Talking Chester County

Daylight savings time ends on the first Sunday of November every year now. This year it’s ending this coming Sunday, November 1 at 2am local time. Be sure to roll your clock back an hour (spring forward, fall back).

I know I’ll enjoy the somewhat brighter mornings to wake up too. Alas, it will get darker earlier. Can’t win them all.

Photo Credit from simpologist

Related posts:

1. New Housing Bill signed

Sorry, for the delay, but finally had a chance to sit down and run the numbers for September. Here’s the latest statistics for September, 2009 in Chester County. First the graph:

Looking at the numbers and the slides located below, both median and average prices in September dropped 17% versus the same time in September, 2007. I added trend lines to help illustrate what prices have been doing. As you can see we had gradual rise and then drop through 2008. Over the last few months it appears to be trending upwards, or at the very least somewhat level.

Price, however isn’t the whole picture and as you can see, in the other two slides that inventory is has come gone up slightly along with a drop in new listings. Under contracts, compared to 2 years ago, has definitely risen, and this has been a general trend since the beginning of the year. Compared to August, they were up as well while new listings stayed the same. So what did this do to the absorption rate? Well, it went down a bit to 8 months of inventory. I’m sure the first time credit helped with the increase and helped some people who were waiting.

Speaking of the first time credit, there is a VERY small window (currently) to find, purchase and settle on a home by November 30. No one’s sure if and in what form the first time credit could or could not become. As I’ve stated before, if there’s an issue on November 30, you could lose out. So that means the number of days is even shorter. Especially, with Thanksgiving coming.

Back to the statistics though. If you would like these statistics for a township, zip code or in another form, just contact me. I’ll be happy to help.

Here is even more data along with the trend lines I discussed above.

Related posts:

1. Chester County Statistics for August 2009
2. Chester County Statistics for July 2009
3. West Chester Statistics for September, 2008

The surgeon general has classified radon as the number 2 cause of lung cancer in the U.S. The current acceptable radon level has be 4.0 pCL/l since 1988. That number was recently reduced 48% by WHO, the World Health Organization, to 2.7 pCL/l according to this press release. Looking at the national map shows that there are currently 3 zones across the country, with PA and the Chester County area being one of the high potential zones (see the PA picture). This may be reduced to 2 looking at the EPA numbers.

From the release:

The World Health Organization has released their Handbook on Indoor Radon which strongly validates the worldwide threat of exposure to radon gas. According to handbook, WHO has been studying the effects of radon exposure since 1979. Although radon was classified as a human carcinogen in 1988, it took over 20-years of sound research and real-life studies from all over the world to confirm the true magnitude of the risk radon poses. Based on the results of these studies, WHO now suggests that homeowners take action when radon levels exceed 2.7 pCi/l. This is a much more conservative figure than the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA’s) action level of 4.0 pCi/l, which has been the U.S. standard for over 20-years.

It is fairly common to get some level of radon in this area. Those people who choose to test usually spend around $100-120. The bill for radon remediation can run upwards from $900 depending on various factors (house size, system size, etc.). Not huge compared to other issues that can be found, but certainly a potential unexpected expense. According to the release, levels can be reduced using current technology for this new level.

We have NOT been told to change our current level of 4.0 in PA, yet. I do understand that it will be changed to align with WHO. How soon? I don’t know yet, but when I do I’ll be sure to post an update.

No related posts.