Questions I Wish More Retirees Asked Me

Before you buy in Delaware, you know the obvious question. What is the price? How long is this going to take? What are the closing costs? And those questions are great. You definitely need to know the answer to those questions. But there are some questions that I wish retirees asked me. And I wish they asked before they started a new transaction, whether that be a resale home or even a new construction home. Because these are the questions that are going to protect you after you move or even during the process. So here are nine questions that I wish retirees asked me. Question number one. What is the all-in monthly payment? I know what my mortgage payment is going to be, but that is not the full picture. What is my all-in number? My retirees always ask me, what does the house cost? What is my typical down payment? Maybe they'll ask me about closing costs, but a lot of times they're not asking me about the average utility costs. Maybe if you're living in a condo, what the condo fees are and overall maintenance, not just the mortgage payment. And there is one line of the transaction that I actually do not get asked about enough. And that is assuming that every property that is at the Delaware beaches needs flood insurance. You would actually be surprised to know that the majority of the homes near the Delaware beaches, especially the new construction communities that are building right now, you do not need flood insurance. But if you do need flood insurance, you do need to prepare for that. Because that could be an extra $65 to $129 per month for that flood insurance. And knowing that before you get into the transaction and you get to the closing table and you're absolutely floored at the fact that you needed flood insurance, it's going to cost you that extra money. It's something that you want to know before you ever get started. I will tell you that, like I just said, the majority of the homes do not. But if it does need flood insurance, it's good to know before you get into the transaction. This is exactly the kind of numbers that are easy to miss, especially when you're just looking on a screen full of listings. This is why I have made a quick checklist. Not just these nine questions, but all of the questions that I wish more retirees asked me. And that is below down in the description. So go ahead and grab that and it'll get sent right to your inbox. Question number two. If you are purchasing in a community that has an HOA, there is normally a one-time capital contribution fee that is at the time of closing. Usually if you are in an HOA and there is a it could be anywhere from a couple hundred dollars to a thousand dollars to three thousand dollars and in some cases five thousand dollars. It is a one-time fee that happens at the time of closing. It normally goes towards the reserve funds or even just opening up your accounts with the HOA. It's almost like a buy-in. But it's important to know this before making that offer. Because if you are financing and you're asking the lender or even if you're using cash and you're looking for your estimated closing cost, that is a number that needs to be included in that. So your lender needs to know that as well as you as the buyer needs to know that so that there are no surprises at the settlement table. Question number three. And this actually surprises a lot of my out-of-state buyers. Do I really need to close with a Delaware attorney? Or do I really need to close with an attorney's office? Who handles title? Delaware is an attorney state. Which means that we do need to close with a Delaware state attorney. They are also the ones that are handling the title. Now we do have mobile attorneys. So in some cases you may be able to close at the actual property. You may be able to close at a different location. In most cases we're closing at an attorney's office though. Like I said they are the ones that handle title. So you do not need to go to a title company. There's not four different people that you're trying to talk to. It's really just the paralegal and the attorney. And they're the ones that handle the title work. That attorney represents you as the buyer. A lot of times I hear from out-of-state that the seller has an attorney and the buyer has an attorney and they're really the ones that are working together to do this contract. Delaware is a little bit different. The buyer has an attorney which is the closing attorney. They represent you. Now if you are looking for attorney review you will need to pay for that outside of closing. So for example for my new construction clients a lot of times they are asking if they can go over the contract with an attorney. And while yes we do have attorneys that will do that they will charge a fee. And that depends on that particular attorney. Also our contracts are standard. So we do not have what's called redlining. So if you do not like something in the contract you cannot cross it out and say I'll only sign it if this is removed. That's not how it works in Delaware. Basically we all have standard contracts that were produced and looked over by attorneys multiple multiple times. And we basically all have the same contract. And it's one of those things that if you don't like something in the contract then don't sign it. But what I'll tell you is is that if you don't like that contract you most likely will not like other contracts that are in Delaware because we basically all have the same contract. And I know that is very different from out of state so that is something that I do like to bring up and I wish more people asked me about it because if you're used to one way just know that Delaware does it usually different from the state that you are currently living in. Question number four asking about a senior tax discount. So in Delaware you do need to live here 10 consecutive years and be over the age of 65 to qualify for our senior school tax credit which is around $500 credit for you for the year. So I know that that is a little bit of a bummer because you do have to live here 10 consecutive years in order to qualify for that. But if you get here earlier before your retirement you can start stacking up those years so that you qualify in 10 years for it. Now if that does change I will update everyone but currently as of today which is 2026 it is 10 consecutive years to qualify for that tax credit on your school taxes. Question number five which is how long do I have to register my vehicle in Delaware? In Delaware you do have 60 days from the time that you settle in order to register your vehicle get your license transferred and also go through the inspection lane. So let me just tell you about what's going to happen. You are going to go into the DMV you are going to get your license transferred over then you will walk out of the DMV you will go through the inspection lane if you pass your inspection you will go back into the DMV and this is where you will register your vehicle. Now keep in mind there is a document fee in Delaware it is 5.25 percent of the Kelley Blue Book value of your vehicle. This is why I always tell people please I'll repeat it again please do not purchase a brand new vehicle the month before you move to Delaware because I'm telling you you're going to regret it. Take it from experience when I walked into the DMV and they told me that it was a thousand dollars to switch my vehicle over and that was just one of my vehicles. I was blindsided because no one had told me at that time it was 4.25 percent of the Kelley Blue Book value of my vehicle that I had just bought. So this is why I always tell people do not buy a brand new vehicle before you get here. Please from experience but yes you have 60 days to register your vehicle at the DMV. Okay question number six how long is the wait to get into a primary care physician and what should I do in the meantime? If you are purchasing new construction my advice to you is if you know for example that you're going to settle in October maybe you don't know a date but you're being told you're settling in October I would probably call in August or September to get yourself set up and that isn't because you're going to have a long wait it's really just trying to get your ducks in a row to make sure that you have that primary physician when you move here. I will say that I do think personally that people make it sound way worse than what it actually is and I was just having this conversation with a I know a lot of people are complaining that we have a lot of growth especially in our coastal Delaware area but because of that growth we've been able to bring on and bring in many doctors and their families. So I don't think it's as awful as everyone is describing. I'm sure you'll see things on Facebook groups of people saying oh it's awful I have to wait so long. I have not had that experience and I do feel like living here for so long in If you are purchasing resale same thing when you go under contract maybe start looking at what doctor you would want to see especially your specialist so if there if you know you need a cardiologist or you know that you need a foot doctor start looking when you go under contract to who you might want to get in with and if you need a referral or anything else like that start getting your ducks in a row and setting that up. I have not had to wait very long for a primary care physician. It really depends on what kind of doctor you're looking for but in my personal experience I would say it's come a long way and you shouldn't need to wait that long. Now I have had a few people ask me about a concierge service for medical. A concierge service is basically you are paying for that doctor to cater to you essentially and it could be anywhere from two to five thousand dollars and we do have that option in Delaware but you will need to look for that prior to coming to Delaware. Question number seven and that is should I live at the beach or should I live more inland and then if I am living more inland am I giving up something? What am I gaining? This all really pertains to your particular situation but here's what I'll say. If you are living more inland usually the price is slightly cheaper you have less traffic but you may have to drive a little bit longer to get to your amenities such as restaurants or the grocery store or maybe the doctor's office. Now the complete opposite if you are living towards the beaches basically you are in a significant amount of traffic usually in the in-season you do have a little bit less of a drive to the restaurants and the doctor's offices and also your grocery stores but what I will say is I hear this a lot if you actually live more towards the beach you may need to make accommodations for during the summer months. What I mean by that when I lived at the beach I knew that I should go to the grocery store on a Wednesday and usually stock myself up to get to at least that Monday because I lived right off of route one it was very busy and I knew that it was probably going to take me a little bit of time to get to the grocery store and if I didn't want to have to touch route one I probably should stock myself up on a Wednesday because the traffic usually starts on that Thursday night going into Friday and that is usually when you don't want to sit in gridlock basically on Saturday and Sundays and you knew exactly what time the hotels were letting out because that is when the traffic gets pretty bad on route one during the summer months. So it really depends on your particular situation if you know you're someone that is the traffic is absolutely going to drive you insane probably more inland makes more sense for you if you are someone that is very budget conscious you have a certain budget you cannot go over it it probably makes more sense for you to purchase inland so really it's all about being honest with yourself and then looking at the trade-offs. Question number eight if this does not work out is it hard to resell my home? Now here's what I will tell you if you purchase a home and say you would like to sell within three months of purchasing that home in real estate you're most likely going to take a hit you're probably not going to break even most likely because you have the commission of your listing agent and if you are offering a commission to your buyer's agent you have that two percent transfer tax real estate usually does not appreciate like that so keep in mind if you're looking to basically purchase and then you don't like it or situation changed and you want to sell it you will take a hit now if you were someone that say you purchased and five years from now you decide you would like to sell or even two years from now two years you should depending on the market you should have appreciated slightly in five years you're more likely to have that appreciation to be able to sell maybe for a small profit but it really depends on the market if things are sitting and the market is not moving very quickly then I would say it's probably not in your best interest it's just a matter of your financial situation and whether or not you can take a small hit if you decide to sell right after purchasing it is a big decision a lot can change especially if you are purchasing new construction keep in mind it's usually a six to eight month build time and a lot can change in six to eight months so if you are someone that is panicking that your situation has changed and you need to resell either a year or maybe two years right after you purchase or honestly even a couple of months it's just a matter of if the financials make sense for you and how much that actually is going to cost question number nine is how do people make friends here in their first year you are most likely leaving a house that you've been in for 20 30 even 40 years and you have your set of friends and you're very nervous because you're either moving from out of state where you don't know anyone or maybe you know one friend that lives here or maybe lives in Delaware but not where you're purchasing and you're nervous about how you're going to make friends what i do here is that a lot of those people are purchasing in communities that either have a clubhouse or a lot of amenities so that they can get to know their community in a centralized location maybe you join a bingo club or maybe you go to the senior center or maybe you join the Y or you have purchased in a community that has that clubhouse and they have a bunch of clubs and or they have happy hours to try and get people to mingle that is how i'm seeing people meet each other or maybe you go to happy hour at the local restaurants especially in the off season there are so many restaurants that have these local happenings whether it be they have pasta night they have crab night their wine night like and this is how people meet each other remember everyone is usually in the same boat at some point so you will see Delaware is like a melting pot and people are super friendly i hear this a lot actually when i'm touring with people why does everyone wave here and it's because they're in the same situation that you are in they were probably just in it a few months ago or they were in it a few years ago and they know how it feels to be new and meet new people so if you are someone that is worried about meeting new people or making new friends i would say my advice would be to purchase in a community that has a clubhouse or has happy hours or has planned events so that you can meet people in your community or join the Y go to the senior center go to the restaurants i'm telling you you're going to meet people because everyone talks to everyone in Delaware and going along with this because this is another question that i'm going to kind of rope into the same one is a lot of times i hear people are buying a house because they want their grandkids to come visit i need you to ask yourself will they actually come visit i don't want you to purchase this large home with the thoughts that my grandkids are going to be here every weekend if they live across the country most likely they are not going to be here every weekend what i'll say is that a lot of times i see this you have children and then you have grandchildren but they have their own lives maybe they're in sports maybe they're in dance they have school they have birthday parties they have vacations they have all these things going on and a lot of times they don't come and visit as often as you thought they were going to come visit so if you are putting yourself in a financial situation where you are strapped because you have bought this big house thinking that your grandkids are going to come every single weekend it probably makes more sense to ask yourself how often do i realistically see them coming to visit especially if they live in texas or nebraska or washington state they most likely are not coming to visit every single weekend so just something to keep in mind to go along with this conversation about making friends and how everyone's going to come visit you but the majority of these questions don't get asked before we go to contract so this is why i like to bring all these up but there are plenty of other questions that we didn't go over today that i promise you should be asked before we even go under contract or even during the contract if you have already purchased and that is below down in the description so that you can get a full checklist on questions to ask either yourself or myself or your lender or friends or family and this way you have an educated decision before you go under contract if you are interested in retiring to delaware i would absolutely love the opportunity to help you my information is down below in the description so go ahead and feel free to get on my calendar set up a phone call set up a video meeting or even send me a text i really hope this video helped if it did be sure to give me a thumbs up be sure to subscribe to the channel and i will see you on next week's video hey thank you so much for making it this far into the video if you are interested in more delaware retirement content check out this video right here and if you would love to tour delaware new construction homes with me check out this playlist right here and don't forget subscribe to my channel