Buying A Home

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

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

This weekend, April 20 and 21, is the 2013 Nationwide Open House, sponsored by the National Association of REALTORS®. REALTORS® across the nation will be holding “open houses,” an appointment-free, no-strings-attached opportunity to explore a home. Last year, 45% of all home buyers accessed open houses across the nation in their search for the ideal home. That’s too big a number to ignore. While one could very likely find their future home at an open house, there are many reasons why attending an open house is beneficial to home buyers.

By going to an open house on this particular weekend, buyers are provided with the chance to talk to a local REALTOR®. REALTORS® can inform buyers of the benefits of homeownership and give priceless insights on the

Whether you are moving to a new house with children or you are buying your first Lewes home with the intention of raising future little ones there, many factors will come into play when making your decision.

You will want to find a house with the right size and layout, that has a suitable number of bedrooms and bathrooms, is in an excellent neighborhood and has all of the local amenities your family will need.

Here are three important factors to consider during your new home search:

Location

• Is it close to a school that your kids want to attend when they are old enough? Lewes is located within the Cape Henlopen School District. Delaware's enrollment choice program makes it possible

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

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

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

Sometimes, even after your mortgage application has been approved, you have to scratch your head at apparent non-sequiturs that attach to the process (for instance, when a loan is made contingent upon your repaying an ultra-low-interest credit account).

Even more so if your perfectly dandy financial situation results in a turndown. How could this happen? The answer usually makes perfect sense…but only if you understand that bankers and mortgage brokers are bound by policies and procedures that apply to everyone currently buying homes in Rehoboth Beach. Knowing the rules ahead of time can influence how readily mortgage applications are approved. Some guidelines:

Forget adding "mattress money." 

Your bank account gets a thorough going-over, of