Marcus Hook and Trainer share the county’s industrial riverfront, a border, and a price band that makes them perennial first-rung markets. Both inspect every sale. Marcus Hook publishes its checklist right on the application, and Trainer writes its rules into the code: certificate before sale, inspection within 30 days, owner or agent standing there when it happens.
The riverfront borough seller picture
The buyer pool is investors working the rental blocks and first-time buyers stretching into ownership at four-figure monthly costs. Rowhomes dominate, tenures run long, and condition varies street by street, which is why both boroughs run resale inspections and why prepared sellers separate cleanly from the rest of the inventory here.
Marcus Hook: the open-book checklist
The borough posts its U&O application with a sample checklist on the permits page:
- The application: filed with the borough before settlement, with the fee paid up front. The April 2025 form lists $100 residential and $75 reinspections; verify current figures when you file.
- The checklist: published with the application, covering smoke detection, egress, plumbing and electrical basics, and exterior maintenance, the standard rowhouse borough list.
- The strategy: an open-book inspection rewards a Saturday walkthrough with the checklist in hand more than any repair budget spent blind.
Trainer: 30 days, and be there
Trainer’s Chapter 101 is unambiguous: no improved property may be sold without a certificate of occupancy, the fee, set by council resolution and posted with the code enforcement forms, is paid at application, and the borough schedules the inspection within 30 days. The owner or the owner’s agent must be present for the visit. If violations turn up, the permit is withheld, the report lists everything, and a corrected house needs a new application and a paid reinspection to finish.
The Pennsylvania money
Both boroughs carry the standard 2% total realty transfer tax, customarily split, so the seller’s half on a $150,000 sale is $1,500. Pennsylvania withholds nothing at settlement, and gains at these price points sit comfortably inside the federal exclusion. The home-sale tax guide and the cost-to-sell guide cover the rest of the settlement sheet.
Where downsizers here go
Downsizers here stay practical: single-floor apartments around Upland and Brookhaven, the 55+ options toward Aston and Boothwyn, and the county-wide picture in the Delaware County downsizing guide. The sequencing guide handles the timing question.
Getting started
The riverfront order: a free valuation built on your block’s actual settlements, the Marcus Hook checklist walked before applying, the Trainer application filed with the 30-day window in mind and someone lined up to be present, and repairs done once, before the first visit. The complete downsizing guide picks it up from there.