Wells, septic, and the water
Off the public systems, two inspections join the appraisal: a water test on the well, with the yield in gallons per minute, and a septic report. The Chester County Health Department permits on-lot systems and private wells and enforces Act 537, the state sewage law that also governs whether a new lot can be built on at all. Several townships add rules. Kennett Township runs three sewer districts, charges $7,316 per unit to connect, and requires on-lot owners to file proof of pumping every three years. Pennsbury has the same three-year cycle, and London Grove has had an on-lot ordinance since March 2012.
Then there is the Brandywine. On September 1, 2021 the gauge below Downingtown hit 19.31 feet and 21,000 cubic feet per second, about 2.6 times the record set by Agnes in 1972. The next day the creek at Chadds Ford crested at 21.12 feet, its own record, and the Brandywine River Museum’s lower level flooded. In December 2025 the state put $375,000 behind a Downingtown and Caln flood planning study. Pull the FEMA panel while you still have an inspection period.
Four kinds of file, one county
Most Chester County loans fall into one of four shapes. Down in the south and west, USDA financing with no down payment is a live option, though the eligible line is drawn address by address and the lender confirms it before you sign anything. Around Exton, Downingtown and the growing southern townships it is new construction, which means a builder contract, a longer lock and sometimes a construction-to-permanent loan that pays the builder in draws.
On the Main Line end, sale prices clear the $832,750 conforming limit often enough that jumbo underwriting is the normal case. And in the boroughs, where the housing stock runs to 1890s twins and pre-1940 brick, a renovation loan that finances the purchase and the work in one mortgage does what a straight purchase loan cannot.
The assessment is from 1996, and the ratio is published
The last countywide reassessment took effect in 1998, on 1996 values, and there has not been another. Your tax bill starts from that number, whatever you paid for the house. The county bridges the gap with a common level ratio: 30.6%, applied to appeals heard by the Board of Assessment Appeals during 2026 and to interim appeals effective July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027. The Department of Revenue publishes the matching factor, 3.27, for deeds accepted in the same window.
The arithmetic is worth doing before you fall for the house. A $600,000 sale implies an assessment somewhere near $184,000. Run it the other way and an assessment times 3.27 gives you the market value the state is working from. That is why a 36-mill school rate here is nowhere near 3.6% of the price, and why comparing millage with Delaware County, which reassessed to market value in 2021, tells you nothing.
County millage for 2026 is 5.164 mills. On almost every bill the school district is the big line and the township is the small one.
Transfer tax is 2%, in all but three places
One percent goes to the state and one percent to the municipality and its school district. Three municipalities deviate, and the county names all three: Malvern Borough and Tredyffrin Township at 2.5%, and the City of Coatesville at 3%. Everywhere else, from Honey Brook to Chadds Ford, it is 2%.
On a $600,000 sale that is $12,000 at the standard rate, $15,000 in Malvern Borough or Tredyffrin, and $18,000 inside Coatesville city limits. Custom splits it down the middle, so budget half and negotiate the rest. Transfers between spouses, parents and children, grandparents and siblings are exempt, and so are transfers by will, though buying a house out of an estate is taxed like any other sale. Refinances owe nothing at all; a mortgage is not a taxable document in Pennsylvania, and there is no separate state mortgage tax on top of the recording fees.
Down payment help, with real limits
The Housing Partnership of Chester County lends up to $40,000 at 0%, repaid when the home is sold, transferred or refinanced. Income caps run from $66,850 for one person to $95,500 for four. You put in at least $1,000 of your own, hold two months of reserves at settlement, keep no more than $15,000 liquid afterward, and finish the homebuying seminars. PHFA’s Keystone Home Loan caps the Chester County price at $588,800 with income at $122,700 for one or two people, and Keystone Flex runs to $212,000 of income and $730,600 of price. The Housing Partnership runs the seminars and takes the applications at (610) 518-1522, and the house has to meet HUD housing-quality and lead-paint standards, which matters on older stock. All of it is subject to lender approval and to funds being available.
