I would plan on taking a few vacations to TV. During the off season you can rent very reasonable. Try The Villages 4 Rent, Rentals in The Villages for a rental as well as asking here. Also look at a few of the communities in the area. The more you see the better you will be able to identify differences that will be important to you. Also try the vacation packages as you learn a lot talking to current residences.

I had never heard of The Villages, I came for 2 weeks in June and bought a place in August!!!! Happily ever after!

Welcome to you Craftysandy. I am also a wannabee, and luckily I have been able to visit TV 4 times since 2010. Each visit I have rented in a different village. I will be back renting in October in yet another village, this one just north of 466. I haven't done the official lifestyle visit yet, but I will probably do that hopefully in 2013. I agree with lanabanana -- if you can visit TV once or twice a year to test the waters, that may be very helpful for you. Reading and posting questions on TOTV will give you a lot of information about moving to and living in TV. :welcome:

5 yrs ?
 

You need to consider that they will have no more new homes in 5 years (running out of lots to build on).

If you wait 5 years there will be no new homes available.

TV is great, we love it here

Thanks for the great advice! I am really looking forward to retirement even if it;s not for another five years! In the meantime, I will check on the forums and try to educate myself on TV! It sure looks like a fun place!

I drove through out of curiosity in Oct 2011 on my way somewhere else. Came in May 2012 for a Lifestyle Visit and stayed one week. Bought a lot and my build starts in Sept! Lucky me, I retired a bit early, but I agree that you should visit as often as you can until you are able to purchase, whether it be a lot, spec home or pre-owned! They are all lovely and so is TV!
Luck to you!

We have 2 to 5 years till retirement and we just bought a house in Buttonwood. It will be a vacation home until we retire. We have met some great people in such a short time.

even though we only come down 8 weeks a year its still worth buying soon as you know

One week from today we will be down for our 4th visit. Retirement 7 months away, house for sale now. We are ready!!!

Even though Golfingnut sounds like an Iowa farmboy with his direction of the sun, best distance from attractions, and locations of noises and smells - he is absolutely right.

I have friends who fell in love with their new home at first sight but did not realize it was only about 2 blocks from the railroad track - until after they moved in. There were also two large oak trees on their lot whose roots had been disturbed in the building and died within 18 months. They were responsible for removing the dead trees - and insurance does not pay for tree removal if the trees were still standing.

The direction of the sun to the house is very important when deciding because you do not want the setting sun on your lanai as you will bake in the afternoon sun.

haven't looked back!
 

You are definitely making a wise choice in considering t.v.! We came for a lifestyle visit in May 2011 and to visit friends. Loved t.v. from the first moment! Went back home and two weeks later I announced to my husband that we needed to retire here. After his initial shock, he agreed but thought we should spend 6 weeks in Aug. and Sept. to see how we could "handle the heat" (we're still laughing about that one since our hometown and state had record heat waves while we were here!). We rented a house for the 6 weeks but knew within a few days, this lifestyle was for us. We moved here in Oct. 2011 and haven't looked back. If you want to make a ton of friends, have every activity known to mankind available to you, live in a community surrounded by beautiful golf courses and pools, have fantastic weather most of the year, and feel blessed every single day, get on down here! Jim and I will be waiting on you, ready to tee it up, go out to eat, or just lounge around the pool. It simply doesn't get any better than this! All the best to you!

:agree:

And I've heard that most people spend more time planning their next vacation than they do planning their retirement. :wave: