Archives for October 2013

SEPTA Study Examines Impact Of Rail Stations On Home Values

October 25, 2013 by admin

Wallingford PA Real Estate - Wallingford PA - SEPTA Syudy Indicates Homes Near Regional Rail Staions Have An Increase In Value

Regional Rail Access Increases Home Values According To SEPTA

Prior to the announcement of it’s Service Realignment Plan, also known as the Doomsday Plan, SEPTA commissioned a study to research the financial impact of regional rail service on home values.

The study concluded that on average homes near SEPTA Regional rail lines in Delaware, Bucks, Montgomery, and Chester counties saw an increase in value of $7,900. Homes located near a station with frequent service and capacity for more than 100 cars in it’s parking lot have an increase in value of 10%, while a station with infrequent service and low parking capacity the value amounts to a 4% increase. Service availability was seen as the key factor in larger value increases.

Wallingford PA Real Estate – Wallingford, Pa 19086

Did Anyone Die In This House?

October 24, 2013 by admin

Wallingford PA Real Estate - Wallingford PA - Web Site Determines If Someone Died In Your Home

Do You Want To Find Out If Anybody Died In Your Home?

If you are concerned about whether or not there has been a death in the home you are planning to buy there is a web site that will provide that information for you, for a fee of course.

Didedinhouse.com searches public record databases and determines who used to live at a requested address, and whether or not they are still living and if not did they die in the home.

Some home buyers are particularly concerned about knowing if there has been a death in a home, and it might have a bearing on whether or not they buy a particular property. Under current Pennsylvania real estate disclosure law a person’s demise in a home is not considered a material defect, and thus does not have to be disclosed by a seller. So it is a case of buyer beware…..of possible ghosts!

If knowing whether or not someone has died in a particular interest to you, there is an associated scary fact – the charge is $11.99 to search for the information.

My suggestion is to just ask the neighbors, they always know everything.

Wallingford PA Real Estate – Wallingford, PA 19086

School Property Tax Reform Stalls In Harrisburg

October 23, 2013 by admin

Wallingford PA Real Estate - Wallingford PA - Senate Bill 76 Would Reform School Funding

Bill 76 Proposes Sweeping Changes In School Funding

For decades the debate over the fairness and equality of the over hundred year old system of property taxes and school funding has been waged. The recent vote in Harrisburg on Pennsylvania House and Senate Bills 76 sought to revamp the funding of public schools. Statewide, school districts reply on property taxes for approximately 70% of their funding.

To replace the approximately $10.6 billion of school property taxes being collected the bill proposed two major new funding mechanisms:

– The increase in the state’s personal income tax rate from 3.07% to 4.34%

– Raising the sales tax from 6% to 7%

– Inclusion of some items that currently have non taxable status

The bill was soundly defeated earlier this month in the State House Of Representatives, while a companion bill HB 1189, which gives school districts multiple local options for shifting their property tax sources was passed. Another bill directly aimed at senior property tax relief, SB 299, is also being touted.

The good news is that the issue of school tax property reform is being debated in Harrisburg at all. It has been a hot issue for many years, but one in dire need of discussion.

The benefits of meaningful school property tax reform are wide reaching:

– It is estimated that reform as proposed in SB 76 could raise real estate values as much as 10% statewide

– Senior citizens on fixed incomes would see a drastic reduction in taxes

– Communities with historically high school property taxes, such as Wallingford, would become more affordable to home buyers

– Buyer closing costs would be reduced substantially

– Working homeowners would see an overall tax cut. Despite an increase in federal tax, due to lower itemized deductions of school property taxes, and increases in sales tax and state income tax, the overall tax burden is offset by the elimination of school property taxes. Disposable income would hence increase.

While efforts for tax reform may have stalled out for now in Harrisburg these recent attempts to revamp the status quo have brought the issue out in the open again.

The Pennsylvania Association Of Realtors, PAR is a supporter of this proposed legislation and hosts a web site regarding SB 76. Here you can Email your local representatives with your comments, and learn more about the school property tax reform effort.

Wallingford PA Real Estate – Wallingford, PA 19086

SEPTA Doomsday Plan Calls For End Of Media-Elwyn Rail Service

October 21, 2013 by admin

Wallingford PA Real Estate - Wallingford PA - R3 Train And Wallingford Station

Will The R3 Train Continue Pulling Into Wallingford Station?

Can you imagine the end of local rail service? What impact would such a move have on local commuters, and what would be the negative impact on housing values in our community?

The suspension of the Media-Elwyn regional rail line in 2015 is called for in the SEPTA’s appropriately labeled doomsday plan.

Amid it’s highest ridership in a quarter-century, and it’s highest Regional Rail ridership ever, SEPTA has recently unveiled a plan to eliminate nine of its 13 rail lines and shorten two others, close a subway line, and convert trolley routes to bus lines if the state doesn’t come up with more money for public transit this year. This “service realignment” plan would begin next year, and service cuts would continue until 2023.

Deteriorating railroad infrastructure, inherited by SEPTA from the Pennsylvania Railroad and the Reading Company, are the biggest drivers of SEPTA’s maintenance funding gap. So the ax will fall hardest through service cuts on Regional Rail passengers.

Regional rail infrastructure problems have been center stage locally with the closure on two consecutive Sundays of the Crum Creek rail bridge between Swarthmore and Wallingford. The bridge, originally built in 1895, required $100,000 in emergency repairs. There are also issues with 3 other Media-Elwyn rail bridges that span the Ridley, Darby, and Cobbs creeks.

The state legislature is wrangling over how much to provide for public transit, how much to increase gas taxes and motorist fees, and linking transportation to efforts to privatize the state liquor business. Failure to adequately fund public transit could trigger the doomsday plan.

Wallingford PA Real Estate – Wallingford, PA 19086

Pennsylvania Housing Markets Gaining Statewide

October 20, 2013 by admin

Wallingford PA Real Estate - Wallingford PA - Pennsylvania Housing Market Is Recovering

Statewide The Housing Market Is Recovering

According to a recent Pennsylvania Association of Realtors® (PAR) market analysis report, the housing market across the state of Pennsylvania is showing signs of bouncing back from the housing slump. Closed sales were up 15 percent and new listings rose 12 percent in the third quarter of 2013 over the same quarter a year ago. The statistics are based on MLS data reported to PAR.

This trend is surpassed in the Wallingford PA market with closed sales increasing 41.9% in the 3rd quarter of 2013 over the same quarter 2012.

Across the Commonwealth median sale prices were up slightly with a 3 percent rise to $185,000 in the third quarter this year compared to the third quarter in 2012. Days on market continued to drop, down 14 percent to 80 days in the 3rd quarter, compared to the 3rd quarter 2012.

Pressured by rising interest rates and higher home prices the housing affordability index has fallen nearly 10 percent compared to the third quarter last year with the affordability index in the third quarter is at 165. An index of 120 means the median household income is 120 percent of what is necessary to qualify for the median-priced home under prevailing interest rates. A higher number means greater affordability.

Wallingford PA Real Estate – Wallingford, PA 19086

Archives for October 2013

S. Clark Kendus