The battle joined....
Our last"search" was in FL, two years ago... considering different senior communities. It's a dog eat dog battle of realtors, trained to capture the client, and hold him/her there for as long as possible. Leading the tour around the property, the clubhouse, the pool, tennis courts and the unbelieveable listing of 2,000 different activities. Two or three hours of wearing the customer down and brainwashing. Not just at the Villages, but in almost all of the hundred+ communities in the general area.
In the gated communities... (most of them) unless you know someone who lives there, it's hard to get in, and to explore on your own, at your own pace. For the places we were interested in, we arranged an invite fom a resident, and did the tour at our own pace. That's the only way to guage what is really going on with activities, and to find out what the residents think and do.
It's quite surprising how different similar looking communities can be. Some are behives of activity while others are comoletely dead. Matching ages is not easy when there is no one around. Some communites are forever young, busy and with a good turnover as older folks move out and younger ones move in. Others are more like nursing homes, with the only well attended event being Bingo.
And thus my argument for avoiding realtors in the initial search, to concentrate on the day to day realities of the residents. After all... in retirement communities, there's a reasonable expectation that one may live out the rest of life. It's not the house... it's the people.
When we did get serious, we'd go to the community website, to seach houses... narrow down the choices... and then go through the realtor. Saving our time and hers.
We ended up not buying the permanent home in Florida, and opted to come back to Illinois, where we found our nirvana.
That said, we did due diligence in looking, ... a mini project over a 2 month period.
All of this assumes wanting to be part of an active, social community. Having made the rounds... can direct to some beautiful, well managed, private, quiet communities for those who prefer that lifestyle.