Chester County, Pennsylvania

Hard Money Lenders in Chester County

Fix and flip and fix and hold loans across West Chester, Phoenixville, Downingtown, Coatesville, Kennett Square and every other municipality in the county.

JDM Capital is a Philadelphia based hard money lender funding both fix and flip and fix and hold projects in all 73 municipalities in Chester County. Loans cover purchase and rehab in one facility at up to 100% of cost, with no appraisal required, closing in as little as 7 days and rehab draws funded in as little as 24 hours. Chester County has one city, 15 boroughs and 57 townships, more municipalities than any other county in our footprint, and it is the one where the land itself carries the most rules. Two things change the math here that do not exist in Philadelphia: a county health department that permits your septic and your well, and a preferential farm assessment with a rollback tax attached.

73
Municipalities, all covered
$190,000
Coatesville median, 2025
$190k to $1.1M
Town medians, Coatesville to Easttown
3.5%
Coatesville transfer tax, new for 2026

What are the hard money loan terms in Chester County?

Fifteen terms, and the table below has all of them. Eight are commitments that hold on every deal we write. Seven depend on your specific numbers and get quoted on the call. All fifteen read the same in all 73 municipalities of Chester County as they do everywhere else we lend.

JDM Capital fix and flip loan terms
TermWhat it is
What the loan coversPurchase and rehab in one loan.
Maximum loan to costUp to 100% of cost.
Maximum loan to ARVSet on your deal, against the comps we underwrite to. Send the address and you will have a number the same day.
Loan amountSized to the project. Tell us what you are buying and we will tell you what we can fund.
TermMatched to the scope of work and your exit. We agree it before you sign, so the deadline is one you helped set.
ExtensionsAvailable, and we settle the terms of one before you close. Nobody should be negotiating an extension the week it falls due.
Minimum credit scoreTell us where you stand and you will get a straight answer on the call.
Experience requiredTell us what you have done and we will tell you where that puts you.
Where we lendPhiladelphia, Bucks, Montgomery, Delaware and Chester counties in PA, and Camden, Gloucester and Burlington counties in NJ. All 339 municipalities, with no towns excluded.
Property typesNon owner occupied investment property only. These are business purpose loans.
AppraisalNot required.
Time to closeAs little as 7 days.
Rehab drawsFunded in as little as 24 hours.
Who underwritesIn house. The person who answers your call is the person who approves the loan and wires the money.
Rate and pointsQuoted per deal. Call or text 267-228-3289 and we will price it against your actual numbers.

Scroll the table sideways to see all of it.

Why several rows say to ask us. The numbers that depend on your specific deal get quoted on the call, because a single posted figure would have to be the worst case and would be wrong for most deals. Send us the address, the purchase price and the rehab budget and you will get real numbers from the person who actually approves the loan. Call or text 267-228-3289, email Josh@JDMCapitalLending.com, or send the deal through the form.

Terms are subject to underwriting and approval and are not a commitment to lend. Full detail on fix and flip loans and fix and hold loans.

Coatesville raised its transfer tax, and the city's own website has not caught up

The City of Coatesville charges 3.5% realty transfer tax as of January 1, 2026, against the 2.0% charged across the rest of Chester County. On the city median that is $6,650 instead of $3,800. It is the single most expensive thing to get wrong here right now. The City of Coatesville amended its realty transfer tax by Ordinance No. 1599-2025, adopted October 27, 2025, effective January 1, 2026. The city code now imposes a tax at 2.5% of the value of the real estate. Of that, 2% goes to the City of Coatesville and the balance to any other political subdivision also imposing such a tax, which here is the Coatesville Area School District at 0.5%.

Add the 1% Commonwealth tax and the all in rate is 3.5%. On the city's $190,000 median that is $6,650 instead of the $3,800 that the standard 2.0% would produce. Coatesville is the cheapest municipality in the county and one of the most interesting for rehab, so this matters to exactly the people most likely to be buying there.

The trap is that the City of Coatesville's own taxes page still publishes the pre 2026 split of 1.5% city and 0.5% school district. Do not price a deal from it. The codified ordinance is the authority.

Per Coatesville City Code section 203-32 as amended by Ordinance No. 1599-2025, published at eCode360. Commonwealth rate per the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue.

Tredyffrin Township is the other Chester County municipality we can confirm above the standard rate: 1% township plus 0.5% to the Tredyffrin Easttown School District plus 1% Commonwealth, for 2.5% all in. There is no single published schedule of local transfer tax rates for all 73 Chester County municipalities, so we will not tell you that these two are the only exceptions. Ask your title company to confirm the rate for your specific municipality before you price the deal.

Tredyffrin rates per Tredyffrin Township Finance.

What do properties cost across Chester County?

All 73 municipalities published a 2025 median. On municipalities with solid sale counts the spread runs from Easttown Township at $1,100,000 down to the City of Coatesville at $190,000, a factor of 5.8. Several smaller townships published higher numbers than Easttown, but on sample sizes too thin to trust, and we have printed the sale counts so you can see which is which.

Show the full table, all 73 rows. Median sale price by municipality, calendar 2025, with change from 2024 and the number of sales behind each figure.
Median sale price by municipality, calendar 2025, with change from 2024 and the number of sales behind each figure.
Municipality2025 medianYoYSales
Newlin Township$1,300,000+64.1%9
Easttown Township$1,100,000+31.1%121
West Pikeland Township$932,500+7.8%32
Birmingham Township$895,000+2.0%63
West Marlborough Township$876,000+20.8%4
Thornbury Township$850,000+13.3%39
West Goshen Township$805,932+0.6%280
Wallace Township$791,250+5.5%56
West Vincent Township$787,500+4.7%54
East Nantmeal Township$785,000+10.3%13
Pocopson Township$770,000+3.8%38
Tredyffrin Township$745,000+2.8%403
Charlestown Township$735,000-5.8%83
East Whiteland Township$732,498+12.3%148
Pennsbury Township$725,000-12.5%42
East Bradford Township$719,000+11.5%113
East Marlborough Township$701,000+11.4%91
Upper Uwchlan Township$665,000+2.2%123
Willistown Township$657,000-6.1%161
Kennett Township$650,000+5.5%105
Westtown Township$650,000+2.4%108
Schuylkill Township$650,000+2.5%67
London Britain Township$647,500+2.4%28
Uwchlan Township$645,240+7.5%159
Elk Township$630,000+57.5%8
East Brandywine Township$626,570+17.1%175
New Garden Township$623,050+3.8%94
West Whiteland Township$605,000+14.2%285
Franklin Township$597,000-7.2%39
West Chester Borough$590,000+8.3%141
East Pikeland Township$585,000+18.2%102
Warwick Township$575,000+12.2%21
Honey Brook Township$565,968+0.6%120
New London Township$565,000-1.1%44
East Goshen Township$563,500+16.8%246
London Grove Township$555,000+5.6%57
West Nantmeal Township$552,000+1.8%21
South Coventry Township$547,500+14.7%26
East Vincent Township$540,000+4.5%75
West Bradford Township$539,500+1.8%142
East Nottingham Township$537,760+11.7%95
Londonderry Township$535,000+6.8%33
Lower Oxford Township$499,220+5.0%41
Penn Township$485,000-0.3%56
East Caln Township$470,500-9.9%62
West Brandywine Township$466,500+3.7%81
Malvern Borough$464,950-5.1%44
Atglen Borough$446,895-1.8%34
West Fallowfield Township$445,000+0.3%17
East Coventry Township$442,950-2.6%72
North Coventry Township$439,950+17.3%88
Elverson Borough$432,000+4.7%25
Kennett Square Borough$430,000-10.8%35
Phoenixville Borough$430,000+3.6%269
Upper Oxford Township$430,000-1.1%18
West Caln Township$429,990+5.4%73
East Fallowfield Township$427,000+2.9%85
Sadsbury Township$419,450+11.9%48
Downingtown Borough$414,950+15.3%90
West Sadsbury Township$405,000+4.0%10
Oxford Borough$397,500-5.6%50
Caln Township$371,500-4.7%184
Highland Township$353,000-88.5%5
South Coatesville Borough$344,455+2.8%55
Valley Township$341,344+2.5%160
Spring City Borough$337,500-0.3%34
West Nottingham Township$322,500-4.3%26
West Grove Borough$299,500-17.9%12
Avondale Borough$297,500-13.8%6
Honey Brook Borough$293,000-3.1%16
Parkesburg Borough$290,500-1.5%36
Modena Borough$245,000+248.8%5
City of Coatesville$190,0000.0%95

Scroll the table sideways to see all of it.

Ignore any percentage attached to a small sale count. Modena Borough's 248.8% rise and Highland Township's 88.5% fall both rest on five sales and are arithmetic rather than market movement. West Marlborough Township published on four sales, Avondale Borough on six, Elk Township on eight, Newlin Township on nine. The report itself says areas needed at least ten sales for inclusion, and several rows fall below that. The numbers we would actually underwrite to are the ones with three figure sale counts: Tredyffrin at 403, West Whiteland at 285, West Goshen at 280, Phoenixville at 269 and East Goshen at 246.

Municipal medians from the HomExpert Market Report, the research division of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Fox and Roach, comparing calendar 2025 with 2024, published by Philadelphia Magazine on February 20, 2026.

Who issues your permit in Chester County?

Your municipality. Pennsylvania's Uniform Construction Code is administered locally, and the Department of Labor and Industry reports that over 90% of Pennsylvania municipalities enforce it themselves, either with their own staff or through a third party agency the department has certified.

With 73 municipalities, many small and rural, practice varies more here than anywhere else in the region:

  • Tredyffrin Township runs an in house Permits and Inspections department.
  • East Whiteland Township has its own Codes department, based in Frazer.
  • West Bradford Township combines the roles: one director of planning, zoning and code enforcement who is also the township building code official.
  • West Vincent Township contracts its building code official and inspector to a certified third party agency.
  • Pocopson Township uses contracted specialists for building, zoning and electrical, with the building inspector available Mondays and Thursdays only, and asks for at least fifteen business days to process an application.

That Pocopson detail is the pattern to plan around in rural Chester County. The constraint is usually the inspector's calendar rather than the fee.

What opting out of the code actually means, since it is widely misunderstood

A Pennsylvania municipality can decline to administer the Uniform Construction Code. That does not mean the code stops applying. It means the enforcer changes. In a municipality that has opted out, the Department of Labor and Industry becomes responsible for commercial code enforcement, and for residential work the owner or the contractor must hire a certified third party agency directly. The burden moves onto you. We have not been able to confirm which Chester County municipalities, if any, have opted out, so treat this as a question to ask rather than a claim we are making.

Uniform Construction Code framework and the opt out mechanism per the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry. Individual practice per Tredyffrin, East Whiteland, West Bradford, West Vincent and Pocopson.

The county permits your septic and your well

Two county approvals sit in your critical path on a rural Chester County deal, and neither exists in most of Pennsylvania. Chester is one of a small number of counties with its own health department, and the Chester County Health Department controls two things that will sit in your critical path on a rural deal.

On lot sewage. The department issues permits for individual and small community septic systems and enforces Pennsylvania's Act 537. Percolation testing runs through it, including dual depth percolation tests and the identification of the limiting zone, on the state site investigation and percolation test form. The department publishes a coverage map showing which sewage enforcement officer handles which area.

Private wells. The department permits private water supply wells, geothermal wells and boreholes, and monitoring wells. This one surprises people, because Pennsylvania has no statewide private well construction standard, so in most of the state drilling or replacing a well is not a permitted activity at all. In Chester County it is.

What the health department does not do is rental or housing code inspection. Its own guidance sends tenants to the local building and maintenance code enforcement office and states that it has no authority to intervene in an eviction. So on a fix and hold, the county handles your water and your waste, and the municipality handles everything else.

Per the Chester County Health Department pages on on lot septic systems, wells and well water testing and housing and vector concerns.

Act 319 Clean and Green, and the rollback tax that follows it

This is the biggest hidden liability on a Chester County land deal, and it does not show up on a settlement sheet until it is too late. Property of ten acres or more, or producing $2,000 or more of gross annual agricultural income, can be enrolled in preferential assessment under Act 319. The assessment stays with the property in perpetuity until there is a change in use. When the use changes, the owner who changed it owes rollback tax of up to seven years plus 6% interest compounded annually.

Limited subdivision does not breach it: you may take 10% of the enrolled property for residential purposes, capped at ten acres in total and two acres per year, or separate parcels of ten acres or more provided none is created under ten acres. Applications are only accepted between March 1 and June 1 and every signature must be notarized. Once enrollment is breached, the same owner cannot re-enroll.

If you are buying acreage in the western or southern townships, ask whether it is enrolled before you go under agreement, not after.

Per Chester County Act 319 Clean and Green. Agricultural Security Areas are a separate program, requiring 250 acres assembled from multiple landowners, which restricts eminent domain and protects normal farming activity from municipal nuisance ordinances.

What are the closing costs on a Chester County flip?

Realty transfer tax is 2.0% in most of the county, with the City of Coatesville at 3.5% and Tredyffrin Township at 2.5% as described above. Recording a deed costs $94.75 and a mortgage $94.75, each covering up to four pages, four names, one tract of land and one parcel identifier fee, effective December 1, 2025. Additional pages are $4.00, additional names $1.00 and additional tracts $1.00. The parcel identifier fee is $20.00 per number and is included in those totals.

One Chester County specific cost worth knowing: the Recorder of Deeds charges $25.00 to reject a document for margin, paper or font non compliance, and $10.00 to resubmit one with a deficient parcel identifier, an illegible element or an uncertified grantee address. That is a small number that turns into a lost day, which on a hard money loan is the part that actually costs you.

Worked example, and it is an illustration rather than a past deal

Take a rowhome in the City of Coatesville: $190,000 purchase plus $75,000 rehab, so $265,000 of project cost. At 100% of cost the loan covers both. Transfer tax at the new 3.5% rate on the purchase comes to $6,650, commonly split between buyer and seller by agreement. Recording the deed and the mortgage adds $189.50. The same purchase at the standard 2.0% would have carried $3,800 of transfer tax, so the 2026 ordinance costs this deal $2,850. Your permit goes to the city, and your septic and well, if there are any, go to the county.

Recording fees per the Chester County Recorder of Deeds, schedule effective December 1, 2025.

All 73 municipalities

Where we lend in Chester County

Every city, borough and township, grouped the way the county actually works. Chester County runs from Main Line estates to working boroughs to mushroom farms inside about forty miles, and the deal you can do changes completely along the way.

The Main Line and the Great Valley

The eastern edge of the county and its highest prices, on the largest sale counts. We lend in Tredyffrin Township, Easttown Township, Willistown Township, East Whiteland Township, Charlestown Township and Malvern Borough. Tredyffrin did 403 sales in 2025, the highest count in the county, and charges 2.5% transfer tax rather than the standard 2.0%. Easttown posted an $1,100,000 median. Paoli, Berwyn, Devon, Frazer and Chesterbrook are all addresses in this group rather than municipalities.

The Route 30 corridor, Exton to Downingtown

Post 1970 subdivision and townhouse stock alongside older borough rowhomes, and the highest volume corridor in the county after the Main Line. We lend in West Whiteland Township, Uwchlan Township, Upper Uwchlan Township, East Caln Township, Caln Township, Downingtown Borough and East Brandywine Township. Exton is West Whiteland, Lionville is Uwchlan, Eagleview is Uwchlan and Thorndale is Caln. Caln Township at a $371,500 median on 184 sales is the value end of this corridor.

Phoenixville and the northern Schuylkill

Mill town twins and Victorians in the boroughs, larger detached stock in the townships, and the part of the county that has re rated fastest over the last decade. We lend in Phoenixville Borough, Schuylkill Township, East Pikeland Township, East Vincent Township, East Coventry Township, North Coventry Township, South Coventry Township and Spring City Borough. Phoenixville did 269 sales at a $430,000 median. Kimberton is East Pikeland.

The northern uplands and French Creek

Farmhouses, converted barns and low density custom builds, most of it on well and septic and therefore in front of the county health department. We lend in West Pikeland Township, West Vincent Township, East Nantmeal Township, West Nantmeal Township, Wallace Township, Warwick Township, Elverson Borough, Honey Brook Township and Honey Brook Borough. Note that Honey Brook is both a township and a separate borough inside it, with two governments and a $273,000 gap in their medians. Chester Springs and Glenmoore are postal names covering several of these townships at once.

West Chester and the center of the county

The county seat, its student rentals and its ring of township colonials. We lend in West Chester Borough, West Goshen Township, East Goshen Township, East Bradford Township, Westtown Township, Thornbury Township and Birmingham Township. West Goshen at $805,932 across 280 sales is the largest high priced market in the county. Be careful with Thornbury: there is a Thornbury Township in Delaware County immediately adjacent, and a Cheyney or Glen Mills address can be in either.

The Brandywine and Unionville

Horse country, large lots and the heaviest conservation easement coverage in the region. We lend in West Bradford Township, Newlin Township, Pocopson Township, Pennsbury Township, East Marlborough Township and West Marlborough Township. Newlin and West Marlborough turn over fewer than ten homes a year between them in some years, so treat their published medians as curiosities rather than comps. Marshallton is West Bradford, Unionville is East Marlborough, and a Chadds Ford address here is Pennsbury Township rather than the Chadds Ford Township across the line in Delaware County. Any parcel in this corridor deserves a title search for a recorded conservation easement before you underwrite an expansion or a subdivision.

Southern Chester County and mushroom country

Seventeen municipalities, the widest internal spread in the county, and dense borough stock sitting directly beside farmland and mushroom operations. We lend in Kennett Township, Kennett Square Borough, New Garden Township, Avondale Borough, London Grove Township, West Grove Borough, Penn Township, Franklin Township, London Britain Township, New London Township, Londonderry Township, Elk Township, East Nottingham Township, West Nottingham Township, Lower Oxford Township, Upper Oxford Township and Oxford Borough. Kennett Township at $650,000 and Avondale Borough at $297,500 are less than four miles apart. Toughkenamon is New Garden, Landenberg spans New Garden, London Britain and Franklin, and Lincoln University is Lower Oxford. The southern edge of this group runs to the Maryland and Delaware state lines.

Coatesville and the western Route 30 corridor

The county's only city and its cheapest stock, in a county where everything else is expensive. We lend in the City of Coatesville, South Coatesville Borough, Modena Borough, Valley Township, West Brandywine Township, West Caln Township, East Fallowfield Township, West Fallowfield Township, Sadsbury Township, West Sadsbury Township, Parkesburg Borough, Atglen Borough and Highland Township. Coatesville held a $190,000 median across 95 sales in 2025, flat year over year, which is the clearest rehab arbitrage in the four Pennsylvania suburban counties. It is also, as of January 1, 2026, the most expensive place in the county to transfer a deed. Both of those things are true at once and you should price for both. Sadsburyville is Sadsbury Township and Wagontown is West Caln.

Chester County place names that are not municipalities

Chester County has 73 governments and a great many more place names, because most of the county was farmland with named crossroads long before it had subdivisions. None of the names in the left column issues a permit.

Common Chester County addresses and the municipality that actually has jurisdiction.
If your address saysYour municipality is
ExtonWest Whiteland Township
Lionville, EagleviewUwchlan Township
EagleUpper Uwchlan Township
ThorndaleCaln Township
PaoliTredyffrin Township, reaching into Willistown and East Whiteland
ChesterbrookTredyffrin Township
Berwyn, DevonEasttown Township, reaching into Tredyffrin Township
FrazerEast Whiteland Township
Chester SpringsWest Pikeland, West Vincent, Upper Uwchlan and Wallace Townships
GlenmooreWallace, West Nantmeal, East Nantmeal and West Brandywine Townships
KimbertonEast Pikeland Township
MarshalltonWest Bradford Township
UnionvilleEast Marlborough Township
Chadds FordPennsbury Township here, and Chadds Ford Township in Delaware County
MendenhallPennsbury Township
CheyneyThornbury Township here, and Thornbury Township in Delaware County
ToughkenamonNew Garden Township
LandenbergNew Garden, London Britain and Franklin Townships
Lincoln UniversityLower Oxford Township
NottinghamWest Nottingham Township
CochranvilleWest Fallowfield and Londonderry Townships
SadsburyvilleSadsbury Township
WagontownWest Caln Township
Pocopson, Westtown, Birmingham, Elverson, AtglenThese are municipalities in their own right, despite sounding like villages

Scroll the table sideways to see all of it.

If your address is not on this list, call the township before you go under agreement. In a county with 57 townships and 15 boroughs, the mailing address is the least reliable piece of information on the listing.

We also lend across every county line

JDM Capital is a direct hard money lender in Chester County PA, funding fix and flip and fix and hold projects in all 73 municipalities. East of Tredyffrin and Easttown is hard money lenders in Montgomery County, which charges a flat 2.0% transfer tax with no exceptions we could find. South east of Thornbury and Pennsbury is hard money lenders in Delaware County, where four municipalities charge above the standard rate. Further east again is hard money lender in Philadelphia at 4.578%. See where we lend for the full picture.

Questions

Chester County hard money questions

How fast can a hard money lender close in Chester County?

We close in as little as 7 days across all 73 municipalities, and rehab draws fund in as little as 24 hours after inspection. Speed comes from two things: we do not require an appraisal, and the person who approves your loan works here rather than at a credit committee you will never speak to. What can slow a closing down is almost always municipal, so read the permit and inspection sections above before you set a settlement date.

What does a hard money loan cost in Chester County?

Rate and points are quoted per deal rather than posted, because they move with your leverage, your exit and the property. What we can tell you before you call is the part of the cost that is not ours: realty transfer tax here is 2.0% in most of the county, plus recording fees, and those are the same whichever lender you use. Send the address, the purchase price and the rehab budget and you will get real numbers.

How many municipalities are in Chester County?

Seventy three. One city, which is Coatesville, plus 15 boroughs and 57 townships. That is more separate governments than any other county in our footprint, and we lend in every one of them.

What is the transfer tax in Coatesville?

3.5% all in as of January 1, 2026, being 2% to the city, 0.5% to the Coatesville Area School District and 1% to the Commonwealth. It was raised by Ordinance No. 1599-2025, adopted October 27, 2025. The city's own taxes page still shows the old 1.5% city rate, so price from the codified ordinance rather than the website.

Do you lend in Coatesville?

Yes, and it is one of the more interesting markets we cover. A $190,000 median across 95 sales in 2025, flat year over year, in a county where the next cheapest municipality is $245,000 and most are above $400,000. Just budget the 3.5% transfer tax rather than the 2.0% you would pay almost anywhere else in the county.

Does the county have to approve my septic system?

Yes. The Chester County Health Department issues on lot sewage permits and runs percolation testing under Act 537. It also permits private water supply wells, geothermal wells and boreholes, which catches people out because most of Pennsylvania has no well permit at all. On a rural deal both of those belong in your timeline before you go under agreement.

What is the rollback tax on Clean and Green land?

Up to seven years of the tax you would have paid without the preferential assessment, plus 6% interest compounded annually, payable by the owner who changes the use. Enrollment under Act 319 runs with the property in perpetuity until that happens. Limited subdivision is allowed without breaching it, capped at 10% of the enrolled property, ten acres in total and two acres per year. Ask whether a parcel is enrolled before you buy acreage in this county.

Which township is Exton in?

West Whiteland Township. Exton is a postal name with no government of its own. The same applies to Lionville in Uwchlan, Thorndale in Caln, Paoli in Tredyffrin and Chester Springs, which is spread across four separate townships.

Do you lend on rentals in Chester County?

Both flips and rentals, roughly evenly. If you are keeping the property, that is a fix and hold loan. Worth knowing for landlords here: the county health department explicitly does not handle rental or housing code inspection, so that runs through your municipality. We do not offer DSCR loans, so line up your permanent lender before you close with us.

Send us your Chester County deal

Address, purchase price, rehab budget and your timeline is enough to get a real answer.

Call 267-228-3289 Apply Now