I don't have first-hand knowledge, but a former coworker of my husband is over 55 and she and her husband moved into a retirement community and love it. They're always trying to talk us into moving there, too.

My sister and her husband live in one. It seems very quiet and peaceful when I visit them and I think I'd like it, myself.

But she says there are lots of ambulances coming and going for various medical emergencies, which is depressing to her. She says it feels like it's a place to die. But that might just be her perception of it; she's a bit of a pessimist.

Yup...DH's cousin and DH moved down to The Villages, in Fla. about 4 years ago...we've visited them, and taken the tour. They've been trying to talk us down there, but not right now.

An awful lot of clubs and neighborhood cookouts, etc. Although they are largish single homes, all that activity made me feel claustrophobic.

We live in one. Ours is really big--over 9000 homes. Most are connected villas, but there are some townhouses and single family homes. It is very quiet here. Not much going on after 8 :-) If you're having visitors after 6:30 you need to call the guard house and let them know. I forgot the other day, but they called me. The gates are manned 24/7.

Ours has three golf courses, three pools (two out and one indoor), two restaurants, tennis, softball field, dog park, several garden areas where people who are so inclined can plant vegetables. There is a health club, too. And there are clubs and craft get togethers, karaoke (two clubs), lots of various card clubs. There's a club for just about anything you can think of including an Irish club and a Pennsylvania club. They also provide "Masters of Possibilites" which offers classes for many different interests. There are 5 Red Hat clubs. I think you get the picture. You can be as active as you want to be. There's a farmer's market on Thursdays, happy hour on Friday, dancing on the square on Friday and Saturday evening and a theater that provides so pretty good entertainment.

It was sort of weird when we first moved in. Everyone looked so old LOL! And I do miss hearing children playing. But we're pretty glad we moved here. I like the town.

Oops, that should be over 5000 homes and 9000 people.

Thanks for your answers. We were told at one of the places that, children under 16, can only use the pool between the hours of 3-5:00 pm. I can understand the reason for the rule, but I was wondering how more restrictive other things are. We have asked for a packet with info. from the one we're interested in, in Georgia. The reason is to be a little closer to the grandchildren. (2-1 /2 and 4 yrs.) It sounds like we may not be able to keep up with all the groups and activities! but it does sound like a good, fun, way of living. They say most people are quite friendly, as we're all in the same boat.

you need to do extensive research on the developments. research not just on the developments but also on who started them (who-politicians & what are they owned by-certain party), how the finances were initially set up (illegally sometimes), what possible legal changes could cause expenses to significantly rise (falling out w/ politicians and counties) etc...

i live in orlando, thru my job i've dealt w/ The Villges and learned some information today that will cause us to pull out of dealing w/ them. we have concerns about their future financial viability and know they will be going to residents to get the $ they need. that is the biggest problem w/ these developments, when they need $$ to cover expenses it's entirely up to the residents. what's worse is that if there are foreclosures in these places (or any HOA) the fees for the missing homeowner are covered by all the remaining members.

carefully investigate for yourself ~ liz

I have a friend living in The Villages,and she loves it. Two of her children have bought homes there, rent them out, but they are looking forward to their own retirements so that they can move there. I've been down there a number of times, and it really is great.

I live in a Home Owner's Association development and don't care much for it. We were promised all kind of amenities and in reality we could not have afforded the dues. It was just something the builder promised so he could sell the homes. All that is done for us is the mowing. We have rules to abide by that keeps the place looking nice, no non running cars, boats or campers on the property. There is to much stress because it is not being handled properly, to much good old boy stuff going on, favoritism, doing for one home owner not the others. The thing I hate the most is the possibility of a special assessment if something major goes wrong. I know someone who had a $5,000 assessment place on them because the decks needed to be replace, this was an apartment complex. Our lawns are taken care of by the vice president and you should see them. They water every day, twice a day now that it is so hot. The heavy lawn mowers dig into the ground because it is to wet, the grass is rotting. It just goes on and on. I wish we could do away with the HOA.

This is a nationwide organization----Del Webb.
Those are good points vala55. I'm sure you wouldn't find those things out until you were already in.

Del Webb apparently does not allow "rental" houses.

If someone doesn't pay the HOA, a lien is put on the property almost immediately--within a few months of nonpayment. That's very rare here, though. The owners of this place used to build in the St. Pete-Clearwater area--in fact, built Kenneth City if anyone is familiar with the area. Also built a 55+ complex in Clearwater before they were popular. All the lawn maintenence is part of our HOA fee. They do a great job (except for the guy that butchered my pavers with the edger).

i can only speak of the financial viability of del webb (aka Pulte homes) in terms of how they do business w/ vendors here in orlando. del webb has ALOT of foreclosures in central FL i can tell you that and Pulte well their problems are well known LOL. we do not deal w/ them directly because of the real possibility of not getting paid. check on the foreclosure rates in the development you are looking at. i know down here they have some developments that did not get all their promised amenities, they ran out of $$ and didn't sell enough units to support the infrastructure of amenities.

for the life of me i don't understand why they continue to build in FL or anywhere in this country right now. the prices in their newest south orlando place (really kissimmee/osceola co but who wants to admit to THAT lol obviously not them) are a fraction of what they sold for at the start of construction which says they are not selling and the existing owners are under water (foreclosure city). plus it's osceola co which has alot financial problems and will be raising taxes soon, just before the state of FL does. in the newer developments it is almost a guarantee to get financially burned in one way or another v/s the older existing places. tax assessments like the previous mentioned can happen anywhere. i live in a burb city and had a tax addition of $10,000 ($1,000 a yr) to cover a new brick wall surrounding our subdivision. we do not live in an HOA dev, we would not ever live in one. this was a city add and i was happy about it, before the brick 10' tall wall w/ tile signage and landscaping galore w/ coach lighting along it, we had the homeowners hodge-podge fencing facing the main roads. it was ugly! the tax add-ons thou are more prevalent in HOA's. ~ liz

We don't have those problems with our builder. He is local and has built a lot of houses and one HOA development before ours. They sold like hotcakes and resold usually within a week, one sold the same day the sign went up. Patio Homes is a hot item here.

I could never see myself living in an HOA,gated or over 55 community myself. I do have friends that do though. I think it really depends on your lifestyle. My friend moved into a Del Webb community. She bought into the dream they sell with the clubs,the golf, the pools and classes etc.

What she didn't count on that was that most the activities are done in the early part of the day. She's in her sixties but lived in the burbs of a city. The culture shock of streets dark by 9:00 PM clubhouse parties that cost a pretty penny and ended at nine and the pool filled with grand-kids during the summer was not what she expected. Although she and her DH golf she is very bored. And stuck because they bought new andd since it is a "senior" community house go on the market daily for less than she can afford to sell for much less be able to afford a regular place again.

Oh and the wed patrol. LOL Major complaint. One little bud sticks it's head up and you're cited. No cars out after dusk, not even in the driveway.

So it's not for everybody. I would advise reading every rule down to the last detail. If you enjoy the structure and the senir hours then one would love it. Not for me though.

Oh. It's 7:30 here and I'm off to go out with a GF for dinner. Our night is young. ;-) We'd probably get back after midnight. So that is why this "senior" wouldn't be happy in an over 55 place.

LOL w/ a name like wildchild that is a given LOL ;-)) ~ liz

foggy,
We live in a very small community that has an association for lawn care and snow removal. We only have 129 homes and they are all individual homes that are all one level. This was SUPPOSED to be a 55 and over community. The last few homes hadn't sold for five years,(the big halt is realestate) so they sold to young couples. I wish they didn't do that, because when you break one rule then others follow.

We love living here. It is not like the ones you are talking about. It is more like any city neighborhood. In fact the streets are not private, they are city streets, so we have very low association fees. We also don't have lots of things going on. We only have four dinners a year. We just all do our own thing. If we want swimming we join an local gym etc. There is a golf course near by that you can join, we don't.

This gives us the opportunity to stay in our own area with an easier life. Everything else is just normal life.

The way the topic was worded made me think you must be referring to a business type community. I've never heard of Del Webb, but that doesn't mean anything.

There are retirement communities every where now, and a lot of them or owned by denominations of various faiths. I visited 3-4 of them before I decided to come here 7 years ago.

This community is about 6 miles outside the small town I had lived in for many years. It is owned by 2 local families. We have a mix of duplexes, triplexes and quads. Also we have a total of 72 apartments in two buildings.

Everything is low key. We don't have a golf course or a swimming pool. Those things are just a few miles away, including skiing.

All indoor and outdoor maintenance is provided. There are various activities planned monthly, and several groups have formed, such as writing, porcelain painting, handwork, exercise, Wii games, etc. Also shopping trips,lunch trips, monthly covered dish dinners. Groups come in for musical programs.

The atmosphere here is like a typical family, just larger. Neighbors are always ready to help if needed.

After my DH died I spent 3 winters in Florida and visited The Villages. Very impressive, and very busy! Out my back door I see the Blue Ridge Mountains. Very quiet, calm, birds singing, deer beyond the back rail fence and sometimes even a skunk wanders through!

I would like to give you a link to our web site but right now it is being revamped to include the 40 new apartments.

Come on by; I'll show you around!
Here is my little home:

{{!gwi}}
Click.

Can you say Yard Sale?

Sue

Sue, your neighborhood looks like ours! This is our front yard which is very small!

Thank you all. After our visit today to a Del Webb community, we walked through all the model homes. (that are staged beautifully!!) We chose one, and were ready to seriously think about walking into the sales center and talk to an agent. Reality set in before we did that, and we came home. After doing more research regarding the home builder used, and looking up testimonials, and hearing what you have to say, our excitement and exuberance, have mellowed. I had a feeling, about living in what seemed like, a pretty restricted place. I never thought about the place folding up at 9:00pm ! LOL That's not the impression I got. (The amenities are nice though.)

There were no age limits on ours, there is even one rental. Most younger people don't want to live where you can't park in the street or park a boat or camper. No basket ball hoops. 95% are seniors almost half of those are widows. The only activity we have is a monthly luncheon for the women.

The last place I rented when I lived in CA was a 4-plex in an active adult community called Oakmont Village. I was there over 3 years and really liked it once I got acclimated. Some of us younger folk joked about the people who drew their drapes at 5 p.m. when their cocktail hour started. Oakmont was not gated but only had 2 access roads. It had 3 golf courses and 3 outdoor pools. It had many detached homes of varying sizes. Some were very large. It also had duplexes, triplexes, 4 plexes. Very few actual apartments. It had a few banks, real estate offices, medical offices, a couple of restaurants and a deli. I liked it because it was very quiet. There were lots of rules, no garage sales, only estate sales, dogs & cats had to be on leashes, no cars parked in the street or driveway overnight (except for guests). The HOA fees paid for gardners to kept the grounds looking great. Some people were snobbish but that didn't bother me. There were lots of retired military.

Foggyj, not all of them close up at 9:00. A lot of the card clubs and others meet at night and we don't HAVE to be in the gates at any certain time.

I wouldn't want to live in the one Wildchild described. Sounds more like a prison than a community. ;-)

We have lots of 55+ communities around this area. Two I know of are Del Webb and I've heard nothing but good things about them. They sure build beautiful homes.

del webb has been around for years...if i had the money, i might think about it..but the ones around here are almost 2x our current mortgage payment...

the advantage of several friends is the mobility to travel and not worry about your house, ect...one of dh's friends did the next best thing and found a condo...

know my aunt is well taken care of in her assisted living apt...they make sure she takes her pills and such since my uncle passed, plus she'd have no other place to go...(long story on that)but she pays a LOT for that...

any home is what you make it...the same for friends, and activities...

Not all 55+ communitys have HOA's (Home owners associations). I live in one near the Villages. We are owned by one person and managed by his management company. We own our house and land it is on.
We love it where we live. We have a golf course, pool, community center, and most other ammenities that the larger ones have only on a mini scale in comparison. Of course we pay ammenities fee each month. Find out how much the ammenties fee will be and visit the community you are interested in and ask for a copy of the deed restrictions before you make any decisions.
Alot of these developments have a plan where you can stay a few days and find out everything. The Villages has such a plan.

Here is a link that might be useful: The Villages Florida

Thanks for all your insights. It does help to read your experiences.
We will make an appointment to stay over, in one of the Villas provided for that reason. We'll go around the nearest town to get a feel for what's nearby, etc. We have lived in our home for 28 years. We are wondering about our sanity, and how this all got started!
My DH pulled into a DW community on our way home from a visit to our daughter and family. He's been retired for a year.
Life is supposed to be an adventure, right?!

In any area, check out the presence and type of Medical facilities, and if they take Medicare (if or when you go on it).

I looked into the locations of board certified Drs that I go to, and they were miles away from where I was looking at.

Friends bought in an age-restricted, gated community in California about ten years ago. We've visited them. It's not for me, and I really doubt it's for them, but they couldn't get their money out if they sold now. As for being 'gated', there is a gate, but no fencing! This means that an ambulance has to wait to clear the gate; any burglar could walk through the property.

The homes are single-family, single-level, all white. The landscaping is perfectly maintained. It's completely SILENT. There are no pedestrians. Eerie. As we approached our friends' home the first day I couldn't quite place the feeling I had. When we drove off two days later I recognized what I felt. It was like a gigantic mausoleum.

My friend writes that this neighbor or that one is coping with a dying spouse or is now widowed, or that so-and-so has sickened and died. It's darn depressing! In an ordinary community there's a balance; none there.

Why do builders continue to build these developments? Because Seniors are a large source of cash in this economy.

We've never wanted a so-called 'no maintenence' community. We'd rather decide for ourselves what needs maintaining and who we want to do the work -- not pay dues to a committee that awards the work -- or doesn't think work we want done is necessary. We don't golf and don't want to pay to support a course. We have an excellent Senior Center in our town with minimal membership fees and activities we can participate in (and pay for) as we wish. Our library is excellent. We're minutes from town and medical care.

Our friends are not exactly 'nowhere', but you can see it from there! LOL They have a long drive to hospitals, doctors and shops. (There are some nearby, but not top-notch.)

We own a vacation rental condo on Maui in a development of over 300. Some owners are in default on their fees. Some have been foreclosed upon. The association is last in line to collect on a lein. It gets no money while a propety sits on the market, and little even when it sells. I don't want this situation for my main residence.

Hayjud, your house is adorable! Wish I could run barefoot through that soft grass.

Foggyj, I don't know where you live but another possibility would be to find someplace to rent (reasonably) during the winter and keep your present home until you decide what you want to do. In other words, become snowbirds. It would give you an opportunity to get familiar with the area. Quite a few of the people live here half the year and it works fine for them. It's pretty cheap to live in our community!!

Patti43 Thank You! All that lush lawn is in much more room in the back yard. With all that difficult yard work taken care of, we can handle year round in Minnesota.

Patti, I think you have a good idea! Foggy, maybe you should be snowbirds for at least one or two years before deciding. Once you sell your house, you can't change your mind.

We live in SC, so moving over to Georgia is almost a lateral move. The DW comminities we have seen (2), there have been NO people out any where, except the Welcome Center. We've gone during mid-day, and it is hot as blazes down here, but no one, even in the pool! It was a ghost town. I guess everyone is inside during the day. (?)