Have you noticed that I cover new home communities rather extensively? That is because all of the builders and developers of new home communities, active adult, age-restricted or all-ages communities, do cooperate with real estate agents and brokers. This is not necessarily the case everywhere but it is true here in Delaware.
What does that mean to you as a prospective buyer in Delaware? It means that you may work with an agent who represents you and the builder will pay the commission at settlement. Exactly what rate of commission differs from builder to builder as is the case with resale homes. Actual commission rates are determined at the time a listing is created or when a development is introduced to the real estate community. They actively market to us and obviously encourage us to bring our buyer clients to see what they have to offer.
We always want our clients to see and be able to compare both new construction and resale homes in all of the communities that could possibly meet their wants and needs. Sometimes they think they want one thing and end up buying something totally different! There is truly something for everyone in Coastal Delaware.
Can you simply go direct to the builder and purchase a home? Yes you may. Just remember that the sales people work for the builder not you. They are employees not real estate agents and they are not subject to the Code of Ethics like we are. They have no disclosure requirements designed to protect the consumer. And, the only way they are compensated is if you buy a home in that one community.
As your buyer agent we will earn a commission regardless of whether you buy a new home or a resale home, no matter who has the listing. If it turns out that this area doesn’t work for you and you don’t buy a home? We hope you’ll tell your friends to give us a call if they are considering a move to Coastal Delaware.
One rule with new construction – the builders want you to be accompanied by your buyer agent ON YOUR FIRST VISIT to their community. Understandable, they don’t want an agent to “call ahead” and simply claim you are their client. We do more than that for our clients, we stay involved throughout the entire buying process right up to the day of settlement and beyond.
 
Thank you for reading this. I think it is important that consumers understand how the real estate business works and how to make sure that their rights are protected. Questions? Comments? Please let me know.

In a buyer’s market or a seller’s market – the best property in the best location at the best price will always sell.  Only the actual price at which the home sells is different.
When prices peaked in 2005, some buyers were priced right out of their neighborhoods of choice and had to compromise on location. New communities sprung up and for a while they outsold more established neighborhoods on the outskirts of town. Buyers were wowed by the model homes with open floor plans and gourmet kitchens and made do with the location a little further out than they hoped.
This year we’re noticing a renewed interest in the established neighborhoods closer to or right in the heart of in town. The combination of low interest rates and lower prices has helped buyers rediscover some of our favorite communities in Coastal Sussex. Would you rather buy an older home within blocks of the canal and the town restaurants and shops or a new home in a new subdivision 30 minutes away? Do you want to be East of Route 1 so you can hop on your bike and ride to the beach or out in the county on your 5 acre lot spending time on your riding mower?
There’s a segment that Barbara Corcoran does periodically on the Today Show called “What can you get for $400K – $500K (or $200K – $400K)?” She looks at a particular price range and then compares what you can get in Boise to what you can buy in Los Angeles or Boston. As you can imagine, it’s all over the place. Well if you look in Sussex County at what you can buy between $400,000 and $500,000 for example, you can find a choice of homes in Rehoboth Beach Yacht and Country Club or The Glade as well as Pilottown Village or Pilottown Park. You can find properties in that same price range in Retreat at Love Creek or perhaps Winding Creek Village or you can also go to Seaford and buy an elegant home in River’s End.
At least for now, price might not be the biggest factor when you begin your search for that dream home at the beach. Whether it’s a vacation home or a retirement home, start with your preferred location and then choose the best home you can afford. It may not be the biggest home you can buy and it might not have as much storage space, but you’ll be happier living where you want to be. When it comes to real estate, it really is all about location, location, location!

Spring is always the best time to list your home for sale in Coastal Delaware. Even in a challenging market, if a home is going to sell, spring is the selling season. They say “list your home in November, sell it in April; list it in March, sell it in April”. After a hard winter on the heels of an extended period of slow sales, there is a window of opportunity for sellers that you don’t want to miss.
What do I mean? This Spring 2010 offers buyers a unique opportunity to take advantage of very low mortgage rates, reduced home prices and tax credits that are due to expire April 30th, 2010. First time home buyers and repeat buyers who qualify for the tax credit have to find a home NOW and get it under contract; they cannot count on another extension.  Is your house the one they’re looking for? If you want to sell but it’s not on the market yet, you will miss that window.
The new President of the National Association of Realtors (NAR), Vicki Cox Golder, recently commented “There’s a shortage of lower priced homes for sale in much of the country, resulting in multiple bids in some areas,” she said. “Raw unsold inventory has been trending down. As the market heats up again this spring, buyers may need to be prepared to move quickly on a particular home — the best advice is to begin working with a Realtor® now to be able to use the tax credit and benefit from the increased buying power in the current market,” Golder said. Active buyers are looking for a home, however, not a tax credit even if that’s what got them shopping. Are they looking for your home? Is your home ready to be bought?
Still not convinced? There is pent-up demand and cash buyers have been waiting on the sidelines. They sold a home perhaps and decided to rent until markets stabilized and they felt confident about buying another home. Do you really believe that financially conservative, long-term homeowners will stay out of the market much longer? Will they be happy as renters in limbo when they see an opportunity to buy the right home in a desirable neighborhood at a reasonable price?
New Home Construction
Have you heard the sound of hammers as new home construction begins again? Builders know they have to build a few spec homes to have in inventory when the buyers are ready to buy. The financially sound builders have taken over where others left off and now they’re betting on improved sales. Will they build a few too many homes, building up inventory with which you will have to compete? I wouldn’t wait to find out that I waited too long to sell my house.
Open House
If your home is listed for sale, do your thorough spring cleaning, call in the landscaping service and ask your listing agent to schedule that Open House. Your buyer may be searching the Internet right now or driving through your neighborhood on Sunday. Are you ready?
Don’t you feel more optimistic now that spring is here than you did during the February snow and ice? So do buyers!

Every home purchase today usually involves a “Home Inspection”. Before going to settlement, it’s a good idea to make sure that the home is in good operating condition and that it will stay that way for a reasonable period of time.

As more and more Boomers enter their 60s, another type of home inspection is highly recommended. This inspection will evaluate every aspect of the home, inside and outside, to determine how well the home will accommodate your needs as long as you live there. By now, most people understand the value of a first floor master bedroom and bath and some even consider the option of total first floor living. Beyond that, most of us have no idea what belongs on our checklist.

AARP and the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) came to this realization several years ago. The Remodelers™ Council  in collaboration with the NAHB Research Center,  and AARP developed the Certified Aging-In-Place Specialist (CAPS) program to address the growing number of consumers that have a strong desire to remain independent and to live in their own homes regardless of age.

What does this have to do with the purchase of a new home? Making sure a home will be able to accommodate you in the future is up to you. A CAPS professional is trained to help you evaluate a home and make specific recommendations for improving the home’s livability. For about the same cost as that of a traditional home inspection, the CAPS evaluation will focus on areas of the home that may require modification to remain livable as you age.

New construction is popular with the relocating Boomer who doesn’t want to bother with updating an older home. Many new homes being built today, however, would not rate high on the “livability” scale. Some popular floor plans do have more open space in the main living areas, but they often fail when it comes to bathroom design, width of doorways and number of steps.

When you consider that even a new home will require some modification to age along with you, it makes sense to look at existing homes that may need some work but that are in desirable areas. For example, you might be able to buy a home that needs updating close to town. In addition to location, this option will allow you to remodel a home to your exact taste. An older home may be better built and there is little difference between ripping out and replacing an old bathroom or a new one that just doesn’t meet your needs.

Imagine that you have just purchased a new home – your dream house with expensive upgrades. Then imagine that you or your spouse has an accident that puts you in a wheelchair for the next 6 months. When you arrive home from the hospital, it hits you – you cannot get into the house. Even worse, you realize you cannot access the bathroom!

If you bought a home 40 years ago there was no such thing as a home inspection. Today, no one would think of purchasing a home without one. CAPS professionals believe that the same will be true of a CAPS Evaluation in the future. In Delaware, Bill Bell of Gotcha Covered! has been CAPS certified since 2003.

Don’t put off till tomorrow what you can plan for today. Add a CAPS Evaluation to your new home purchase checklist. To learn more about what a CAPS Professional can do for you and to locate one in your area, visit this page of the National Association of Home Builders web site.  

Front page of the Sunday News Journal featured an article by Eric Ruth on Housing market gains in Delaware. Some of the statistics are still tentative but one fact is clear – Delaware weathered the housing turmoil better than many other parts of the country. Prices have begun to inch up again and builders are pulling permits. Sales of all homes – existing and new are up 34% in Sussex County, the southernmost part of Delaware.

“The coastal Sussex County market is still driven by retirees,” as Ruth quoted Chris Schell, president of Schell Brothers. “Even if it’s not a retirement community or an active adult community, you’re still selling almost all your homes to retirees. That was not true in the housing boom – it was mostly investors and second-home buyers.”

Read the full article!

In a companion article, Wade Malcolm reports that the recovery of lost home equity will take many years for those who bought at the peak. Again, Delawareans are doing better than the national statistics. Only 14.3% of Delawareans have negative equity vs. the Nationwide rate of 23.8% .

Baby Boomers are one hot media topic these days. In one publication you read that we Boomers are different than our parents’ generation – and then another story concludes we may approach things differently but, in the end, we are about the same.

But some facts are indisputable. We are all living longer and our parents are likely, at some point, to need our help. Let’s assume that our children have been educated, are gainfully employed, and can pay their own expenses. Now let’s focus on the “Open-Faced Sandwich” scenario in which we, as Boomers, have only to worry about caring for a parent or other older relative.

For Boomers who have grown up here with parents living nearby, the first step is to have a plan. While everyone is in good health, have your parents talk about their plans for the future and how they would like to live as they age. Some options to consider include:

1. CCRC – Are your parents interested in moving into a Continuing Care Retirement Community (CCRC)? There are now several to choose from in our area. A CCRC is defined as “a residential community for the remainder of one’s life, with a choice of services and living situations. Residents can move between Independent Living, Assisted Living, and Nursing Home Care based on changing needs at each point in time”.  Cadbury at Lewes is a local CCRC.
2. Stay where they are – Are they determined to remain independent in their own home? If yes, can that home age well with them and be accessible if one or both parents become temporarily or permanently impaired? Now is the time to begin planning and making some modifications so that at least one entrance will be barrier free and one bedroom and one bathroom are on the first floor. Sometimes fairly simple modifications will allow your parents to “Age in Place”.
3. Move in with you – At some point, will one or both parents be moving into your home? How will that affect your life and that of the rest of your family? Do you have the room or will you have to consider buying a new home with multiple living areas?
4. In-law Suite or Granny Flat – At least in Sussex County, there are very few homes that include a totally separate suite and even fewer that are zoned properly to allow a Granny Flat to be built. Ellendale is one town that does allow the construction of an accessory dwelling on your property as long as you live in either the primary residence or the Granny Flat. Maybe it’s time for more cities and towns to add this provision just as many other parts of the country already have.

If your parents live thousands of miles away, all of the choices above become even more challenging. You may be perfectly willing to care for your aging parents but you’re not willing to move to do so. Maybe you just retired and finally moved to your dream home at the beach or into that new Active Adult Community. What will you do if your parents refuse to move closer to you? Thinking and talking about these issues with aging parents before decisions become urgent can save everyone a lot of unhappiness over the long haul.

Boomers will live long past the historic retirement age and so will our parents. The question is how will we live and take care of those who took care of us.