Parkesburg sits at Chester County’s western edge with a train station, an entry-level price map, and a resale ordinance with unusually plain intentions. Ordinance 528 requires a use and occupancy permit at the sale of any property and an obligation to bring the property into code compliance, priced at $150 plus the $50 administration fee every borough permit has carried since mid-2025.
The Parkesburg seller picture
Sellers here own the county’s most affordable housing stock, and the buyer pool is wider than outsiders assume: first-time buyers priced out of Downingtown and Exton, Keystone Line commuters, and investors working the rental market. The borough’s process is the most defined part of the sale, and its published criteria make it one of the most predictable.
The $200 process
- 01Register and pay $150 for the use and occupancy permit and initial inspection, per the borough’s codes page, plus the $50 administration fee applied to all permits since July 17, 2025.
- 02Pass once. A failed inspection adds a $50 reinspection, a missed appointment adds a $50 no-show fee, and both add days to a calendar that ends at a fixed settlement date.
- 03Fix what the criteria list says. The borough publishes its inspection criteria for exactly this purpose, so the walk-through can happen with the list in hand before the inspector holds it.
The published criteria
The criteria run on the 2009 International Property Maintenance Code, and the smoke detector section is the most specific in western Chester County: working detectors in every bedroom, near the bedrooms, on every floor, and in basements and attics reachable by stairs, mounted on or within six inches of the ceiling, with battery units acceptable in existing homes. Split-level houses get their own placement rules depending on whether a door separates the levels.
The Pennsylvania money
Parkesburg sits at the standard 2% total realty transfer tax, customarily split, so the seller’s half on a $250,000 sale is $2,500. Pennsylvania withholds nothing at settlement, and at borough price points the federal exclusion, $250,000 single, $500,000 married, covers nearly every owner-occupant. The home-sale tax guide and the cost-to-sell guide carry the detail.
Getting started
The Parkesburg order: a free valuation, the criteria list walked room by room, and the registration filed early enough that a reinspection, if one happens, costs $50 instead of a settlement delay. Neighboring Coatesville and Caln run their own processes, the Chester County downsizing guide maps the county, and the sequencing guide settles what to do first.