Is Moving from Maryland to Delaware Worth It for Retirement

If you're thinking about retiring from Maryland to Delaware, you most likely have already looked at the taxes, compared home prices, and you probably even watched a few videos on Delaware retirement communities. But I think where Maryland retirees go wrong is that they're trying to answer the wrong question because this move isn't whether Delaware is cheaper or not. It's really about if Delaware fits the next chapter that you envisioned for your retirement. And what surprises a lot of retirees are the things that they didn't even expect. Sometimes it's the pace of life. Sometimes it's how often you're driving. Sometimes it's as simple as how does your afternoon feel? So in this video, I want to walk you through the differences of retiring to Delaware as opposed to retiring in Maryland. I want you to meet Tom and Susan. Tom is 67 and Susan is 65. They live in Andrundle County. Their kids are grown. They have two grandkids. Their home is worth about $550,000 and they absolutely love Maryland. They're simply asking the question that a lot of retirees start to ask, which is, does Delaware fit where we see our retirement going? If Tom and Susan sound like a similar situation, it's because this is where a lot of retirees stop and ask themselves, where do we see our retirement? Maybe the house is starting to feel too big. Maybe the maintenance is starting to feel overwhelming. Retirement is becoming more real. It's within a few years or even six months or even next month. And suddenly you're left thinking things that you weren't thinking about before. Do we really need this big of a house? And do I really want to deal with the yard work over and over again every summer and not be able to enjoy retirement, enjoy hanging out with my children, enjoy hanging out with my grandchildren, going to bingo, maybe just taking a day trip wherever I want to go and not having to worry about, is the lawn being cut? Do I need to power wash the front of my house? Do I need to weed out the garden? Do I need to weed out the flower bed? Do I need to go out and shovel? Maybe you're also thinking, would life feel different if I moved somewhere? Would it feel different in Delaware? Would it feel different if I stayed in Maryland or maybe moved to a different house? There are so many questions that start to come up the closer that you get to retirement. And I'm sure it feels like every time that you get an answer, you have another question, another question. So today let's simplify it. Let's start off with the pace of life, because this is something that a lot of retirees do not recognize before they make the move to Delaware. Many retirees from Maryland often feel that Delaware has a slower pace of life because truthfully it does. Places do not take hours to drive to anymore. You're not stuck in an insane amount of traffic all the time. It's not going to take you an hour and a half to get across town, especially if you live near the DC area. I see that all the time. And listen, in some cases this isn't necessarily better, nor is it necessarily worse. It really depends on what you're looking for. I have a lot of retirees that contact me and they love the fast pace of life. So when I tell them, well, Delaware, you're going to have a slower pace of life. In some cases they don't like that. And that's totally fine. I would rather, you know, upfront though, that Delaware does have a slower pace of life. Less congestion, shorter drives, less obligation. This is all what changes in retirement. So for Tom and Susan that live in Maryland, a regular Tuesday afternoon, it may be sitting in traffic for an hour, multiple errands across town, longer drives, and maybe a home that needs a lot more attention than if you were to downsize or even get a house that's in a 55 plus community or a community that takes care of your law maintenance. This is why I encourage retirees to ask yourself, how much activity do I want? Am I looking for the same pace of life? And maybe I just don't want stairs or would I rather move somewhere, be with people that are the same age in the same stage of life and maybe slow down slightly. Okay. So this is the part where people start paying attention. Let's go back to Tom and Susan. Their home is worth $550,000 in parts of Delaware. That same budget could afford new construction, first floor living, lower maintenance, retirement focused communities, and updated floor plans. Now the question isn't necessarily, is the house bigger? It's more so that Delaware builders have taken into consideration that we are a retirement state, which means that our floor plans are made for aging in place. We have wider hallways in that off chance that you may need a wheelchair or a walker or just more space to get around in the later stages of life. Also one floor living so that you don't need to go up and down the basement stairs to do the laundry or you don't need to go upstairs to go to your bedroom. Because let's be honest, your family home, if it is a two story, in most cases probably has that primary bedroom on the second floor. In some cases your laundry is in the basement and your bedroom is on the second floor, which means you're going up two flights of stairs to put your laundry away. Listen, if you are just in the early stages of trying to compare the differences between retiring to Maryland or retiring to Delaware, I have put a full guide together. It is down below in the description and it is going to go over everything that we're going to talk about in this video and more. So if you are interested, if you're like, Hey, this video is too long, I can't, I don't want to stick around. There is a link in the description for a full guide on the comparison of retiring to Maryland and retiring to Delaware. So go ahead and grab that. So let's talk about the third thing that's always on everyone's mind when you are nearing retirement, which is healthcare. This is probably one of the least exciting things about planning a move, but it's actually one of the most important. One of the most surprising things about retiring from out of state into Delaware is that your healthcare transitions rarely happen overnight. And what I mean by that, let's take for example, Tom and Susan, they have doctors and specialists in Maryland. They moved to Delaware and maybe they keep a few of their specialists that are in Maryland. So they're making day trips or they're trying to pack all of their doctor's appointments in one day so that you don't have to keep going back and forth. And then they gradually build new healthcare specialists in Delaware. And let me just tell you that this is really common. I hear this a lot, actually. I have people from New Jersey and Pennsylvania, even the DC area that decide, Hey, I'm going to keep my specialist. And then when I moved to Delaware, that is when I will start looking for a doctor. So the question really isn't, can I find a new doctor? It's more so, when am I planning to set up my specialist? When am I planning to make that transition to Delaware doctors? And I've actually seen people that maybe they're purchasing new construction and they start looking for doctors months in advance. I even have a few clients that have decided that maybe they close at the end of the year and they're setting up appointments for the beginning of next year. In this way, they don't have to think about it. It's already taken care of and they don't have to worry about getting in to see a doctor that may be booked out a few months. They're already on the schedule and they're already starting to make that healthcare transition. Okay, so let's talk about the fourth difference, which is your social life. And I know a lot of people don't like to talk about this. They're like, listen, I just want to be left alone in retirement. I don't want to have to make new friends. But then on the other hand, I have plenty of clients that are looking for that social life. They want to be near people that are in the same stage of life as them. They want to be part of a community. In some cases, the community is way more important than it is the house, honestly, because they're coming from areas that maybe they have more walkability. Maybe they don't drive. Maybe they just want to make friends because they've been working long hours their entire life and they are like, I am ready to sit down and play bingo with my friends, go on bus trips, go on cruises with my friends and not have to worry about a single thing. A lot of our Delaware communities make that a lot easier. And I'm not kidding with that. Many 55 plus communities have a lifestyle director. They have sister properties where it is the same builder and they get all of the communities together at the same time. Many have clubs, they have walking trails, they have pools, they have clubhouses, fitness centers, many things where people can gather and get a real sense of community and make long lasting friends. And what is great about Delaware is that is a melting pot. So we have people from every walk of life, whether you're from Tennessee or New York or New Jersey or Florida or South Carolina, California. We literally have people coming from everywhere. So you will find your tribe, you will find your people. And I promise you, Delaware communities make that a lot easier. Let's talk about the fifth difference, which is although Delaware and Maryland are right next to each other, they sometimes feel like they are very far apart. And oftentimes it feels difficult because you're used to that same routine. Let's take for example, Tom and Susan in Maryland. They know where their favorite restaurant is. They know where the grocery store is. They know that you can take that small back road and get to this store within 10 minutes as opposed to sitting in the traffic on sitting on a major highway. And when they moved to Delaware, all of a sudden they don't know those little things. They don't know that you can take this little back road and you bypass all of that. Or they don't know that if you go down Main Street at four o'clock, you're going to be stuck in traffic. But the longer that they live in Delaware, they start to learn all of these little quirks that Delaware has. Also with being in a community, they start to learn from their fellow neighbors on who to hire for a contractor. Maybe if they have the sink is clogged, they know exactly what plumber they need to call. Or maybe they didn't hear about that Italian restaurant that is absolutely amazing that has a senior discount and specials on Wednesday night. So while yes, it may feel very unfamiliar in the beginning, I promise you that you start to learn these things the longer that you live here. Okay, let's get to the part that you really clicked on this video for. And that is the real cost breakdown between retiring to Maryland and retiring to Delaware. Tom and Susan have that home in Maryland that is worth $550,000. Their property taxes annually are around $5,500. Their lawn care approximately cost them $1,800 annually. And they have a sales tax which could be different depending on how much spending you're doing. You also have maintenance costs which are ongoing, which could be anything from your HVAC breaks and that's $10,000. Or maybe you need to put a new roof on your home and that's $20,000. It really depends on how old your home is and where you are located in Maryland. Now let's compare that to Delaware. That same $550,000 house has approximately $2,500 in property taxes. We have zero sales tax, so you do not have to worry about that. Your potential lawn maintenance if you chose to live in a community that takes care of your lawn maintenance is included in your HOA fee, which gives you access to a clubhouse, the lawn maintenance, the pool, any of the amenities that they have, pickleball courts, walking trails, clubs, and that lifestyle director that we talked about. Now because you have purchased a home that maybe is new construction, that ongoing maintenance is going to be slightly less expensive because you have a newer home. So you are most likely not putting on a new roof. You are most likely not replacing your HVAC. So all of those costs come down as well. But no single category is going to completely change your retirement. The real reason why most people decide to retire to Delaware is because of our lower property taxes, our zero sales tax. And also we have nice retirement benefits for retirees when it comes to retirement income. For example, if you are over the age of 60, you can exclude $12,500 off of your retirement income. And if you are a married couple, that is up to $25,000 in retirement income exemption. Also, what a lot of people love about Delaware is that we are not very big, which means even if you live in Middletown, you can take a day trip to the Delaware beaches. You could also take a day trip to DC or New York, Philadelphia. You could go to the Philadelphia airport. You could go to the Baltimore airport. There are many different options when it comes to living in Delaware. And I will tell you that one of the reasons that people love Delaware is that they have family on the East Coast, which means that maybe their kids live in New Jersey or Pennsylvania, even Maryland. But they have decided that Delaware property taxes are so much cheaper that it makes more sense to live in Delaware as opposed to the surrounding states. And they can still be close to their kids, which means they're going to come visit more often or you can go visit them way more often. So who thrives in Delaware? It is someone that is looking for a slower pace of life, one floor living, less maintenance, a newer home. And really, you're looking for less congestion and more sense of community. Someone that maybe wouldn't love retiring Delaware is someone that is looking for constant activity. You would like walkability to restaurants or grocery stores. Unfortunately, Delaware just does not have that. Or you're looking for an urban feel or dense amenities, someplace like New York or D.C. Delaware doesn't have that. So if you are looking for those things, it may make sense to stay in Maryland. But like I said, it's really not, is Delaware the cheapest option? It's more so, does Delaware fit my overall lifestyle? If there's one thing that you take away from this video, I hope that it is the happiest retirees aren't necessarily the ones that found the cheapest home. It's more so they did the research and they figured out where they wanted to be in Delaware and what made best sense for their retirement. Because like I have said in all of my videos, it is a case by case situation on what you are looking for, what you are looking to get out of your retirement. If you would like a full comparison guide on retiring to Maryland as opposed to retiring to Delaware, I have made a full guide that is down below in the description. If you are thinking about retiring to Delaware, I would absolutely love the opportunity to help you. And my information is down below in the description. So feel free to send me an email, shoot me a text or even give me a call. I really hope this video helped and I will see you on next week's video. Thank you so much for getting this far into the video. If you are looking for more Delaware retirement content, check out this video right here. And if you would love to tour Delaware communities with me, check out this playlist right here. And don't forget, subscribe to my channel.