Town by Town: In Thornbury, suburban charm, family focus

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

Some people use the terms Glen Mills and Thornbury Township - the one in Delaware County - interchangeably.

Inaccurately, too: A good portion of the township is in the Thornton zip code, 19373. (Thornton is a historic section of Thornbury Township.)

Plus, the Glen Mills zip code, 19342, covers five other townships including Thornbury Township, Chester County, as well as the Borough of Chester Heights.

"Having a Glen Mills address means that they deliver your mail," says Gloriann Ellis, a Weichert agent who sells houses in Thornbury and has lived in Chester Heights for nearly 40 years.

"If you have a Thornton address, you pick up your mail at the post office," she says - adding that some might find it difficult to believe a place just 25 miles from Philadelphia still does things that way.

About the two Thornburys: They were one township until 1789, when what was then one county became two. The townships also share Cheyney University, on the site of the old George Cheyney farm.

Glen Mills, Cheyney, and Locksley train stations are in Thornbury, Delaware County, however. The restored Queen Anne Gothic-style Glen Mills station is the home to the Thornbury Historical Society.

Though regular passenger service ended in 1986, the three stations are still served by the West Chester Railroad, which runs 90-minute round-trip excursions the 7.7 miles from Glen Mills to Market Street station in the Chester County seat.

All this is, of course, part of the charm of Thornbury Township, which unlike other area communities is predominantly one of large single-family houses on two-acre lots.

"It's very suburban," Ellis says, with no condos, townhouses or over-55 developments and few apartments - only 87 rental units, according to data from the township's website.

There are 2,197 owner-occupied dwellings. Houses average eight rooms, and the township calculates the monthly cost of owning a home in Thornbury at $1,609.

"There is one neighborhood with smaller lots, and they also have public water and sewers," Ellis says.

The relative lack of housing diversity means, in real estate terms, that there is little buyer movement within Thornbury - primarily folks trading up from rentals or condos or down to smaller homes as they age. Most buyers are coming from surrounding areas, and many relocate from other parts of the country to commute to King of Prussia or AstraZeneca in Wilmington, for example.

Residents here spend an average 26.6 minutes commuting to work each day.

What is for sale here - though it's very little compared with other towns experiencing a boom in listings since September - is going for $350,000 to $700,000, Ellis says.

Joseph Scott McArdle, of Berkshire Hathaway Home Services Fox & Roach Realtors, who has sold new homes here, calls Thornbury unique because there is no township property tax, and that's attractive to buyers.

S. Clark Kendus, of Weichert Realtors' Media office, says that county and West Chester Area School District taxes total 19.2540 mills ($19.254 on each $1,000 of assessed valuation), and that Thornbury residents also pay a 1 percent earned-income tax on gross wages/net profits.

The lack of for-sale inventory is largely the result of the prolonged real estate downturn, Ellis says, because prices have not come back from pre-bubble highs, "and a lot of people who want to sell their houses are waiting."

In the second quarter - the spring market, when parents typically race to settlement to meet fall school-registration deadlines - there were just 16 sales, compared with 21 in second-quarter 2013.

There is demand, however. According to BHHS Fox & Roach Realtors HomExpert Market Report, the average price here rose 12.8 percent, to $548,625 from $486,519, while the median price rose 38.3 percent, to $584,550 from $422,500.

(A big gain in median price typically reflects a preponderance of higher-end houses in the mix.)

Yet days on market nearly quadrupled, to 121, year over year, which could indicate that the few houses for sale were not what buyers were looking for.

In the years since the downturn, there hasn't been much building here - not compared with the 1990s, when Toll Bros. built large twins and single homes at Cobblestones at Thornbury and singles at Thornbury Hunt, for example.

The last Toll Bros. development, Tall Trees at Thornbury, was built about 2005, says spokeswoman Christy Nash. A typical home is four bedrooms, 3 1/2 baths, with a three-car attached garage and 4,100 square feet. The median resale price just as the downturn started was about $700,000.

Thornbury is very family-oriented, Ellis says, and offers activities throughout the year for residents.

Next Sunday, for example, a fall festival is planned at Thornbury Park, the terminus for the annual Halloween parade that starts at the circa-1750 Yellow House in Thornton.

One thing Thornbury is not is walkable, Ellis says: "The corner store is not at the corner, or a few blocks away, but 15 minutes by car to the Wawa."

215-854-2472 @alheavens