The Villages.....why did you leave ? (Miami, Port St. Lucie: hair salon, coupons, live)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
jimcat, I'll send you a PM. As a Mod, I try to be a bit less "out there". We sometimes take some abuse from some real wackjobs......
I'll say that where I am our HOA fees are only $85.00 a month. Our community is owned by US, not the developer, and the association is very solid financially. Those are important points to consider when you are looking.
There are many nice 55+ communities around. Hardly a bad one in the bunch....most all look good, but one will just "click" or feel just right. Best way to check is to stay in the area awhile and look everywhere.....
kshe95girl,
Yes, you are right. But some upgrades are just easier and cheaper to do when building.....sad that they are not offered. Like central vac for instance. As a person who has designed and built my own home, I understand the value of doing things the way you want the first time.....
Frank
Frank, thanks. Quite the 'eye opener'.
I'd appreciate knowing the community you ended up at.
The songs that are played by every band are played by EVERY band. If I hear Mustang Sally one more time I'll puke.
This gem from Villager967 posted six years ago, more than anything else written here, tells me that life in The Villages would probably not work for me. His entire post on the first page of this thread is worth reading.
It is now 1.5 years since I moved into The Villages. When I discovered The Villages I HAD to live here. The landings, in particular, Sumter Landing, is VERY seductive. The convenience of having supermarkets, doctors, restaurants, banks, stores, DMV and more is very nice. But that's what they are counting on. It is giving you the 2 hour/2 day tour and sucking you in.
Living here is another matter. Here are MY negatives:
1. Snowbird season is brutal. The population skyrockets by at least 40%. Traffic is awful. You have horrible (visiting) drivers, and more accidents, especially in the traffic circles. The lines to restaurants, bars, country clubs, everything grows considerably. Snowbirds are mostly winter golfing vacation home people that would rather be home around their grandchildren and families but they hate the winters and love to golf. By April of each year, it reaches critical mass as they bring down their spring break grandkids and their parents. It's important to understand this distinction: The Villages has a very high population and is densely packed. Homes are both sides by side and front and back from you unless you have an edge home of some kind that you'll pay for the privilege. Increase the population by 40% and it's MUCH worse here than most other places in FL. Makes sense right? Point 2 dovetails into this.
2. Welcome to New England. The Villages is winter time New England South. The Villages sells and markets heavily to them and greatly welcomes their winter vacation home purchase. If you dislike a loud, noisy, pushy, oppressive, crowded New York/Boston style bar scene don't go to Sumter Landing bars/restaurants -especially The Light House- in the Winter. Forget Florida and it's 3 NFL teams. That's Patriot's Country, but then again so are most of the residents. If you want the Celtics, Red Sox, and Patriots fans clamming around all the bars screaming and yelling for every play then this is your home. This isn't Florida to them. It's an extension of New England that many will race back to in April/May.
3. Expensively priced home with unstylish floor plans. There are so many better, reputable, builders in other retirement communities. The Villages locks you into few choices with bland floorplans and designs. A wall here. A wall there. Subtle differences. The Villa homes look like glorified apartments on the inside. ALL the same. Boring! The designer homes put everything up front while your back lanai area is right up against your rear neighbor's lanai. Have fun BBQIng. I checked a new Villa in a Village that is VERY far away from everything and is not connected by golf cart to The Villages and they wanted $269,000 and they will probably get it. Don't fall for the seduction and hype!
4. Golf centric. I do not golf. I thought I could try and get into it but I'm just not interested and I am tired of every TV being set to the golf channel at the landings and country clubs. But yes I chose to live here. I'll agree that golf courses "improve" property values in most cases. But after 1.5 years I'm tired of subsidizing it for everyone else.
I am looking to move to another Florida retirement community with stylish floorplans and elevations. A community that is quiet and doesn't have an October - April mass population shift. A community that doesn't bankroll golf courses. Has locals or expats that want to be Floridians, and don't want to convert the community into Foxboro or Fenniel Hall or a yelling New Yorker customer unnecessarily shouting over me back and forth to a middle-aged New Englandish waitress while I trying to read a menu.
The Villages undeniably has much to offer. But the seduction has worn off and I want peace, quiet, and Florida. And it's coming!
It is now 1.5 years since I moved into The Villages. When I discovered The Villages I HAD to live here. The landings, in particular, Sumter Landing, is VERY seductive. The convenience of having supermarkets, doctors, restaurants, banks, stores, DMV and more is very nice. But that's what they are counting on. It is giving you the 2 hour/2 day tour and sucking you in.
Living here is another matter. Here are MY negatives:
1. Snowbird season is brutal. The population skyrockets by at least 40%. Traffic is awful. You have horrible (visiting) drivers, and more accidents, especially in the traffic circles. The lines to restaurants, bars, country clubs, everything grows considerably. Snowbirds are mostly winter golfing vacation home people that would rather be home around their grandchildren and families but they hate the winters and love to golf. By April of each year, it reaches critical mass as they bring down their spring break grandkids and their parents. It's important to understand this distinction: The Villages has a very high population and is densely packed. Homes are both sides by side and front and back from you unless you have an edge home of some kind that you'll pay for the privilege. Increase the population by 40% and it's MUCH worse here than most other places in FL. Makes sense right? Point 2 dovetails into this.
2. Welcome to New England. The Villages is winter time New England South. The Villages sells and markets heavily to them and greatly welcomes their winter vacation home purchase. If you dislike a loud, noisy, pushy, oppressive, crowded New York/Boston style bar scene don't go to Sumter Landing bars/restaurants -especially The Light House- in the Winter. Forget Florida and it's 3 NFL teams. That's Patriot's Country, but then again so are most of the residents. If you want the Celtics, Red Sox, and Patriots fans clamming around all the bars screaming and yelling for every play then this is your home. This isn't Florida to them. It's an extension of New England that many will race back to in April/May.
3. Expensively priced home with unstylish floor plans. There are so many better, reputable, builders in other retirement communities. The Villages locks you into few choices with bland floorplans and designs. A wall here. A wall there. Subtle differences. The Villa homes look like glorified apartments on the inside. ALL the same. Boring! The designer homes put everything up front while your back lanai area is right up against your rear neighbor's lanai. Have fun BBQIng. I checked a new Villa in a Village that is VERY far away from everything and is not connected by golf cart to The Villages and they wanted $269,000 and they will probably get it. Don't fall for the seduction and hype!
4. Golf centric. I do not golf. I thought I could try and get into it but I'm just not interested and I am tired of every TV being set to the golf channel at the landings and country clubs. But yes I chose to live here. I'll agree that golf courses "improve" property values in most cases. But after 1.5 years I'm tired of subsidizing it for everyone else.
I am looking to move to another Florida retirement community with stylish floorplans and elevations. A community that is quiet and doesn't have an October - April mass population shift. A community that doesn't bankroll golf courses. Has locals or expats that want to be Floridians, and don't want to convert the community into Foxboro or Fenniel Hall or a yelling New Yorker customer unnecessarily shouting over me back and forth to a middle-aged New Englandish waitress while I trying to read a menu.
The Villages undeniably has much to offer. But the seduction has worn off and I want peace, quiet, and Florida. And it's coming!
Didn't about know about massive influx of snowbirds, NYers, New Englanders and their annoying overbearing accets taking over? Necessary evil otherwise Villages would be an economic bust. But much of FL is like this. Might seek refuge out west.
Surprised you didn't mention those ignorant red hatters as well. I understand the area is staunch rightwing nuts.
This gem from Villager967 posted six years ago, more than anything else written here, tells me that life in The Villages would probably not work for me. His entire post on the first page of this thread is worth reading.
We drove down to the Villages one day just to see what it was all about. Reminded us both of The Truman Show with Jim Carrey. If you're not sure what that is, you can google it.
They target blue collar 9-5 factory types in NE U.S. and Midwest. Union workers, working 30 years for large factory plants like Remington and GM. The tricked worked and a lot of Northerners moved down here to Central Florida thinking it was Bora Bora or Hawaii. What they got was filled in swamp land, bugs, over-priced real estate, sweltering 100% humidity, no culture, etc. Some people will believe anything. The Villages made a lot of people behind the scenes very, very wealthy. From what I udnderstand, the original land owners and developers now live in Hawaii. If you really look at the area around The Villages, there's not much there. Throw up cheap cookie cutter housing, add fake ponds, few waterfalls, fancy clubhouse and entrance gate and BAM! You have a the fantasy. I'm a native of the area. Way before The Villages were here, I was here. A lot of people behind the scenes made ungodly amounts of money from the development of The Villages. For example, the chosen garage door company contracted made bank. The majority of people don't want to accept the fact that money is the motivating factor behind everything, and the selling of The Village Life is a fantasy. Nothing more. Nothing less. I'm not saying you can't be happy at The Villages. You may love living there. If so, more power to you. However, the investment you make at The Villages could buy you a privilaged life in Panama or Costa Rica, or any designated safe Expat community in Mexico. Healthier food, natural juices and cheap labor, and the freedom of less rules and more relaxed lifestyle, not to mention a high abundance of beautiful, slim & feminine women not readily found in the U.S. Sadly, most Midwest and NE retirees simply don't know this.
If people did a little more research and began thinking outside the box ....
Exactly, not like the obese big fat fatties we have at the Villages and in America in general. I went to the Villages and most of the women were huge land whales.
There are a lot of places closer to the coastline than the Villages with more to do in their immediate surrounding areas. I did a vacation stay at the Villages, but bought about an hour from Orlando on the east coast of Florida in Ormond Beach. I love it there; a lot of beautiful nature, my home is only a few miles from the ocean, plenty of good medical care, good restaurants of all kinds, and not too old of a population. Not too quiet nor too busy, and prices are much better than farther south. There are a lot of large gated communities there and wherever you go in Florida.
Another place I liked was River Strand in Bradenton. Also, Lakewood Ranch is in Bradenton/Sarasota, but a bit expensive due to fees, etc.
I think you can do better than Sun City.
I found when I travelled around the state that some areas had a "feel" that I liked; some didn't. The Villages was too far out in the middle of the state for me and had other drawbacks.
Plantation Bay is horrible. I live there too. It's dead and in a constant coma. The roads in the community are like the surface of the moon (PB Drive).
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
