[GoRedSox!]

We have made it to The Villages and right now are snowbirds. I wanted to put a thread out there to say thank you to all the folks who helped us along the way. I hope this kind of post is allowed, but if not, please delete.

Truly the start of our interest in The Villages was becoming aware of their existence. I started getting YouTube videos in 2018 put out by Skip Smith and I learned a lot about The Villages. I was also watching Jerry and Linda on YouTube, and they are incredible ambassadors for The Villages. I have watched a lot of YouTube videos and there are truly a lot of very sincere and informative YouTubers who put forth videos and they really do give viewers a good idea of what's going on.

We came down for our Lifestyle Visit in December, 2022, and were extremely fortunate to have Jodi Burr as our sales representative. Jodi was exceptional. We were originally supposed to come in November of 2022, but at 9 pm the night before our flight, JetBlue canceled the flight due to the upcoming hurricane. Jodi was wonderful to work with. She said don't worry about a thing, we will reschedule you for December and carry everything forward. She was so flexible and took care of everything. She was easy to work with, put no pressure on us, and she stayed in touch with us after the Lifestyle Visit when we were looking for new and preowned homes. It's not easy to look for homes from 1100 miles away, but Jodi would go to a home we were interested in and send a video or check it out for us, and also gave us info on the new homes as well. In late June, she let us know that some of the former lifestyle homes in Alden Bungalows were coming to market. I checked them out and saw that the same home we stayed in for our Lifestyle Visit was one of the ones for sale. We had stayed there for a week and knew that we liked it. We put in a bid and ended up buying our former Lifestyle Visit home...not sure how many people do that, but we are very pleased with our decision to purchase in Alden Bungalows. Jodi Burr is great to work with, she could not have been nicer or more helpful in facilitating our purchase. I trusted her and she came through for us.

Since we closed in August of 2023, we have had several experiences with local businesses and I am very appreciative to all of them. I find that these businesses arrive on time and are all very polite and do good work. This started with our home inspector, John Devine of D3 Home Inspections. He was very thorough and easy to work with. We had a handyman named Michael McDonald who was very friendly and did a nice job taking care of a few items. We had to have our sprinkler heads raised and Tri-County Landscapes took care of that right away. We replaced all the carpet in the three bedrooms with LVP tile and we were so happy with the job Roberto's did. One day, in and out, no mess, perfect floor placement, and they sent a cleaning person the next day to make it even nicer. We had some electrical work that needed to be done, such as putting an outlet in the pantry and Pike's Electric did a great job. Casandra at Pike's is so easy to work with and she provides outstanding service.

We then bought a golf cart. I met Scott Ward from The Villages Golf Cars when he was out front near closing time bringing golf cars in for the night. It was just a few minutes before 7 and I'm sure he was looking forward to going home. But he gave me his time and answered my questions and I told him I was coming back the next day and I would be working with him. And I did and that transaction went smoothly. Our home needed insurance. Lisa McGuire from The Villages Insurance made our lives so easy and she is great to work with. We contracted with Dean's to cut the grass and do fertilizing and pest control. Everything is done just as promised. We also decided to screen in our front porch, and Chip from All Season Rooms handled that flawlessly and quickly.

Last, but certainly not least, I want to thank Karen from Relax Home Watch. She is excellent and sends up an update when we are up north every week. She is very nice and gives us peace of mind. One night, we got a call at 1:30 a.m. from the Community Watch to let us know that our garage door was open. That's unsettling when 1100 miles away. They explained that sometimes another remote can put a garage door up inadvertently. But Karen was here by 7:15 a.m. that morning to put it down and check to make sure everything is ok. I believe that Relax Home Watch does not go north of Brownwood, but if you are south of Brownwood, I don't think you can wrong with Relax Home Watch.

I hope I didn't forget anyone. I am posting this simply because all of these folks helped us along the way and did a great job and we appreciate it. We are enjoying The Villages so much, I still am in awe of the beauty and cleanliness. We recommend The Villages without reservation, and I hope that everyone's experience is a positive as ours has been.

[villagetinker]

Welcome to TV, my wife and I agree with you, this is a great place to live. Please let me know if you need any help, post here or private message.

[shaw8700@outlook.com]

That was very sweet to put that out there - makes me feel like things will go well for us when move out there!

[GoRedSox!]

Originally Posted by shaw8700@outlook.com

That was very sweet to put that out there - makes me feel like things will go well for us when move out there!

Yes, it will! You will love it!

[JMintzer]

Welcome to TV!

I'm glad your visit and purchase went so smoothly...

Oh, and I'm sorry, but positive posts like yours are not allowed on ToTV...

[JohnN]

best wishes in your move, The Villages is a great place to live

[GoRedSox!]

Originally Posted by JMintzer

Welcome to TV!

I'm glad your visit and purchase went so smoothly...

Oh, and I'm sorry, but positive posts like yours are not allowed on ToTV...

Thank you, it’s all true. Very positive this far, and we are grateful for that. No Kool-Aid, I would put info out there (constructively) if there were things that didn’t go well.

[GoRedSox!]

Originally Posted by JohnN

best wishes in your move, The Villages is a great place to live

Thank you.