Having, above, promised not to wallow in my agedness, let me update you on my latest adventure looking at retirement properties. I spent three nights in The Villages. Exploring the community and hoping for some winter warmth.
For those who have never heard of it, The Villages is an enormous retirement community just shy of an hour north of Orlando. When I say enormous I mean nearly 130,000 in population (depending on your source), five and a half square miles. Probably 15 times bigger than my current home of Dexter, MI, approaching the size of the nearest significant city to me, Ann Arbor. Other cities of comparable size are Pasadena, CA or Waco, TX. Except The Villages is all retirees.
Well, almost all. They have a couple of areas where under 55s are allowed to live, mostly in an effort to maintain a labor base for the needed services. And just because you're over 55 doesn't mean you're retired -- work-from-home to the rescue. But the bulk of the population is seeking The Good Life on the back nine, so to speak.
So what is the big deal about a huge pile of oldsters? Well for starters it's one of the fastest growing cities in the country. They can't build more homes fast enough. For another, there is very little crime, for somewhat obvious reasons. Oldsters generally don't go around mugging and vandalizing each other. Oh there is some, mostly domestics, DUIs, and spillover from the surrounding areas. And there was at least one case of an illegal drug operation/golf cart chop shop. But you can feel very comfortable walking around anytime night or day without fear (other than drunken golf cart drivers).
One point of pride for Villagers is that everything in the city can be accessed via golf cart. Now, it would be a long golf cart ride from one end of the city to another, but there are three -- soon to be four -- central commercial areas loaded with shops and restaurants that are easily accessible via golf cart. Each neighborhood has multiple rec centers with pools and activities, each group of neighborhoods has a regional rec center that is even more impressive. There are in excess of 100 pools of varying accessibility throughout the city. In fact, if there is one thing Villagers really, really love about the Villages it is how much there is to do. Pretty much any sort of activity you can think of is available, and probably has a club around it. Here is an event calendar if you are curious. I have not found a club for weightlifting yet, but there are clubs and clubs and clubs. The bias for activity is pervasive. My real estate guide suggested that pickleball is huge as is pool volleyball, with archery coming on strong. The guy who rented me a golf cart couldn't wait to tell me about his fitness routine and his golf habits.
The best salespeople seemed to be the existing residents. On more than one occasion we were greeted with "Welcome to paradise." In my travels I have occasionally encountered people who live in The Villages and I have never heard anything but enthusiasm. A few notes, before I get to the negatives.
There were recent semi-comical news stories about a breakout of STDs in The Villages. That was fake news.
The Villages are a big enough force for employment that when, at one point, they were planning on reducing the speed of their expansion, the State of Florida stepped in and made concessions (tax breaks) so they could keep going.
They needle Disney by calling The Villages the real happiest place on Earth.
It is one of the few places in the world where Polo (horse, not water) is popular.
I forgot to mention golf. Probably because I don't golf. But there are 48 golf courses, including 10 "Championship Level", whatever that means.
The Villages runs its own charter school for children of employees -- 99% graduation rate, 93% enter college.
So what's not to like?
Interestingly, the housing is not all that impressive. The house designs are straightforward mostly, with extreme premiums for certain locations that give you nice views or privacy. On the whole the houses are very close together and fencing is controlled so your option for not having your neighbor keep an eye on your activities on your lanai is a hedgerow of some kind. I should note that housing is not exclusively, or even majorly, high-end. Small bungalows abound and there are even apartment-style condos. All the neighborhoods have a mix of housing, so it's not like there is a rich area and a poor area. Still, I have seen much more appealing housing options in other places.
Location is another point of concern. It is realistically an hour to get to any sizable city outside the bubble; that would be Ocala to the north and Orlando to the south. The upside is almost everything you could need is available in The Villages so you hope you don't need to make a run to the big city too often. If you are struggling with a specific health issue, though, location could be the deal-breaker.
Along the same lines, either coast, Gulf or Atlantic is a couple of hours away. A day trip. In my image of retirement I am near the beach, but most people who retire to a beach town will tell you they hardly ever go to the beach. (The joke in Florida is that no one on the beach is from Florida.) So as far as that goes, I have to explore whether my image is realistic.
My final analysis is that The Villages really could be paradise…for extroverts. An extrovert here will always have new people to talk to, always have something to do, and be able to feel completely safe and secure in engaging that way. But what about us introverts? Will I be able to sit quietly by the pool and read a book, or will I be forced to discuss matters of the day with the woman who takes the chair next to me? Will I be able to focus on my workout or will some guy step off the elliptical and regale me with stories of his osteopathic adventures? Will I be able to hide myself away from that block party, or will folks be ringing my doorbell to remind me to come out and meet all my neighbors? Can I sit quietly at the bar with a bourbon or will I have to make small talk about pickleball? To someone like me, The Villages can seem a little…intense.
Still, The Villages is a great and unique place and, I say this sincerely, a tremendous accomplishment of human engineering. No less impressive than Disney or, say, the Vegas Strip. An awful lot of people are choosing to live the life that is offered there and while it's easy to scoff at popular trends, very often everyone is doing it for a reason. I don't know if I will actually end up in The Villages, but I suspect if I do, I won't be disappointed.
