Not true for many. We bought our Veranda home in the new area, sight unseen via a video call with our realtor. We never even visited The Villages prior to the purchase. Researched everything online. Best decision we ever made. Absolutely love our home with a view of water and wish we had moved here sooner.

Hhmm... (I'm not a real estate agent)

But - take a hard look at the RE taxes, as well as the bod commitment. RE taxes are MUCH higher in Lake than Sumter, and for the new builds the developer is slapping bonds in the $70k range on the property.
Take a hard look at where things are in relation to your desired property; it's not just getting to music/squares etc, but where is Publix/Walmart/Walgreens/restaurants etc? We have been disappointed in our location (Nov '21) and are actually looking to leave TV. Reasons: it's too far to anything. Walmart is a 35-minuute drive (by car) - and it's a toss-up whether it's Wally in Oxford or Leesburg. Brownwood is 35 minutes by golf cart.
One other thing that can affect folks; the air quality in TV can sometimes be not-so-great. Between construction sending up piles of dirt dust and tree-trunk burn-offs as well as being inland, it can be a challenge for folks with breathing issues (which I got after my second bout of CoVid). Take a look over a length of time at the Govt data on EPA Air Now (mobile app & website).
I might also advise against the Lifestyle because you're going to get fed with what they want you to hear. Earlier in the thread was a suggestion to rent a house with a golf cart included - something we did on our due diligence. Our mistake was in not buying closer to where we rented the house.
Hope that helps....

Snowbird Gripe Again
 

It is a factor to consider. If you don’t like ice, don’t move to the Artic circle. If you don’t like Snowbirds, don’t live in Florida. Have you figured that out yet? Maybe you are living in the wrong place? BTW did you move to TV from the north?

"Live life like a millionaire on a retirement budget. Florida's friendliest home town. Free golf for life. Fun galore." Can you still hum the melody ?

You need two agents here to shop everything — a Villages agent and an independent agent (e.g., Remax, Keller Williams, etc.). TV agents can’t show independent listing and vice-versa.

LOL! all depends upon one's ability to evaluate potential and make a decision. Some people are very cautious, fearful of making a mistake. Others have enough experience making mistakes, that they know a non mistake when they see it.

Advice based upon personal preferences may not apply to the general public with an absolute "never" statement. I would say that there are many who have successfully ignored this advice and been very happy.

Forgot this from my last post.....
 

Also forgot something: if you want to go to classes (ie pool aerobics or cardio drumming) be prepared to go at least an hour before the start time. It will take forever to get into some classes - for example I wanted to join a specific class, and was told it was full, but I could be put on the waiting list. That was over a year ago - and more than one class. January down here with the snowbirds is like a zoo - hard to do anything among the throngs of people. Summer season is much better - but a lot of classes stop for the summer because of a lack of people.

There are other communities in the area where housing might be more affordable.

Moving
 

I think you should come for a lifestyle visit now. I think more homes for sale is due to current Village homeowners selling to move to the new Eastport area. Then add in the new construction. Yes there is a lot more on the market. I haven’t talked to anyone yet moving out of TV but just to another area of TV.
If this is where you want to enjoy your life then resale value shouldn’t spoil it for you that’s going to happen anywhere you go.
Hope to see you when you get here!!

Visit or preferably rent before you buy. There are so many areas and so many different model homes to choose from it is hard to know what you will prefer til you spend some time here. Home prices fluctuate a little - but the Villages homes continue to appreciate. I wouldn't worry too much about that. Best of luck.

Yes, you might like it so much that you decide to become a FROG. .
living here until you croak.

It is a good situation to have houses for sale, otherwise, who could move here?
Its also a retirement community, so when you move here, you are now the same age and hanging out with old people, which is weird to think about if you are still slaving at a W2 job, because we are job less and have many choices of fun every day! But also in a homogeneous age related retirement community, the death rate and turnover due to death is much higher than heterogeneous age related communities, consider that a working community.

The only reality you have to worry about is if you can afford living here for 20 years or more, which exists with all choices about retirement living. The price of the house only impacts your retirement affordability, as the costs dependent upon the original cost of the house is based upon the purchase price of the house, primarily taxes, and somewhat insurance. Wanting houses to be expensive, before or after you buy, is just inflationary on your cost of living, as the cost to maintain and live increases as well, sometimes faster than inflation adjusted cost of living, which is prioritized towards product cost changes.

So in reality, just do a life style visit, if you like it, do 1 months rental to have time to see what you like/prefer, new versus used, and then after you sell your current house, rent for 3-4 months while you shop for exactly what you want, with your list of requirements, house style, interior design, exterior design, and price/cost.

good luck, but don't fall into the behavioral trap of imaginationitis, in which you only imagine the negatives, as that's how the brain is wired for survival, not for satisfaction and happiness.

“ We don’t, at least SECO customers don’t lose power”

Not true.

I have SECO. Lost power numerous times during recent storms. Sometimes less than 30 min, longest was 4 hr during Debby.

This is right. Remember, there are 150,000 or so residents here, and about 25 of the serial posters on TOTV are chronic whiners and complainers who see (or imagine) only the negative.

If you read this site long enough, you'll easily identify the people who are only happy if they are miserable.

IMO housing market way over priced right now due to inflation, lots home for sale everywhere trying to cash in. Average home for what I can tell in villages well over 300K for entry level resale models. Buying new add around 80K for entry level. Course price goes way up for bigger more expensive homes, have almost doubled their money? IMO very few loose anything when selling house in villages? There will alway be houses for sale and foreclosure’s in areas this big.

Some people die and house sets in escrow or they’ve got reverse mortgages and exhausted all money to stay in house. Then, there ones that have to or plan moving every couple years to in rake profit. Add few that move to be close to family in their final years. IMO it’s no different in rest of Florida. I would never move to coast, north central Florida pretty safe compared to coastal areas.

Living in Florida their low risk of man made sinkholes/ground collapse due to leaky pipes or construction disturbance. But being you’ve lived in Tampa you know this already?

LOL
She already lived in a place in the humid South with lots of people, called Tampa, and then Savannah.