All Blog Entries by Bill Mann

First time homebuyers in Rehoboth Beach are told a lot of things —

“Save your money,” their parents advise.
“Location, location, location!” their friend’s friend cautions.

Reasonable advice, for certain. But there some important elements of the home buying process which a typical Coastal Delaware first time homebuyer doesn’t usually hear. I’ve listed some of the most important ones, in no particular order:

1. Mortgage rates you see advertised aren’t usually what you get
   The banner ads are everywhere online: “3.2% rates!” “No money down!” But the truth is, mortgage rates vary greatly. The only way you’ll know what rates you actually qualify for is to go through a complete mortgage application including credit pulls and income verification. One more

The Rehoboth Beach real estate market, like most regional markets, has started to recover from the downturn over the last few years in many areas of the country, and more people are thinking about buying a new place to live.

With this new energy in home buying, an interesting trend seems to be developing. Instead of going for larger homes, which was an overwhelming trend in years past, many people are choosing micro-dwellings.

What is a micro-dwelling?

There are a number of different styles of micro dwellings being built.  This is a relatively new concept for homes in the United States and individual creativity abounds in this space.

The most common factor in micro-dwellings are their size. They tend to be less than 500 square feet of living

Pricing in today’s Rehoboth Beach real estate market, as it is in the markets for every other saleable item, will be determined by the concept of ‘supply and demand’.

According to dictionary.com:

“The relationship between supply and demand determines the price of a commodity. This relationship is thought to be the driving force in a free market.”

In real estate, supply and demand is represented as the current month’s supply of homes for sale (the number of homes for sale divided by the number of homes sold in the previous month).

While there is no steadfast rule that will apply to pricing in every category of housing, here is a great guideline:

• 1-4 months supply creates a sellers’ market where there are not enough homes to

As great as February has been living in Coastal Delaware, we have to admit that we are looking forward to March. Not that there's anything wrong with February, but rather that March 1st is a bit of a big day on our calendars. 

First off, we're thinking about making a day trip north to Winterthur, just a bit past Wilmington. Pronounced "winter-tour," it is the premier museum of American decorative arts, and it is reopening on the first of March. The museum itself is just an amazing testament to style and design, and it sits on a 60-acre naturalistic garden. It's great to visit when spring has fully sprung, and all the amazing colors of nature can be seen in full bloom. The problem is that we may not be able to wait; some of us are champing at the bit

Moving everything in your house to your new Rehoboth Beach home can be an overwhelming task. You never realize how much stuff you actually own until you try to fit it all into boxes and move it somewhere new.

Tackle the move head-on like a pro football team ... with a game plan (moving checklist). When you are packing up your things to relocate, here are some helpful tips to make your moving experience much easier:

Start Packing In Advance 

You don't have to wait until the day before you move to start packing everything in your house! As soon as you find out that you are moving, you can start packing the items you don’t often use, such as your seasonal decorations, photo albums and family keepsakes.

If you pack a few items per week, you’ll

Ideally, when you are moving to a new Rehoboth Beach home, you will want to do it on a pleasant and sunny day which makes everything much easier.

However, if you are moving in the winter, or an unexpected deluge shows up on your pre-arranged moving day, it can really dampen your enthusiasm and throw a wrench into your plans. It can also make you worry about your possessions being damaged as you move them into your new home.

Don't worry; it's still possible to move your possessions in the rain, snow or cold. All you need is a little bit of technique, forethought and planning.

Here are a few tips to keep in mind when you are moving on a day with terrible weather:

Dress For Success

Make sure everyone in the family is dressed warmly. You will

You would think that buying a Coastal Delaware vacation home would be pretty much like buying your primary home. After all, the technical processes are the same: first, you locate a suitable vacation home the same way you found your primary residence (most likely with the active help of a knowledgeable agent), then the offer, financing, documentation, etc.

In fact, there are basic differences. Appreciating how they affect your final choice can help you secure a Coastal Delaware vacation home that provides the advantages you set out for -- a memory-creating family getaway, investment value that builds wealth, or both.

Patience is a key virtue in getting the deal right. Financial experts from Bankrate suggest that vacation homebuyers are in ideal

Lewes is one of the thriving beach towns along Coastal Delaware, lately recognized as a retirement haven to rival Southern locales. In fact, few people beyond the East Coast realize that the Delaware Beaches enjoy a mild climate year-round: in January the average high is 45 degrees and the average low is 30; in July the average high and low are 87 and 70.

Many wonderful attractions in Lewes draw visitors and residents alike. Among the most famous are:

Cape Henlopen State Park—Besides the beautiful swimming beaches, of course, you’ll find great fishing supported by a fishing center that’s open 7 days a week from the late spring through the fall. The fishing center sells bait, tackle, food, and camping supplies, while also hosting demonstrations and

Have you heard the term Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI) when looking to finance real estate in Rehoboth Beach or elsewhere? You may be wondering what PMI is and how you know when you need to purchase it. These answers can be hard to find among all the real estate jargon you might be hearing lately. 

Below is the short version of what you need to know. 

What is Private Mortgage Insurance?

Private Mortgage Insurance is an insurance premium required by some lenders to offset the risk of a borrower defaulting on their home loan. When you put down less than 20 percent of the real estate's purchase price, the lender will generally require that PMI is added to the loan. It is usually added into the monthly mortgage payment until the equity position in

There is a lot of misleading and incorrect information about short sales in Coastal Delaware. Many people don't have a clear understanding of the purpose of short sales or how they actually work.

Essentially, a short sale is when one sells their home for less than the balance remaining on the mortgage attached to the property. The proceeds from the sale are used to repay a pre-negotiated portion of the balance to settle the debt.

A short sale can be a solution for homeowners who really need to sell their home but owe more on the mortgage than the home is worth. Understanding the short sale process can help make the most out of a real estate sale.

Here are some common myths and why they are false:

A short sale damages one's credit record as