Tellico Village Master Thread (Loudon, Guys: home builder, price, safe)

[wvs820]

Hello Everyone,
My wife and I are considering doing the discovery tour at Tellico Village. We are hoping to visit later this year. Probably late spring. Our concern is that we get very uncomfortable with a hard sell approach from the sales staff. Has anyone who has done the discovery tour at Tellico Village experienced this tactic? What can we expect from our visit? Lastly should I get a buyers agent when ready to purchase or go it alone. I would hire a home inspector and closing attorney on my own. I appreciate any advice. Thank you.

[Rsaw7854]

Hi wsv820,
My wife and I did the tour of sorts, we spent a week at TV. We had a tour with a realtor and then with a resident that we met through this board. At no time did we feel that we were being pressured.

Have a good day,
Bob

[fishingupnorth]

We did the Discovery tour. We did not feel any pressure and our guide was great. We thought the cost of the weekend was high. If we were to do it all over we would book our own accommodations and just meet with the Guide.
We ultimately choose to relocate to Fairfield Glade rather than TV but we do think TV is perfect for the right people.

[wvs820]

Thank you

[LookingatFL]

Hi Everyone,

We are still working on figuring out where we are going to retire. My husband had the following questions: (1) During this pandemic, how has the neighborhood grocery store been keeping up with needed inventory, specifically paper towels, TP, tissues, soap, hand sanitizer, cleaning supplies, medical masks, canned goods? (2) Are you able to get everything that you need, or are you having to travel to the more distant grocery stores or order on line? (3) Is there curb-side delivery (where you go to the store but don't enter the store and they load your car with pre-ordered groceries? Are there times available for the curb-side delivery or are pickup appointments weeks in the future? (4) Are you able to get delivery to your front door through the local grocery? (5) Are the local pharmacies providing door-to-door delivery of medications? (6) Is the local hospital overwhelmed? (7) Are the local doctors providing tele-medicine? (9) Are the local restaurants providing takeout or delivery of food or are they shut down completely? (8) What changes are you seeing going on at TV due to COVID-19?

I hope you are all doing well in this really fraught time, and thank you for your answers.

[TheShadow]

TV resident here to answer your questions. First let me say that TV is very interested in preventing the spread as so many of our residents are over 60 and/or have some medical underlying conditions, and most amenities are closed at this time. Distancing is very strongly encouraged, masks are suggested, all social activities cancelled. To answer your questions...

1)The inventory at Food Lion has been pretty good. Of course TP sells out immediately after it comes in. We do have one hour in the morning just for seniors, but about 75% of the TV qualifies... LOL! Best bet is to shop early AM to get it right after it's stocked. For a few days bread was scarce, but now it's almost back to normal. Fresh meats have been a little erratic. Sometimes there's not much pork, other times not much chicken, but there always seems to be a good supply of frozen meats. Bleach, wipes, and sanitizer have been tough, but most can be found eventually.

2) Most things are available at the Food Lion in the village but if not, Food City is available in Loudon and Vonore, and Food City and Ingles are available in Lenoir City (all about 10 miles from TV).

3) Curbside is available at all local grocery stores. The bigger stores are harder to get a quick time for curbside without a delay of a day or two. Walmart curbside is several days out.

4) The Food Lion isn't doing delivery, but local residents have developed a network of folks willing to do pickup and delivery to TV residents. Some TV residents have even volunteered to do shopping and delivery for those at extreme risk, or who are ill with anything. We currently have no cases in TV that we are aware of. The county has only 5 current active cases. Only 16 cases have been diagnosed in the entire county (Loudon County), but most have recovered.

5) No pharmacies are doing delivery. They all have drive through service, as they always have had, including the pharmacy in the village. Again, a list TV residents have volunteered to do pickups and delivery of pharmacy items as well as groceries.

6) No. The local hospital has not been overwhelmed. Only 16 cases diagnosed in our county, unknown number (due to medical privacy laws) of those were hospitalized, if any.

7) Yes, at least most I believe.

8 / 9) As in opening paragraph, the gym, the restaurant dining rooms, the golf clubhouses, the restrooms at the marina and park, and the pools are all closed.

All social activities including racquet sports and fitness classes are cancelled, and the courts are closed.

Library is closed.

Church services are all on video streaming, the actual church sanctuaries are closed, and church meetings, dinners, etc are either postponed or done through Zoom or some such system.

POA meetings are closed to the public temporarily, but available streaming or on video.

Restaurants are open for take out/curbside pickup. Delivery is not available except through GrubHub, or through the volunteers, as mentioned earlier.

Golf is still open with modifications to ensure distancing (one person to a cart, except same householders, no rakes in bunkers, no removing flagsticks, restrooms and drinking fountains closed, check in only by phone, maintain 6 foot distance at all times, no lingering before or after rounds, carts are sanitized between rounds).

Of course the lakeshore for fishing, and boating on your own boat are still available. Marina restroom is closed.

Walking trails are open, everyone is strongly encouraged to distance.

We are all hoping for an end to this stuff, but are doing all we can to get to that point soon.

[LookingatFL]

Thank you, Shadow. It is really nice to know that the neighbors are looking out for each other.

[bungalowdweller]

Good information and honest, thorough answers, Shadow! Thank you both. THIS was to be OUR (me & hubs) time to come to TV and look about making our decisions. Like so many who recently retired we've been sidelined. Best wishes to all at TV.

[TheShadow]

Thanks BD. We are so fortunate to have so far been almost untouched by the coronavirus here in the TV, and Loudon County. People are distancing, canceling travel, and staying home. Soon we will be "back in business". Give it a month or so, and once we get the "all clear" hopefully you'll be able to come visit us.

[VTer802]

I arrived here at TV from Vermont on April 1 (yes, that's an interesting choice of arrival date on my part, given all that's transpired recently in the world).

The primary reason I moved here was to build a new social life in a vibrant 55+ community. My wife died a year ago, and the various social activities and clubs offered at TV were a motivating factor in my move. Candidly, I want to find new friends to play cribbage, or go hiking, or what have you. And unfortunately, that piece of the puzzle is completely shut down right now.

My initial observations are that the local residents in TV/Lenoir City/Loudon tend to be less strict about the social distancing norms and the use of masks and gloves than I observed back in my old home state of Vermont, and in New York State. There were a lot more Covid-19 cases up north than down here, which likely is the reason for the disparity in mask/gloves useage.

One very unexpected positive: I was able to get a primary care physician to take me as a patient, immediately! Fort Loudoun Primary Care in Lenoir City has been taking new patients during the month of April. The doctor I saw told me that the practice made a decision to take on new patients precisely because of Covid-19, that a lot of their regular patients were avoiding coming to the doctor's office. Rather than let the downtime go to waste, they believed their mission is to serve the health needs of the community, and if they had the capability of serving new patients, they wanted to do so. Believe me, I was grateful, and shocked, that I called on a Monday, and had my first orientation visit with my new primary care doctor the very next day. That NEVER would have happened back in New England, even in the best of times.

I've already endured a bout of mild food poisoning from a takeout order I purchased from a restaurant outside of TV, in a nearby town. Luckily, it was mild, and I didn't need a doctor's visit. That restaurant, which shall remain nameless, was showing signs that perhaps they might be stretching the limits of the shelf life of their raw ingredients, as a cost-saving measure. I regret that I didn't heed my instincts to cancel my order. The restaurant owner was audibly stressed in the kitchen from the very real financial pressures he was facing, and complaining in a manner that customers out front could hear. It was sad. I feel badly for him, but my subsequent physical discomfort was such that it has made me hesitant to do any more takeout, from anyone.

I have found grocery shopping to be easier than expected. I pick an early morning hour, most any day, and the Ingles in Lenoir City is mostly deserted when I shop. The shelves are reasonably well-stocked, but finding certain staples (i.e. toilet paper and cleaning wipes) is still a tough go. The store personnel do not use masks, though I see gloves employed by many of the staff.

I have to honestly say, I wonder if the social activities component of TV will be back anytime soon. The reality is that Covid-19 is a virus that particularly hammers older people (like me and other TV residents). Until there's a vaccine available, which could be another 18 months away, there is a lot of risk in resuming all those social activities. I feel like a hermit here in TV, and the isolation is not fun. I did not expect that to be my experience when I first began contemplating a move here, the planning has been underway for more than 9 months. I recognize that it wouldn't matter where I lived in terms of the isolation and social distancing, because everyone is living through it. But given the age profile of residents at TV, I have serious concerns that the key selling point of TV to newcomers in particular may be significantly compromised for the next year or more...at least until there's a Covid-19 vaccine that makes us safe again to resume normal human interaction.

I have some choices to make. My original plan was to sell my house back in Vermont, rent a place here for a few months, and buy a home here in TV in late spring/early summer...but that timetable is now completely shot by Covid-19 realities. The Vermont housing market is sizzling hot, and my house would sell in a week....IF I was allowed to sell my house. But the state of Vermont has deemed real estate sales as "non-essential". I can't allow anyone to tour my house, I can't let a home inspector inside, I can't let a bank appraiser in. I am stuck until the Governor of Vermont finally decides to open up the housing market again. My belongings are in storage back at the moving company in Vermont, but I may have to extend my lease on the place I'm renting in TV. That's extra money out of my pocket I was planning to put into my home purchase. Ugh.

In the meantime, I am in limbo here in TV. There's no social life, I can't buy a house (yet), and I'm taking it one day at a time. Thank goodness the weather here is gorgeous. That's my .02, and I hope I'm genuinely wrong about the potential negative implications longer-term for life in Tellico Village.