Are the Villages in Florida as nice as they seem?

May 13, 2008 10:07 AM

My mom is considering retiring and moving from NJ to The Villages in Florida and asked me to check up on it a bit. It seems almost too good to be true.

She went to visit somebody who lives there and was really excited by what she saw. Really friendly people, lots of amenities, cheap nice houses, etc. My Aunt and Uncle also stopped by there and were blown away.

I don't think it's a scam, seems way too official to be shady. But is it actually as nice as it seems? Anybody have any experiences? Parents who moved and loved it or hated it? I'm doing the Google searching as well, but nothing beats experiences from people you know aren't plants.

posted by Brainy to home & garden (27 comments total)

OMG email me - my folks moved there in September and it is INCREDIBLE!

My parents have, literally, never been happier, it makes me cry just thinking about it. I've visited and seriously want to move in with them.
posted by tristeza at 10:09 AM on May 13

OK, why not share with the whole class, eh?

My folks (lived in MA for 60 years) bought a fully furnished, 2 bed/2 bath, 5 room house, with 2 car garage, yard and enclosed lanai - for $190,000.

They go everywhere on their golf carts.

There are, literally, activities all day every day, for pretty much ANYTHING you might enjoy.

They golf twice a day (for free, natch).

It is gorgeous - well kept, huge, lovely architecture, etc.

The people, in general, are awesome - friendly as hell, kind, helpful, fun, and active. Like, way more active than this 38 year old.

I could go on ad on and on....it's a truly great, great place, full of life and FUN, and I would move there in a heartbeat if I could.

Oh, also - potential buyers can do this deal where you go down for a week, pay $500, you get your own house to stay in for the week and get carted around by the Vilages folks - you can see the whole place, check everything out, eat for free, and have a nice little vaca.
posted by tristeza at 10:14 AM on May 13

I MeFi mailed you, that okay?
posted by Brainy at 10:14 AM on May 13

I agree totally with tristeza's comment above. I have a friend who lives there and it is really wonderful.
posted by moosedogtoo at 10:15 AM on May 13

I think she'll be doing that week thing.
posted by Brainy at 10:16 AM on May 13

My wife's parents seem pretty in-line with tristeza's people. They checked out a bunch of places and totally fell in love with The Villages, also going so far as to buy a house. I haven't been down yet, and I don't know if my opinion would matter much (I don't golf, for one thing), but they sure like it.
posted by COBRA! at 10:30 AM on May 13

Even though I marked some answers as best answers, I'd still love to hear more. Does anybody have any bad experiences?
posted by Brainy at 10:41 AM on May 13

I've visited 'The Villages.' It made me think of what I've read about Celebration. The overall look was very manufactured. It seemed to be just a retirement community with a mall in the middle.

All that said, it was also nice and clean and yadda yadda. Bland but ultimately palatable.
posted by kmennie at 10:59 AM on May 13

I know people that love it. My husband's uncle from NH just took the tour and he and his girlfriend thought it was awesome. They are both educated, interesting people that happen to love golf, friends, dancing, and bridge. They have several friends and family members that live there and I have heard of no complaints. Any planned community such as The Villages is what you make of it. Many people love it and I have never heard, or read, of any scams.
posted by LoriFLA at 11:54 AM on May 13

City-data forums on Florida. This is a pretty good forum site discussing cities all over the country. They don't have one specifically about the Villages, but you can find some relevant threads by doing a targeted search.
posted by lubujackson at 12:05 PM on May 13

kmennie, that's kind of the idea I got.
posted by Brainy at 12:07 PM on May 13

Is this one of those creepy places where there are no black people and the real estate agents quietly "discourage" same-sex couples from buying?

If not, I'm sending my parents down. By golf cart.
posted by DarlingBri at 12:21 PM on May 13

I have to be honest - it did seem damn white. I saw a few - assumption pending - same sex couples of both genders, but few people of color.
posted by tristeza at 12:23 PM on May 13

Yeah, according to the Wikipedia page it's 98.5% white.
posted by phoenixy at 1:00 PM on May 13

We've had relatives there for 20 years - pretty much since it became The Villages. Back then, you could hear the roosters crowing up the road every morning.

At this point, I probably know at least 50 people in the Villages and different levels of the community. (i.e. the manufactured homes, the Villas, the new deluxe and super deluxe models). Most of them love it there.

It is very, extremely white. Think Branson. They've just started recycling. There are a number of very active churches. There are infinite clubs, societies and activities.

The golf cart paths are extensive and you can travel on them for miles. This is a good thing. Fairly often, some geezer drives into one of the swimming pools and drowns. Driving cars there is frightening, but golf cart accidents are less frequent and less severe, and driving the carts to the restaurants and shopping centers is a lot of fun.

The place is very pet friendly.

Everyone knows everyone else's business, if you like that sort of thing. Everyone is old. I would go insane there pretty quickly, but that's just me.

The hospitals are not great. We had a death in the family and the death certificate lied as to cause of death. I would not choose to have an elective surgery there.

The only people I know there who are not thrilled are the ones who moved there to please a spouse, the spouse died, and they are stuck.

Have you ever seen The Prisoner? It's a lot like that. Be seeing you.
posted by clarkstonian at 1:01 PM on May 13 [2 favorites]

I have never lived in the Villages, nor do I know anybody who has, but I watched a promotional video about them. They are probably awesome if you like living in nostalgia and are willing to put up with fascist regulations about which colors you can paint your fence, which flags you can fly and when, etc.
posted by beerbajay at 1:29 PM on May 13

beerbajay, is the color of the fences thing (reasonable) speculation or something they mentioned? I don't think my mom would care about what color her fence could be, but I'm just curious.
posted by Brainy at 1:56 PM on May 13

It's much like any other neighborhood/homeowners association in the US - there are rules about such things (I don't know them well or how stringent they are, honestly). But it's like, no junk cars in your front yard, houses have to be painted from a certain palette, can't leave garbage cans out, that kind of stuff.
posted by tristeza at 2:14 PM on May 13

I asked my folks for any feedback on things they don't like/problems:

From my mom:

"Well, hmmmmmmmm, that will take some serious thinkage on our
part. Let's see, not enough golf courses? nope, there's one every 100 yards or so; not
enough restaurants? nope, there's one every 50 feet; not enough shopping? nope, more stores than I know what to do with; not enough shows/musicals/entertainment? nope, every day
and night as much as you want. Well, I'm afraid I'm not much help. Maybe some more signs with directions on how to get to certain places.

That's about all I can think of. Anyone who
is thinking of coming here just has to make the trip and check it out. They won't be able to
resist after that. If his mom IS coming, see if you can find out the name and I'll look her up."

From my dad:

"Maybe some better signage, and wider golf cart lanes in some places?"
posted by tristeza at 8:47 AM on May 14

If your mom is like most people in New Jersey, she lives rather close to New York or Philadelphia. If she enjoys activities in the city, she may not enjoy being an hour away from the closest big city, and having it be Orlando. Of course, she'll also be an hour away from Gainesville, and even closer to Ocala—both are worth visiting.

It's not that there's nothing to do in central/north-central Florida—there's just not a massive concentration of things to do in one place.
posted by oaf at 8:52 AM on May 14

It's not that there's nothing to do in central/north-central Florida—there's just not a massive concentration of things to do in one place.

Except, of course, in The Villages. ;)
posted by tristeza at 9:37 AM on May 14

It really appears to be for "active" seniors; tell her to be careful of the STDs.
posted by JMOZ at 11:44 AM on May 14

JMOZ, isn't that funny? I work in the field of STD and flipped out when I heard about the rates there! Thank god *my* parents don't have sex.
posted by tristeza at 11:51 AM on May 14

I don't get the tee hee ha ha about the STD rate. It's a community for relatively young retired people, who are clearly of a certain niche. This is the generation that burned their bras, went to Woodstock, discovered free love, and dropped acid by the train load.

What exactly is it y'all think your parents are doing in their golden years? Playing pinochle?
posted by DarlingBri at 12:17 PM on May 14

"Funny" interesting, not funny ha-ha.
posted by tristeza at 12:50 PM on May 14

My mom practically never goes to the city. Like 4 times total in my living memory, the small town thing won't bother her at all.
Oh, nothing else mentioned since I last visited? Well that's all I have to say. Yup. All I have to say.
posted by Brainy at 3:25 PM on May 14

Just saw this is last week's NYT book review and remembered this question:

Leisureville: Adventures in America's Retirement Communities
posted by yarrow at 2:16 PM on June 6