Leased Land
Leased land in Coastal Delaware.
Rehoboth by the Sea, is an area in the north end of Dewey Beach and much of it is leased land. 
However not all of the land in this area is leased. The trade mark phrase of Rehoboth by the Sea Realty Company “where pine and brine is ever wooing” gives the feel of a knotty-pine and the smells of the sea. Not quite Lewes, or Rehoboth, the wooded north end of Dewey Beach is uniquely Rehoboth by the Sea.
The family owned Rehoboth by the Sea Realty Company started developing this land in 1925, and they are not done yet. Sales were slow in the early years, and so in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s the company offered non-renewable land leases. Land was leased for, on average, 60 years. Many of the current 230+ leases will expire prior to 2025. In fact these land leases require the home owner to remove the improvements and leave the land in its original level and unimproved condition at the end of the lease. The up side is that the lease payments are very low. The typical beach block cottage in Rehoboth by the Sea sits on land worth over $1,000,000, and the typical lease pays less than $1,000 per year. So it could be the least expensive way to own a cottage by the sea, even if it is only until 2025.
In the past Rehoboth by the Sea Realty Company has selectively offered new leases, and has even sold land to help maintain property values, but they are not required to. Today, the home owners know that their time is running out. The closer to the end of the term the more likely Rehoboth by the Sea Realty Company will have plans for the land at the end of the lease. At this time company is not offering lease extensions or new leases. However, in early 2007 for the first time in over a decade the company is consider selling lots. Do not get too excited because they will only considering sales at full market value on a very few lots each year. This is why purchasing the remaining leasehold interest in these properties is far less expensive than buying in the same area where the lots are not leased.
Lewes Beach, all of the land east of the Lewes and Rehoboth Canal, is leased land. The land leased there is owned by the Town of Lewes, have a 99 year term, and are renewable. When buying a property on Lewes Beach you pay for the rights to lease land or to have the rights assigned to you. The cost to buy in this area can be well over a million dollars, and the value of the home and improvements is added to the lease assignment value. Even though it is leased land on Lewes Beach the renewable lease makes the investment more like owning the land. This land has always been leased land since the American Colonial period as prescribed by England.
The town of Lewes, other than the beach, has more of a Williamsburg ambiance in architecture, and character. Lewes Beach has more of fisherman feel in its less traditional architectural character. The town of Lewes is a walking, shopping town with shops, boutiques, and little stores along the historic Market Street, Second Street and Pilottown Road. The beach has very little commercial activity and is far more a beachy fishing community where the focus is the beach, the canal and the bay.
