I'm trying to get RID of my RV (engine problems have kept it off the road for many years) so there's no worry about that :)

Is there an abbreviated version of the Lifestyle Preview? The reason I ask is that my vacation time is spoken for until at least 2011 (gone this year, honeymoon to Europe next year). I *could*, however, manufacture a long weekend to at least take a look down there so my fiancee and I could see for ourselves. (Still grumbling about missing this when I was IN Florida just 12 weeks ago!) At least it would give us the "seen it with our own eyes" experience.

One other thing - does anyone know if Verizon's Fios service is coming? I know it's in several Florida cities and towns and I'm hooked on their fiber-based services (and I have a thing against Comcast). I know it's not there now - at least the list of cities with the service doesn't include it yet. I'm hoping that there might have been some announcement like there was before Fios came here to southern New Hampshire in 2006. I bought it immediately and then Verizon promptly went and sold their land-based assets in NH, VT and ME to Fairpoint. Sigh..

I haven't been thinking about my retirement in anything but the most vague thoughts for some time (since before my divorce). Suddenly I may very well HAVE a new target to shoot for - something tangible and concrete. ...and goals are always easier to achieve when they are well-defined. And if I can move down sooner (like in a few years instead of 20) while I'm still working, so much the better.

Thank you all SO much for your opinions and experiences. This is all so very new to me and I know it sounds corny but I'm still adjusting to the thoughts.

dj.

I believe you can do the lifestyle preview for as little as 3 days up to a max of 6 days. Just pick up the phone and call the office and probe around. Doesn't cost anything to call and if you can sneak away before Christmas there are some good airfares.

The new Creekside Cabanas are currently for rent at $100 per night until Jan 1. Then the rate till Apr. 1 will be $175 and will then be reduced again for the non-prime months. These new furnished homes are complete with a golf cart and within walking distance of the Sumter Landing square. So, you can make your own lifestyle preview. If you do come for just a couple of days you will still get a pretty good feel for life here, and you can learn a great deal, especially if you prepare ahead. I would introduce a new thread here, something like: "The 10 Must Do's in a 48-hour 1st Visit" You will get enough suggestions to fill a visit lasting weeks and you can sort out the most common ones and what appeals to you. Just look at everything and ask people what they think of The Villages.
Don't worry about details. We ended up buying our house over the phone and every question we had was answered on the phone or the internet. It would have been even easier if we had known about TOTV.
FIOS isn't here yet. I laugh at your reference to Comcast. They aren't wildly popular, but their inefficiency has become only a tiny life aggravation. Cable is underground here so it is more stable as long as you get a good initial hookup. Dish and Direct TV have problems with weather outages.

come on down!

Ah...you are correct to define your dream and one thing at a time...Marriage first, enjoy the time you are in.

Everyone who says that this place is too good to be true is correct.

You will end up here, you sound like a person with some good sense.

Come down and see that this is a place for your future.

Reread the posts from both JoJo and Village07 again and again. They never tell it wrong.

And welcome to you. You have NO idea how wonderful living your dream will be!

I'm still somewhat in shock at myself for everything I've seen, read and spoken about with my fiancee about over the past 3 days. The backlash started to hit ("how would we handle moving away from family and friends?", etc - Answer: Fly back to New England from time to time so long as Southwest airlines still exists) but we're more in the mindset of "how will we handle it" as opposed to "this is a dealbreaker".

Over the years, I've learned to be incredibly skeptical of "too good to be true", but I'm having a REALLY hard time finding naysayers out there. 90+ softball teams? (I played until scheduling conflicts made it impossible to be reliably at the games - still have my cleats, gloves, bats, etc) A *polo* stadium? Live entertainment EVERY night? 80+ miles of cart/bike/skate paths? Heck, I've never even HEARD of "pickleball".

Even when thinking of 'work', I was wondering how my skills could translate down there. (I've been programming computers since I was 3 in 1965, been building them since they got smaller than a refrigerator)

On a more serious note, I had a beloved grandmother who I can honestly say came to an early demise thanks to the climate here in New England (specifically, Boston). After surgery that was scheduled improperly, she couldn't get out of her apartment until ice covered the sidewalks. She wasn't able to do the kind of therapy she needed to regain her mobility and I watched this once-vibrant jewel of humanity slowly slip away as one problem compounded itself on another. I can't go without saying that, as I was seeing the pictures, watching the videos and reading all the different things to do, I *did* think "this could be a life saver/extender".

Talking this over with Susie (my fiancee), we're going to see if we can sneak something in before Christmas. We'll see what the DVD looks like and make our decisions then.

Again, thank you all all so much for how forthcoming you've all been. I think I'll be hanging out here for some time.

I guess I would caution you to retain your skepticism. Believe it or not, there are indeed some people who do not like TV, who can't live with the restrictions, and who do consider it Stepford. Most of us can and do go on and on about all the wonderful advantages TV has to offer. It isn't that there aren't things that we may find annoying, but it's just that they don't really bother us. "I can't put my garbage out in a garbage can?" Well, even on garbage days things look neat and clean. "My grandchildren can't go to the adults only pool?" Family pool works for me! "People ride around in golf carts smiling and saying have a nice day." (that one came from a grouchy friend of mine). Makes me happy!!

How do you put your garbage out? Do you have to be home when the garbage man comes? I take it you keep your cans in the garage.

Garbage man comes twice a week. I keep a plastic bag inside my can (yes, in the garage) and that is what I put out. You can put your garbage out the day before, so if we won't be there I'll either have a neighbor put it out or have redwitch who watches my house put it out. The way I look at it is that in order to have the beautiful open spaces we all love so much, our houses are close together (we have a CYV). Everyone needs to cooperate for the common good.

(BTW, love your quote!)

Well, I at least like to THINK that I keep an open mind - just not so open that my brains fall out :)

And, you see, there's a perfect example of what I'm talking about - you want to keep a nice looking neighborhood but don't have to resort to being fascists about it. My sister's old place would only allow a limited number of exterior colors - one of which I remember being called "crushed ice" - that were so similar you couldn't tell the difference from 50 feet away. That's not saying I want to paint a house purple with pink stripes and green polka-dots, but I wouldn't want a neighborhood looking like a cookie-cutter, monochromatic Levittown, either.

I confess I'm getting a tad anxious to see if this is the right mixture of trade-off/compromise. It certainly sounds that way so far.

Now that is a perfect example. Our place is in a neighborhood of courtyard villas -- all painted the same. In theory I also would have said that I didn't want "a neighborhood looking like a cookie-cutter, monochromatic Levittown" but I did want a CYV for the privacy and decided that the neighborhood didn't bother me enough to worry about it. Now that we are there, I actually love the neighborhood. Guess you just have to figure out what is worth it and what isn't.

... a little more on garbage collection. In my neighborhood bags of garbage are picked up on Monday. Recyclables are also picked up the same day. Recyclables have to be in a clear plastic bag. Larger items such as broken down cardboard boxes can be placed under the clear plastic bag. If it isn't obviously recyclable, it'll be taken as garbage. I've never seen anything left at the curb. It wouldn't be neat!

On Wednesdays in my neighborhood, you can put out lawn, tree and scrub stuff. If it's hard to handle stuff such as trimmings you'll use large double or triple thick paper bags that you can buy at Walmart, Lowes, Sams Club, Home Depot, etc. Larger stuff is left at the end of the driveway.

On Thursdays they do garbage again.

Cost: $16.92 a month

While I'm waiting for the DVD in the mail, and from discussing the issue with my fiancee, another thought struck. I haven't yet found a portfolio of floorplans - though I see several style names in the listings that I've browsed. Are there plans out there with, for lack of a better term, "in-law apartments"?

a good resource about Villages homes is a popular realtor named Lyle Gant, who has lots of details on his website...

www.lylesellsfla.com/custom1.shtml

I have never dealt with Mr Gant but he is well known for providing useful online information and I've never heard anyone complain about him. There are other sources of TV floor plans but I don't know another source for all homes, including those not currently being built.

Realtors down here are pretty low key so I wouldn't hesitate to pick their brains endlessly.

Included with the TV DVD will be a large packet called the “Lifestyle Portfolio”. In it you will find information including home and villa floor plans and an estimated cost of living list for a $250k home in TV.

Linda gives some good advice. If you buy a new home, you can choose your color. But - as Sue pointed out previously - if that color is next door to you - you need to choose another. Many of the colors are similar - varying shades of yellow/gold, beige/taupe/tan and a soft green, white and a soft blue.That doesn't mean you can't re-paint it a different color. One home struck by the tornado a couple of years back is now lavender (corner of Canal and Odell).

Villas are a bit more "cookie cutter" if color is a factor. But I LOVE how they look. If your drive through a villa neighborhood, the color stays the same, but the entrances and exteriors are different due to the different models. IMO it is a clean, yet striking design.

Xavier, we have seen trash not picked up. They will pick up any type of garbage bag except clear - the clear ones can only be used for recyclables. I have seen a couple of these filled with trash left at the curbside.