Moving to Delaware?

[Dash man]

As in most cities, those things are isolated to certain parts of town and can be avoided.

 

[madatrub]

As in most cities, those things are isolated to certain parts of town and can be avoided.

Perhaps, but Wilmington is very small as far as "cities" goes. NYC is 28x bigger. Philadelphia is 8x larger. Baltimore 5x.

 

[Katsmeow]

One item I forgot to mention is that some retirees move to Southern Delaware, as it is less populated, and that is where specific retirement communities sprouted in the 90's. When we've looked at those type of communities, we always found a problem of one type or another.. For us, we have our dream location, and don't want to give up the wooded yard, closeness to Philly, and so on.

I know I definitely don't want to be south of New Castle County and most likely not south of the canal. Some have mentioned Middletown to me but seems a lit more remote.

55+ communities have also been suggested. They definitely have some advantages. Often smaller homes with little to no yard upkeep and so on. However, I've always had the idea (from talking to others) that some of those communities are sort of like being in high school. And, really I generally prefer living with a more diverse group. That said, I guess it could be possible that one would attract us if everything about it seemed OK.

How is the humidity there ?
When I worked in Baltimore, I found the summer humidity so thick, it felt like I was swimming in the air !

From what I have researched, it is far better in Delaware than in Texas. Once you've lived in Texas, humidity other places is usually nothing in comparison...

 

[target2019]

I know I definitely don't want to be south of New Castle County and most likely not south of the canal. Some have mentioned Middletown to me but seems a lit more remote.

55+ communities have also been suggested. They definitely have some advantages. Often smaller homes with little to no yard upkeep and so on. However, I've always had the idea (from talking to others) that some of those communities are sort of like being in high school. And, really I generally prefer living with a more diverse group. That said, I guess it could be possible that one would attract us if everything about it seemed OK.

Going to the map again, with New Castle at the top, and C&D at the bottom of my view, there are homes for sale, I'm sure. If you switch to satellite map, and keep the pins for the retirement communities, you'll likely see nearby shopping centers and food stores near potential developments.

Should be a good trip for you. Wish you well.

 

[GhostofTomJoad]

As in most cities, those things are isolated to certain parts of town and can be avoided.

Correct: "most" cities.
Honolulu? Homeless everywhere. You can't swing a dead cat without bumping into them. And crime is on the rise. Wonderful projects in the works with federal money to house them. But most suffer from addiction or mental illness. Address THAT problem, and you might actually make some progress toward alleviating the situation. Eric Adams in NYC has good ideas. Remove them, even against their will, for psychiatric assessment.

 

[Gumby]

Correct: "most" cities.
Honolulu? Homeless everywhere. You can't swing a dead cat without bumping into them. And crime is on the rise. Wonderful projects in the works with federal money to house them. But most suffer from addiction or mental illness. Address THAT problem, and you might actually make some progress toward alleviating the situation. Eric Adams in NYC has good ideas. Remove them, even against their will, for psychiatric assessment.

Given that you are in Alaska, I take it you mean this Honolulu. I didn't see anyone there, homeless or otherwise, when I went through on the train to Denali. P.S. - you're skating on thin ice with posts like this. Read the Community Rules linked at the bottom of the page.

 

[piccolopat]

Just be aware that in some areas of Delaware you don't own the land a house is on. Instead, the land is leased. I think this is prevalent in the beach communities but you'll find it in other areas as well. Be sure you know the situation for a specific property before you buy.

 

[Dash man]

Just be aware that in some areas of Delaware you don't own the land a house is on. Instead, the land is leased. I think this is prevalent in the beach communities but you'll find it in other areas as well. Be sure you know the situation for a specific property before you buy.

My brother in law lives in a house like that on the water. He has a pontoon boat that came with the house. The rent just had a huge increase and he’s looking to move.

 

[HGTVFanatic]

Do you know this site? https://www.topretirements.com/reviews/Delaware/New Castle/

 

[Dash man]

That’s not the way I remember Newcastle. I’d avoid the town.

 

[Katsmeow]

Just be aware that in some areas of Delaware you don't own the land a house is on. Instead, the land is leased. I think this is prevalent in the beach communities but you'll find it in other areas as well. Be sure you know the situation for a specific property before you buy.

I did know this. And, yes, I do intend to watch out for that.

That’s not the way I remember Newcastle. I’d avoid the town.

I am not intending to live in New Castle (the town). I am interested in living in that county.

 

[EastWest Gal]

A lifelong friend's mother grew up in the village of Arden, DE. It was founded as an art colony in 1900, and is still going strong. One does not purchase property there, but obtains a 99 year lease. I doubt there is much available in the village, but perhaps nearby. I also don't know if there are any newer houses in the village, but perhaps nearby.

My friend's mother had an idyllic childhood and my friend loved it when he went back there to visit with his parents.

Arden is in northern Delaware, in New Castle county.

https://arden.delaware.gov/

 

[tpkinsl]

I made this move 3 years ago - from North Jersey to the Middletown DE area. We are saving significantly on taxes and like being between relatives in NJ, NY and Washington DC. Amtrack runs hourly to all those places. Philly Airport is 45 minutes away.

For what you want, I would suggest you look south of Wilmington. There has been tons of new contruction in the last few years, and you can find a smaller and relatively new home, townhouse or carriage house. You mentioned the 55+ communities - I am in one. We enjoy it, but for diversity, look for some of the bigger ones - some have over 1,000 residences - plenty of diversity.

There are a lot of HOAs in DE, so do pay attention. Some are very strict (monitor your curtain colors), others are pretty loose.

As you have never been in DE for any time, I suggest you rent an AirBnB for 2 weeks in the area you are considering (North of Wilmington) and maybe in the Bear area, and see what you think.

I have moved 7 times in 9 years, mostly for work, and the ones that didn't work well were the ones where we picked a place remotely - we did this 3 times (it was a rushed move) and in all 3 cases moved after a year to a neighborhood we liked but didn't know about beforehand.

Finally, from Middletown, we can get to Christiana Mall (or Hospital) in 15 - 20 minutes, so not all that remote. But I will say nothing is walkable in most of DE outside of the cities - you need a car. For us, this is a drawback...

Let me know if you have specific questions

 

[Katsmeow]

I made this move 3 years ago - from North Jersey to the Middletown DE area. We are saving significantly on taxes and like being between relatives in NJ, NY and Washington DC. Amtrack runs hourly to all those places. Philly Airport is 45 minutes away.

For what you want, I would suggest you look south of Wilmington. There has been tons of new contruction in the last few years, and you can find a smaller and relatively new home, townhouse or carriage house. You mentioned the 55+ communities - I am in one. We enjoy it, but for diversity, look for some of the bigger ones - some have over 1,000 residences - plenty of diversity.

There are a lot of HOAs in DE, so do pay attention. Some are very strict (monitor your curtain colors), others are pretty loose.

As you have never been in DE for any time, I suggest you rent an AirBnB for 2 weeks in the area you are considering (North of Wilmington) and maybe in the Bear area, and see what you think.

I have moved 7 times in 9 years, mostly for work, and the ones that didn't work well were the ones where we picked a place remotely - we did this 3 times (it was a rushed move) and in all 3 cases moved after a year to a neighborhood we liked but didn't know about beforehand.

Finally, from Middletown, we can get to Christiana Mall (or Hospital) in 15 - 20 minutes, so not all that remote. But I will say nothing is walkable in most of DE outside of the cities - you need a car. For us, this is a drawback...

Thanks so much. All very valuable. We are not going to buy a place remotely because we want this to be our last move.

We had tentatively planned to go to Delaware and spend a week or so looking around the area. Go to some open houses in the areas we were interested in. That kind of thing. Then, when we were ready to move we planned to either rent an AirBnB for at least a month or even try to find a short term apartment rental. When we moved to our current area (only 250 miles from our old area), we did a corporate rental for 3 months where they supplied everything. It worked out great. We found a house after about a month and it worked out fine. I don't know if there are corporate short term rentals but I liked doing that as it actually gave us a "real" address to use in the area for insurance and other purposes.

But our situation just changed. We put our house on the market and we went under contract and close in less than 4 weeks. We have to be out of this house about 4 weeks from now.

So we have lots to do. We still would like to fly to Philly maybe on a Friday and then spend a weekend looking at open houses and the areas and then fly back. And, of course, we have to decide on temporary housing while we look around. We won't buy unless and until we find an area and house that we are confident with.

I always look at HOA stuff. I don't much like HOAs but often can't avoid them. Our current HOA is fine. Very little (mostly major exterior stuff) needs to be approved.

I am particularly interested in pet stuff. In your experience what kind of pet limits do the HOAs usually put on pets. We have 2 very indoor cats now. However, we would ideally like the option to have a third. New Castle County has no pet limits and most of the towns don't either (Newark has a 6 pet limit). However, I know many HOAs may have their own limits.

I was willing to consider a townhouse but expect most of those would have 2 pet limits (at best). I don't know if single family HOAs are better.

Middletown definitely has some attraction as it tends to have some newer houses. I have 2 main concerns. One is it south of the canal which I could see making it a pain to go place more northern. The other is my concern over whether the hospital is close enough. I saw you said it was 15 or 20 minutes. We looked on Google maps previously and it said 26 minutes the fastest route (secondary were over 30). So that might be a bit far.

 

[target2019]

There is a decided summer change in drive time. It can be awful.

It might help to record some of these map drivetime map estimates, and look at what happens Thursday through Monday coming up (Memorial Day).

 

[EastWest Gal]

I bought a house in south central PA over a weekend in 1998, moving from Silicon Valley. Trying to fax pictures to DH was awful. I decided on my own. 25 years later we couldn’t be more pleased with the decision. Trust your instincts.

 

[Katsmeow]

We are currently now scheduled to close on our house in less than 3 weeks. We have so much to do that we can't possibly visit Delaware before we leavel. So we have decided on the following process. We will drive (with our 2 cats) to Delaware after closing on the house. I have researched and located several potential corporate short term apartment rentals. They are very expensive, but are furnished with everything you need (including kitchen stuff and linens) and typically can be done for only 3 months. However, because we are not familiar with the specific areas I don't want to sign a lease without actually seeing where they are located (and ideally seeing the an apartment in the building).

So we tentatively plan to check into an extended stay hotel while we check out the short term apartments. When we do, we will hopefully sign a lease for 2 to 3 months (with options to extend). This might take 3 days or a week or so. Once we move in, we will focus on just learning the areas and seeing how we feel about it. If we like everything then a month or so after getting there we will start looking for a house to buy. All of that is subject to some change. That is, if we loved it and found the ideal house at week 3 then it might be a little earlier. If we needed more info then it might be a little earlier.

If we end up hating the area (which I doubt will happen) then we will probably look at some of the nearby states that are not tax unfriendly.

 

[Dash man]

If we end up hating the area (which I doubt will happen) then we will probably look at some of the nearby states that are not tax unfriendly.

Well, that probably leaves out New Jersey and Maryland.[emoji23]

I expect you’ll like Delaware.

 

[W2R]

I expect you’ll like Delaware.

I think you will, too, Katsmeow! I've never seen Delaware but it seems like you have done your research on it.

I really admire your adventurous attitude and positive approach to all of this. Not to mention your energy for even thinking of it! Honestly I wish you the very best moving experience possible and I'm looking forward to any updates you may post as things progress.

 

[aja8888]

Hey Kat, I'm with you here.

My house sold in two days and I have no where chosen to go yet. And I haven't started packing yet, let alone figure out what furniture to keep or what to give away. My house closes on the 21st of this month.

But I'm not going back east!

Good luck!

 

[REWahoo]

My house sold in two days and I have no where chosen to go yet. And I haven't started packing yet, let alone figure out what furniture to keep or what to give away. My house closes on the 21st of this month.

Ho boy! You really are setting yourself up for quite an adventure.

 

[Al18]

FYI if your AGI is less than $150K and you are at least 62, then NJ state income tax is actually low. For example, with $100K AGI, state income tax is only $625. SS is not taxed by NJ.

 

[aja8888]

Ho boy! You really are setting yourself up for quite an adventure.

Yeah, if I don't start making something happen by the end of this coming week, I will go into panic mode.

 

[Dash man]

FYI if your AGI is less than $150K and you are at least 62, then NJ state income tax is actually low. For example, with $100K AGI, state income tax is only $625. SS is not taxed by NJ.

But there’s this little thing called property taxes…

 

[Montecfo]

FYI if your AGI is less than $150K and you are at least 62, then NJ state income tax is actually low. For example, with $100K AGI, state income tax is only $625. SS is not taxed by NJ.

Yes. Now tell us about property tax.