I think it really is a matter of personal choice. Our Villages home ( a patio villa) is 400 more square feet than our Wisconsin home. We are happy in both places... home is where your heart is..P.S. Bonnybrook/Lynnhaven/Ashland is a perfect location, neighbor!

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We did exactly that and we are glad we did. We just bought a house in the same neighborhood and have 2 months left on our lease and that will allow us time to do things to the new house before we move. I think its a smart move.

I haven't looked at some of the replies on this string recently (I got SO many responses!) and see you answered one of the biggest questions we had! Wondering if it's cheaper to store the furniture and rent a furnished villa or move our furniture into an unfurnished and move again when we find something to buy. Definitely think we'll do the two-move option because we can even keep the rental a bit longer and move some things ourselves. That way the local mover doesn't have as much to move either! Thru is post/string even got referrals to good local movers. We are VERY excited, thanks for your helpful response on storage expenses!!!

Renting
 

We were 100% positive we wanted a CYV because of our dogs. I flew down to purchase a CYV in Mission Hills. None were available and I needed a month to month rental ASAP because our home in NJ was closing in 5 weeks. Most of the month to month rentals were furnished. We did not bring much furniture. What we shipped down went into storage along with all of our household items. I don't remember the breakdowns of costs but our moving bill was around $7500. The amount included the moving company doing all of the packing. In the end I am very happy that I did not find a CYV when I flew down. After living in our rental I found the villa to be claustrophobic. Only one window did not face a wall. We purchased a designer and it worked out better for us.

Also moved from Ill. Paid $9000 to move and store furniture for 3 months. If I had to do it again I would have a couple of large storage cubes dropped in my driveway in Illinois and hire a local moving company to pack furniture. Then ship the cubes to Fl and put in storage in Florida in the cubes. Rent furnished during the summer until you finalize on what and where you want to end up. Summer rentals are half of busy season. Then have the cubes dropped at the new location and hire local movers to unload. If you put your furniture in storage you pay to load and just unload the trailer twice. Throw away half your stuff. You will be surprised how much you really do not need once you get here.

Stuff
 

I agree do not bring a lot of stuff. There is no place to store it and you probably will not need it. Half of the few piece of furniture I sent never made it through the front door. One of the movers had just moved into his 1st apt and was delighted to take everything I decided that we should not have shipped.

We purchased a home while renting and made our decision in just 3 days although we had been viewing and analyzing homes for several months before coming down and had also spent several winters down here. We chose not to bring our furniture down with a few exceptions. The biggest problem we have is what to do with everything we accumulated over the last 48 years, we are not really hoarders but have one heck of a lot of stuff. We started going through it and either selling, donating, giving away, or trashing lots of stuff. Knowing that we had a lot we ended up buying a 4 bedroom house so that one of the bedrooms will replace at least part of our basement, it is now called the basement room instead of bedroom. Im glad we did this before we got too much older as it is a lot harder getting this stuff out than it was getting it in. Good luck with whatever decisions you make..

...

We are from Illinois too and renting in the summer for five months in a furnished home. It is cheap to rent in the summer. Happy to discuss with you.
Suzanne0812@aol.com

Absolutely rent for at least a month, get a feel for the Villages lifestyle.

Once you decide that this is the right choice for you, start looking for a house. Things can move pretty quick. We actually closed on our house within less than 3 weeks of putting in the purchase offer.

We have a house that is fully furnished and available for long term rent from May 2018-Dec 2018. Please contact me if you are interested in more information

Jean
585 694 3279
or e-mail jricciuto@rochester.rr.com

we rented 6 different times over 2 years looking around each time. finally we found the house we just had to have. we knew it was the right house as soon as we saw it

We always advise our friends thinking of relocating to Florida to rent for a whole year, no matter where in Florida, s to get a taste of the climate. We gave up three times trying to live in Florida because we could not even step outside during the hottest months.

We too moved here from Illinois two years ago. We sold or gave away most things that were in our house. I see no reason to move old furniture and so forth down here. Movers are expensive. Plus that heavy wood furniture doesn't look right in Florida. The money we saved on was spent on brand new furniture. We then rented for three months in July thru September. During that time we saw about 5 or 6 houses a day for about a month. During that time we got to know the area much better as well as the type of home we wanted. We ended up buying a designer home in the Village of Piedmont. The home is on a cul-de-sac and has many upgrades already added to the home. When people buy a brand new home the additional upgrades are going to cost lots of money. The northern part of The Villages is now turning over with new home owners moving in. I think it's also the most beautiful area in The Villages. Our street has just 14 homes on it. With six new owners in just the last two years. Renting is an excellent idea. Check out this video for more tips:

12 Buying Tips For THE VILLAGES in FLORIDA - YouTube

We are doing the same thing, recently sold our home and are coming to TV in late August to buy, but will also find a place to rent if we do not find a home we love. Our plan is to move by January.

I think renting here would be a good idea, especially now that TV is so big. When we came here it was small, much smaller and in those days the homes were selling as soon as they were shown. We knew exactly what we wanted and the location we wanted and when we were shown our home we were given just three hours for them to hold it for us before putting it back into the pool. We had to make an instant decision, it is a decision we have never regretted.

Now, with the size of TV and the numerous villages available I would definitely recommend renting - maybe for as long as six months to find what you really want and where you want to be.

We rented 5 homes some north of 466 and some south
Then made our decision

The smartest to thing to do is RENT FIRST for a few months. With the minimum of three months. Spend that first month looking everywhere you might be interested. Take notes of the kind of house you want. Think of the location of the house and how easy or hard it will be to sell later down the road. The Villages is getting bigger so there will be more new homes for sale. For myself and others I have talked to, think twice about buying in that new area south of the Florida Turnpike. Do you want to put up with all of that construction and dirt and dust for the next 3 to 5 years? Just my thoughts....

This is a follow up to my post above. We knew this was to be our forever home, so when we planned on what we wanted in a home and home site we knew we wanted to be within easy shopping by both car and golf cart, and to be able to get to doctors and restaurants etc., also we wanted to be closer to Sumter Landing for evening entertainment and we purchased accordingly.

Hi lottoguy, Thank you for posting the link to the YouTube video -- excellent tips for prospective buyers in The Villages. I'm sure you are glad you are out of Illinois...the state is still broke, and we still don't have a state budget, and my property taxes (I am in northwest suburban Cook County) on my townhouse went up 29% this year. As of this past week, no Megamillions or Powerball tickets can be sold in Illinois until the state gets a budget. :cus::cus: :ohdear:

In my opinion coming down to rent for a month now will tell you where you will want to settle and will be less expension. You can drive around checking out all the areas, go to open houses and see which model you would like, go to the squares, talk to people you meet about their experiences. We put our home on the market and lo and behold it sold right away so now we had to find a home.We had two realtors, one with the villages and one outside realtor that looked for the home we wanted. We actually found the home we wanted on line. We knew the model and we knew the area so we had some friends we made while renting take a look at the place for us and that sealed the deal. It was less stressful because we negotiated the closing date at both places that worked for us so we could have time to do all the things you do when you move. Things like a garage sale, finding a mover, deciding what your going to take and not take. This worked out great for us. To each his own, you will find it here in the villages.

home types/designs???
 

Dear All,
We are planning a retirement down there either in mid '18 or mid '19(depending on retirement schedule). I have visited once last year, plan another this winter, and have looked at homes online. I see the various model types, but I was hoping there was something that describes what is unique on each model or type? Based upon these threads, I definitely plan to rent first, but I would like to do as much research as possible, so we're prepared when we get there. Thanks in advance, and thank you for all your valuable opinions. MikeM Vermont
mullinmj@gmail.com

No matter how much research you do you’ll won’t be as prepared until you live here long enough. By that time you’ll be looking for another house in another neighborhood. So, my opinion is to find a house that will be easy to sell once you think you’ll be settled.


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Your best bet is to see - in person and online - the type of home you want first...designer, cottage, courtyard or patio villa, what your budget may be and whether you want to buy resale or new. We are in the Village of Fenney - just moved in 2 weeks ago! We have a courtyard villa because we didn't want a lot of upkeep, and there's too much to occupy your time here and then worry about taking care of a big home! Go on The Villages app and look at homes for sale, you can apply filters to narrow your search. Also do the virtual tours. Will give you a much better idea of what you want and don't want. It helped us immensely when we were looking and don't regret it. We absolutely love our home and the location! Good luck!

We rented three times from 2007 to 2010. We bought our first home in 2010 which we basically used as a vacation home for us and our family. 2012 we bought A cottage home and thought that was It, but 2 car garage was not enough. In 2014 we found a model we loved and moved again. We don’t seem to have an attachment to where we live now. We have owned three houses, but does not mean something else may come along.

Interesting thought, you don’t seem to have an attachment.
I’ve thought of that since we feel the same way. It might have to do with the ginormous selection of homes and all the
neighborhoods essentially look and feel the same. Although we much prefer the home were in now. Spec built but with 95% of the amenities we would have had if we built.


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We still own our home up north, and so far have no plans on selling, for awhile. It’s our third house we built there also. We love to leave the heat, and I really do love snow. So multiple homes are still our lifestyle.

My attachment is to my neighborhood, not a physical house. I am not very materialistic but I value the quality of life with the nicest people in The Villages. A house is just a place to live. A home is near my friends. I’m a total frog, hear til I croak.

We secured a rental while still in Las Vegas through Property Management. After driving 4 days, with pets, we were disappointed by many aspects of the rental process. We have currently put our house hunting on hold to deal with the many issues on the rental property. It's disappointing. 😢

I am sorry that you had a bad experience. Perhaps if you share more details, we can offer some suggestions to turn things around for you.

We had good friends whose opinions on things we had trusted for many years who bought here and loved it.

So when we came here the first time we were incredulous about all of the wonderful stuff, but trusted our friends would never invest in anything not worth it.

So we went home and studied all of the different models and decided we would come down and buy a courtyard villa and came down and bought a designer. Right next to the Odell pool. Loved it. Loved the neighbors. Loved the Villages.

We are in second home and love this place even more.

I do not work for The Morses, but am a huge fan.

We rented for short periods then bought a small villa, waited for other house to sell and finally moved to a bigger one. Most of us know when you walk into a house what you like and don't like right away so, what is different about The Villages as there is so much choice. Many answers are in posts above. We found that LSL, Spanish Springs and Brownwood became places we visited less over time. Getting around, in and out of The Villages important hence location. Rec centers are everywhere. If we had to do it again, we wouldn't move so much furniture, just the basics and long-distance moving is very expensive. Moving around her is very, very inexpensive and there are people even to help you put things away, also reasonable, soi if you pick the house you love and have a nasty neighbor, moving is a viable option. Deals come up all the time. If a fantastic deal comes up be ready to pounce and not tied up in a yearly lease. A storage unit is a good choice.
The Villages is not perfect but as you look around, it's way better any over 55 place we have ever found. Here it is less about the house and more about the people enjoying themselves and all the things The Villages haveset in place. People in Mulberry say "Don't tell too many but we have the very best location here! All the way down to Fenny you will hear something similar. In short, they are saying despite a few pluses and minuses, they are happy here. Figure out your price range, spend as little long distance costs as you can, store until ready to pounce, rent short term, are all good options. Welcome, you will love it here.

A lot of people rent and get a feel for TV prior to buying. This seems very logical. I'm not that logical, so we selected a floor plan, purchased a lot and built the house based on our selected finishes and kick-outs. Ended up being perfect.......we ain't moving/selling.

Good Luck.

We are doing the same. We've purchased a lot and have selected a house. We're a delayed start so building won't begin until February which gives us time to sell our current house.

If I had to do it over again, I would rent in the winter months and have stayed in my dream home in MN

Agree
 

our solution downsize up north and downsize in The Villages. Lifetime friends, family, healthcare and culture not given up

We sold our home in Michigan and rented in TV in September. Best decision! We rented a furnished home and put our belongings in PODS. We close on our new home on Nov. 6 in Pine Hills

We rented in the winter for the month of March for two years then for three months in the winter before we moved. Gave us an opportunity to experience the amenities, talk to a bunch of people and learn the different areas. We finally purchased south of 466A and friends questioned our sanity for purchasing so for south. Now it appears we will be close to the center. The Villages is moving away from being one Community and becoming serveral local communities, not a bad thing or a good thing, just a different thing.

You will find many different opinions
 

You will hear prices are going up. My thought so is the price on your current home.

RE: selling your place AND PAYING CASH. In my OPINION mortgage money is still CHEAP. Thanks to GOVERNMENT PROGRESSIVE THOUGHT they cannot disqualify you from a mortgage due to AGE. A 99 year old can get a 30 year mortgage-HUH? Hopefully, you have someone you can show your entire financial situation to and they can properly discuss this with you.

As to pressure. Of course there is pressure. Selling your home. Packing moving, getting rid of stuff you have accumulated is an adventure at best.

For us, we bought our place in the villages before selling our home. LUCK< TIMING< PLANED all apply. We sold our previous place in two weeks, with a full price CASH deal.
Truth, is I had planed it would take longer to sell and it was a bit of pressure to pack and get rid of stuff.

Suggestion-take pictures of everything. The only proof you will have if a box is lost stolen smashed etc is if you have pictures of what you put into the box. I would also take pictures of the condition of your emptied home.

As you know the buyer is entitled to a walk through before closing. I GAVE them perhaps $1,000 worth of furniture, an antique clock, industrial quality shelving a full set of garden tools and power equipment all of which I coulda shoulda sold. Without saying anything to me at the closing they wanted me to leave 1500 in escrow to cover cleaning.
This sort of crap seems to have gotten to be common practice.

We had our stuff on the moving van all was lined up. The buyer who I liked turned into a monster. I was angry not just at them but at myself for misjudging them. My wife typically. publicly said give it to them. My atty since it was not her money apparently had already agreed to this $1500. THEY WERE ALL SHOCKED WHEN I REMEMBERING KRUSHOVE SLAMING HIS SHOE ON THE TABLE, told them loud and clear THAT IS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN.

Your way HOPEFULLY will be less pressure. Less pressure, MORE CONTROL, might cost you a little bit more-there is a good chance it will also allow you to get more for you current home and find a place in the villages that will fit you. Many people here end up buying a bigger or smaller place then they first thought. WOW, do it right the first time and you save moving expenses, furniture that does not fit, closing costs etc etc etc etc

Unfortunately, circumstances often change as we age.
It's often said that the average Villager moves three times.
I don't think that's a result of poor planning, just lifestyle changes.