Montgomery County is the largest of Philadelphia’s collar counties, and it is aging quickly: 21.2% of residents are 65 or older, per U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts. From Abington to Lower Merion to Lansdale, the county is full of longtime owners sitting on decades of equity in houses that no longer match the day-to-day. What makes Montco distinctive for downsizers is the breadth of what you can move to without leaving the county: active adult neighborhoods, true rental communities, and some of the region’s best-known continuing care campuses.
The Montco downsizing picture
The county’s housing stock splits roughly into two generations: the older boroughs and streetcar suburbs (Jenkintown, Ambler, Narberth) with charming but stair-heavy homes, and the postwar-through-1990s townships (Upper Dublin, Montgomery, Towamencin, Whitpain) full of large single-family homes on quarter-acre and half-acre lots. Both feed the same pipeline: owners in their sixties and seventies who love the area and want less house, less lawn, and fewer stairs.
Demand for those houses remains strong, particularly anything walkable or in a top school district. What slows people down is the destination. Half the county seems to want the same three things at once: one floor, less maintenance, and no reason to leave the area.
Where Montgomery County downsizers go
- Del Webb North Penn (Hatfield). The national active adult brand’s North Penn community, with the amenity-and-activities model Del Webb is known for.
- The Reserve at Gwynedd (Lansdale). An established active adult community in the Gwynedd corridor, one of the county’s most popular downsizing destinations.
- Meadow Glen at Skippack, Blue Bell Springs, Legacy at Stony Creek Farms. Active adult neighborhoods spread across the county’s center, each with its own price point and character.
- Arbour Square of Harleysville and Gloria Dei Farms (Hatboro). All-inclusive and independent 55+ rental communities: chef-prepared meals, housekeeping, and activities bundled into a monthly rate at Arbour Square; maintenance-free apartments on a wooded campus at Gloria Dei.
- Meadowood (Lansdale). A 135-acre continuing care campus whose newest independent-living neighborhood, The Grove, offers 52 apartment homes from 1,300 to 1,800 square feet, for people who want the care continuum on site.
Own again, rent, or buy into care
The Montco decision is rarely about a single community; it is about a category. Owning again (Del Webb, The Reserve) preserves equity and usually costs least per month after the purchase. Renting (Arbour Square, Gloria Dei) maximizes flexibility and predictability. Continuing care (Meadowood and its peers) trades a larger entrance commitment for a guaranteed care path. Our age-in-place-or-downsize framework helps sort out which category fits, including the option of staying put.
What the sale costs here
Most Montgomery County municipalities charge a total realty transfer tax of 2% of the sale price, customarily split between buyer and seller. Combined with commission and preparation, seller costs follow the regional pattern detailed in our cost-to-sell guide. Pennsylvania generally does not tax the gain on a longtime primary residence, and the federal $250,000/$500,000 exclusion covers most households; the exceptions and the paperwork are in the PA/NJ tax guide. Municipal requirements vary within the county: Abington asks only for a notarized affidavit, Lower Merion runs a full resale certification that takes 30 to 60 days, and Upper Dublin inspects your sidewalks and curbs and can require failed concrete replaced before the sale, and Cheltenham pairs its zoning certification with smoke detector and street address affidavits, while Upper Merion, Upper Moreland, and Whitemarsh require nothing at all for a single-family resale. Horsham inspects curbs and sidewalks under its transfer certification, Plymouth sends a plumber’s camera through your sewer lateral, Lower Providence requires a certificate of compliance dated within three months of closing, and Norristown runs the county’s most involved process, with heater and chimney certifications required. In the boroughs, Lansdale requires nothing for a single-family resale, Hatboro sends its Fire Marshal to inspect every sale, Pottstown pairs its transfer inspection with a buyer-signed letter of intent, around Pottstown the three Pottsgrove townships range from a lateral inspection that gates the closing certificates to a $150 fee that doubles inside two weeks of settlement, Collegeville added a brand-new resale inspection by ordinance, Souderton wants your application 30 days before settlement, Towamencin issues a change of occupancy certificate on a ten-day-in, sixty-day-out clock, East Norriton wants 30 days’ notice plus a sewer certification, West Norriton doubles its U&O fee inside two weeks and inspects your sewer lateral, Conshohocken includes a reinspection in its $100 U&O and publishes the checklist, Jenkintown requires a sewer lateral video on every sale and prices the fee by who runs the camera, Narberth runs its U&O through an online portal and sends public works to chalk failing sidewalks, Springfield Township issues a $60 statement of certification on a two-week clock it will not rush, Hatfield splits into a borough that wants your sewer lateral on video and a township that wants three separate sign-offs, Montgomery Township requires nothing while North Wales sends the water authority’s camera down your lateral, Upper and Lower Gwynedd both skip the resale inspection entirely, up in the Upper Perkiomen valley East Greenville, Pennsburg, and Red Hill each run their own occupancy permits with a joint sewer authority in the middle, in the surrounding countryside Upper Hanover, New Hanover, and Douglass run no township inspection while the joint authority televises laterals at sale on its system, further upstream Green Lane and Marlborough require no certificate unless the property sits on the joint authority’s sewer, in the Perkiomen Valley Schwenksville, Perkiomen, and Lower Frederick range from a master-plumber lateral ordinance to a $25 notarized affidavit, in the Salford valley Harleysville and Skippack require nothing while Upper Salford wants a current septic pumping receipt before any sale, in the farm country between them Worcester repealed its own inspection in 2007 but keeps a special sewer assessment on five named roads, in Huntingdon Valley Lower Moreland puts its answer in writing, no certificate for a residential resale, in the Collegeville zip code Trappe and Upper Providence split between a $150 certificate gated by the sewer authority and no certificate at all, in the Indian Valley Franconia states twice on its own site that no resale permit exists, and Royersford and Limerick require no inspection at all, just a two-day deed registration in the borough. In Ambler the resale certificate is free but requires six inspections including a sewer lateral video, while Whitpain and Blue Bell run no inspection at all, just $40 tax and $50 sewer certifications, and the county’s three smallest boroughs, Rockledge, Bryn Athyn, and West Conshohocken, span the full range from a designated electrical agency that inspects first to no resale permit at all. In Bridgeport, the borough bans fuses on the main panel and requires 100-amp service by ordinance, and in Upper Frederick the $100 inspection is pass or fail and arrives with contractor certificates and a three-year septic receipt. If you are in one of these municipalities, read the specific guide before you set a settlement date.
County resources worth knowing
The Montgomery County Office of Aging Services (1-800-734-2020, Norristown) provides care management, in-home supports, meal programs, caregiver resources, and free Medicare counseling for residents 60 and older. Pennsylvania’s Property Tax/Rent Rebate pays up to $1,000 a year to income-eligible residents 65 and older, homeowners and renters alike; see our PTRR guide for the income rules most people get wrong. And when you are ready to put a number on the current house, a free valuation makes every downstream decision easier.