They do not have community travel which is a big negative when buying there if you don't Drive. They won't tell you that.

The village is a lot of smoke and mirror's.

They have never advertised there is community travel. If it is such a big negative, why are thereover 150,00 residents?

If you do not drive this is not the place for you. We knew that before buying.

Thanks! Good thing you are here and always willing to share this information with us, reminding us of the bad decision we've all made buying in this hell hole.

Smoke and mirrors, you say? So I've been imagining the recreation centers, golf courses, pickleball courts, and the 100,000+ people out and about, enjoying their lives here. It's all just pixie dust. Thanks again for enlightening us.

So you kept your California home? We have our 3 kids and only grandbaby here in California, which is our biggest obstacle to making the move. We can’t keep our home and buy there too. It’s one or the other. Lucky you that you can come back for the summers. I think having that option would make the decision easier for me, but we’d definitely have to be full time in TV.

no not for one minute

I sense a lot of guilt in these answers so I’ll be honest. We moved and are on the outside of family. Sure we get an occasional visit but it’s expensive for the kids and others and obviously inconvenient. They have jobs and lives back there, something we fostered and encouraged, a sense of place connected to a sense of family. Extended family is the same, in fact we were told “it was your choice to move” by an in-law. We visit, they visit but it’s not the same as being there for grandkids birthdays, sharing wisdom and perspective with your kids and grandkids and enjoying the benefits of extended family time when it’s not a major holiday, wedding or funeral. The kids don’t need us to go to Disney and that in my mind is a really weak trade off. So, we should have downsized in our own area before moving here. Living in TV is like going to Disney, living with family is like going home and home and home. Just one grandparent’s perspective.

We lost the house we wanted to buy in 2018 to another buyer. If we had bought our second choice, which I wanted to do but my husband did not, we would have been there already.

My husband feels the same way you do. Our children can move away too as what happened to my son, but then he moved back. There will be birthdays but we try to see each other as much as we can. It is a big decision to move to another state and leave family. Perhaps if my son was living in Florida, which he was at one time, we would be there already.

Not my kids.....never

I think this is one of those topics that only you can answer. I'm one of four kids and we all moved away from where our parents lived. We all came home at different intervals and made a point to be home at Christmas. At one point they moved south of Tampa and always helped out our visits financially.

Now that we have moved to TV, we realize nothing has really changed with our kids. They work and we still work, so its calls or texts during the week. They fly down to see us and we go up to each of their area every year just for a change of scenery. They have a few hours free during the week and the weekends, so we're cognizant that they have friends and things they want and need to do during that time.

We don't want to be like the parents on the tv show Raymond! I think having some space is healthy!

when you throw that Disney card out @ the kids, & they know you are waiting for them, that will be enough. the KIDS will do all the work @ getting them to visit, i guarantee you that :laugh:

Perfect

This is a great example of how only you and your husband can make this decision. The decision really isn’t based on your son alone, although you may feel that way. The choice also depends on your quality of life where you currently reside, friendships, healthcare, hobbies, cost of living and full spectrum of ages vs living with the elderly day after day, as an example. If you are Frank and Marie, as someone suggested… I don’t think The Villages wants you either.

Anyone considering leaving family behind has to also remember not to go crawling back to them if or when you become ill or disabled or unable to golf. I’m a little surprised how many familys are lured to visit with Disney tickets, I guess there is no accounting for interests.

New York is experiencing some hot weather lately. Yesterday, I went to the pool to cool off. It felt great, but it sometimes takes a little effort on my part to get there. I know there are quite a few pools there in The Villages that I can go to get cooled off. That is another consideration, the heat. There are clubs that are air-conditioned to join also when it gets too hot. My husband worries about doctors. He has to get new doctors, and so do I, but my worry is not that.

Why would you not just rent for 3 months in the winter? We have friends here in Ohio who do just that. They sort of wish they had bought 10 or so years ago, but would have still been snowbirds (as we also are). Now, with prices so high (in Ohio too), they've decided to just rent every winter, and it seems to suit them just fine. We spend longer in TV than here in Ohio, and we were lucky to have bought a condo here in 2012, when prices took a dip for a couple of years.

Our friends are great grandparents - got their grandkids thru Covid school, and last year (and probably this year too) they will tutor one of them who needs it. Through Zoom, I think.

Disney is an attraction, but it's only one of many. I know when I was stuck up in NY in winter, and my folks were retired in the Naples area, having a place to come visit that was not freezing cold was a wonderful treat. My parents enjoyed seeing us come, and of course, seeing us go so they could get back to their real lives. There's nothing wrong with that.
I love my kids, and my grandchildren. But, I have my own life, and it does not revolve around my grandkids. I know others who are very happy being very close and involved with the grandkids' activities. They would be abjectly miserable being down here and being away from all of that.
But, that's not me.

Anyone even thinking that this might be a problem would be wise to rent for an extended winter snowbird season and see how they feel in their hearts about being away from the families they would be leaving behind. It's certainly not for everyone.

I have been thinking that way. I would have to sell my house and move into a condo. To leave a house in the winter when it snows might be too much. Unless, I have someone shovel for me, but I do not think I would do that. First, move into a condo where grounds get taken care of. That has been a thought to really get a feel for things.

We had the real estate here again, but we think we will wait until spring. Maybe prices such as homes and gasoline will go down.

A great deal of people have moved to villages and where disappointed A lot about it is smoke and mirrors. You need to do your due diligence before you move here and go on the Talk of the village's web site for transparency.

To those with an agenda...............
And do not live here.

You don't live here and continually post how bad it is to live in TV. You are very foolish.

The village of flowers mill, Langhorne, pa 19047. Great community within a commute to LI. We just moved from there to The Villages. If you want a good over 55 community nearer to family might be worth a look-see. Or come here and provide a crash pad for the kid’s Disney/Universal trips.

What are you afraid of.

Yeah, I agree. Never been here but has a lot to say.
As a former NYC guy (moved from Brooklyn to PA now here), I can say with some certainty that, while TV is not perfect, it’s a lot better than NY, to include LI. (Drop the mike)

I noticed by some of your posts there is someone here that discredits The Villages and does not live there. That is too bad. It is a beautiful place and like said; it is not perfect but close. Always so clean, with no litter, and beautifully landscaped.

My husband is Brooklyn-born and would probably agree with you about Long Island.

As a few others have mentioned, everyone & everyone's specific situation is different. I wish you & your husband luck in making this decision.

"Here"???? You are "here"?

I've asked you before what you mean when you say "smoke and mirrors", but you've never elaborated on your use of that particular cliche, along with your other favorite cliche "transparency".

What exactly are you referring to when you say a lot of TV is "smoke and mirrors"? In what way is TV not "transparent".

You constantly grind your axe about not having public transportation, so you probably don't need to bring that up, and I don't see how the lack of that constitutes "smoke and mirrors" or lack of "transparency" since nobody associated with the developer or those who live here have ever said or hinted that we do have public transportation.

So, please, elaborate.

I think this may be a little like navel inspecting.

Obviously, your situation is good health and easy ability to drive anywhere you need to go so there’s no problem and good for you. We are fortunate at this point to also be in that boat. However, our hearts go out to those who need but do not have public transportation to travel around or slightly beyond The Villages borders. There are elderly living within The Villages who have been here for many years, cannot drive and have limited income for taxis, Ubers, etc. Sometimes we need to look further than our noses in “The Bubble” and consider the rest of humanity’s needs.

When we can't drive we will move to assisted living People bought here knowing there is not transportation offered. Most communities do not offer it.

That’s your decision but I know some relatively young retirees with vision issues who are very active, easily able to care for themselves but can’t drive legally. There by the grace of God….

They need to understand TV is not for them if they need transportation.

Forgive me, I didn’t realize The Villages was such a selective, elite community of over 100,000 people. Shame on those interlopers who want to enjoy life there also, there outta be a law, eh?

They can move here understanding there is no transportation. That's their choice. Not every community is for everyone. You have to find a place that meets their needs. You cannot move to a community and expect them to make significant changes for your personal needs.

Or even better, we could make it so restrictive and unusable that we could keep the unwashed out. Now if we could only have them get rid of the lifts in the pools, handicap bathrooms and sidewalk ramps, we might be on to something.

There are some things about The Villages I really don’t like….

There are many reasons why someone who might wish to live in TV (or San Francisco, or Beverly Hills, or The Hamptons) may not be able to. All are welcome to come here if they have the means. If the problem is they can't drive, but don't have the money to avail themselves of Uber, that's a matter of not having the means to live here.
It would be nice if everyone could afford everything in life they want, but most of us can't do that. Were the amenity fees increased enough to cover free public transportation for all, then the amenity fees would be much higher, and The Villages would be out of reach financially for even more people. It would be MORE exclusive, not LESS exclusive.
I didn't come here with the expectation of free public transportation. There was no "lack of transparency", and from what I can tell, no "smoke and mirrors" suggesting that this place was anything but what it is.

I find that unremarkable. Did you come here expecting you'd not find aspects of this place not to your liking? Did you think you'd find Nirvana?

It’s The Villages, I know better than to expect perfection or any thing close to it. What has really killed expectations is the humanity shown to others. This should be a red alert to the people considering residency in The Villages. This is the soft underbelly here showing how residents really feel about the disabled. That’s all.

Of course we need handicapped bathrooms, ramps and pool lifts. I am probably one of the most liberal people on this board. I never posted on restricting people. All I am saying is you cannot expect the Morses to provide everything anyone needs. You find the place to live that meets your needs. My last response.