[Barefoot]

Originally Posted by Larry Wilson

Of course this place is too expensive for many many people.

If you are looking for a "deluxe" active retirement, I think TV offers good value. It is a fabulous City. If you are looking for a quiet and warm retirement home, there are less expensive options. TV can be quite expensive for part timers who don't qualify for the homestead tax break.

[Bogie Shooter]

Originally Posted by LisaJ

Please elaborate. Do you mean they spend too much, didn't budget enough for retirement, both, etc?

Could be both.

[mgjim]

I keep coming back to this thread and am wondering if I just don't get it.

I'm not one to criticize someone else's life decisions. I am, however, a little surprised that anyone would want to retire in their 50's only to find out that they have to work multiple jobs in order to play golf or any other game. Is it because of a sense of entitlement or could it be something else (bad advice, unrealistic expectations,???)?

I have been somewhat anal in working out a budget for my retirement and I am convinced that I can afford to retire in The Villages despite a very small pension supplemented by social security and a lifetime of savings. I won't be able to afford a large or stylish house, I won't be able to take 6-week cruises, and I won't be able to afford a second home back home. Oh, and I won't be the one picking up the tab at the country club (unless I happen to achieve a hole-in-one, of course, like that's ever going to happen).

I hope for the best for this family that is struggling to make a go of it in TV but I really think that if you relish a cushy retirement, you really have to work hard to make it happen and you may have to delay retirement in order to achieve the wealth in order to retire the way you imagine it.

[Sameri]

I agree

[billethkid]

after a 2 year sleep the subject wriggles again.
It is all relative and a function of one's state of mind and what they seek.

Most of us who have been around the horn so to speak will atest to the fact TV is one of the true bargains in life.
If one lives within their means (not like the government) even social security only folks make it work here.

btk

[kagney123]

Originally Posted by graciegirl

Well said and very wise....as usual.

Well Gracie, You know what they say.."Takes one to know one"

[Dr Winston O Boogie jr]

This original post is over two years old. I was shocked to read it. Like many others, I have no mortgage but that would be the same no matter where I am and would be the same if I had a mortgage. I find this to be on of the least expensive places that I've ever lived other than a third world country in Asia.

I don't understand the golf fee of $150 a month. I no longer play golf, buy I know that you can play the par three courses for no additional cost unless you wan to ride then you pay a modest trail fee. Even at that, $1800 a year is not a lot of money for golf. Where I cam from the dues at many private clubs exceeded $5000.

I pay a little over $100 for both internet and cable television. The same as it was in Massachusetts. Yes, most of us pay a trash fee but I don't know of anyone who doesn't use it. I can't imagine how someone could not use it. My trash fee is $51.00 per quarter nowhere near $55 a month. My trash collection fee up north was about $80 per quarter.

The thing is that here in the Villages you can buy a home for as little at $50,000. While that may be an exception, there are plenty of manufactured homes under $100,000 and plenty of villas and ranch home under $150,000. So eve if you have to have a small mortgage it will be lower here then anywhere else.

My electric bill is much less here than it was up north and that's with air conditioning and charging the golf cart. Speaking of which, we use about one tankful of gas per month in the car by using the golf cart for almost every trip we make inside the Villages. In fact we're considering buying another cart so I don't have to use the car when my wife takes the golf cart.

Another thing is that we don't have to pay for heat here. Up north had our natural gas budgeted and we paid about $300 a month. That did include the stove and clothes dryer as well as heat in the winter, but that's a bill that we don't have here at all.

In addition to how cheap it is to live here, we pay $140 a month and have tons of clubs, pools and other forms of recreation and entertainment to keep us busy. If we had to pay for all that we could never afford it.

I don't know what all the fees are that the OP is talking about. I moved here because it is so inexpensive and I can have a much better lifestyle here than anywhere else that I know of.

[buggyone]

I would guess that the OP meant his amenity fee ($150) was for golf, which it isn't.

The trail fee for executive golf of $142 per year is very cheap. For both me and Mrs. Buggy playing, it is less than a dollar per play.

This is truly a great place to live.

[Shirleevee]

Originally Posted by Dr Winston O Boogie jr

This original post is over two years old. I was shocked to read it. Like many others, I have no mortgage but that would be the same no matter where I am and would be the same if I had a mortgage. I find this to be on of the least expensive places that I've ever lived other than a third world country in Asia.

I don't understand the golf fee of $150 a month. I no longer play golf, buy I know that you can play the par three courses for no additional cost unless you wan to ride then you pay a modest trail fee. Even at that, $1800 a year is not a lot of money for golf. Where I cam from the dues at many private clubs exceeded $5000.

I pay a little over $100 for both internet and cable television. The same as it was in Massachusetts. Yes, most of us pay a trash fee but I don't know of anyone who doesn't use it. I can't imagine how someone could not use it. My trash fee is $51.00 per quarter nowhere near $55 a month. My trash collection fee up north was about $80 per quarter.

The thing is that here in the Villages you can buy a home for as little at $50,000. While that may be an exception, there are plenty of manufactured homes under $100,000 and plenty of villas and ranch home under $150,000. So eve if you have to have a small mortgage it will be lower here then anywhere else.

My electric bill is much less here than it was up north and that's with air conditioning and charging the golf cart. Speaking of which, we use about one tankful of gas per month in the car by using the golf cart for almost every trip we make inside the Villages. In fact we're considering buying another cart so I don't have to use the car when my wife takes the golf cart.

Another thing is that we don't have to pay for heat here. Up north had our natural gas budgeted and we paid about $300 a month. That did include the stove and clothes dryer as well as heat in the winter, but that's a bill that we don't have here at all.

In addition to how cheap it is to live here, we pay $140 a month and have tons of clubs, pools and other forms of recreation and entertainment to keep us busy. If we had to pay for all that we could never afford it.

I don't know what all the fees are that the OP is talking about. I moved here because it is so inexpensive and I can have a much better lifestyle here than anywhere else that I know of.

AMEN! I
agree!

[Mimivillager]

[JimPete]

Originally Posted by Dr Winston O Boogie jr

Another thing is that we don't have to pay for heat here.

GOOD POINT! The heat here is free!

Jim

[maureenod]

I see the OP lives in Silver Lake, which is one of the most reasonable villages. No Bond and low mortgage. She works 3 jobs and seems to support her husband so he can golf every day. Wake up and smell the coffee.

[buggyone]

I think we can all stop posting on this thread. The OP has not posted anything on TOTV for over one year. She may have lost interest or moved on.

[Halibut]

Well, I'll keep it going a bit to ask where y'all are getting your TV and internet so cheap? Mine were good the first year during the introductory rate, then both got jacked up big time. $155 combined now, plus the mysterious creepity creep of a few dollars more every so often.

We don't have any premium channels or other extras for television and didn't pay the extra $5 per month for the (alleged) 10mb Internet connection.

[Golf View]

Originally Posted by arabianhorse59

I have lived here now for close to 2 years. I am a full time resident and moved here because my husband is a golf addict! I can honestly say that this is the most expensive place I have ever lived in my life and I came here from Illinois, the over tax em state. I realize alot of you sold property and moved down here with no mortgages on your backs but, we couldn't do that. We have a mortgage here but, I am talking about the over the top fees for everything. The monthly fee for golf is $150, trail fees, mandatory garbage fees at $55 a month (whether you have garbage picked up or not! If you own property, you pay it!), the internet for $96 a year, Progress Energy, which is the most $$ utility company I have ever had to deal with...on and on. I am young enough that I am able to work (I am 51) and I have to hold down 3 jobs to keep food on the table here.
Before people buy here, they need to research the fees. If I would have known that this place was so costly, I never would have moved here!

I've read most of the responses to your post, and have come to the conclusion that not everyone can afford to live here, maybe you are one of them. There are people who max out their credit cards every month & complain they can't live on their paycheck. It seems like you need to come up with a budget & stick to it. I sincerely wish you can get your affairs in order & enjoy the lifestyle we have here.