[smarino]

It sounds creepy, doesn't it? Be seeing you!

I'm still trying to figure out why someone WOULDN'T want to live in the jungle and be a god. Count me in, twice.

[1insider]

Originally Posted by villager967

If I hear Mustang Sally one more time I'll puke.

Thanks for my new status.

[romes591]

I helped open a Lasik surgery center in The Villages. I don't live there but I could tell why people would want to leave.

Number 1 being that is has the highest concentration of AIDS in the USA.

[Honeycrisp]

Originally Posted by romes591

I helped open a Lasik surgery center in The Villages. I don't live there but I could tell why people would want to leave.

Number 1 being that is has the highest concentration of AIDS in the USA.

Wow, that's quite a statement . Please post your references

[romes591]

Originally Posted by Honeycrisp

Wow, that's quite a statement . Please post your references

Seniors STDs rise: Seniors STDs rise with active sex lives - Orlando Sentinel

The Villages scandals: IRS, STDs, golf carts, and made-up history.

More And More Seniors Are Putting The S In STD « CBS Los Angeles

STDs, Sexually Transmitted Disease, Retirees, Senior Citizens - AARP

STDs Running Rampant In Retirement Community


LOL, I wouldn't just make something like that up.

[Robyn55]

Originally Posted by romes591

I helped open a Lasik surgery center in The Villages. I don't live there but I could tell why people would want to leave.

Number 1 being that is has the highest concentration of AIDS in the USA.

I wouldn't think that's the #1 reason (#1 IMO would be because it's a boring place in the middle of nowhere in Florida). Because you can only change your chances of getting an STD by modifying your behavior (not moving). STD "germs" live in people - not places .

FWIW - after my mother died - my (in his 80's) father used to entice women to sleep with him by telling them that he had been faithful to my mother for 60 years (which was probably true) - and was therefore "clean". But he never asked the women what they had done . In any event - he's 95 now - and his former lack of prudence in terms of STDs will almost certainly not be the cause of his death. Robyn

[Robyn55]

Originally Posted by BucFan

.........the thing that these retirement "villages/centers" have going for them is that they're set up to handle the needs of older retirees ----with nursing care, assistance, medical resources, social resources, etc - as well as resources to assist folks getting to and from their doctors appts, grocery shopping, etc - nowadays with families spread out across the country, old folks don't necessarily have support from their kids as they age and having the infrastructure of assistance at their access is a good thing and makes retirement/aging easier for them to handle.......

The Villages is pretty much an "active" 55+ community. IOW - when you get older - and need more help (in various flavors) - you'd be pretty much on your own there. We've moved our 2 fathers here to the metro JAX area in the last 15 years. In both cases after our mothers died. When they were 80+. One to a skilled nursing facility - another to an independent senior living facility (they needed different types of places to live). The Villages wouldn't have provided either of them with what they needed/need.

My husband and I are in our late 60's now - and would simply find The Villages boring.

Another thing I'll mention is that the IRS ruled last year that the municipal bonds issued by The Villages CDD aren't entitled to tax-exemption. That is probably not a final tax ruling. But it could have a big impact in terms of The Villages' finances if upheld. Robyn

[Tonyafd]

I visited the Villages on three separate occasions with an open mind toward buying a house.

1. I found the political atmosphere overbearing and imposing. The Tea Party dominates area politics. FOX radio plays from speakers on main street in Sumter Landing. Democrats invite speakers, but they will never speak in the "Town Squares". The Republican "brain trust" Sarah Palin spoke to a crowd of 30 thousand in 2008. There is a special display case at Barnes and Nobles in Sumter Landing where all of the books are from "mental giants" like Limbaugh.

2. If one of your kids need to come and live at home because of a divorce or layoff, that's not possible.

3. There was no price list for options that could be included in the house. There were fees and bonds that drove up the monthly cost of maintenance.

4. The price for block was 9K more than frame. What, no reduction for the wood that was saved?

5. Spanish Springs banks were of no help in providing information about area foreclosures.

6. Now that prices are $100 K higher than they were just a couple of years ago the value of buying there is gone.

7. Where is Costco, Trader Joes? An hour away in Orlando?

8. I posted these concerns on the "Villages Forum" website and eight pages of responses rapidly filled up. Some were in agreement. Some were defensive. Some were hostile. It took about two hours to get about seventy responses.

Below is a website that goes into additional detail:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/1...n_2076715.html

[Robyn55]

Only thing I will add to your post is that here in north Florida - block will generally add about 5% to the basic structural cost of a house over stick. You don't get a a credit for not using trees (stick houses aren't built with rare wood from rain forests ). I think block is the only way to go in Florida - and think $9k extra for a block house is worth it anywhere in Florida. Robyn

[StarfishKey]

Originally Posted by villager967

Why we are leaving the Villages....
1) Too crowded - especially Jan-Mar when you can't hardly move around here. The resturants are packed to the gills starting at 4:00 and packed until about 9:00 which is when they roll up the streets here -see #2. Tee times and activities are packed and many times you can't get in the activities at the centers, they are FULL. If you are a half-hour early - you're LATE. Lots of standing around.
Never buy a house at the Villages until you have experienced snow bird season. If you can stand it, this is the place for you.

2) This place closes at 9:00 except for a few bars. If you are still eating at nine, since you couldn't get in earlier, your server will stand behind you for every bite. Once the town square close the streets are empty. We call 9:00 Villages Midnight.

3) The entertainment and the events are all exactly the same. Every holiday is like every other holiday. Same parade participants, same entertainment, cloggers, cheerleaders, baton twirlers. When you 've seen it, you've seen it. They don't even bother to make a change. The songs that are played by every band are played by EVERY band. If I hear Mustang Sally one more time I'll puke. Line dancing is a sport here. The entertainment at Savannah Center is all tribute or lookalike bands.

4) I'm tired of waking up to ambulances. Senior community, do the math.

5) Politics are tough here. You had better be a tea party Republican or you are not welcome. All the tea party favorite are treated like royalty here, Dems barely get a small room anywhere. Dissenters were actually kicked out of the public square for having signs that stated their opinion. I can't stand the public pools because it's a bombardment of political discussions with high tempers and only conservative views, like the newspaper. If you read the letters to the editor the vitupritve rhetoric is frightening, encouraging gov't overthrow. My goodness people, turn off Fox News and get out in the sun. See #6

6) Fox News is everywhere, you can't escape it unless you stay home.

7) We spent $48,000 in improvements on our brand new home, lost $25,000 when we sell because I want out.

8) The lots are so small, youarethisclose to your neighbors. We bought a $290,000 designer home only to have $160,000 cottages within 20 feet behind us. Our neighbors are great, but home many homes do you need to cram in a small space?

9) I think it's ridiculous that "The Developer" is the man who is never mentioned by name, or in hushed tones like he's some deity that you have to bow your head if you say GARY MORSE. Seriously people. I know this place pratically prints in own money, but he's not God for heavens sake. BTW - don't ever try and find him, he lives like Elvis did.

The Villages is not for everybody. Yes you can golf, in the summer when it's 90 degrees, there are activities if you get there early enough, you can drive your golf cart to the store if some elderly person or landscaper doesn't run you down, and they have activities at the squares, if you are a little senile maybe you won't remember that you've seen in 8 tmes a year for the last 3 years.

We are moving to a mixed community near a big city Tampa for more things to do, a little culture and a little room to breath. Thanks for letting me vent.

---
...Thanks for your help Sam, but, we were told the "familiy" decided to give the $190.00 back ONLY if you purchased another home in the Villages. Isn't "The Family" what the mafia was called???

I never even heard of "The Villages" until this week about 57 different old threads were brought up about it for some reason, and I know that this post is 3 years old... but this post is hilarious! The entertainment value alone makes this thread worth reading!

Add to that the posts about enormously inflated costs of living on cheap swamp land, and the extremely high rate of STDs/AIDS here, and I would say this sounds like my idea of overpriced hell.

Granted, I am nowhere near old enough to live there yet, but when I am that age I hope to be around diverse people and influences, learning something new and trying something different every day. Not listening to the same song, the same channel, the same angry argument, the same kind of people, and looking at the same cookie cutter buildings over and over and over and over again. There's a reason people think of the movie "Groundhog Day" like a kind of eternal nightmare. Many of my relatives have lived into their 90s and been healthy, and the difference between when they did well and their decline was in large part stimulation and having new experiences to live for. When things started getting stagnant and repetitive is when their health (and minds) declined.

Then again, I get why Kramer wanted to live there [old Seinfeld reference for those who get it...]

Thanks to villager967 especially, even 3 years later, for some great reading!

I thought reading about a retirement community I've never even heard about would be boring, but I was so wrong.

And really? 30,000 people turned up to see Sarah Palin speak? Wow... that makes me shudder...