[faithfulfrank]

Hello all.
I've been lurking for awhile now, and thought I'd try to introduce myself. I'm not sure if I'm welcome, not living IN the Villages, but I'm a "neighbor" who has enjoyed this site, and am smitten with Florida and the great lifestyle.

I'm a professional firefighter in western NY, and we recently bought our future retirement home in The Plantation, about 13 miles south of you good people. My wife and I cannot retire just yet, but are counting the days. Currently we try to get down there every chance we get, and are down there at least a few months out of the year.

Whenever we are down there, we go to TV to shop and eat out. You all are truly blessed.
I have learned a lot about our future down there from reading this forum, and we appreciate it. When we are here in NY, we long to be down there, and we kind of get our "Florida Fix" just reading the posts here. It has been very helpful.

I recently read the book, "Leisureville", and thankfully I read it with more then a grain of salt. I did not agree with some of what I read there.....I have found that people on this forum are nicer then the folks I read about.

Well, thank you for your time. We cannot wait to be full time Floridians....

Respectfully, Frank D.

[graciegirl]

Originally Posted by faithfulfrank

Hello all.
I've been lurking for awhile now, and thought I'd try to introduce myself. I'm not sure if I'm welcome, not living IN the Villages, but I'm a "neighbor" who has enjoyed this site, and am smitten with Florida and the great lifestyle.

I'm a professional firefighter in western NY, and we recently bought our future retirement home in The Plantation, about 13 miles south of you good people. My wife and I cannot retire just yet, but are counting the days. Currently we try to get down there every chance we get, and are down there at least a few months out of the year.

Whenever we are down there, we go to TV to shop and eat out. You all are truly blessed.
I have learned a lot about our future down there from reading this forum, and we appreciate it. When we are here in NY, we long to be down there, and we kind of get our "Florida Fix" just reading the posts here. It has been very helpful.

I recently read the book, "Leisureville", and thankfully I read it with more then a grain of salt. I did not agree with some of what I read there.....I have found that people on this forum are nicer then the folks I read about.

Well, thank you for your time. We cannot wait to be full time Floridians....

Respectfully, Frank D.

FRANK!

You and your wife sound WAY TOO NICE to be living down the road a piece. I suggest you sell your property in the other place and come here to Paradise!
Just my humble opinion.

Either way. Enjoy your retirement!

[tkret]

Hello Frank,
What is it about Plantation that encouraged you to buy there? I am NOT a Villager, yet, but will be looking to buy soon (now that my place has sold). I've seen Plantation and it's very nice and was wondering why you choose that over another community. Will you be leaving the winters of Western NY for full-time Florida residency or will you be living in both.

Good luck.

[ConeyIsBabe]

Hi Frank wav

SMALL WORLD wide web ;D

[faithfulfrank]

Thank you for the kind welcome. Our story is crazy. A brother firefighter on my platoon visited Florida and bought a home in The Plantation. He invited us for a visit. I NEVER thought I'd like Florida.

We fell in love with it there.....the house across the street was for sale, and it had a huge lot, (about 4x the size of the others in the neighborhood), and backed up to a spring fed "full all the time" pond stocked with bass. (Floridians call it a lake, but it's a pond ;D). It is in (IMHO) the best "village" in The Plantation, etc,etc.

So me, the guy who never buys ANYTHING without researching things for months, (drives my wife crazy) says, "That house is the best of the best here...." We bought it without even seeing the inside. (we did see pictures). Our neighbors are awesome, and we are so blessed. Here are some pics of the place if anyone would like to see it;
www.****.com/145288 (Moderator, If links are not allowed, I apologize...feeel free to delete it) I want to be compliant to forum rules.

I guess we were lucky. I would advise people to research and rent or try it out first. What we did was so unlike us, but amazingly, it worked out better then I ever thought it could.

That was 18 months ago. we still think it was one of the BEST things we have ever done. Now I KNOW where my future is, and saving for retirement is not just an unknown, pie in the sky thing anymore. My work is dangerous, and now, if anything ever happened to me, I know my wife's future is set. She loves it there, and would be embraced with awesome neighbors with a house she loves.

We are both 50 years old, and I retire in 1050 days. We are both very active. We designed and built our own home up here in western NY, and I am happiest with a tool in my hand. I am already planning a big garage addition. It is nice to be able to be there and be one of the "young pups". The neighbors get a kick seeing me climb the palm trees to trim them myself, or climb on the roof to check it, etc.

I have to say that I never heard of The Villages until after we bought in The Plantation. I have no regrets, and it is nice that we are so close. You all truly have a wonderful place.

Thanks again for the kind welcome. We will be back down there in October....we can't wait.

Respectfully, Frank D.

[tkret]

Beautiful home Frank.... well done!

[redwitch]

Hi Frank. You do have a beautiful home and I can easily understand your buying it but it's a shame you hadn't heard of TV first. At least you can come and visit us (and don't forget to set aside the 3d Friday in October at Crispers -- it is for TOTVers, not just those who live in TV itself.

[Barefoot]

Congratulations Frank, very nice home and waterview. The Plantation sounds like a lovely community. My husband, Fireboy, is a Fire Captain of a Rescue Squad in Toronto, Canada. I am retired, but he commutes back and forth to Canada to work. Although he is eligible to retire, he wants to work another 1 1/2 years.

I can tell you that being "sometimes single" in The Villages is no problem for me, I've met so many wonderful people and a few best friends. Everyone is very friendly and supportive. I'm sure your wife would find the same type of wonderful neighbours in The Plantation.

Hope to meet you sometime.

[chelsea24]

Beautiful house Frank! We would love to have you in TV, but you really did find a great location. Please feel free to join us at Crisper's for the luncheon. We have another couple that comes occasionally that do not live in TV. The more the merrier!

[Donna]

Hi Frank,
Love the water view and house! Hope to meet you and the Mrs one day soon..
:bigthumbsup:

[sidbforever]

Wow! Frank, thanks for posting this info. We are in the process of looking for a place in Florida and The Plantation looks to be more palatable to us now than The Villages. It looks to be more low key and hopefully with less party people to have to deal with, especially in the winter months. I hope you enjoy your new home for many years to come and I think you will be happier there than TV.

[faithfulfrank]

Well, I only told you our story here.
I said nothing but good things about the Villages, I would NOT want to hurt the kind welcome I have received here.

I think it is great that we live in a country so free that we can choose where we want to live, and I'm glad we are all different and have different options.

I think the Villages is great, and I think I could be very happy there. As I said, our Florida decision was one of the only times in my life I made a quick decision without checking all the possibilities. I'm very happy with our purchase, and now I know that there are hundreds of nice communities out there to choose from......all a bit different, and with all of them, very few poor choices.

The Villages is a one of a kind place.....I think I would like it there. I would encourage anyone thinking of moving to Florida to do the research and see all the options you have. Decide where you want to be, (Central, South, the Panhandle, Coastal, etc), then look at all of your options. There are a lot of choices, and very few bad ones....you will know when it feels right.

We did not do that, but lucked out anyway. We are all really blessed.

Frank D.

[sunflower3630]

Hello Frank and everyone else! wav

I'm a first time poster, after lurking for over a year 8). Don't know why I waited so long, but I finally decided to jump in and join the fun.

Frank, your story was similar to ours. We originally booked a Lifestyle Preview trip for April '04. In January '04 we vacationed in Naples and just for the fun of it, we looked at some homes. Well, we found a new golf community and found the home of our dreams, so we signed on the dotted line to build that home. It was supposed to be ready by Dec 04, which was my retirement date (hubby was already retired). We just thought it was meant to be. We wound up cancelling our Lifestyle Preview. Didn't see the need after finding our dream home. We moved down from the frozen north cold_cold in Apr 05. Love the weather!! When the snow flies up north, we are experiencing our best weather of the year.

Now, fast forward 3+ years later, I really wish we had taken the Preview. One of my best friends & her hubby moved to TV in Nov 05. I am so envious when she tells me all the things she's doing all the time. Ladies luncheons, Village potlucks, Keg parties, Mah Jongg, Hand & Foot, line dancing classes, etc. etc. etc. I sure wish I could be there!!! Sadly, hubby is not interested in TV. He feels there's nothing to do outside TV. Hah! Like there's a reason to be outside TV??!! I KNOW I would be very happy there. Lots and lots of friends our age to have lots and lots of fun with. Well, I just say my prayers each night and hope that he'll have a change of heart. SOON! I want to be young enough to enjoy all TV has to offer!

I sure do love all the posters here at TOTV. Lots of interesting personalities, and lots of hilarious "sistahs" that I would love to hang out with.

I'll keep working on hubby and saying those prayers. I'm even going to bring out St. Joseph and set him in my curio cabinet so maybe someone, out of the clear blue sky, will want to buy our home! It's not even for sale, but I do believe in miracles, you know. I never even got to take St. Joe out of the box with the last house we sold. It wound up selling to the first people who came through. How nice was that? Then, of course, the bottom fell out of the market, and we were very, very grateful to have sold when we did.

Anyway, I'll be talking to y'all!

Pleasant dreams everyone!

[villages07]

Sun,

Interesting story....too bad you never got to do the preview back in 04; who knows how your path might have changed? I know of another Villager who was all set to buy into a 55+ nearer Tampa but was not yet 55 and they refused to sell to him....so, he ended up here. He is so happy that they rejected him because he and his wife are in heaven here. Such are the fickle twists of fate.

Perhaps, for your Birthday, anniversary or other special event, you could ask Mr Sun for your present to be a short, preview getaway to The Villages. Who knows...he may love it (or hate it) and you will at least know if it could be possible.

Good luck to you.

[Peachie]

Welcome to TOTV, Sun Your husband really needs to visit TV with you on the Lifestyle Preview before he nixes living here, he owes it to himself. Then, if he doesn't like what he sees, it's a fair judgment. And he may prefer your current home but at least he would have a basis for his decision which affects your life too. Tell him we would love to meet him, ;D.