Really????? Not me.

Snowbirds are wonderful .............. Pay all fees for the year which keep our cost down !!!! Love the birds !!!!!!!

This is the first I've heard that snowbirds are despised. I've lived here18 years. You may want to broaden your circle of friends.

I LOVE that term! From now on, I shall call myself a Sunbird!! Thank you!!

We've considered moving to TV full-time. For about 30 seconds. We have 6 children and 11 grandchildren (with more to come) that we'd miss too much. Just can't find our way around that. We're stuck in a fantastic kinda way :)

:1rotfl:I like your wit.

My friends aren't the ones saying negative things about Snowbirds. Do ya think they'd be my friends if they were <derp>? Just read some of the messages on this anonymous social media site. But thanks for trying to dump on me.

Adding to your comments the Snow birds also have a completely different attitude than the full time people. In our 3 years here as full timers, I have found that there is a completely different attitude in the summer than the winter. People are more pleasant, relaxed, and polite in the summer. In the winter I have found people to act rushed, impolite, and generally have a feeling of entitlement. They are here for short time fun and consider themselves better than the full time residents. Seems like they are just here to take what they need with no sense of commitment since they will be gone soon.
As for the comment about being jealous about not having a second home, no thanks, I don’t want the expense and work required to maintain one.

Snowbirds are not despised as long as they have skin in the game (ie:actually own and come down for months in the winter) It is the daily, weekly, monthly renters that are despised. They aren't snowbirds, they are tourists.

No offense, but it sounds like you consider yourself better than the snowbirds...

So we were to be "despised" when we rented for 2 months this past Winter, before deciding to purchase a home?

Good to know...

Funny, everyone we met couldn't have been nicer when we told them we were renting and looking for a home. They gave us helpful advice about what to look for, what to avoid...

I guess I didn't meet you...

You surely mean no commitment other than the initial down payment, and the monthly mortgage, amenity and utility payments, and the annual homeowner's insurance and property tax payments, right? Let's not forget the risk of investing our money in a TV property. You didn't mean those costs in your "take what they need with no sense of commitment" comment, did you? I'm sure those facts weren't even a consideration in your determination. It's ok, no worries, please keep the hate going.

Ha! We rented only a week before buying. It doesn't take long, does it, to know TV is what you want. We were smitten, swear to God, 2 minutes along Morse Blvd upon our initial arrival. It is just so lovely. We've met so many absolutely wonderful people along the way. Our neighbors in the entire villa sub-section couldn't be any more welcoming and friendly. I haven't come across one disgruntled soul in all of TV except on ToTV, What is it about anonymity that brings out the worst in people? Well, wait, let me restate. What is it about anonymous social media platforms and emergency departments that bring out the worst in people? One does not compare to the other, yet there they are.

Ha! We did the same! But we paid in advance for two months to search the neighborhoods, get a better feel for the place... I was sold on our first visit (Thanksgiving 2019), visiting friends. But SWMBO was quite sure, so we compromised and decided on an extended stay for her to be sure...

I spent that 13 months (between our fist visit and our extended stay) showing her listing after listing, driving her absolutely insane!

We arrived Christmas Eve, looked at just over a dozen homes and found one the first week of January. We made an offer, went back and forth for a day or three and they accepted our first counter.

We closed in late February, a 10 days before our rental ended...

As to your last point, you nailed it... Anonymity... People will act much differently if you don't know who they are.

Personally, I've always used my real name on Forums... I've got noting to hide...

I did the same thing. Loved TV from over the years of visiting my parents (who owned but were seasonal residents) so I knew what to expect. However, I was not sure about my San Diego-beaches-loving hubby. We stayed all along both the gulf coast and the Atlantic coast and then came to TV lifestyle. It HAD to be his choice also as far as I was concerned. He was hesitant, but day by day TV grew on him. First he liked golf carting, then he liked the manicured appearance of the place, then he liked the people we met. Now it is 3 years later and he is proud and happy to be a Villager!

I find the "we don't hate the snowbirds, we love the snowbirds!" to be just as insulting, just in a patronizing way. Maybe because I'm an "other" - I don't fit in with the "majority" of the Villages, in either religious upbringing or political bent. When I mention to someone that I'm jewish and they say "Oh I LOVE jewish people!" it makes me cringe. So when I hear someone say "oh I just LOVE snowbirds" I get the same knee-jerk reaction on behalf of snowbirds.

Some of the comments regarding snowbirds on this thread are hysterical in their stupidity.

"Snowbirds are always in a rush...." I've heard many times that snowbirds are always dawdling about, congesting the roadways, going too slow. When I'm in the left lane on 466 going 7 miles over the speed limit, it's never an out of state plate that gets on my tail and zooms by me when I get out of their way. It's always a Florida plate. Must be a snowbird from Jacksonville, I guess.

"Snowbirds don't know how to negotiate the roundabouts"....There was a post a few weeks ago about a driver taking a bypass around a roundabout, stopping when the bypass reconnected to Buena Vista, and then turning left, the WRONG WAY, down Buena Vista. That must have been one of those snowbirds who sticks around until July 4th.

"Snowbirds clog up the restaurants"....right. They should stay home and not ever eat out while staying in the home they bought, pay for, maintain, etc. etc. etc. so the year-rounders need not be inconvenienced.

"Snowbirds 'save' chairs at the squares." Indeed, and no doubt they wear shirts that declare they are snowbirds, so we can all easily identify the culprits as such. There is no chance they are year-rounders doing that.

"Snowbirds come with a feeling of 'entitlement'"....Well, reading the comments of the year-rounders who claim such nonsense to be factual, it is pretty clear who really feels entitled, isn't it? Entitled because they live here 12 months a year, to be free of the congestion that is a natural part of living in a community designed such as ours. All you have to do is look at the density of homes and realize that if they are all being utilized, it's going to be congested.

I love Snowbirds. They leave TV for us to enjoy fully for months!

Snowbird envy?

My best friend is a snow bird.

My grandmother once told me she had nothing against snowbirds at all. She even hired one to be her maid.

Actually, it wasn't in the roundabout, it was at the merge of a bypass, and I never addressed "snowbird" vs. "frog". But if you must know, the vehicle had a handicapped Florida plate (something that I fear immensely when I see it). Of course, we all know the absolute worst thing to encounter on the road is a Prius with an out of state handicapped plate---God help us all:1rotfl::1rotfl::1rotfl:

I've never experienced an Issue in the 10+ yrs as a snow bird!
 

WOW > I've never experienced even the slightest Issue in the 10+ yrs as a snow bird! And I've never heard of an issue from any of our friends who were also snow birds or still are snow birds. As a matter of fact I've found the returning snow birds are openly received and welcomed very friendly by everyone. I'd suggest you consider looking for a different group to associate with, I'm not sure what their problem is. I have to believe a large % of The Villages population were one time snow birds and found it such a great place they decided to make it full time as we did.

I don’t think the “upset” is towards the “Snowbirds” rather the overbuilding. Moved here in 2014 with the idea the founders had no more land to expand. Since that time population has exploded. Off season used to be a relief from the overcrowding, traffic, restaurant wait time not to mention the attendance at the squares and re center activities. At this point in my life, do not have another move “in me.” Just disappointed. Stay home a lot more than I used to…

I am not sure where some think TV was to be only a certain size then stop.
Yes there are a lot of stories/legends/tales/promises.

In cities from these peoples past....were they of a specific size to be "acceptable".

It is not like the number of restaurants has stayed the same hence there are a shortage of tables. How many more restaurants are here compared to 10 years ago?

Ditto the above for many other venues that have also grown to accommodate increased population.

OK there is more traffic....no more than any other attractive/popular place to live/visit.

I for one, do not buy the over built scenario. The increased population has allowed TV to reach/surpass critical mass to attract many national brands.......ya shoulda been here in 2003!!!!

To each his/her own......17 years and we like it as much today as 2003!!!!

All I can say is the SB’s in my area are rude, leave common sense up north, borrow my tools and don’t return them until they are ready to go back north and then just leave them on my front porch. And the people they use to watch and care for the homes are not the best. Yards are not kept up. The Canadian ones complain about everything from using different money to the food and health care.

The term for a person who loves the English and their culture is an "Anglophile". Is there a term for someone who loves Canadians as much as this post indicated???:1rotfl::1rotfl::1rotfl:

Voyageur, I wonder that they don’t ask where they park their canoe? ;)

Everyone knows they park it at Lake Sumter LANDING!!!:1rotfl::1rotfl::1rotfl:

Your post adds nothing to the previous 266. Did you actually read any part of this thread?

So, few on this forum despise snowbirds and the rest of us gets thrown in that pie? Could someone please explain that. :duck:

Envy?

Odd. In my experience Canadians as a whole are some of the politest, most respectful folks around.

It’s only on lap two. Few more to go.

So you’d rather them live here full time? I LOVE snowbirds for the very reason you just said people don’t like them.

A "Canuckaphobe".

I was going to suggest f***canuck, but thought it wouldn't last long:1rotfl::1rotfl::1rotfl:

Noted most of the comments were regarding TV. Have lived in Florida for 64 years ago and term snowbird stated way before TV. Most of the complaints about snowbirds are due to increased traffic. In S. Florida a lot of complaints(anecdotal) were about New Yorkers and their drving.

After living in 4 different parts of Florida, there does seem to be much higher percentage of "snow birds" in TV than in other parts of the state.

We should never complain about snowbirds in Florida. The taxes they pay probably contributes to the non necessity of raising taxes in Florda.

but it does have the benefit of rhyme.