Katsmeow
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2009
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- 5,321
So last year I posted about moving from Texas to Delaware
Moving to Delaware?
We arrived in Delaware June 25 of last year so we have gone through a full year.
Moving here was a huge leap for us. We knew no one in Delaware. We had never been to Delaware except maybe driving through on I-95 once or twice 20 years or so go. I had never lived anywhere but Texas. DH's father was in the Navy so he had lived other places before his dad retired, but he had been in Texas since he was about 13.
We did do a lot of research before deciding. We had 3 decisions we had to make. The first was whether to sell our house in Texas. We liked it but it had a lot of unused space and was expensive to maintain. The next decision was whether to move within Texas. For many reasons, we decided not to stay in Texas.. The most difficult decision was where to go. We considered lots of places. Most were in a more westernly direction. We even traveled to Las Vegas and for a time very seriously intended to move there. But, then we became concerned about limited healthcare options in Nevada and decided to cross it off the list. I had considered Delaware briefly before that and decided to look at it more seriously. We also seriously considered Pennsylvania but ultimately Delaware won out.
We had hoped to visit Delaware before moving here but we went under contract and closed before we could do that. So we drove here having sold our house with no idea what we would do. We rented a house on a 3 month rental and by the time that rental was up we had found a house here and closed on it. Had we truly hated it here, we could have made a change during that time before buying.
So how has it held up against our criteria? Honestly pretty good. There are a couple of negatives but far more positives.
Cost of Living - Far less expensive in Delaware. In Texas we paid about $6500 in property tax (with an over 65 exemption) and right before we left our home insurance had increased to almost $6000 a year (with us never having had a claim before that). We bought a house in Delaware close in price to what we had in Texas. Our property tax is about $2400 and home insurance is just under $1200. Utilities are also less. Delaware has no sales tax which is a huge thing. Yes, Delaware has a state income tax. But, due to SS not being taxed and other exemptions we have so far not needed to pay it. Even if there is a year or two where we have to pay it will be far less than property tax and sales tax are in Texas. Our overall expenses are just much less here.
Weather - So much better here. Obviously summers are far milder. People here do get panicked when the temperature goes over 90. I don't even really notice that. People complain about humidity here but it s nothing compared to Texas. And, most of the time here it doesn't go over 90. I was a bit apprehensive about winter since I haven't lived in a cold area and I don't like cold weather or snow. This winter was actually relatively bad with having 2 times that it snowed for a few days. One of the time, a tree on the neighbor's property fell (high wind) and knocked down a power line and we were without power for 4 days. That was bad but it was not typical. Otherwise, the winter was fine.
House and neighborhoods - We ended up in norther New Castle County (for those familiar we are in the Pike Creek area) in an unincorporated area sort of in between Wilmington and Newark. I must admit that in the past year I have actually been in Wilmington city limits one time (except for driving through a couple of times). We just don't go that direction often. We sometimes go to Pa to eat out. Depending on where we go it is 45 minutes to an hour which is fine. But, we have lots of amenities near by. The main hospital is 15 minutes from our house which was an important criteria for us. We ended up with a split level house that was built in the 60s. I usually like newer houses but this house has had a lot remodeling over the years and has worked out very well for us. We are very happy with it.
Travel - One reason we picked Delaware was because of its central locations and being able to go to short trips to lots of places and having the ability to travel to them by train. Honestly -- we haven't done any of that yet. It is on our list but getting settled into this house and doing some work on it just has kept us busy. We've driven to Pa (mostly to the King of Prussia mall) and once to Lancaster and drove to Rehoboth once...but still have lots we want to do. I think it will all be fine though.
The People - We want to meet people but just haven't gotten into activities yet for the same reason we haven't travelled. We want to get back into playing in person bridge and there is a club not far from us and another larger one in King of Prussia. I will say that most of the people we've dealt with have been friendly and easy to get along with. Many of the people we left behind in Texas expressed the viewpoint that people "up north" aren't friendly and are rude. But that hasn't been our experience.
So all of the above is great. What isn't great? I would say 2 things have been more negative than I expected although I did expect most of the this. These things are still far outweighed by the above.
Healthcare - having access to good healthcare was very important to us. We are both getting older and so this is important. Last year I had a high calcium score and found out I have blockages in my coronary arteries. They weren't bad enough to stent but I realized my biggest risk was having a heart attack. So I wanted to be close to a good hospital and also wanted to have really advanced care available in the event of any unusual event whether heart related or something else. We eliminated Las Vegas from consideration because its hospitals are not great and, even more importantly, if you need more advanced care you have to go to Phoenix or California. I wanted to have everything within at least an hour or hour and a half away.
So, mostly it has been fine in Delaware. Since we knew no one here and wanted to easily find specialists we elected to go with an MDVIP concierge PCP. Overall that has worked out very well. We like the PCP and he has referred us to people and that is all fine. The main hospital in Delaware is 15 minutes from our house so for almost anything that happens they are close. If some really advanced care was needed that couldn't be done here, well, we aren't that far from Penn.
The big issue is that there aren't enough doctors in Delaware. At one point I was referred to a specialist and was offered an appointment in 6 months. Another time it was going to be 4 months. Now, because I have the PCP, he was able to find someone else sooner (although in one case it still took 3 months). But it is just an issue. I really would prefer not to have to pay for a concierge doctor but it really seems necessary here. Many people here drive to Pa and see specialists from Penn or do their primary care through Penn Medicine. But, I would prefer not to have to drive 45 minutes for everything. So far, it has all worked out OK just more difficult than I am used in Texas.
Fewer choices for vendors, contractors, insurers, etc. - I knew when I moved here that Delaware itself was a small state without a lot of people. But, I also knew it was in the Philadelphia metro area. I had lived in both the DFW and Houston metro areas which are only a little busier so I really expected the overall area to have similar levels of choices. That....really isn't true. For many things, I do have to drive to Pa (or Md or NJ). Mostly, it is for restaurants that don't exist in Delaware. I sort of expected that and that is OK.
The bigger issue is that some larger companies just don't do business in Delaware. My auto/home insurer in Texas doesn't do business in Delaware. We found another company but I had fewer choices. Many contractors and vendors in Delaware do work in Pa or Md but it doesn't always work the other way. We still have choices but not as many. We want to convert a tub in our house to a tiled shower and finding someone has been very difficult (still looking...).
So, while we are in the Philadelphia metro area it often doesn't seem like it.
Takes a long time to get places - This one is the one I didn't really understand before we got here. It has its good part and bad part to it. There are not many freeways in Delaware. Also to get from Delaware to the Philadelphia suburbs takes a long time since you are mostly not on freeways. I went somewhere the other day that was 30 miles away. It took an hour to get there. Why? Lots of twisty turning roads where you couldn't drive very fast. One issue is that in northern Delaware and in Pennsylvania nearby, there are lots of farms and estates and the roads seem to go around those properties. In Texas, they would just put a road through that goes straight, but not so much here. When we first got here I would see that some place was 30 miles away and think we could be there in 30 minutes. No, it doesn't work that way. At least an hour.
Now, most of the time this is actually not bad. I hardly ever have to drive on a freeway. I can drive on them but it is far less stressful not to have to most of the time. So for most of the time I like that I don't have to go on 3 freeways to get somewhere. So, day to day, this is all fine. But, when I do want to go outside Delaware to a store we don't have here it does seem to just take forever when it looks so close on a map....
Still - we are very happy with the move. At no point have we regretted leaving Texas (we remain ecstatic about that part) and we are glad we picked Delaware.
Moving to Delaware?
We arrived in Delaware June 25 of last year so we have gone through a full year.
Moving here was a huge leap for us. We knew no one in Delaware. We had never been to Delaware except maybe driving through on I-95 once or twice 20 years or so go. I had never lived anywhere but Texas. DH's father was in the Navy so he had lived other places before his dad retired, but he had been in Texas since he was about 13.
We did do a lot of research before deciding. We had 3 decisions we had to make. The first was whether to sell our house in Texas. We liked it but it had a lot of unused space and was expensive to maintain. The next decision was whether to move within Texas. For many reasons, we decided not to stay in Texas.. The most difficult decision was where to go. We considered lots of places. Most were in a more westernly direction. We even traveled to Las Vegas and for a time very seriously intended to move there. But, then we became concerned about limited healthcare options in Nevada and decided to cross it off the list. I had considered Delaware briefly before that and decided to look at it more seriously. We also seriously considered Pennsylvania but ultimately Delaware won out.
We had hoped to visit Delaware before moving here but we went under contract and closed before we could do that. So we drove here having sold our house with no idea what we would do. We rented a house on a 3 month rental and by the time that rental was up we had found a house here and closed on it. Had we truly hated it here, we could have made a change during that time before buying.
So how has it held up against our criteria? Honestly pretty good. There are a couple of negatives but far more positives.
Cost of Living - Far less expensive in Delaware. In Texas we paid about $6500 in property tax (with an over 65 exemption) and right before we left our home insurance had increased to almost $6000 a year (with us never having had a claim before that). We bought a house in Delaware close in price to what we had in Texas. Our property tax is about $2400 and home insurance is just under $1200. Utilities are also less. Delaware has no sales tax which is a huge thing. Yes, Delaware has a state income tax. But, due to SS not being taxed and other exemptions we have so far not needed to pay it. Even if there is a year or two where we have to pay it will be far less than property tax and sales tax are in Texas. Our overall expenses are just much less here.
Weather - So much better here. Obviously summers are far milder. People here do get panicked when the temperature goes over 90. I don't even really notice that. People complain about humidity here but it s nothing compared to Texas. And, most of the time here it doesn't go over 90. I was a bit apprehensive about winter since I haven't lived in a cold area and I don't like cold weather or snow. This winter was actually relatively bad with having 2 times that it snowed for a few days. One of the time, a tree on the neighbor's property fell (high wind) and knocked down a power line and we were without power for 4 days. That was bad but it was not typical. Otherwise, the winter was fine.
House and neighborhoods - We ended up in norther New Castle County (for those familiar we are in the Pike Creek area) in an unincorporated area sort of in between Wilmington and Newark. I must admit that in the past year I have actually been in Wilmington city limits one time (except for driving through a couple of times). We just don't go that direction often. We sometimes go to Pa to eat out. Depending on where we go it is 45 minutes to an hour which is fine. But, we have lots of amenities near by. The main hospital is 15 minutes from our house which was an important criteria for us. We ended up with a split level house that was built in the 60s. I usually like newer houses but this house has had a lot remodeling over the years and has worked out very well for us. We are very happy with it.
Travel - One reason we picked Delaware was because of its central locations and being able to go to short trips to lots of places and having the ability to travel to them by train. Honestly -- we haven't done any of that yet. It is on our list but getting settled into this house and doing some work on it just has kept us busy. We've driven to Pa (mostly to the King of Prussia mall) and once to Lancaster and drove to Rehoboth once...but still have lots we want to do. I think it will all be fine though.
The People - We want to meet people but just haven't gotten into activities yet for the same reason we haven't travelled. We want to get back into playing in person bridge and there is a club not far from us and another larger one in King of Prussia. I will say that most of the people we've dealt with have been friendly and easy to get along with. Many of the people we left behind in Texas expressed the viewpoint that people "up north" aren't friendly and are rude. But that hasn't been our experience.
So all of the above is great. What isn't great? I would say 2 things have been more negative than I expected although I did expect most of the this. These things are still far outweighed by the above.
Healthcare - having access to good healthcare was very important to us. We are both getting older and so this is important. Last year I had a high calcium score and found out I have blockages in my coronary arteries. They weren't bad enough to stent but I realized my biggest risk was having a heart attack. So I wanted to be close to a good hospital and also wanted to have really advanced care available in the event of any unusual event whether heart related or something else. We eliminated Las Vegas from consideration because its hospitals are not great and, even more importantly, if you need more advanced care you have to go to Phoenix or California. I wanted to have everything within at least an hour or hour and a half away.
So, mostly it has been fine in Delaware. Since we knew no one here and wanted to easily find specialists we elected to go with an MDVIP concierge PCP. Overall that has worked out very well. We like the PCP and he has referred us to people and that is all fine. The main hospital in Delaware is 15 minutes from our house so for almost anything that happens they are close. If some really advanced care was needed that couldn't be done here, well, we aren't that far from Penn.
The big issue is that there aren't enough doctors in Delaware. At one point I was referred to a specialist and was offered an appointment in 6 months. Another time it was going to be 4 months. Now, because I have the PCP, he was able to find someone else sooner (although in one case it still took 3 months). But it is just an issue. I really would prefer not to have to pay for a concierge doctor but it really seems necessary here. Many people here drive to Pa and see specialists from Penn or do their primary care through Penn Medicine. But, I would prefer not to have to drive 45 minutes for everything. So far, it has all worked out OK just more difficult than I am used in Texas.
Fewer choices for vendors, contractors, insurers, etc. - I knew when I moved here that Delaware itself was a small state without a lot of people. But, I also knew it was in the Philadelphia metro area. I had lived in both the DFW and Houston metro areas which are only a little busier so I really expected the overall area to have similar levels of choices. That....really isn't true. For many things, I do have to drive to Pa (or Md or NJ). Mostly, it is for restaurants that don't exist in Delaware. I sort of expected that and that is OK.
The bigger issue is that some larger companies just don't do business in Delaware. My auto/home insurer in Texas doesn't do business in Delaware. We found another company but I had fewer choices. Many contractors and vendors in Delaware do work in Pa or Md but it doesn't always work the other way. We still have choices but not as many. We want to convert a tub in our house to a tiled shower and finding someone has been very difficult (still looking...).
So, while we are in the Philadelphia metro area it often doesn't seem like it.
Takes a long time to get places - This one is the one I didn't really understand before we got here. It has its good part and bad part to it. There are not many freeways in Delaware. Also to get from Delaware to the Philadelphia suburbs takes a long time since you are mostly not on freeways. I went somewhere the other day that was 30 miles away. It took an hour to get there. Why? Lots of twisty turning roads where you couldn't drive very fast. One issue is that in northern Delaware and in Pennsylvania nearby, there are lots of farms and estates and the roads seem to go around those properties. In Texas, they would just put a road through that goes straight, but not so much here. When we first got here I would see that some place was 30 miles away and think we could be there in 30 minutes. No, it doesn't work that way. At least an hour.
Now, most of the time this is actually not bad. I hardly ever have to drive on a freeway. I can drive on them but it is far less stressful not to have to most of the time. So for most of the time I like that I don't have to go on 3 freeways to get somewhere. So, day to day, this is all fine. But, when I do want to go outside Delaware to a store we don't have here it does seem to just take forever when it looks so close on a map....
Still - we are very happy with the move. At no point have we regretted leaving Texas (we remain ecstatic about that part) and we are glad we picked Delaware.
