The Villages

We have heard about the Villages and have seen them advertised on TV.   We passed signs along I-75 as we headed south and decided to take a day trip to visit.

We saw a Produce Market outside of a town square and walked around.  This was on Saturday morning.

 After the outdoor market we went over to the Vistors/Sales Center.  It was nice and pretty upscale.

We met Gail Evans who was a great sales lady.  She wasn't pushy, provided a lot of information and took us on an hour tour of the properties.   This is a big place.  It has 90,000 residents.  There are five separate communities, each with a town square and a lot of shopping.

But first we stopped at a golf course to check things out.  They have over 20 executive (par 3) courses and over 10 18-hole championship courses.  We could enjoy this...

There are over 40 regional, neighborhood and village recreation centers.  They have a lot of social possibilities and activities.

The local paper has hundreds of interest groups.

The facilities are first rate and top notch.  The Villages have been around 40 years but you'd never know it.  The place is first class.  One thing I liked about it was although the Villages and the facilities are new or in very good shape, we didn't get the idea it was out of reach.  Regular people live here.  (Regular people with a retirement of some sort.)

Here is a photo of Gail.
From the Recreation Center, we took a look at an entry level home in the $155K range.  We are not planning on settling down or leaving the RV lifestyle, but I was curious at what the 'modest' homes looked like.

So we viewed on that was about 1500 square feet and a two bedroom.  It had a good size kitchen, two car garage, small yard and a fairly large living room/great room.  I really liked the layout.

After the PITI and 'association fees' - one could get into place like this for about $2000/month.  Interesting.

We told Gail we could take about an hour and we saw a lot in that time.  At the conclusion, she said we  had to see the cows near the Brownsville Square entrance.  Each square has a theme and this one recognizes the influence of the cattle industry in Florida.

 After our tour, we went back to the golf course to get some lunch.  It was about 1:15 and the place was  mobbed.  It was so crowded we didn't even stay.

So while we enjoyed the tour, had our curiosity satisfied, got answers to all our questions -- we both felt as if this lifestyle is not for us.  We continue to love what we are doing and can't think of anything else we'd rather be doing.  If if weren't for this lifestyle, we'd never see the Villages!

Thanks for joining us today on the Roadrunner Chronicles!  Until next time...