Thanks for the comments jimjamuser.

Actually, I have been building up my own private list of pros and cons for The Villages for about a year. The issues that you mention have been on my list.

Also, I will emphasize that I wrote in my OP, "...am considering moving to The Villages..."

asianthree, you ask an excellent question about my walking/hiking preferences.

I think in terms of needs and wants.

My need is for non-concrete walking / hiking for 1-2 miles at a time.

My wants are for: walk / hike in nature; walk / hike that has a good amount of shade; walk / hike that involves climbing. I enjoy all of the above elements where I live now, but I am trying to be realistic wrt my criteria.

LaBelle is just a bit north of the center of TV right now. It's a nice (relatively new) area, close to golf, rec centers, squares, etc.

We first visited 4 years ago this coming Thanksgiving, staying with friends (who had moved off Moyer Loop in Pine Hills, 3 months earlier) for about a week. Just around the corner from LaBelle.

That was our "Lifestyle Visit". We were able to explore as much as possible, participating in as many activities as we could... Honestly, I was hooked, but the Boss wanted to rent for a bit to be sure.

So, a bit over a year later, we rented near our friends for two months. I traveled back and forth to work and the wife stayed in FL. When the weather was lousy, we went to open houses and went looking for new and resales with out friend's Villages Sales Agent (another friend had also used her and was also very happy with her). No pressure, showed us what we wanted to see after asking us a few questions.

She took us to see the new builds (only Chitty Chatty and Bradford we available at the time) and to see resales between 44 and 466A (as that seemed to be where we wanted to be).

There were some very nice homes for sale south of 44, but the Boss didn't like the views of the power lines, so Chitty Chatty and Bradford dropped off our list. We focused on the above mentioned ares. We found a nice Designer home in Oscola Hills at Soaring Eagle, a 3 BR 2 BA (that happened to be just down the street from another set of friends who had also moved to TV. We met them several years earlier before they moved to TV, thru the people we stayed with). Between all of them, we were able to experience much of what TV had to offer.

The price seemed right, we made an offer, came to an agreement, got a killer mortgage rate and settled in February 2021.

Luckily, we bought just before the "Covid Boom" hit, as prices skyrocketed a month or so after out offer was accepted...

We moved in in April and since then, we've been coming down as time allows. The Boss usually stays for 2+ months in the winter (I drive her down at the beginning for two weeks, fly back to work for 5-6 weeks, fly back to FL for another two weeks, then we drive back together in early March. She drove down in early June with our middle daughter and son in law, I flew down the last week of June and we drove back the weekend after the 4th of July. We'll probably do the same thing in October, then repeat the process until I retire (hopefully in 12-18 months)...

After living (albeit part time) in our home for 2.5 years, the Boss wants a 3rd BA (or at least another 1/2 BA), and I'd like a 4th BR and a pool (probably won't be able to talk her into both...). But once we sell the house outside of DC, we'll have a lot more cash to possibly make that move... As you can see, even in the short term, things can change!:D

And remember 2030 is a LOOONG time away and SOOO many things can change in that time.

ANY Realtor will sell you a property that may be out of compliance. It's impossible to check everyone's deed compliance before a sale. Especially since the different CDCs (I think they're now up to 14 of them) may have slightly different ones...)

Unless it's a glaring problem, you won't know unless someone complains about it (which most likely would have already occurred...)

If you are interested in hiking, attend the hiking clubs when you visit. Ask them when and where they hike, then you can plan accordingly.

Be careful when watching their videos. They are always cheerful and when questioned about wrong information they provided, their answer is always. "This is entertainment folks! Do your own research!" I find other YouTubers reporting on the Villages provide thorough, well-thought-out videos. Check out Rusty Nelson or Discovering the Villages with Jana Raber and a few others.

Style
 

*Really* like your style. Find your thoughtful replies anything but cluttering and appreciate your use of the equivalent of "bless your heart" for rather diplomatically straightening out misconceptions. :-) INTP comes to mind, if that means anything to anyone. . .

Had to google Labelle, but see that it's just about a mile to our east. Only been here a few months. Drove through a couple of times (relatives in Ocala), stopping and asking a few questions, before taking a couple of days on a long weekend trip up from SE FL to check out the real estate on our own. Put in an offer on the second day and have been most pleased with the decision.

Essentially all of the surprises, as compared to our "fantasies", have been of the pleasant variety. Have been a little surprised by how much can be heard from nearby lanais and bird cages, but mostly concerned about what they must be hearing out of my strange self. I speak to the video cameras set up for my lanai "driving range" (they make "sponge" balls that aren't loud and don't break stuff). Doesn't begin to compare, to me, to the "nearness of neighbors" issue in a condo on the beach in SE FL. Maybe it's just our particular street, but our neighbors are unbelievably friendly, as compared to anyplace else we've lived in recent decades.

If you can tolerate golf, "hiking" the "pitch and putts" didn't spoil any aspect of the walking experience for "us". Actually might even be missing said hikes since finally getting our golf cart. That also reminds me that a very high percentage of "good info" I've received here has come from the nice folks who sit behind the windows of the "starter's shacks". Good luck in your quest. You sound like the kind of guy who "enjoys the journey". :-)

mntlblok, thank you so much for the thoughtful and constructive reply!

You speculated that I am an INTP, and you were really close. Actually, I am an INTJ, and the 'J' helps explains why I am such an 'over-planner' (in the opinions of others).

Hiking a golf course would certainly work for me, and to be honest I had not thought of that since I wasn't sure if it was allowed.

Thanks again for your kind comments.

Randall, joining a hiking club is a great suggestion.

Actually, I belong to a hiking club where I'm living now, so I understand the benefits.

The purpose of this discussion, though, is to try to find locations in The Villages that are close to the type of hiking that I want.

Sharon, when you say that Villages Health does not accept Medicare, are you referring to both Original Medicare and Medicare Advantage programs?

My research indicates that Villages Health accepts a couple of Medicare Advantage programs, but not Original Medicare.

I would like to be corrected if my understanding is wrong.

I think you misunderstood what I was saying. There are hiking clubs right here in the Villages. They would know best about your questions. Besides, when you do plan on hiking, you will have plenty of friends to join you.

Actually that's exactly what convinced me to be WILLING to live in Florida again at all. We'd visited friends who live in the Villages, in a courtyard villa. One of the most non-neighborhoodly neighborhoods I'd ever seen in my life. All I could think of was "sardines in a can, SO glad I live in Connecticut, you couldn't pay me to move down here." Then hubby insisted we come for a vacation, and we rented through The Villages some patio villa somewhere off of Odell Circle near Mallory. I still felt like The Villages was 32 flavors of Stepford Wives, just not shoved into the sardine can this time.

The next time we stayed in whatever those homes are that aren't villas, but not as fancy as the Designer homes. Nice house. More Stepford. There was nothing that screamed "this is where I want to spend the rest of my life." No mature trees, no shade, no privacy between back yards, everyone's front yards looked the same - exactly three trees per property, two of which were palms, with all the same ugly ribbon cactuses in perfectly placed flower beds and not a single thing to show that "here lives someone with a personality and maybe a smidge of creative flair."

Everything was vanilla.

And then we checked the Historic Section, and spent a day in Spanish Springs. I thought - this is an actual neighborhood, with actual people who have real personalities and creativity, who don't think they're in Stepford. Yes there are some flamingo garden decorations. Most of them are sculptures and art, rather than mass produced kitch. People hanging out at each others' houses, pulling up chairs in the driveways for a cuppa, sitting on the porch or the lanai to watch the sunset or talk about the neighbor's hip replacement, getting to know the neighbors' grandkids when they come for Christmas vacation...

That's what convinced me to move to The Villages. If it weren't for this area, then yeah - I would miss my husband. But there's no way I would've come down with him.

One may *only* walk the "pitch and putts" - all down south, I believe - but the executive courses *also* have "pull carts" available for rent - for a *dollar* - all lined up right there at the starter's shack! I only tried that once - at Volusia. It had more elevation change than I was prepared for - especially when it got very slow for a "single" and I decided to walk back in halfway through. :-)

Oh, and I sorta teeter between the "P" and the "J". :-)

Villages Health
 

We just went through that process with Villages Health as our Humana plan from SE FL isn't available up here. Took the tour and all I could think was "too good to be true". However, the rep for United Healthcare got us all set up with their Advantage HMO program. So far, so good. No initial appointment with the primary care doc available until December, but then we both got texts recently about openings turning up within the next couple of weeks. About to have me a new, girl doctor. :-)

Oops
 

Oops. Looks like I made an unwarranted assumption. Had assumed that you'd meant walking whilst *playing* golf. Bet you *hadn't* meant that, based on the wifey's read. Sorry. Guess I figured that my cryptic reference to Twain's description of golf being a "good walk spoiled" was *too* cryptic. :-)

Great. Now learning that I might not even have the source quote right. :-( Golf is a Good Walk Spoiled – Quote Investigator(R)

Actually, I understood what you were saying. I was trying to agree with you that joining a local hiking club has lots of benefits.

OrangeBlossomBaby, what is the difference between a house and a villa?

I'm not a golfer. What is a pitch and putt?

No problem. I hadn't mentioned golf and The Villages has lots of golfing going on, so you made a reasonable assumption.

When you get here you might also want to check out The Villages Hiking Club. They are affiliated with the Florida Trail Association. They go on hikes every Wednesday. The hikes are usually within an hour drive of The Villages and range from three to nine miles in length. I know you’re looking for options inside the bubble but even with everything we have here you’ll run out of new places rather quickly. The Hiking Club does a lot of carpooling so you could hitch a ride with others while you get to know the area.

Short, walking 18 hole courses
 

Like the "executive" courses, they are made up of par three holes, but the distances from the tees to the greens are significantly shorter than what are typically found on par three holes, mostly no more than 60-100 yards or so, thus requiring only "pitch" shots off the tees. Mickylee Pitch & Putt exceeds expectations | News | The Villages Daily Sun | thevillagesdailysun.com

Following sites have a lot of information.

Village Community Development Districts
Golf The Villages
Home - Sumter County Property Appraiser
Randy Mask - Sumter County Tax Collector
The Villages
https://www.**************.com/ villages - news.com
https://sites.google.com/view/virginia-trace/home
https://www.thevillages.com/
https://www.poa4us.org/
https://www.thevha.net/

I really can't refer a hike there. However, it's so far away in a cart to get to Sumnter, Spanish Springs and lastly brownwood. Very young people seem in the south under 40 move north, theater is all north. Film is north not south. Lovely trees etc up north not south. Buy one used up north. No bond to take. If you use agent non MLS, for Villages, we'll, not as helpfull.

And in which village do you live?

Not true about Medicare. Plenty of doctors accept Medicare in TV. The Villages Health in particular only accepts Medicare Advantage plans for primary care doctors, but all specialists with Villages Health accept traditional Medicare + supplement plans.

No, extension will be minimal.

As far as I know, hiking golf courses is not allowed.

Not at all. I did lots of research online before coming down. However, be prepared to see, like so many of us before you, that you just gotta see it to understand it.

We are thinking of coming in Jan for a LS visit. After reading comments I think a week is too short, but doing some research a month can cost $3000usd +. Does anyone know if anyone ever sublets one of the lofts or is that even possible?
Some of the rental sites don't let you search by $ which is also too bad because we aren't overly picky about location at the moment just looking for something small and reasonably priced.

A lifestyle visit is a good way to start.

Thanks for this post. Overthinking is a real thing.

My new husband and I came down here for a 30-day visit and had the great blessing of knowing several people who already lived here and provided some guidance in the different areas.

That was a wonderful help in learning about the area and making a decision.

We came here planning to buy new construction but after learning about the bond and lack of completed golf courses at the newest areas, we decided on pre-owned.

Plus, we felt like something LESS than ten years old suited our unique needs better.

We looked at a bunch of houses and bought one a few days later.

At our age (mid-60s) there’s not much point in wasting years pondering a big decision. If it makes sense and feels right and “checks all the boxes” it probably is right.

Some of the best decisions I’ve ever made were decisions that I made without overthinking them.

I've been here 7 years and love it - especially the warm weather - which is NOT extreme and never has been. From the University of Florida, I've attached is the temperature record (through 2022) for the city of Ocala - just north of The Villages - the horse capital of the U.S. As a meteorologist I can tell you - there is no climate crisis - just climate alarmism.