Katsmeow
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2009
- Messages
- 5,308
We are considering moving to Delaware from Texas. We are only interested in northern Delaware. New Castle County. From the research we've done, areas that have been suggested are Newark and suburbs, Pike Creek, Claymont, Bear. We ideally would spend about $400k. We could go up about $25k (or maybe a little more) but would prefer not to. Ideally we would want a small house (our 2400 SF house is way too big for us), little to no yard, and a house built since 1990 (if older would need to have already been remodeled). We would consider a townhouse but probably prefer a house.
Some of you may recall my posting last year about moving to Las Vegas. We visited late last summer and looked at houses and the area and were enthusiastic about it. However, we have now ruled out Las Vegas. I've posted in a separate thread about my discovery that I have 4 blockages in my coronary arteries (the worst is a 60% to 70% blockage in the LAD). An FFR was done and my blood flow was such that a stent is not needed. I am taking high dose statin and aspirin. Goal is to get LDL under 50 (at at last measurement). Anyway, one of the negatives of Las Vegas is that they don't have enough doctors and their hospitals are not the best. I realize now that my biggest risk is that I have a heart attack. If that happens I want to live within 20 minutes of a very good hospital. Also some of my coronary arteries are different (I have an extra artery on the left side and my left circumflex artery comes off my right coronary artery). So if I ever had to have surgery I would want someone very experienced. And, I do worry about the really unusual medical needs that can rarely come up where you need to be airlifted to a really great hospital. Las Vegas is not great for that as the closest "great" hospitals are in Phoenix and LA. I don't need to be 20 minutes from such a hospital but would want to be within an hour by air. So Las Vegas is out.
We started looking at alternatives and one we had considered earlier was Delaware. Things we like about it:
It meets my health care needs - Christiana Care seems to be a fine hospital, well able to handle a heart attack. In the unlikely event I need something more, I would easily be sent to Philadelphia. Delaware doesn't have enough doctors, but it seems better in northern than southern Delaware. And, I can always have a doctor in Philadelphia.
I like having access to the amenities of a big city. Delaware is a small state. The "ordinary" amenities such as grocery stores, pharmacy, everyday restaurants and the like are easily available in norther Delaware. For the "big city" stuff, we would be very close to Philadephia.
I absolutely love the central location of northern Delaware and how D.C., NYC, etc. are all only a few hours away. And, I love the idea of being able to take the train to a lot of it. DH and I can easily drive now but it would be nice to be able to go to NYC without having the drive there (we've done it and it is a pain). And, as we get older, being able to go out of town for a weekend without having to drive would be great.
Financially, Delaware is a huge savings over Texas. Property taxes in Texas (even with the over 65 tax freeze on some taxes) are just really high. Delaware's property taxes are much lower than Texas. Delaware has no sales tax. Yes, Delaware has a state income tax but they do not tax Social Security and there is a deduction for some of the rest of our income (from the IRA). We don't withdraw that much so we would likely owe no income tax or very little. All combined taxes in Delaware would be far, far lower in Delaware. Further there is the cost of house insurance which is very high in Texas. Our quote is up over 50% this year (with no claims ever). Delaware's house insurance is much less.
Less said about this the better but it was a key factor for us. Delaware matches my desires for state level politics.
We will not consider Pennsylvania (see my last criteria right about this). New Jersey is extremely tax unfriendly. There is a small chance we might find something in the general area that was on the Maryland side. However, Maryland is not as tax friendly (although for the right house it isn't so tax unfriendly as to make it totally unacceptable).
Negative stuff - We haven't really been to Delaware. Some years ago, we want on a vacation (driving) where we went to D.C., a dog show in Pennsylvania, then to NYC. Anyway, we drove through Delaware during all of that but, honestly, I don't really remember anything. We are trying to get a trip in there in the next few weeks. If this area doesn't work out, not really sure where we go from there.
Housing inventory in Delaware is limited. A lot of it (in our desired price range) is either older houses (really old) or newer townhomes. I had a bad townhouse experience 30+ years ago so I am leery of that. Also, there are our cats. We currently have 2 cats which probably most townhouses would allow. However, many (maybe all) limit you to 2 cats and we have thought about getting a third. So would prefer to have that option.
I know many people don't mind really older houses but I am reluctant to end up with a money pit that needs lots of work. I would consider an older house if someone had already done the remodeling.
Most houses have the master bedroom upstairs and few houses have it on the main floor. That isn't necessarily a dealbreaker if there was room for a stairlift if needed.
I am not interested in the lower part of Delaware. It is too far from the hospital I'm interested in. It has fewer amenities and isn't close enough to Philadelphia.
Oh, yes, weather. I know it has snow in winter which is different for us. On the other hand, you don't have stay indoors for 6 months due to heat and humidity. And, you can't have everything. So this is something I can compromise on.
Anyway -- if anyone has experience with the area would appreciate any comments.
Some of you may recall my posting last year about moving to Las Vegas. We visited late last summer and looked at houses and the area and were enthusiastic about it. However, we have now ruled out Las Vegas. I've posted in a separate thread about my discovery that I have 4 blockages in my coronary arteries (the worst is a 60% to 70% blockage in the LAD). An FFR was done and my blood flow was such that a stent is not needed. I am taking high dose statin and aspirin. Goal is to get LDL under 50 (at at last measurement). Anyway, one of the negatives of Las Vegas is that they don't have enough doctors and their hospitals are not the best. I realize now that my biggest risk is that I have a heart attack. If that happens I want to live within 20 minutes of a very good hospital. Also some of my coronary arteries are different (I have an extra artery on the left side and my left circumflex artery comes off my right coronary artery). So if I ever had to have surgery I would want someone very experienced. And, I do worry about the really unusual medical needs that can rarely come up where you need to be airlifted to a really great hospital. Las Vegas is not great for that as the closest "great" hospitals are in Phoenix and LA. I don't need to be 20 minutes from such a hospital but would want to be within an hour by air. So Las Vegas is out.
We started looking at alternatives and one we had considered earlier was Delaware. Things we like about it:
It meets my health care needs - Christiana Care seems to be a fine hospital, well able to handle a heart attack. In the unlikely event I need something more, I would easily be sent to Philadelphia. Delaware doesn't have enough doctors, but it seems better in northern than southern Delaware. And, I can always have a doctor in Philadelphia.
I like having access to the amenities of a big city. Delaware is a small state. The "ordinary" amenities such as grocery stores, pharmacy, everyday restaurants and the like are easily available in norther Delaware. For the "big city" stuff, we would be very close to Philadephia.
I absolutely love the central location of northern Delaware and how D.C., NYC, etc. are all only a few hours away. And, I love the idea of being able to take the train to a lot of it. DH and I can easily drive now but it would be nice to be able to go to NYC without having the drive there (we've done it and it is a pain). And, as we get older, being able to go out of town for a weekend without having to drive would be great.
Financially, Delaware is a huge savings over Texas. Property taxes in Texas (even with the over 65 tax freeze on some taxes) are just really high. Delaware's property taxes are much lower than Texas. Delaware has no sales tax. Yes, Delaware has a state income tax but they do not tax Social Security and there is a deduction for some of the rest of our income (from the IRA). We don't withdraw that much so we would likely owe no income tax or very little. All combined taxes in Delaware would be far, far lower in Delaware. Further there is the cost of house insurance which is very high in Texas. Our quote is up over 50% this year (with no claims ever). Delaware's house insurance is much less.
Less said about this the better but it was a key factor for us. Delaware matches my desires for state level politics.
We will not consider Pennsylvania (see my last criteria right about this). New Jersey is extremely tax unfriendly. There is a small chance we might find something in the general area that was on the Maryland side. However, Maryland is not as tax friendly (although for the right house it isn't so tax unfriendly as to make it totally unacceptable).
Negative stuff - We haven't really been to Delaware. Some years ago, we want on a vacation (driving) where we went to D.C., a dog show in Pennsylvania, then to NYC. Anyway, we drove through Delaware during all of that but, honestly, I don't really remember anything. We are trying to get a trip in there in the next few weeks. If this area doesn't work out, not really sure where we go from there.
Housing inventory in Delaware is limited. A lot of it (in our desired price range) is either older houses (really old) or newer townhomes. I had a bad townhouse experience 30+ years ago so I am leery of that. Also, there are our cats. We currently have 2 cats which probably most townhouses would allow. However, many (maybe all) limit you to 2 cats and we have thought about getting a third. So would prefer to have that option.
I know many people don't mind really older houses but I am reluctant to end up with a money pit that needs lots of work. I would consider an older house if someone had already done the remodeling.
Most houses have the master bedroom upstairs and few houses have it on the main floor. That isn't necessarily a dealbreaker if there was room for a stairlift if needed.
I am not interested in the lower part of Delaware. It is too far from the hospital I'm interested in. It has fewer amenities and isn't close enough to Philadelphia.
Oh, yes, weather. I know it has snow in winter which is different for us. On the other hand, you don't have stay indoors for 6 months due to heat and humidity. And, you can't have everything. So this is something I can compromise on.
Anyway -- if anyone has experience with the area would appreciate any comments.