in hobbies & make new friends, renting is not necessary. Why pay storage fees and move twice? Go with your gut!

Some people want to upgrade and some want to downsize.

A lot of people come here and buy a huge house and find that with only two of them living in it, it is unnecessary.

Other's buy a tiny house and find that they have relatives coming to visit and staying with them so they need more room.

Some people move into neighborhoods and either don't like where they are or perhaps have a problem with the neighbor.

I don't know which is correct but on average, a Villages resident will move three times or have three homes. But there are a lot of different reasons.

I came here in 2012 and bought a tiny manufactured home in Silver Lake. When they began building new homes in this neighborhood, I decided to buy one thinking that the manufactured homes were going to start going down in value. I was wrong but I'm still very happy with my move.

I considered the Lofts and was on a waiting list for the first available rentals. However the more I researched rentals the more I decided to go another route. I found I could rent a nice 1450 sq. ft. 3 bedroom home, fully furnished for less than a 1 bedroom "box" at The Lofts. I am sure for some The Loft's will be a great choice, for me I needed a bit more space and privacy.

Great question and for us, back in 2005, we were so excited we just went ahead and bought a place after seeing at least 20. In all honesty we should have rented first. It gives you the last of the land, as many have mentioned here and, most importantly, gives you the opportunity to see if the villages is for you. Make it an adventure and have a blast!! Best of luck and stay safe. God Bless.

We stayed at friends once near Sumter. Did 2 life style stays, then the 4th year we rented for a month. It wasn’t until we rented that I wanted to buy. The determining factor was the location. I just love it South of the turnpike. The other areas were nice to visit, but not live imo.

We did rent for two months and then bought a home. We had no intentions of buying when we rented but we started looking at open houses and fell for one home and were able to buy it. We stay about 4-5 months in Florida and the rest of the time in Massachusetts but we are currently debating on moving to Florida full time. It all depends on this virus at this point. Massachusetts currently seems safer right now then Florida

We never rented, but came for the lifestyle preview and decided this was the place to retire to. We weren't quite ready to retire at that time, so we came down in the summers on vacation and rented a house for the week. Since it was off season we had no problem finding homes that could be rented weekly. Did all our exploring and looked at many houses and started to compile a list of must haves and would like to haves. We looked at homes every day on the Villages website for 3 years. When we pulled the trigger in fall of 2017, we knew what we wanted, came up with a list of about a dozen homes we thought would work for us and sent them to the sales person we had worked with every time we came down. Flew down, she showed us the homes we wanted to see plus a few others and found the one. Put a hold on it so we could think it over and committed the next day. It had everything on our must have list and almost everything on our would like to have list.

Since moving here, we did our landscaping, had the master bedroom closet done for more storage the first year, screened the entry and added insulation above the garage the second year, then bought a spa and added a birdcage earlier this year. Just added A/C to the garage last month. With a few minor projects we're in the process of starting in a few weeks, our home will be perfect for us and is likely to be the only one.

I never rented prior to.
Renting has been a good thing for many people.........so can't knock it.
I knew what I wanted, but "if you don't know, you don't know"


GOOD LUCK!!!

Wish we would have rented first. We chose the wrong floor plan and regretted it for 5 yrs before selling and purchasing the right one.

Ohiobuckeye
 

Good advice, then you can’t blame anybody for buying if you don’t like it here!

We will definitely be downsizing and I want to avoid the mistake of buying something too small. If I had to choose today, I would go for a 3 bedroom CYV on a corner lot that is within walking distance of a town square. But I'm wondering if we would wind up regretting the limited parking/garage space and curved driveway in a CYV, The only way to know if a CYV would work for us is to actually stay in one I suppose. Renting would also give us a better idea as to what amenities we would like to be near - not just today but down the road.

Renting does add an additional step into the process but if it helps us to find a home/area that we are happy with, it'll be worth it.

I did not know I was given the quick rush and wish I had rented them I would have never bought here. Problems with the house trying to get person show up for mowing. If you are alive especially a woman there is nothing for you. I’m also not elderly and never hung out with women. Biggest mistake I made and costly

Glad I did rent first
 

Yes I rented for two winters and so glad I did to truly understand where the amenities that I most enjoyed were and how close I wanted to be. I rented in the northern 1/3 and bought in the middle and so happy I did. All is good but why face an unnecessary move and the expense later. Renting was a reasonable cost to gain such insights. Maybe 1 period of rental is all you need. Not sure you would get enough with a lifestyle visit in a week but its better that renting, or worse, buying blindly on a short visit. I did meet some people who bought on their first day of visit and had regrets later.

As a wise man once said, You dont know what you dont know.