Upper Providence Township, the Delaware County one, wraps around Media’s west side with Rose Tree Media schools and wooded lots along the Route 252 corridor. Its resale rule is friendly on the surface, $150 and a published checklist, with one clause that concentrates the mind: fail the inspection for any reason and the reinspection costs the full $150 again, paid before anyone comes back.
The Upper Providence seller picture
Sellers here are often decades-tenured on half-acre lots, and buyers come for Rose Tree Media schools and Media’s downtown five minutes away. The township step is the only municipal gate, it runs through a third-party inspection firm shared with several neighboring municipalities, and the three-week minimum means the calendar starts at agreement of sale, not at the walk-through.
The three-week process
Per the township’s application and fee schedule: submit the application at least three weeks before settlement with the $150 fee, then call the township’s inspection firm to schedule. The application includes a property history survey, detached garages, pools, sheds, current and proposed use, rental status, which the township checks against its own records, so answer it accurately.
The published checklist
- Address numbers: minimum three inches, contrasting background, visible from the street.
- Alarms: smoke alarms on every level and in each sleeping room, CO alarms near sleeping areas.
- Exterior: curbs and sidewalks maintained in acceptable condition, which on older blocks is the item most likely to surprise.
- Mechanicals: water heater and boiler pressure relief valves piped to within six inches of grade.
- Stairs: handrails on flights of four or more risers, guard rails where required.
- The file: open permits closed and violations resolved, neither eligible for conditional approval.
The Pennsylvania money
Upper Providence sits at the standard 2% total realty transfer tax, customarily split, so the seller’s half on a $600,000 sale is $6,000. Pennsylvania withholds nothing at settlement, and the federal exclusion, $250,000 single, $500,000 married, is a live question for long-tenured Rose Tree Media owners. The home-sale tax guide and the cost-to-sell guide carry the detail.
Getting started
The Upper Providence order: a free valuation, the application filed with the property history answered accurately at agreement of sale, the checklist walked room by room, and the curb out front looked at with an inspector’s eye. Neighbors in Nether Providence and Rose Valley run their own processes, the Delaware County downsizing guide maps the county, and the sequencing guide settles the buy-or-sell-first question.