Here's my 2 pennies worth. We will buy in TV within the year, providing we are successful selling our home. I have had boats for over 30 years, and currently live on a lakefront property with a 2 well covered dock, a pontoon boat, a bass boat, and a waverunner. I have had a lot of fun boating, fishing, etc., but will not miss the maintenence and expense involved. We spent April in TV for the last two years, and absolutely fell in love with the lifestyle. As far as I can tell, the lifestyle of TV is unique from other retirement communities. The active lifestyle of TV is not everyone's cup-of-tea, so I totally understand others making different choices, but for me the lifestyle (dancing, golf, swimming, pickleball, dining out, people watching, lifelong learning...........) is the most compelling factor. In fact I never really liked Florida before visiting the Villages.

This past April I played golf with some people who lived in Stonecrest, and on their advice we spent an afternoon looking there. For awhile the housing options turned our heads, but on reflection we realized there was virtually no one "out and about", on carts, walking, bicyling etc. unlike TV. We went to the pool and no one was there - we went to the rec center and it looked Spartan in comparison to those at TV. The golf course looked less well maintained and not very busy either, this on a Saturday in the mid-80s. In other words, it was a nice community of houses, with very little else to offer IMHO. The salesman we talked to continually talked about the ability to get to the villages by going cross country and across the GC bridge. If getting to the Villages from Stonecrest was such a selling point, why not just buy in the Villages? I talked to another gentleman with whom I played golf, who lived in Del Webb. He said he wanted to move to Florida, but his wife said she would move only if they DIDN'T move to the Villages! Why I asked? Because it was just too busy was his reply. Ergo, the very reason I love it is the reason she hated it. To each his own. By the way I am a small town boy, who has lived in small towns, rural areas, and major cities, and I find each of them to have certain advantages, but as I get older the convenience of shopping and numerous resturaunt choices appeals greatly to me.

I went out to the Harbor Hills site, and you have to look around but they do list some prices, they start at $249,000 for the 1620 sf. house, and that is before any upgrades. As they didn't list what is standard, no way of knowing how much you might put in upgrades. House was beautiful though. A lot of nice upgrades. Large master, large spa bathroom, open kitchen . . . I don't believe you can actually get that in the Villages in that square footage.

Lee and Richard in Tampa for now.

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I really don't think they were built yet. Myself, I am headed for the Villages in the next year at some point, we have looked everywhere, we live in Florida, and there is no where that can offer what the Villages offer, that I have found. You can make the villages, as small a world as you want to. Just depends on what you like to do. I like having the options and the golf cart transportation and the hospitals close by and the restaurants, and Katie Bells and.. and ... and ....

Is there any way that you could buy a home in TV and rent a boat slip on the lake ? I don't know if this is do-able... maybe just another option for you.

Obviously, in northern climates people have to fight the elements all winter long and into springtime as well........so it definitely sounds as if TV helps those come out of hibernation............except I just read that the "real feel" was 112 degrees in Lady Lake........

The "real feel" or heat index here, one hour north of Kansas City, was 111 today and I worked outside most of the day. The Florida summer is no more oppressive than here, it just lasts longer.

Senior Citizen,
You are wise to check out all of your options while you're down here shopping for a retirement community to call home.

You raise an issue though about which I've wondered. If one chooses another retirement community, why does it matter how close it is to TV?

No doubt that TV is not for everyone. TV is unique with its huge variety of activities, clubs and amenities, and the breadth of its golf-cart accessibility. Other retirement communities offer more home for the money, and/or boating, more fishing opportunities, fewer restrictions, more peace and quiet or any number of other things that some retired couples would prefer. I get that.

But once one decides that TV is not for them, why does living near TV matter? There are 55+ communities all over Florida (and all over the country). Living near TV affords neither the golf-cart lifestyle nor access to TV clubs and amenities, except the town squares. Oh, and the golf courses, but golf courses are ubiquitous in many areas.

Other communities often advertise being "close" to TV. So what?

Am I the only one who wonders? :shrug:

Phyllis; That is EXACTLY why we decided to forget Stonecrest and concentrate only on TV. As I stated in a previous post, the salesman there could not praise the Villages enough and continually emphasized the proximity and ability to get to Spanish Springs and the rest of TV. I looked at the access and thought, hmmm, that may not last for long. But, the big thing for me was, if TV is so good and accesability so important why not just live there? You can get more home for your money in Stonecrest, and I am sure other retirement communities-----if the primary activity you want to enjoy is stay home.

We did
 

We spent years going up one coast and down the other and many of the communities in the middle. What we found were pools and rec rooms the kids ad taken over, only one golf course for the community. The homes in the front of the communities were nice, but when you went a few blocks in, the yards were shabby in most cases.

They were built for 55+ but didn't seem to do anything to promote the friendship that TV does. I'm not sure what good it would do to own a golf cart for most of them as they really weren't that big.

We could find lots of homes (even then) that were cheaper then The Villages, but nothing like the lifestyle in TV.

For us... None of them were what we were looking for... We knew it then. Didn't even take any paperwork away... They all looked the same and so if we were to move to one of the other communities, it wouldn't have mattered much which one we moved to.

But then... That's just me!

P: I think it is called "TV envy".....

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