:what:

Well, not the fashion models…lol…

Years ago, when I was reading the book "Leisureville" which was (sort of) about The Villages, I came to a realization about retirement life. The book was partly responsible for the epiphany, but I was more receptive to it because I was watching my dad in his later years of life. He'd been retired 20 years. My mother had already passed. I will share my epiphany with you.

Retirement isn't "one thing" or "one stage" of life. Depending upon how old and healthy we are when we retire, or when we die, it will be several stages. The first stage, if we are lucky, is one when we are still active. We can play pickleball, golf, swim, play water volleyball, drive ourselves around. But that stage, unless we die young and healthy, or with a quick decline, as my mother did, passes, to a second stage, where we can still be socially active, and still drive. We play cards, shuffleboard, billiards, sing in the choir. But we are forced away from some of the more physically demanding activities.

If we live long enough we can no longer drive ourselves around, and we need more and more "care", or levels of assistance, and if we live really long, eventually we need "24 hour care and assistance". Eventually we die.

How long we are in each stage varies of course, but here's the take-home point:The Villages isn't designed, built, nor marketed as a place appropriate for all stages. If you need public transportation, it's not for you. Rather than constantly be unhappy about the fact that it doesn't have that, you should find a place more suitable. Those places exist. It is not here.

When we bought in TV, we came here fully aware that if we live long enough, we will outlive TV's usefulness to us. We'll have to find some other place, designed and built for those last stages of life.

I've never been a fan of those who argued that if there was something about the culture of the USA I didn't like I should "move to Norway"...or some similarly stupid idea. For one thing, Norway doesn't want me. However, there is no such restriction on where you live in the USA, other than what your finances limit you to.

You want a gated community so you feel safer? Find one, move there. Don't make yourself miserable over the fact that TV isn't one.
You want a smaller community, with less traffic? Find one, move there.
You want more pickleball?, Less pickleball? No pickleball at all because it's too loud? Find the place and move there.

We may be able to change slightly, some small aspects of life in TV, but the big picture is the big picture, and for every person who wishes it were different, there are 10,000 who wouldn't change it in that direction, and wouldn't have come here if looked like your vision. So, rather than trying to move the mountain, relocate yourself to a place that looks more like your vision. You aren't going to change this place into what you say you think it should be.

But judging by Richmond is incorrect. Fenney, the first part of DeLuna, Linden, DeSoto, Marsh Bend, Hammock at Fenney, McClure, Monarch Grove, Bradford, Chitty Chatty, St. Catherine, Hawkins, Citrus Grove, Cason Hammock were all built before & some during most of the amenities you list.

NOMINATED for Post of the day.


:bigbow::bigbow::bigbow:

‘How long we are in each stage varies of course, but here's the take-home point:The Villages isn't designed, built, nor marketed as a place appropriate for all stages. If you need public transportation, it's not for you. Rather than constantly be unhappy about the fact that it doesn't have that, you should find a place more suitable. Those places exist. It is not here.’

People who buy homes in TV at least in the past did not buy a part-time home. They meant to be ‘frogs’ to live and die here as my uncle and aunt did. Are you saying that people who want to grow old here should not buy a house in TV? Or they should include another move in late stage of their lives when they can’t drive but are otherwise able and do not need assisted living? You realize how difficult that is for people to say in their 80’s to leave their friends who may now have become their “family” for a new city or place where they may know no one? Would it really be that impossible to consider their needs in future developments in TV?

Or, are you suggesting that TV really is nothing but a theme park, come and “rent” ie buy a house here, play while you can, then get the hell out? I can guarantee you that that was not the original vision of The Villages when it was established.

What I am saying is that people who buy here should be cognizant of the fact that this place isn't being built or marketed as a place that will provide what you need once you reach the age where life isn't about activities, but has transitioned into a life focused on assistance.

I didn't say anything about a "theme park". In fact I think viewing TV as "Disney for Adults" is a recipe for disillusionment. It's not a vacation. It is life. Real life with real life problems that must be attended to. It is not a vacation that never ends.

If you look at the website TheVillages.com they market the "active seniors lifestyle". There is one "heading" that says "Senior Living Facilities" and 5 "Bullets" that say "Independent Living, Assisted Living, Skilled Nursing, Memory Care and Rehabilitation"...there are no supporting links to those bullets, that I can find. If they are there, great. However, there are links and links and pages and pages touting "activities". There are pictures of swimmers, golfers, dancers, pickleball players, etc. etc.

That is what they are selling. An "active senior lifestyle". The fact that you may desire, or your aunt and uncle succeeded in living here until they croaked is fine, but it's not what the place is primarily focused on.
I suspect that over the next 10 years what was the baby-boom market for active lifestyle with become the baby boom market for assisted living. But this isn't it yet, not here, not now.

I am curious to know how you can "guarantee" what the original vision was, in this regard.

Do you want answers? Mine would be I was very happy where I was. I loved the state, the town, & my neighborhood. I also loved the people, & my house & property. But I became more uncomfortable with the cold, snow & ice. I also had a Colonial style house & I realized that all of the stairs would make it a difficult house to grow old in. I still love it, but also still feel it was wise to look for a one level house in a warmer climate. I hope to grow to love the state, Village, neighborhood, & people in my new house.

A wise observation… and in the past TV was a place to live and die and have fun while you were at it. Now it seems like fun! fun! fun! and that is it.

Oh about the guarantee, both my parents and uncle and aunt knew Mr Schwartz personally.

Good post. It is true that "nothing is perfect". But, the human spirit SEEKS perfection. There is nothing wrong with pointing out imperfections in The Villages and The Village's system and lifestyle. Furthermore, saying that at some point in their life, senior residents should just "pack up and leave" to some more appropriate location - seems to be a BIG contradiction to the "America's Friendliest Hometown" image.
.........So, IS the Friendly Hometown the TRUTH or is it just a real estate salesperson's gimmick to entice retirees here? If it IS the latter and all old people here are supposed to be clever enough to know when they MUST pack up and leave.........I have to find that deeply SAD.
.........And it does NOT square with a whole lifetime of being told how GREAT it is to buy into the AMERICAN DREAM.
...........Should all old people just volunteer to join some Army to be used as cannon fodder in their last days?
..........I would suggest that instead of residents telling OLDER residents to pack up and leave - maybe it would be better to take a good product like The Villages and make it BETTER by doing small adjustments for the older residents.............like maybe providing MASS TRANSIT !!!!!!!
........Personally, I would prefer the cost of establishing mass transit and other improvements as needed for the aging population to the WASTERFUL cost of planting and then unplanting all those pretty FLOWERS on every roundup and other locations.
..........Pretty FLOWERS are nice in someone's backyard as their hobby. But, pretty FLOWERS throughout The Villages are for LOOKS and aesthetics, while MASS TRANSIT is a functional necessity for OLDER residents that do NOT drive to be able to get to Doctor's appointments.
...........So, if BOTH can NOT be accomplished and the choices are between pretty FLOWERS and the reality of functional TRANSPORTATION, I know that I would VOTE for the FUNCTIONAL, PRACTICAL OPTION !!!!!!

vote for the flowers. Mass transit would be extremely expensive. Can't drive use Uber or move to assisted living.

How did those people "in the past" who bough in TV manage?

Why can't the people buy here now do the same?

Oh contrare. They do have a say in the taxes. Look at the whole impact fee debacle in Sumter County. Also they sold the water uitilties at an inflated price set by their favorite apprasiers and now the system all off a sudden needs 26 million in repairs 3 years after the sale. That 26 mill will result in substanial hikes in the water and sewer rates.

The area was smaller, everything more easily accessible. Much less traffic. Neighbors really helped each other, turnover was less. And Mr Shwartz actually considered the residents’ problems as well as their entertainment. I am not saying he wasn’t shrewd financially, just that he also cared for people - not just for their money. TV was a Village as the name implies, not a city as the population is now. Can we go back? No. We always have to proceed forwards that is the only direction time goes. But we seem to be proceeding unilaterally like the Silicon Valley Bank, hedging the main bets on younger (active) naive people - who will grow older and will be in the majority here - it’ll be a lot of people to have to throw out. And I’m wondering how they’ll like it.