If you have a property for sale right now in Coastal Delaware, your stiffest competition is all the new construction, the housing of choice for buyers coming to Sussex County today.

Why is new construction such tough competition? It’s not just the designs and long list of upgrades and options. If you have a home for sale with no basement, no garage and no first floor Master Suite, you are competing with similarly priced new homes that do offer full basements, large garages, elegant master baths, and pricing incentives or perhaps no mortgage payments for the first year.

The new buyer coming to Sussex County is likely to be a couple over 50 from New Jersey who never considered Delaware until the latest tax hike. Many have never vacationed here and have no family or friends that live here. They are attracted by low taxes and cost of living, our central location in the heart of the Mid-Atlantic Region and lots of new housing options at relatively reasonable prices. Proximity to the beach is important but not to the same degree as historical buyers who have been coming here for years.

One of the most compelling reasons buyers may want a new home in a new community came from a couple that had relocated many times in their careers. They found that moving to an existing neighborhood always made them feel like outsiders. When they moved to a new community, however, they found that everyone was in the same boat. Everyone was new and it was easier to find common ground and make friends quickly. That made so much sense to me because I was moved many times during my previous career and I remember that feeling.

So, how do you sell your home in this Buyer’s Market? You have to look critically at your home and your neighborhood through Buyer’s eyes.  Would you buy your home today? Have you gone to look at the competition? How does your home compare to new homes in the same price range? Do you need to update or remodel your kitchen or bath? Does it make sense to add a first floor master suite or sunroom?

Find a good contractor and ask for advice. Get a copy of the 2009 Cost vs. Value Report published annually by Remodeling Magazine. You might not recoup the full cost of a remodeling project but it might just sell your home.

You may not need a contractor but you will need to prepare your home for sale and make it more attractive to a buyer’s eye. If you need help, ask your Realtor to refer you to a local professional home stager and give those new homes some real competition.

Mark your calendars! On Saturday, March 27th, Teller Wines will have their 7th Annual Wine Expo & Benefit at the Lewes Yacht Club from 1 to 4pm. This is a great event with over 100 top-knotch wines to taste and really great gourmet food (appetizers and small bites). This year, a portion of the proceeds from the event will benefit the Historic Lewes Farmers Market. Tickets are $60, and they sell out quickly.  For tickets, call 302-644-7400 or pick them up at Teller Wines, 1201A Savannah Rd. in Lewes.

This year the HLFM will be offering three fabulous silent auction items at this event that are so special that you will want to get a ticket just to be able to bid on them!

As you plan for retirement or semi-retirement, what’s your next move? Will it be within the same town or will you move to another state or country? Will your home be in town or in a community? Will you live in a house or in a condo? There are so many choices!

Some of the choices depend on where you live or where you want to live, and some reflect the current trends in marketing to this growing population. What’s the difference between an “Active Adult Community” and a “55 and Better Community” or an “Age Qualified Adult Community”? What happened to Retirement Communities? When should you consider a Continuing Care Retirement Community (CCRC)?

Several years ago we visited two different Active Adult Communities in Florida, one with other members of the Seniors Real Estate Advisory Committee and one to visit friends and play a little golf. It was a tough assignment, but someone has to do it! We drove and drove, and twenty miles South of Disney World we finally came to an oasis, a relatively new Active Adult Community with golf, fitness, classes and a hometown atmosphere. Lifestyle is the buzzword to describe living in an Active Adult Retirement Community and they were then selling homes as quickly as they could build them.

My husband and I visited friends for several days at a much larger, more mature community about an hour North of Disney World that was expected to become home to at least 100,000 residents. Golf is the game with a wide variety of Executive Courses that residents can play for free at any time, and several excellent championship courses that are available to residents for a nominal charge.

When we toured the model homes at both communities, however, we were surprised to find that none of the homes included the Universal Design features we had expected to see. The doorways were still a narrow 30” or 32”. Bathrooms were still being designed with narrow shower entrances and curbs.

We had truly expected to see some great ideas we could bring home, some innovative designs and concepts in housing designed for the aging population. Just because a home is single level does not make it truly accessible. As Active Adults become less agile, many will have to engage in substantial home modification or be prepared to sell to the next generation of retired golfers and tennis players.

Developers of these Active Adult Communities pointed to extensive research indicating they are providing what the market is demanding. But did they ask the right questions and offer the right choices? Did they ask prospective buyers if they would like a house they could live in as long as they so desired? Ask most Baby Boomers if they ever plan to move into Assisted Living and hear the resounding “No!”

Active Adult Communities are really being designed for Active Adults only. If you are the kind of person who wants to move at retirement and stay in that home forever, is this your best choice? All over the country, developers are building new Active Adult Communities targeted to the current wave of retirees – the Baby Boomers! In Delaware we’ll never see communities the size of The Villages, but we are starting to see a variety of housing options all designed for the leading edge of Boomers who are already over 60!

When you are ready to begin evaluating your options and planning your next move, start by visiting www.seniorsrealestate.com to locate a Seniors Real Estate Specialist.

It’s always nice to get a compliment and it feels great to be recognized by your own industry for the work that you do. Recently, ActiveAdultsDelaware was recognized for outstanding niche marketing in the real estate industry! We spent much of the past year revising this blog site and providing information for our target market – Baby Boomers who live in Delaware or wish they did. Read the comments at Agent Applause. Both Bill and I are Baby Boomers and we decided that it made sense to focus on working with people we understood and could relate to. It makes business enjoyable for us and, we hope, for our clients as well.

For people living in the area between Southern New Jersey and Washington DC, a popular weekend and retirement destination lies near the Delaware shore. A three-hour drive from both Philadelphia and Washington DC, the Rehoboth Beach area has been a magnet for retirees over the past several years and Delaware expects the 65+ population to increase by 75 percent over the next 25 years. Read more at CNBC.com

It’s not just Rehoboth Beach, but all of Coastal Delaware that is becoming one of the top places for Boomers to retire.

CNBC will premiere a 2 hour documentary, “TOM BROKAW REPORTS: BOOMER$!” on Thursday, March 4th at 9pm. The show will repeat at 12 midnight.

“TOM BROKAW REPORTS: BOOMER$!”

In a landmark two-hour documentary, Tom Brokaw tells the story of history’s wealthiest and most influential generation. From hula hoops to civil rights, in war and politics, Brokaw chronicles the extraordinary impact 78 million baby boomers have had on American society over the past six decades, and explores the challenges they face as they begin to approach the age of retirement.

The documentary will also air on the following dates:

Saturday, March 6th at 7pm

Sunday, March 7th at 9pm

Monday, March 8th at 8pm

When I opened this email, it made my day!
“Hello”, it began, ”I have a tattered article from Time Magazine  that features you and talks about your SRES designation. When it appeared in 2006 it made me ponder a career in real estate with a service aspect I felt was needed (I was, and still am, dealing with aging parents and neighbors on a daily basis.) I quit my corporate job and obtained my real estate license in July 2009…today I rediscovered your article. I was wondering if the SRES designation is still serving you well and if you feel it would be beneficial to someone just getting started in the industry? Any thoughts you could offer would be most welcome.”

Sincerely, Claire-Anne Aikman, Indianapolis, IN

“Yes Claire”, I responded,” the SRES (Seniors Real Estate Specialist) designation has been very helpful and you sound to me like the perfect candidate!” I encouraged her to focus her real estate practice on the 55+ client and to please stay in touch. I did a search and found that this article is still available online – Special Agents – TIME.

Governor Markell Gives State of the State Address:  Governor Markell delivered the State of the State address on Thursday in the House Chamber.  He quoted Thomas Paine, “These are the times … that try men’s souls” and stated that his focus is on creating more and better jobs and building a stronger economy.  He said that his plan will encourage economic growth, demand a leaner more efficient government and provide Delaware’s children with a world-class education.  Of particular note to the real estate and development industry, he mentioned consolidating the county row offices of Recorder of Deeds into State government and provide bond bill funding for the Housing Development Fund.  Look for Governor Markell’s FY 2011 budget to be unveiled next Thursday.

January 19, 2010, the new  Sussex County Profile 2010 was unveiled at a luncheon at The Brick Hotel in Georgetown, Delaware. Representatives from the Chambers of Commerce from Lewes, Milton, Georgetown, Seaford and many others joined with the Sussex County Council members and business leaders to network and celebrate the progress business is making in the county. The cover photo says it all!

I was pleased to be invited as a member of the board of the Milton Chamber of Commerce.

When I first heard that the home buyer tax credit had not only been extended but expanded to move-up home buyers, I was excited. Here in Coastal Sussex, first time home buyers are not our largest buyer group. My Realtor friends up in Newark and Wilmington have had quite a year end selling homes to first time buyers who were getting all the good breaks. But the majority of our buyers in Lewes or Rehoboth and surrounding areas, the repeat home buyer, had been ignored.
Now, for a brief time, the Repeat Home Buyer Tax Credit offers one more reason to think about buying that new home now. The criteria are fairly narrow, but if you qualify the amount of the tax credit could refund most of your closing costs. The Worker, Homeownership, and Business Assistance Act of 2009 established a tax credit of 10% of the home’s purchase price up to a maximum of $6,500 for qualified move-up/repeat home buyers (existing home owners) purchasing a principal residence after November 6, 2009 and on or before April 30, 2010. When it was first introduced, we all assumed the language meant that you had to “move up” to a more expensive home in order to qualify for the tax credit as a repeat buyer but that was later corrected.
So, who does qualify and what are the deadlines?
Bill and I are in the process of purchasing a new home so I eagerly searched for the specific requirements. Unfortunately, we do not qualify for the tax credit since we only lived in our previous primary residence for about 4 years! A move-up home buyer is anyone who has owned and lived in the same home for at least 5 consecutive years out of the previous 8 years prior to the purchase date. For married couples, this applies to both the home buyer and his/her spouse.
Before we get to the additional qualifications, let’s focus on the timing issue. If you are an active buyer looking at homes now, you would have to be moved into your new home prior to April 30, 2010. Realistically that means you should be under contract no later than March 1, 2010. If you have a home to sell, it had better be on the market now with high hopes of getting it sold over the winter. I’m poring over the details and see nothing prohibiting a Contingent Contract on the house you want to purchase, but in order to proceed to settlement in the allowable time frame, you’d have to be able to remove the contingency and settle by April 30, 2010. What if your existing home does not sell but you are in a position to settle and move into your new primary residence anyway? That’s a question for your accountant.
If the home you are buying is new construction, the law does allow for occupancy no later than June 30, 2010, as long as there is a binding sales contract in full force by April 30, 2010. It sounds to me like you have to actually go to settlement no later than April 30, 2010, even if the home is not going to be ready for occupancy until June 30, 2010. Another question for your accountant.
OK, so you have owned your last home for 5 of the previous 8 years and you are actively looking for your next home, what are the other criteria to determine if you are eligible for the $6,500 tax credit?
Income Limits – A single taxpayer can earn up to $125,000; the limit is $225,000 for married taxpayers filing a joint return. The tax credit amount is reduced for buyers with modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) above those limits and goes away at $145,000 (single) and $245,000 (married). I’m not going to get into how MAGI is calculated; if it affects you, you know all about it I’m sure.
What kind of homes qualify? – Any home that will be your primary residence qualifies as long as the purchase price does not exceed $800,000. That includes a manufactured home on leased land selling for $65,000 all the way up to an $800,000 historic home in Lewes.  In both of these cases, the buyer would qualify for the full $6,500 tax credit (10% of the purchase price; maximum $6,500 tax credit). Second homes and vacation homes do not qualify.
“Refundable” tax credit – This means that the home buyer credit can be claimed even if the taxpayer has little or no federal income tax liability to offset. It is possible to get the full $6,500 tax credit even if you owe no federal tax at all. Again – the accountant to be sure.
More Good News – The tax credit you receive does not have to be claimed as income on your next year’s tax return. This is essentially free money! And, you can actually claim the tax credit against the previous years’ income or the current year. So if you make the purchase and go to settlement in 2009, you can choose to claim the credit against 2009 or 2008, whichever is more favorable to you and gets you the largest tax credit. If your purchase occurs in 2010, you can choose to apply the tax credit to either 2010 or 2009.
One group of buyers that could be helped by this tax credit is the recent retiree. Think about it. This person is very likely to have lived in their last primary residence for 5 of the past 8 years. They may also have decided to sell the large family home and downsize to something more manageable for their future. If they’re lucky, they already did sell and are now looking for their retirement home. As recent retirees, their income may now be within the income limits where before they might not have qualified. Add this tax credit to today’s extremely low interest rates and the lowest home prices in a decade and this is a great opportunity to buy a home now.
As with any government sponsored program, the Move-Up/Repeat Home Buyer Tax Credit program takes some thought and might require a few calls to your accountant, but isn’t it worth it for a $6,500 tax credit?