As with any place, the cost to rent apartments, houses, and condominiums varies. If at all possible, see what you’re getting before you put money down. Ask how quickly maintenance fixes the problems when they get a call. Find out what all the fees are beforehand, so you aren’t faced with any surprises. If you have pets, ask that as your first or second question. Many communities are pet friendly, but some breeds are restricted. It is always better to know beforehand; here again, the internet is an invaluable resource that can save time and money.

If at all possible, avoid moving during the peak season of the year. Summertime is usually a hectic and busy time in the real estate industry, and prices can increase by as much as twenty percent during these times. Choose a time that is ‘off peak’. To know when this time is requires observation and forethought for a particular area, but it is a general rule of thumb that holidays and summer are busy, busy times. Try not to move on a weekend or at either end of the month. Make sure the movers give you an accurate quote and ensure that each party knows what is expected of the other.

There are dozens of small things to do before, during and after a move. The car will need new tags, drivers will need different insurance and licenses, addresses will need to be changed and the appropriate parties will need to be registered to vote. Banking information and bills will need to be forwarded to the new address too, and the convenience of the internet is available to help with this. Many companies offer online bill management, and banks such as Wachovia offer bill payment through their website, even to individual people. All you need is a name, address, and phone number, which you can input into the system.

Green Room, Wilmington
Cuisines: Continental

821 Market Street Bistro, Wilmington
Cuisines: Italian, Middle Eastern

Capriotti's Sandwich Shop, Newark
Cuisines: Delicatessen

Star Of India Restaurant, Newark
Cuisines: Indian, Pakistani

Blue Coat Inn, Dover
Cuisines: Seafood, Traditional

W. T. Smithers, Dover
Cuisines: American, Delicatessen, International

Broom, Jacob House: Montchanon, DE
Broom, a signer of the U.S. Constitution, served in the Delaware legislature and attended the Annapolis Convention (1786). He lived in this house from 1795 to 1802. Broom also was a pioneer industrialist who established the first cotton mill on the Brandywine in 1795. The house is not open to the public.

Corbit-Sharp House: Odessa, DE
The house, erected in 1772-4, is one of the great late Georgian houses in Delaware and the Middle Colonies. It illustrates the architectural influence of a major town on smaller towns in its region. The gardens were designed in 1932 by Marian Cruger Coffin.

John Dickenson House: Dover, DE
Dickenson served in the Delaware and Pennsylvania legislatures and was a member of the Stamp Act Congress, the First and Second Continental Congresses and the Constitutional Convention. His political writings, which include ‘The Letters of a Pennsylvania Farmer’, earned him the title ‘Penman of the Revolution’.
The site was recently restored.

Eleutherian Mills Wilmington, DE
Site of the 1802 works that revolutionized powder manufacturing and became the E.I DuPont industry. The site includes DuPont’s residence, offices and mills.

Fort Christina: Wilmington, DE
The fort was the site of the first Swedish military outpost, circa 1638 in the Delaware Valley, which became the center of the first Swedish settlement in North America and its trading and commercial center. It fell into disrepair after the English conquest in 1664 and except for a few rocks jutting into the river, which served as a landing site, the last vestiges of the fort have disappeared.

Lombardy Hall, Wilmington, DE
From 1793 to 1812, this place served as the home of Gunning Bedford, Jr., a delegate from Delaware to the Continental Congress and the Annapolis Convention, and a signer of the U.S. Constitution in 1787.

Holy Trinity (Old Swedes) Church: Wilmington, DE
The oldest surviving building of a Delaware Valley Swedish congregation, the church is built on the site of the Fort Christina settlement’s first burial ground. The church was constructed after the fall of New Sweden, but services were held in Swedish even into the eighteenth century. It has housed an Episcopal parish since 1791.

New Castle Historic District, New Castle, DE
New Castle was founded by Peter Stuyvesant in 1651 as the seat of the New Netherlands government, and served as the colonial capital of Delaware until 1766. The Historic District offers a broad range of architectural styles to view, which remained essentially unchanged from the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries.

New Castle Courthouse, New Castle, DE
The Assembly of the Three Lower Counties (Delaware) met here from 1704 until May 1777. The first State legislature under the newly framed state constitution met here on October 28, 1776.