{"id":95,"date":"2006-06-06T10:36:44","date_gmt":"2006-06-06T14:36:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.schellbrothers.com\/?p=95"},"modified":"2006-06-06T10:36:44","modified_gmt":"2006-06-06T14:36:44","slug":"rehoboth-beach-delaware","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/schellbrothers.com\/blog\/2006\/06\/06\/rehoboth-beach-delaware\/","title":{"rendered":"Rehoboth Beach, Delaware"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"news_aarp\"<\/p>\n

June 6, 2006<\/h2>\n

Rehoboth Beach, Delaware featured as one of the best places to retire by AARP – The Magazine
\nfrom AARP – The Magazine<\/a>
\nDream Towns<\/strong><\/em>
\nBy Sarah Mahoney, July & August 2006
\nSummer living, all year long
\nREHOBOTH BEACH, DELAWARE<\/strong>
\nSonja and Hoyte Decker
\nTwo years before they planned to retire, Sonja and Hoyte Decker settled on the Delaware coast as their retirement destination. Living in Chevy Chase, Maryland, near where Hoyte worked for the U.S. Department of Transportation, the two had been spending weekends and vacations on the sandy beaches of the Maryland and Delaware shores for years. But they liked friendly little Rehoboth Beach best of all. Just three hours from friends and their daughter in Washington, D.C., it was also reasonably close to Hoyte’s two children from a previous marriage.
\nBut finding their retirement house was challenging: Rehoboth Beach itself is only about one square mile, with fewer than 1,500 full-time residents. Housing costs\u2014as in many beach communities\u2014were sky-high. “Houses were just too expensive, even in the late 1990s,” says Hoyte, 65, “or else they were just small cottages, or they weren’t winterized. We decided against buying an existing home. We had retired without a mortgage\u2014that had always been our goal. And we wanted to keep it that way,” he says.
\nInstead, when Hoyte retired in August 1998, the couple decided to build their own retirement home. They didn’t waste any time, either. By September they had purchased a lot. By December they had contracted with a builder. And by Memorial Day 1999 they moved in. It’s been one long beach season ever since.
\nThe Deckers aren’t the only retirees flocking to the area. With a median age of 57, and 38 percent of the population over 65, Rehoboth and the surrounding communities are a retiree’s haven. That trend shows no sign of slowing: Delaware expects its 65-plus population to increase 75 percent in the next 25 years.
\nWhat makes Rehoboth Beach magical, of course, is the beach. “Walking along in the early morning, it’s like having the ocean to yourself,” says Sonja, 61. “There are dolphins all summer long, different kinds of birds\u2014it’s beautiful. And it means that in the summer we have constant houseguests, which is great.”
\nWhy the locals love it
\nRehoboth Beach is a bargain<\/strong>
\nHousing in Rehoboth Beach proper is, admittedly, expensive, but the nearby communities of Long Neck and Milton are quite reasonable (and they’re still only a few miles from the beach). All Delaware residents can take advantage of the state’s super-low property taxes; plus, Delaware has no sales tax on goods, food, or entertainment. Social Security and railroad-retirement benefits are exempt from income tax, and taxpayers 60 and older can exclude up to $12,500 of investment and qualified pension income. Out-of-state government pensions also qualify for the pension and retirement exemptions.
\nLifestyle perks<\/strong>
\nThe Deckers love that they can walk everywhere\u2014whether it’s on the beach, along Rehoboth’s mile-longboardwalk (circa 1873), or to the area’s little boutiques and more than 70 restaurants.
\nGreat escapes<\/strong>
\nWashington, D.C., and Philadelphia are within a three-hour drive.
\nResidents love<\/strong>
\nThe small-town atmosphere and the constant events\u2014from Christmas parades to the Annual Chocolate Festival. “Where else would I be able to know the mayor, the chief of police, and be able to be on the beach so much?” says Hoyte. “In Washington there were a lot of things to do, and I did a few. In Rehoboth there are not so many things to do\u2014and we do them all.”
\nAverage temperature in summer: 68\u00b0 F
\nAverage temperature in winter: 41\u00b0 F
\nNumber of sunny days per year: 96
\nCasual supper for two at Dogfish Head Brewings & Eats: $30
\nHot tickets: The Rehoboth Film Festival in November screens about 100 of the year’s best independent films, with a special $6 rate for seniors.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

June 6, 2006 Rehoboth Beach, Delaware featured as one of the best places to retire by AARP – The Magazine from AARP – The Magazine Dream Towns By Sarah Mahoney, July & August 2006 Summer living, all year long REHOBOTH BEACH, DELAWARE Sonja and Hoyte Decker Two years before they planned to retire, Sonja and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-95","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-all-communities"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/schellbrothers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/schellbrothers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/schellbrothers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/schellbrothers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/schellbrothers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/schellbrothers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/schellbrothers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/schellbrothers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/schellbrothers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}