May 2013

The summer can’t come soon enough for beach lovers in Southern Delaware. Already in Rehoboth Beach, we’re enjoying 65° to 70° weather, glorious mornings and balmy nights. From the restaurants along the boardwalk, you can watch the hypnotic waves and never want to leave.

Why not stay the whole summer? Many people do. Thousands of visitors make their way to this area each year feeling welcomed with all the Rehoboth Beach activities such as horseback riding, brewery tours, and day spas. Some other highly rated vacation activities include:

• Junction & Breakwater Trail
• Funland
• Clear Space Theatre
• Jungle Jim’s
• Gordons Pond
• Indian River Life-Saving Station Museum

Mann & Sons, Inc. REALTORS® have a large inventory of Rehoboth Beach rentals for

In part one of our blog on Tips for Picking a Great Real Estate Agent, we looked at Experience, Education, Market Knowledge, and Honesty and Integrity. In part two we will look at Work Ethic, Resources and Attention to Detail.

Work Ethic: Real estate is a 7 day a week job. Sometimes it involves very early hours and very late nights to meet the needs of buyers, sellers, rental property owners and renters. It is just a fact of life that sometimes people are only available early in the morning, late at night and weekends. Bear this in mind because you will want to work with a real estate agent who is able and willing to meet with you on any day, at virtually any time to get you the property that is best for you. So before you agree to work with any one

Once you are ready to either rent or buy a piece of property you will most likely need to work with a real estate agent. Like in any industry there are great real estate agents and not so great agents. Here are some tips on what to look for to find a great real estate agent for Rehoboth Beach real estate and Lewes real estate.

Experience: You’ve heard the phrase when it comes to real estate, “Location, location, location”? Well when it comes to real estate agents the phrase becomes, “Experience, experience, experience”. A real estate agent with experience will make your search for your new home or rental property much easier for the simple reason that he or she has done it so many times in the past. This gives you, as the buyer or renter, a real

Buying a new Rehoboth Beach home is an exciting feeling, and it is so easy to get carried away and fall in love with a home that may not be the best one for you.    There will be plenty of time for celebrating after the closing.  When you are looking for a new home, here are a few things to focus on.

Foundation and Structural Elements – Ugly paint and bad draperies can be changed very easily and with minimal cost, but when it comes to foundation or structural problems, it may be best to just walk away.  Look for evidence of cracks or bulges in the foundation wall. If there has been renovation in the home, ask an inspector to check if any load bearing walls were modified or removed.  

Electrical and Plumbing – Many people like to do their own home

After you have taken a look at some of our property listings for Coastal Delaware real estate, we thought you might enjoy a little bit of real estate trivia – just for fun.

Question: What is the most expensive private residence ever built in the United States?

Answer: When it was built, Hearst Ranch in San Simeon, California cost over $30 million, which in today’s dollars is about $277,883,320.

Question: The world’s largest residential palace belongs to whom?

Answer: The Sultan of Brunei. The Istana Nurul Iman palace has 2,152,782 square feet, 1,788 rooms, 257 bathrooms, and a 110-car garage.

Question: The United States Government paid $7.2 million for what piece of land?

Answer: The state of Alaska. In 1867 the United States bought Alaska

It is vacation time! You have worked hard all year and are really looking forward to those one or two weeks this summer when you can escape your everyday grind and spend some time sitting on a gorgeous beach, sipping a cool drink and baking in the sun. If this is what you’re looking for, then a beach rental property that will act as your home away from home, can offer you a great beach vacation at a very reasonable price. So what are some of the things you should look for when searching for a beach rental property?

Amenities: Make sure you know ahead of time which amenities you just can’t do without. Beach rentals can come with a myriad of different options, (e.g., full kitchens, outdoor showers, access to swimming pools or private beaches, etc.), and

There is a well-kept secret just west of the beaches in Delaware, and it’s called Sports at the Beach. If you’ve got children who play baseball, you probably know all about it. Otherwise, read on to find out what you’re missing!

First and foremost at Sports at the Beach is youth baseball! From the first signs of spring to the last signs of fall, Sports at the Beach holds youth baseball tournaments every weekend, and weeklong “Summer Classics” most weeks. Kids range from 8 to 19 years old. Travel teams come from all over the country and occasionally, the world (including Israel and Australia), to compete. On average, each team play 5 to 9 games per weekend tournament and 8-12 per weeklong. Teams can stay on site in the dorms, or opt to stay in area

When you are looking for a Lewes Delaware home, there are a lot of thing to consider. Sometimes, you find a great house, but it has a few flaws. Some flaws are the type you don’t want to have anything to do with, but other ones are minor and can be corrected with minimal effort or expense. For example, if the décor of a home is not something you like, you can paint with little effort. But if you are looking for a home with three bathrooms, and there is only one, it would be a more difficult fix. Work with your REALTOR® and a home inspector on specific issues, but here are some examples of items that can or cannot be worked out with the owner:

Water in the basement

If you visit a home and there is water in the basement, that may or may not be a deal

Last year, vacation home sales rose over ten percent. The U.S. Census Bureau reports there are almost eight million vacation homes in America today! That means nearly a tenth of citizens own a vacation home. The overall price of a second home is down a whopping 25% (and that’s being conservative) since 2006! Interest rates are at historic lows. A strong stock market return combined with discounted foreclosures has really brought smart buyers out of the woodwork. And the smartest buyers look to Mann & Sons when buying a vacation home in Rehoboth Beach.

There are many reasons why vacation homes are a good idea. First and foremost, purchasing a vacation home gives you a permanent place to take the family that you can fix up just the way you like. If you

In our first post we looked at the history of Rehoboth Beach from some 12,000 years ago up until its original charter as a city in 1873. In the second part of our blog we’ll take a look at its history from the late 1800s to today - and some of the features of the area that will help you to get the most out of your new Rehoboth Beach Real Estate.

In 1878 the railroad came to Rehoboth Beach, which in turn brought many new visitors to Rehoboth Beach. The times were changing and because of this large influx of people the focus became much more on the “seaside resort” aspects of the area, as opposed to the religious leanings as had been planned by Rev Todd and his followers when the original charter had been set forth only five years earlier. In 1879 the