[gijoe]

Your choice...buy immediately just to have a place to go, which will likely lead to you buying a couple more times, till you find your "ideal" home, which many Villagers do, OR, rent, and invest time evaluating your options and buy once.

I relocated to Florida with a truckload of furniture in the Summer of 2012. I rented a air conditioned storage unit, for what turned out to be 15 months before I found my "ideal" home. I rented, two different places (furnished), while evaluating my options. This was the best spent time and resulted in a great fit. Yes, there is a cost for renting a storage space but in my opinion it is less stressful and physically draining than having to move furniture again and again.

Some things I evaluated and you may want to consider, that may not be initially on your mind:
1) Resale value of the Villages home you purchase (even if you don't "plan" to sell it.
2) Type of home: Villa; Ranch; Designer; Premier - all have their strengths and shortcomings
3) Learn the "desirables" many/most people are looking for: such as Golf Car Garage; block/poured concrete construction; and NO ONE or NO house behind you....which is a HUGE deal. Minimal "noise pollution" is a VERY good thing.
4) Proximity to the things you most want to be near, such as The Squares or Village congregation points; Recreation Centers; shopping; medical facilities; and things you do NOT want to be right next to such as a Pickleball Court - great to be near when you want to play, Lousy when people are playing and the noise drives you crazy.
5) If you desire to go to more populated places such as Disney, Orlando, you should evaluate the proximity of your home and ease of access to Interstate....If this is the case, possibly the newly acquired Villages land expansion near Fenney (sp) and Southern Oaks in Leesburg could be a good option .... but these areas are a SIGNIFICANT distance from the Brownwood; Lake Sumter Landing and Spanish Springs.

Just a few things to consider.

Best wishes to you!

[OhioBuckeye]

Originally Posted by Scooter777

We are relocating to TV from Illinois (yippee!) early next year and are thinking about selling our home then renting something small in TV until we find the house we really love and can pay for it outright. Would do unfurnished rental, movers bring all our stuff then once we find a home we can gradually move some stuff ourselves then furniture with local mover. May be a bit more pricey but less stress? Fear is selling current home and flying down to TV for a week and having to pick something just because we have to and not loving it! Has anyone done this before with the renting before buying? Would love ALL opinions, thanks! 😊

We rented for 2 yrs. then bought. When you buy listen to the salesman, they'll tell you about 90% of the people that new homes & buying their first home that they'll buy 2 more times, I'm on my 2nd home. But here's what I found out. Houses that are being sold by the previous owner will sell their homes for about the same exact price as a new one. I guess what I'm saying is don't buy the first one you look at, the salesmen make plenty of money, so check out new & pre-owned homes! Also don't be afraid of buying from a person that are selling their home themselves. You'll save lots of money, sometime!

[Retired and happy]

I suggest you rent after you have you sold your house up north. We did that and our sales agent found a furnished home that we could rent monthly while we looked for a home to purchase. We found our home here two days after we arrived and we closed on it five days later! Unfortunately, the timing of our furniture delivery was off by one day and we wound up paying for storage. That was very very expensive. We went through the Villages moving company, and although they were very good and most things arrived in good condition, the storage was unbelievably expensive. I do not suggest that you store your furniture unless you can get an extremely inexpensive place to do so, however, you get what you pay for so that might not be a great idea! Having your furniture delivered to a rented unfurnished home here in the villages after you sell your house up north sounds like a much better idea. You are certainly moving to a wonderful place!

[Dukester]

Slightly different approach, did a few years renting during peak Snowbird times. Work with same realitor and decided we would move to an area that was new and all our neighbors were just moving in. We are South of 466 A, love it.
Went home sold out house 55 days later and bought one on line came down checked it out and 2 1/2 years later and over 5k on the golf cart mileage we are living the life. Enjoy

[diane50]

Originally Posted by Scooter777

We are relocating to TV from Illinois (yippee!) early next year and are thinking about selling our home then renting something small in TV until we find the house we really love and can pay for it outright. Would do unfurnished rental, movers bring all our stuff then once we find a home we can gradually move some stuff ourselves then furniture with local mover. May be a bit more pricey but less stress? Fear is selling current home and flying down to TV for a week and having to pick something just because we have to and not loving it! Has anyone done this before with the renting before buying? Would love ALL opinions, thanks! 😊

We rented for the first year and are very happy that we did because TV is quite large and this gave us the opportunity to find out where we really wanted to live full time. We were not sure if we were going to buy at all, but then our landlord needed the house back. We looked at about 20 homes and finally settled in a really great community in Piedmont. We love it. Lots of luck.

[mikemalloy]

I'm sure that there are many different ways to go on this. We came down for a month about 9 months before our projected move date. We spent the time learning the geography of The Villages and learning about the various types and styles of houses. We determined what models we were interested in and what type of items we wanted ie. double garage with golf cart "bump", tiled floors, walk-in shower in master bath etc. We then gave those items to our realtor who had a number of houses ready for us to see when we returned for a long weekend a couple of months later. We decided to move into a new neighborhood since making new friends was on everyone's mind. We enjoyed the driveway parties and other get-togethers with everyone in the neighborhood and we now enjoy a fun social life here in Lake Deaton. Despite what some people think, having neighbors near you is not difficult for everyone. We enjoy our neighbors and the extra money we saved by not having to worry about people living behind us. To each his own. Good luck and enjoy The Villages.

[PJackpot]

It is absolutely the smart thing to do. It is a large place and will take a while for you to get acclimated and choose the right area and home you want to live in. Most people in TV end up moving three times. We'll probably be looking to change ourselves at some point to gain a golf cart garage that we did not anticipate the need for. We rented for a short time and got into a bind between having to vacate the rental and buy new. In hind site we should have gone for a longer term rental...I would recommend six months, in order not be hurried. Another thing that everyone learns the hard way. Bring nothing....rid yourself of everything that does not have sentimental value including clothes, furniture, books, everything. Well, not all your clothes obviously. Fall cloths have value, but winter clothes have none. You will save a bundle in moving costs, and you should be able to find something to rent that is furnished; that is what we did. Unfortunately, we spent $9k in moving costs and in the two years we've been here almost everything we brought with us is gone. Furniture, books, cloths, electronics....all replaced with more appropriate items for the new life here. The only thing we kept is the car and my motorcycle. Believe me, that $9k would have gone a long way.

[CindyNah1]

I think it is a great idea. the villages is SO BIG and each location has it's pros and cons. ENJOY the less stress by selling first. I've been here 1.5 yr and haven't regretted one second.

[Barefoot]

Originally Posted by gijoe

Your choice...buy immediately just to have a place to go, which will likely lead to you buying a couple more times.

I realize I'm in a minority, but I think you can overthink things.
You'll probably buy more than once for many, many reasons.
Having more or less company than anticipated, or having an over 19 year old child move in.
Medical reasons, wanting a golf cart garage, desire for a view lot, wanting a summer kitchen, etc.
Or your neighbors move to a new Village and talk you into moving.
I say "Just buy now, you won't regret it". Every Village is wonderful and unique.
You will bloom wherever you're planted.

[linz0818]

We're from Quakertown, PA area and will be moving to TV within the next year. Been renting for the past 4 years in different areas of TV. We've narrowed it down to either Bonnybrook or Duval areas? But the idea of renting for 6 months to be certain and also expierence a summer as well sounds good. We think our type of home choice is a Courtyard Villa or Rancher/Cottage. We also like the Patio Villa (Colony) but think it may be too small for a 12 month home? Any suggestions are appreciated.

[Fraugoofy]

Originally Posted by linz0818

We're from Quakertown, PA area and will be moving to TV within the next year. Been renting for the past 4 years in different areas of TV. We've narrowed it down to either Bonnybrook or Duval areas? But the idea of renting for 6 months to be certain and also expierence a summer as well sounds good. We think our type of home choice is a Courtyard Villa or Rancher/Cottage. We also like the Patio Villa (Colony) but think it may be too small for a 12 month home? Any suggestions are appreciated.

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!

Sent from my SM-N910R4 using Tapatalk

[bassfish]

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.

[Barefoot]

Originally Posted by Fraugoofy

Bonnybrook/Lynnhaven/Ashland is a perfect location, neighbor!

Please add Belvedere to the list of "perfect" locations.

[Scooter777]

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!!!

[JSR22]

Originally Posted by Scooter777

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!!!

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.