Town By Town: In a borough of 'just the basics,' opportunity, too

One in a continuing series spotlighting real estate markets in the region's communities.

Before we pull into Parkesburg on Amtrak's Keystone Service to Harrisburg, here's a trivia question:

In what movie did this Chester County borough's train station play a small, but important, role?

The answer: Witness (1985). It is there that Amish passengers Rachel Lapp and her son, Samuel, begin an ill-fated train trip to Philadelphia, where the boy witnesses a murder.

Although the station is closed, 49,000 travelers a year park in its lot and wait on its sheltered platform for one of the 26 trains that travel daily back and forth from Harrisburg to New York City.

Discussions have resumed to get the brick station on Maple Street up and running again, much like those in Coatesville and Downingtown. Accessibility to employment centers - both by public transit and highway - is key to the health of the real estate market in Parkesburg, as well as adjacent areas of Chester and Lancaster Counties.

"There's not too much here," says Weichert Realtors agent Kristina Platt Tainan, "just the basics - a couple of convenience stores and restaurants, a post office, and Bell's Delite" on Church Street, where you can top off an egg salad sandwich with a banana split during the warmer months.

That may be changing. Renewed interest in station improvements - transit has been a driver of economic revival in other Pennsylvania boroughs - is coupled with the recent opening of Victory Brewing Co.'s second brewery, a 140,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art facility on 42 acres here that company officials say will have capacity to brew 225,000 barrels annually.

In Parkesburg, housing prices spell affordability, with the range from $150,000 to $300,000, and "nothing much above," Tainan says.

"It's a nice rural town, with lots of longtime homeowners, so there isn't much for sale," she says. Currently, there are 41 active listings.

Demand for what is for sale is brisk, however, with days on market averaging less than two months, Tainan says.

Sale price is 94 percent of list price, she says - comparable to many other affordable markets in the eight-county Philadelphia region.

There's a mix of old and new here, says Berkshire Hathaway Home Services Fox & Roach Realtors agent Richard Kramer. Twins that average "around 80 to 100 years old" have been selling recently for $86,000 to $179,900, he notes.

The 19 detached homes that sold in the last six months ranged in price from $48,000 to $257,000, says Kramer, who has lived five miles up the road in Coatesville all his life.

"It would be hard to get a much higher price," he says, noting that a house in Parkesburg that sold for $257,000 "would go for much, much more in West Chester, for example."

Seven of the 28 houses (all styles) that sold in the last six months went for less than $100,000, with most of the rest selling for $200,000 to $300,000, says Tainan, who grew up in Delaware County.

As in many older communities, age and condition determine sale price. Kramer, who specializes in distressed housing, says the $179,900 twin home must have been in excellent condition.

He handles foreclosure sales for the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. and says he last dealt with a bank-owned property in Parkesburg about five years ago.

"That doesn't mean that other agents aren't handling them," Kramer says, "but generally, the market is stable and a slight increase in value is apparent compared with a few years ago."

Low prices have attracted investors, Kramer says, and there are a lot of rentals, including Section 8 housing, in Parkesburg.

Affordability also is luring younger buyers with families, says Tainan, especially to Parkesburg Knoll, a community of single-family homes on Seventh and Eighth Avenues built by Rouse Chamberlin and Chetty Builders.

Parkesburg Knoll has been under construction for seven or eight years, she says, and there are few lots left, but the houses there are commanding higher prices because they are new and larger. Chetty is building homes of three to six bedrooms.

Houses under 20 years old, especially ranchers, also are commanding higher prices, she says.

Rouse Chamberlin's price range is $189,900 to $259,900, while Chetty's houses sell for $199,900 to $254,900, according to the builders.

Parkesburg's rural location makes buyers eligible for U.S. Department of Agriculture-backed mortgages, according to Rouse Chamberlin.

The biggest drag on real estate here, agents say, is high property taxes, mostly those needed to support the Octorara Area School District, which serves Parkesburg and seven other towns in Chester and Lancaster Counties.

"Newer homes have taxes in the $6,000- and $7,000-a-year range, and older homes - 30 to 50 years - have annual bills of $4,000 and $5,000," Tainan says. "There's just not enough of a diversified tax base to ease that burden."

Rick Evans, of Re/Max Preferred, says the school district's taxes are the highest in Chester County.

You "almost have to give the properties away to sell them," Evans says. "I am not taking any more listings unless I can appeal taxes during marketing."

Parkesburg By the Numbers

Population: 3,593 (2010).

Median income: $44,934 (2010).

Area: 1.2 square miles.

Settlements in the last three months: 13.

Homes for sale: 42.

Days on market: 58.

Median price: $151,500.

Housing stock: 1,506 units, older twins and singles; new single detached.

School district: Octorara Area.

SOURCES: U.S. Census Bureau; City-Data.com; Borough of Parkesburg; Kristina Platt Tainan, Weichert Realtors; Berkshire Hathaway Home Services Fox & Roach HomExpert Market Report

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