We’re considering Delaware too as we’ve spent time over the years vacationing in Rehoboth. Great town with very good restaurants and really nice (and free!!) beaches.
As you said it makes sense financially and you’re still very close to NJ.
OT: Real Estate Question - Toms River/Brick and area
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As you said it makes sense financially and you’re still very close to NJ.
Yeah, we are more beach and water centric. Different strokes. If you have not lived in a development run by a HOA, be sure to read all the documents closely and think twice. HOA fees can be higher than taxes, and if you get a bunch of angry old and nosey cretins in charge, look out. Been in two HOAs, never again.
We looked a lot at Delaware and its very nice. The shore is at least a 3 hour ride and more during the summer and weekends keep that in mind. Lewes and Rehoboth is very crowded beach is very small water right up to the boardwalk at times. Another thing to consider is that healthcare at the shore is just OK. a Major hospital cancer center is 2 hours away. Airport is 2 hours as well and no rail service either. That's some of the reasons home prices are lower.
You do get a lot of house for you $$$ and taxes are very low. That has to change as the population explodes as infrastructure /roads will need to be built so think about that. There's developments going up everywhere some are shoddy construction and some are very nice.
All in all there's a lot of value , but we decided it was a no as we expect a wedding and grand-kids within a year or so and we didn't want to be 3 hours away.
One last thing take a look at Bethany and Ocean View. A lot less crowded more house for your money and better beaches.
Good Luck
I like the Ocean- but more being on it or a canal rather than the beaches. My wife grew up with a beach as her yard and she has no desire to ever sit on one. So, a beach town is not required.
Are you saying it takes 3 hours from your current home to get to a DE beach? It only takes me 3.5 hours to get from Franklin lakes to the most southern parts of Delaware.
If we do move there- were are thinking that we would try to stay within 30 minutes of the Delaware Bridge. Keeps us close enough to our Granddaughter.
Rehoboth is 2 hrs 45 minutes from Monmouth county, even in the summer. I made that drive many times. Leave early enough and you can avoid traffic.
And just some random houses quickly picked off of Zillow, would rather be in Monmouth or Ocean County with taxes under $10K than what I see in Delaware.
2 Topsail Road, Brick, NJ 08723 | MLS #22421423 | Zillow
This is a 3 bedroom, 3 bathroom, Single Family home. It is located at 2 Topsail Road, Brick, NJ.www.zillow.com
208 Mako Court, Brick, NJ 08724 | MLS #22431309 | Zillow
This 2434 square feet Single Family home has 4 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms. It is located at 208 Mako Court, Brick, NJ.
I actually kind of like those lol. But you couldn't really walk to beach. The pool at Mako is a nice sub, and if his family is in North Jersey or the city, it looks like an easy Uber to the Bay Head train.
As a big traveler the lack of intl airport in or near DE is a big no go for me.
I guess if it's so cheap you can afford a home there and maybe a small condo in NJ near EWR and NYC, I could see it.
Depending on what part of DE- Phil airport and Balt/DC airport are only about an hour away. Currently takes me that long to get to EWR and much longer for me to get to JFK or LGR
People love to hate on NJ and Delaware gets a free pass because it’s such a tiny state and such an afterthought.
I don’t really see the attraction other than it being cheap. And Delaware won’t stay as cheap for long.
There is no infrastructure and they are building houses everywhere. My good friend bought a new construction in Middletown about 8 years ago and I couldn’t believe the amount of houses that were going up.
I don’t really see the attraction other than it being cheap. And Delaware won’t stay as cheap for long.
There is no infrastructure and they are building houses everywhere. My good friend bought a new construction in Middletown about 8 years ago and I couldn’t believe the amount of houses that were going up.
Lived in far Western NY, and before moving, was excited because it was cheap.
Lived in Cincinnati area, including Indiana, and before moving, was excited because it was cheap.
Lived in North Carolina, and before moving, was excited because it was cheap.
We did not last more than 2.5 years in any of those places, because they were boring, had crappy pizza, subs and food, and we found ourselves driving back to Jersey because we missed all that it had to offer.
Everyplace has pluses and minuses
Need to weigh what’s most important
NJ, for all its faults, is a desirable place to live
Great schools, 4 seasons, awesome restaurants, beach & mountains, Rutgers sports, diverse people
You’ll be giving up at least a few of these attributes when you move - there’s no way getting around it
Need to weigh what’s most important
NJ, for all its faults, is a desirable place to live
Great schools, 4 seasons, awesome restaurants, beach & mountains, Rutgers sports, diverse people
You’ll be giving up at least a few of these attributes when you move - there’s no way getting around it
100%.
Funny you mention pizza. My buddy who bought in Middletown Delaware would host our fantasy football draft every year.
We ordered pizza and wings every year. The local pizza was similar to dominoes pizza and the wings sucked. He promised us this was the best place around.
This is an area that’s sprawling and less than an hour from Philly and even the pizza sucked.
The geography of NJ is as perfect as it gets. Checks almost every box. Just need Trenton to stop f'ing things up.
I spoke to a handful of people recently who discussed buying a beach house in Delaware because the NJ Shore towns they like are too expensive. But the Delaware beach towns are also expensive.
Also, I interviewed a person last year (remote role) who moved from NJ to Delaware (south Delaware toward the Maryland border) to retire early. She was in her upper 50s. She told me she wants to work again because she's bored. Nothing to do there.
Delaware does have its perks. Each person needs to decided what’s important to them. Many people make decisions based on $$$ but once they are there they find out $$$ isn’t the top priority.
Also, I interviewed a person last year (remote role) who moved from NJ to Delaware (south Delaware toward the Maryland border) to retire early. She was in her upper 50s. She told me she wants to work again because she's bored. Nothing to do there.
Delaware does have its perks. Each person needs to decided what’s important to them. Many people make decisions based on $$$ but once they are there they find out $$$ isn’t the top priority.
I think many have an underlying fear that their retirement savings won’t cover their lifespan and may not afford them the lifestyle they want so they become more conservative than they might need to be.
It’s a tough balance to strike. Personally, we are likely to stay in NJ and bite the financial bullet so to speak.
We never got cheese steaks but I’m sure they would have sucked also.
I’m sure decent places will slowly open up but at the time (4-8 years ago) the options for food and takeout were garbage down there.
Middletown is the fastest growing area of Delaware I believe. They had built a couple thousand houses where my buddy lived.
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Using Google Map, you can see 4-5 large subdivision developments making up a huge portion of the town. Very interesting zoning/planning decisions.
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I still also have an Upstate NY and a NJ bias.
Not buying that western NY or northern Delaware pizza and subs suck.
We had pizza in Middletown before heading home on Sunday. Realtor brought us to a small pizzeria in a strip mall. I would not be able to tell you that there was any difference than NJ.
The difference in cost- that is huge. Living here in NJ- I had a 5 Br5.5 bath home on an acre- pool and beautiful 1 acre property-
While we still traveled into the city for brunches…our life really centered around our back yard and traveling the world. We stepped onto a NJ beach exactly once in 20 years.
But traveled the world and created a backyard wonderland that friends called vacation.
If I can do the same in DE, and save 10-15k a year in property taxes, no state income tax , much lower home prices- over the next 10 years before retirement- that is 500k+ in cash for my retirement and fun.
Not buying that western NY or northern Delaware pizza and subs suck.
We had pizza in Middletown before heading home on Sunday. Realtor brought us to a small pizzeria in a strip mall. I would not be able to tell you that there was any difference than NJ.
The difference in cost- that is huge. Living here in NJ- I had a 5 Br5.5 bath home on an acre- pool and beautiful 1 acre property-
While we still traveled into the city for brunches…our life really centered around our back yard and traveling the world. We stepped onto a NJ beach exactly once in 20 years.
But traveled the world and created a backyard wonderland that friends called vacation.
If I can do the same in DE, and save 10-15k a year in property taxes, no state income tax , much lower home prices- over the next 10 years before retirement- that is 500k+ in cash for my retirement and fun.
So, uh ...not interested in this five pages of advice about Tom's River anymore?
If you lived in a 5 bedroom 5.5 bath in NJ (nice northern community NJ I think I recall?) and are looking to move as you prep for retirement…..don’t you have a lot of room/capability to stay in NJ and simply downsize to nice property/community.
Unless you’re still looking be in a massive house, not sure why you would have to go to Delaware to save a lot of $ based on your situation.
not as much anymore- we were interested and the advice helped- we then went there and came to our own decision. it just doesnt seem right for us. The advice was very helpful though.
We had an almost $2 mil home- over 20k property tax per year in a very tax friendly town. It would have been over 30k per year in many other towns. When we built the home- 4 kids- 7k sq ft if you count the finished basement with no walkout.
We loved it. But we now have just the 2 of us and 2 dogs. There are people on here that have been to our home in Mahwah.
Downsize to my wife is 3k sqft...
As we are getting close to retirement- 3k sq feet turn key or new is going to be over $1mil easy near us and almost 20k or more tax.
A big part of me wants to justify it as I don't want to move out of this area. I have kids up in Dutchess Co NY.
But what amounts to 15k or more a year savings for a better home, very hard to argue with the wife.
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Philly is the International Airport closest to DE, at least the northern part of the state
Plenty of places in Monmouth and Ocean County that are much cheaper than your numbers. To each their own, but we have 2 of us in a 2500 SF house, and we could easily downsize. Taxes only $11K. We could get below $10K with a smaller house and easily buy something for under $800K.
Kids in Dutchess County? Have you considered Orange County?
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I am closer to retirement than you.
2k taxes 3000sf for under 500k - over my next 30 years- is huge
Perfect world- I drop 1.5 M and 25k tax per year in Mahwah/Franklin Lakes area. But we still rarely go out- maybe a brunch or two and into the city every 3 months or so. Other than that- we live in the house, back yard, shopping.
If I want to play golf- That is everywhere- Water, everywhere - even getting into the city- not a problem.
It isn't worth and extra 500k on paying a mortgage and 20+k on taxes per year for the next 30 years- that is over 1 mil...For that money- and only an extra 30-45 minutes from family, is it really worth it?
A lot of shore towns are actually cheap because their are no kids in the schools and only need most of the cops for 4 months.
There's no cheap shore towns a POS dark old creepy home in Bradley Beach is now 750 K
It’s funny- I love NJ
But…my wife is a mortgage advisor in 20 states.
We started looking in NJ and the excitement of finding a nice home with only 10k in taxes and the purchase price of 550k or more for a fixer upper actually sounds nice.
Until you see that almost every other state-? That purchase price is a new construction 4 Br home and taxes under 2k.
Is NJ really that much better.
But…my wife is a mortgage advisor in 20 states.
We started looking in NJ and the excitement of finding a nice home with only 10k in taxes and the purchase price of 550k or more for a fixer upper actually sounds nice.
Until you see that almost every other state-? That purchase price is a new construction 4 Br home and taxes under 2k.
Is NJ really that much better.
Beware of new construction and be sure to do research. IMO avoid the mass built developments.
Yeah- doing big research on them. The first one we came across set off a ton of alarms. Lol
Their base start was 465k, and then discussing options- Gas stove- 500 , extending master bath and WIC- one option was $1800 but you lose a bedroom or 2nd option was an extension over tge garage - between $7-30k
Ok- good with both but the dude says as we are close to leaving- the options we discussed would bring us to around $545k
We let it slide but we get in the car and just looked at each other on his math…lol
We always did better using a custom builder. Took more work, but got what we wanted with better quality and less spent.
Yeah- agree. We did that in Mahwah. The quality was top shelf. It allowed a lot of flexibility as well. I don’t think he knew what he was getting into with my wife though. Lol
We purchased a property that had a smaller ranch on it- since it was a double lot, it allowed us to live in that house as he was building our new one. So, she was there every day.
He gave her the option of him getting the kitchen appliances or an allowance and she can purchase them herself. She took option 2 but then talked him into giving her his contractor discount. This was back when Home Depot had “expo” she was able to go with the top sub zero and a Dacor Range.
When we sold the house- people always said it was better in person then it looked in the pictures.
I never liked the idea of a spec home. But we just don’t have the energy to go through that process again.
You probably know this, but the local town building department can be a good resource for finding out the problem bulders. You may also be able to search the county or state court sites for suits against builders. IMO, things in building have gotten really sketchy lately.
We were talking about taxes.
My town has 39 kids in the school and half of them are from the next town. Less kids equals less school taxes.
Oh dude there isn’t good pizza in Pennsylvania outside of a couple decent spots in Philly that you have to wait an hour for. Only state in the country that competes with Jersey and Pizza (not counting NYC as it’s a category all its own) is Connecticut
There’s plenty of decent pizza around Philly and the immediate suburbs. It’s not the best and doesn’t compare the NJ, NYC and Conn but there’s decent places.
The stuff I had by Middletown, Delaware was complete garbage.
