Went to FL on vac and came home with a house!

[JimC]

Thanx all for your thoughts and advice - there is so much to consider right now!



But it is so much warmer than our vacation house in Maine and the frozen wasteland of New Jersey!

We have visited WDW and the Villages in years when the locals were saying that they were enduring the coldest winter that they can remember - and the temps felt great to us! When the weather reporters tell folks to go out and cover their plants because of the probability of overnite frost, I can only think how great it must be to have plants outside that need to be covered!

LOL! That is exactly what we said before we had lived here a year. It does not take long for the body and mind to recalibrate.

 

[jco_direwolf]

My question now is - do we keep our DVC since we are only an hour or so from WDW?

I'd keep it. An hour is still an hour EACH WAY. For events like MNSSHP or Food and Wine, I'd rather commute back to my DVC home than think about driving an hour to a house.

Being someone that use to live in Central Fla (don't ask why I moved to New England) I would have to live within about 10-15 minute drive of maingate before I would consider selling my DVC.

I would use it differently. More overnight/3 day weekend trips, rather than week trips with a visit with my parents on the weekend.

johno

 

[pb4ugo]

I was considering buying a second home there too. What areas are considered nice? What was the name of your neighborhood?

It may be a little more north than where I want to be though I prefer the Eastern side of the State. Are the summers any cooler or just as hot as the rest of the state?

jcf -
we bought in the villages in the silver lake neighborhood - the "historic district"! the area is one of mostly manufactured homes with the occassional site having had that home taken away and a stick built house built there. we like it on that side of the hiway because of the peace and quiet. the other side of 27/441 hosts so many more neighborhoods and homesites as well as the two (and soon to be third town square) and all of the shopping centers. the neighborhoods of silver lake, orange blossom gardens and country club hills have no traffic except for residents and their visitors - and the number of each is far less than the other side!

we bought at the villages because of all that they have to offer - it is a golfer's paradise - but if you don't like golf, that are more than 300 clubs and organizations to join...if you are a joiner. every neighborhood area has its own adult pool, children's pool, executive golf course and a real country club that serves several neighborhoods combined. there are town square celebrations for every holiday, monthly antique car shows, market nites, and music/dancing every nite of the week. the movie theatre in each town square has a seating area in the lobby where one can come in from the heat or the cold and enjoy a beverage without even going to the movie! we couldn't find all of that in just any neighborhood in florida.

i have no idea about the summer temps there as we spend summer at the jersey shore and at the house up in maine. it would be my assumption that it might be cooler but not less humid. with the exception of the tornado that touched down in the villages a few years ago, most of the hurricanes that blow thru florida are pretty much reduced to tropical storms by the time they get to the center of the state where the villages sit.

 

[palhockeymomof2]

They also have a FL only DL.

Thanks for the info...just checked out the FL DMV website and saw we can schedule an appointment....now I have to talk hubby into visiting the DMV while on vacation he's not onboard with it yet

 

[emememem]

We live right outside of Disney and kept our points. we've used them for Vero, Disneyland, and weekend trips to the Boardwalk just to get away. Great for treating our family from the north!!