Interesting piece about The Villages in FL
Putting aside the politics for just a moment. This sentence in the last paragraph, including the line from a song āCreep,ā pretty much sums it up perfectly for me:
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Itās definitely not my crowd, though Iāll admit Iām glad itās there to keep those who like it away from areas I like. 
To each our own.
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Again, putting aside politics and the pandemic, I just enjoy the fact that when I go to the gym, for example, I can be around the 20 and 30 somethings there. In fact, at the the gym last night, I even learned a new terminology or phrase, which comes from the hip hop world. 
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Not for me! I met two couples who lived there on a tour of Croatia in 2019. They all stared at me in disbelief when I told them I had never heard of The Villages!
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We like wandering and coming into contact with people from everywhere, all ages, races, etc. Weāre also not golfers, shoppers, or partiers. Nature/scuba/history/friendly chat are among our loves.
If we were to buy on St Thomas, some big pros for it were itās location from the east coast, ease of working there (being US citizens), tons of scuba, snorkeling, and sailing, friendly people, gorgeous scenery, tons of nearby islands to prowl around, and a constant influx of tourists keeping conversations interesting plus if we had an investment condo, helping to pay the bills while we were elsewhere.
Cons include the hurricane belt, being unable to grow food for itself in case of emergencies, food that is there being very high priced, being dependent upon tourism in case of other pandemics or downturns in the economy, not the greatest healthcare, and the belief that there is no such thing as too steep of a grade for a road or driveway. Many of the driveways there looked like runaway truck ramps in the mountains here.
With the Villages, we Creeklanders would have no pros, just cons. Other areas of FL have a couple of pros, but USVI beats them (for us). We still have other islands to consider though - Barbados, Grenada, Dominica currently topping our āhmmā list. We know we like HI (Kauai, Big Island, maybe Maui), but the distance might be a dealbreaker.
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I grew up in Florida and am in the correct demographic (age and race wise) and I have to say it sounds like hell on earth. I cannot fathom why anyone would want to live there and yet, there it is.
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@Creekland St. Croix has areas that are much more rural. More land, fewer people than St. Thomas. And a rain forest! And agriculture. You should check it out.
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Are you married to Sheldon or Leonard? 
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We should add it to our list. We like St Thomas being right among the islands (USVI + BVI) vs St Croix off in the distance - still viewable, but nonetheless further away. I donāt think weāre going to get a āperfectā spot though, so itās worth a look to compare.
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I have family members on both islands but know St. Croix much better since my late brother lived there from his early 20s until his death at 59, and my sister-in-law and niece and s-i-lās family still live there now. Everyone I know who lives on STT has lived in STX as well, and many vice-versa. Itās the same but different.
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Didnāt you know ā mathmom is Penny!
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I have a family member who lives in the Villages (for 15+ years). When I visited I said: āThis is like adult Disneyworld!ā. And I had zero, zero interest in living there. I want to have more going on than my own pleasure (no judgment on those who like it!). Then again, I donāt ever want to go back to Disney, either.
That being said, a friend (55) just moved to a (different), new over-55 community in FL and she just loves it. To each their own for sure!!
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Iām not sure because I canāt watch the show because of the laugh track. But biology grad students all thought the undergrads were way weird than they were.
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Psstā¦ I heard there will be a governmental superyacht surplus auction. Lots of nice pre-owned ones - dirt cheap. Maybe your husband can grab oneā¦ I bet you can live on that kind of boat. 
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We had a really enjoyable vacation in St. Croix. Great weather. OK snorkeling IIRC. We even met interesting people. Had dinner with the retired president of Princeton who spent the winters there.
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DH thinks that heāll want to pick up and move to follow our kids wherever they end up putting down roots. I told him that Iām not moving. The house weāre in will be our retirement house. Itās just the right floor plan. Itās a manageable size. It has a 3 car garage. It has a nice sized backyardā¦not too big, not too small. It doesnāt have a pool to maintain (thereās a community pool instead). Thereās no lawn to mow in the front or backyard. And the backyard faces north (weāre in AZ, so this is ideal in our areaā¦back porch is shaded all the time in the summer). Every room (except for the dining room) has a ceiling fan in it (YAY!) and the house has a great room concept, which we really love. And the back porch has a ceiling fan and built in speakers (which we installed during the pandemic). Everything is just how we want it.
Plus, weāre 30 min drive from a major airport, so we can just fly to visit the kids. Thereās really good medical care in this area. And we donāt have to shovel snow or drive on icy roads if we donāt want to. And itās a 6 hr drive to get to Disneyland.
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That sounds like a perfect house for you, sbinaz!
Interesting about the shade during certain parts of the day. Thatās something I never thought about in buying a new place (where the sun falls and how many trees you have for shade in light of thatā¦)
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Iām not a big fan of following kids because kids end up moving! Plus, like the former poster, we absolutely love our new little place here in Northeastern Florida. Itās perfect for us, and the kids love to visit when they can. Heaven on earth
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dke - curious (a lot of my friends/family have relocated to FL) - did you find an over-55 community? Did you buy a while back before houses skyrocketed? 