Howard Urbine

I have been a buyer for years before becoming an agent myself and currently have 12 units in Chester County. Having been there myself, I know what it takes for a property to be appealing and the pitfalls that can bog down a new investor. I would be happy to speak to you to see if I can be of service. I even have 3 multi unit properties listed right now. I look forward to hearing from you. - Yesterday, 14:16

Myke, I can only regurgitate what I am told and the Epa allows states to be certified with their own programs at a state level with the epa's approval. PA has such a program and they do not regulate residential tanks unless there is a release. The state told me this and also told me that local townships, municipalities or fire marsals may have local rules to follow but not on a state or national level. I heard the same thing from contractors doing removals. Perhaps they are wrong and I have been misinformed, but I can only make a tried and true effort to find what is right and follow it. Everyone gave the same answer, and I am not going to rock the boat and keep digging for someone to say no. There was a similar issue with asbestos removal and there were no national, state, county, or local regulations in my area for removal from 3 units or less done by the owner and they didn't care what type it was. A bit suprising. - Thu May 22 2008, 11:09

What heat a home has would not concern me too much as they can be switched fairly easily. I am sure the other answer in Nevada that said the system had to be managed was area specific for a much more strict place than PA. According to HVAC contractors, It is not that PA will never get really strict, it is just that they are not now. Systems get swapped from one source to another with little more than a quick rip out and replacement. If there is an underground oil leak, that may be a little different. I usually tell people with residential underground tanks to remove them now while there are no residential regulations so they will mimimize headaches in the future should laws change. Home price changes are hard to guess. I do know that homes in West Chester are still selling like hotcakes. One of my mothers clients has lost 5 homes in a row to other buyers in the past 3-4 weeks in WC. In my opinion, places like West Chester may see an increase in demand as fewer people are willing to venture farther out because of gas prices. Long ago, city centers were the hubs of society and as transportation became cheap and easy, people moved farther and farther out. Now we could see a little bit of the opposite. As far as renting, I am a landlord so I love renters, but personally it goes against my grain. I prefer to sign a stack of papers and have someone else buy me a house rather than the other way around. It could benefit you if prices drop, but if they don't, you are a year farther behind and you will be asking yourself if you should wait just one more year for that price drop, then another...... I think a lot of people have been waiting for a couple of years already, some kicking themselves for not just buying when borrowing was easy. Who knows, in a year you may be wishing you had bought when rates were lower or that house you really loved was for sale. - Thu May 22 2008, 08:15

Hello Steven,
10 years ago that was an easier answer. I paid .599 per gallon for heating oil, yes 60 cents per gallon. Now oil is around $4 per gallon. It was cheaper to heat with oil than electric. Now oil is up 666% and it doens't seem electric has gone up 666% or even close to it. At some point electric has to be cheaper. I have not crunched the numbers but I would guess it may be cheaper with electric. True electric is electric baseboard or maybe radiant in the ceiling or floors, but some think of heat pump as electric heat which it isn't but it could have electric elements as a back up for really cold days. The main benefit of electric heat is each room is zoned individually so you can heat some areas less, saving energy.

It seems every year you see at least one home on the news that explodes due to a gas leak. The odds are extremely low but still there. Have you ever heard of a home with oil or electric heat blowing up, I have not. All heating systems have some risk of fire as they all use electric or flame in some fashion.

If I were looking for a home today, I would be looking for one with a cental ducted system so that I could hook in geothermal. Geothermal, similar to a heat pump does not create heat. Geothermal gathers heat from the ground. Because you are not using energy to create heat, it is much cheaper to opperate. It uses energy to transfer existing heat either to your home in the winter or away in the summer. Imagine your A/C in the summer. It is trying to disperse heat from your home into air that is 90+ degrees, now imagine a geothermal trying to disperse heat into the ground which is close to 50 degrees. The same happens in the winter. A heat pump is trying to pull heat out of air that is 32 or lower. It doesn't work well so the electric elements kick in. geothermal is pulling heat out of the steady ground temp in the 50 degree range, very easy to do.

If you are worried about heat right now, you should be worried for the future. Oil and gas are fading fast, very expensive and rising. I don't see us hitting a new oil well and solving all our energy problems. Electric is not totally tied to gas and oil. There is much potential for wind, hydroelectric, solar, nuclear etc. These sources are renewable so the supply and demand should not be as volitile as for fossil fuels once they come online. Hope that helps. - Sat May 17 2008, 07:50

Hello Ann,

Here are some quick stats I pulled off of the MLS. All were 3 bedroom, 2.5 bath. Average days on the market is 71, but that can be fudged by realtors pulling and relisting the home. There were 14 units that sold in the past 6 months.

Avgerage of all 14 that sold in the last 6 months in Kennett School District $338,321--- Highest $454,438--- Lowest $217,000. That is quite a range in price and it covers units from 1400 to 2700 square feet, new construction and existing.

There are currently 31 on the market that meet these same criteria so basic math shows at least a years supply.

In the period from 6-12 months ago, 27 units sold with a low of $200,000 and a high of $460,310. The average was $295,882. Average days on the market was 74.

From 12 to 18 months ago, 22 units sold with a low of $185,500, a high of $485,000 and an average of $287,185 and an average days on market of 76.

So sales volume is down, price is up on the low end, down on the high but average is up. Days on the market for sold properties appear to remain similar on the surface. I think prices will continue as we have seen, what is selling is the best value. There are so many to choose from, only the best sell fast. Cheapest for the condition or best for the price however you want to look at it.

I see this same trend all around this area and even on detached homes. The lower price range is doing fine, the higher has suffered more but not like we see on the news nationally. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask. - Tue Apr 22 2008, 08:17

Hello Justin, To answer your question more completely I will give you some basics. This lot is owned by the realtor listing it. He works with a builder, Paul Lance from the Strasburg area. This home has not been built yet so it is listed twice at this time, once with a proposed $229,900 bilevel home with 1040 Sq. ft., 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. The other listing is a proposed 299,900 2 story home with 2100 Sq. ft., 4 bedrooms and 2.5 bathrooms. He may list it one or more additional times with other size and priced homes. I know he has it priced out with two other proposed homes at this time, but they are not listed yet. The buyer may bring their own plans or use one of the builders. To put things in perspective, a lot in this general area (and most surrounding areas) will go for $100k and up and you should have an acre or more for on site septic which is what you will get unless you are in a town. Lots under 100k are in a swamp, on a steep slope, under power lines or requiring a sand mound septic. Baltimore has little if any impact on the southern Lancaster and Chester County markets. What doe affect Southern Lancaster County is perhaps in this order, Chester County, Cecil County MD, Delaware County and New Castle County DE. In southern Lancaster County, the real draw is Solanco School District and its low taxes compared to neighboring school districts. It is lower because they have not allowed subdivision after subdivision to flood the area with children that are expensive to educate. It is a good school district, I live here myself and love it for all the reasons it is sought after, taxes around 1/2 of chester county, cheaper car insurance, cheaper electric, and less crowding. It is still close to all the crowded areas so you can enjoy them and then go home. That being said, prices are not low and will not be low. While much of the country has suffered, this and surrounding areas have not suffered on the same scale. The question you face is how much home can I get for 200k as a lot will be around 100K. Sure all the nice things will be available on a smaller home but in a large home they will not. If you have any more questions, feel free to ask. There is plenty more to talk about if you are considering a home in this area. - Sun Mar 30 2008, 09:31