Devon and Berwyn sit on the Easttown side of the Main Line, Tredyffrin/Easttown schools, the Devon Horse Show grounds, and some of Chester County’s most durable property values. The township adds almost no friction at resale: no inspection, no transfer certificate, just two $50 payment certifications and a firm rule that old permits get closed before occupancy paperwork moves.
The Devon and Berwyn seller picture
Buyers here are buying the school district and the rail line, and they arrive well-advised: thorough inspectors, stucco specialists on 1990s-2000s construction, radon tests as a matter of course. Sellers skew long-tenured with substantial gains, which makes the tax math below worth actually running rather than assuming away.
What Easttown actually requires
The township’s own FAQ and fee schedule define the short list:
- No resale CO: certificates of occupancy attach to building projects that require permits, not to home sales.
- Payment certifications: sewer and trash, $50 per parcel each, ordered for settlement; tax certification runs through the Chester County Treasurer.
- Zoning letter: a $100 zoning compliance or determination letter, when a lender or buyer wants one.
Open permits, the real gate
Easttown’s leverage lives in its permit files. The township will not release occupancy paperwork on a permitted project until every permit fee and township consultant fee is paid in full, and a temporary or conditional CO on an unfinished project requires a $10,000 escrow deposit. None of that touches a clean resale, but a kitchen or addition that never got its final inspection turns into a title exception with invoices attached.
The Pennsylvania money
The realty transfer tax runs 2% total, customarily split, so the seller’s half on an $850,000 sale is $8,500. Pennsylvania withholds nothing at settlement, and the federal exclusion, $250,000 single or $500,000 married, is a threshold long-tenured Easttown owners genuinely exceed; documenting decades of improvements against basis is real money here. The home-sale tax guide explains what counts, and the cost-to-sell guide covers the rest.
Where downsizers here go
Easttown downsizers look at the Main Line condo stock from Berwyn through Wayne, the continuing care campuses along the Route 30 and 252 corridors, and the options in Tredyffrin and Newtown Square next door. The Chester County downsizing guide maps the wider set, and the sequencing guide handles the order.
Getting started
The Easttown order: a free valuation that prices the T/E premium street by street, the permit history pulled and cleared, the buyer-side failure points, stucco, radon, aging systems, addressed before listing, and the $50 certifications ordered at contract. The complete downsizing guide takes it from there.