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For freedom of choice, no place beats the Main Line.  Here's what you can buy and how much it will cost.  And don't worry -- there's no such thing as a bad neighborhood.

by Mark E. Dixon / Photographs by John Lewis

House shoppers have long been drawn to the Main Line for its good schools, municipal services and convenience. What gets less attention, though, is the inherent democracy of the place.

Yes, democracy. But don’t worry. You probably need to have lived someplace like Dallas or Atlanta to notice the difference. Here it is: On the Main Line, it’s possible to live close to someone whose house costs twice as much as yours.

In cities developed after the advent of the automobile, things are more…well, feudal. Gated communities are common and even the ungated tend to be homogeneous. People settle among their own kind.

Not so here. When Main Line Today asked realtors to identify hot neighborhoods by price category, they pointed out that the Main Line doesn’t work quite that way. In Bryn Mawr, for example, it’s possible to buy a $250,000 house – well, OK, maybe a condo – walking distance from someone else’s million-dollar mansion.

And, of course, both homeowners have equal access to the same good schools, the shopping, mass transit and community services.

Yes, there were some patterns and, granted, a $250,000 house isn’t exactly low-income housing. (In 1999, average home prices in the region ranged from about $138,000 in Philadelphia to nearly $296,000 in Chester County, according to Coldwell Banker Real Estate.) Home buyers shopping for a new house or a big yard tend to gravitate toward the western Main Line. Buyers who like established communities – with sidewalks and older homes – tend to favor the lower Main Line. And those after a combination of the two go somewhere in the middle.

Another pattern: Those who have grown up here try to stay close to the lower Main Line. Corporate transferees are more willing to live farther west.

It all depends what you want. Condo or single family. Townhouse or twin. A garden or a life that’s lawnmower free. In some areas, you’ll get more home for your money, but there’s no Main Line ZIP code that says, "Do not apply."

Welcome to America.

Havertown. This central Haverford Township community gets mentioned a lot when realtors are asked where buyers with a $250,000 ceiling might settle. Developed early in the 20^th Century, Havertown is thick with twins and single-family houses offering the old-house charm of wood floors and front porches. Buyers here can probably get as much house as they would for $350,000 in Narberth, says realtor John A. Benigno of Clark & Madara Realtors. It’s not quite as convenient as Narberth, but it’s convenient enough. Both the Blue Route and the R5 train stations are relatively close. "Havertown is a nice place for a lot of young families to start," he said.

Chesterbrook. Tredyffrin Township residents protested when this vast mixed community was announced 30 years ago, then some of them moved in. Chesterbrook’s 28 "villages" now include apartments, condos, townhouses and single-family homes. Two townhouse communities, Bradford Hills and Quarters West, offer 2-3,000-square-foot townhouses for as low as $225,000. Chesterbrook is almost within sight of the King of Prussia mall and, with the 202/252 intersection nearby, it is equally convenient to Philadelphia and Wilmington. "Chesterbrook is a very good value," said Judy Peterson of Prudential Fox & Roach, Devon. "Unfortunately, there is just not a lot on the market." In addition, condos below $100,000 are available in the Old Forge Crossing and Glenhardie developments.

Wynnewood. Don’t laugh, says Benigno. Drive west along Haverford Road from City Line Avenue to Rosemont and explore the side streets. Expect to find older fixer-uppers or, if you’d like to do a little less fixing up, a twin. In June, Ardmore listings included a 96-year-old three-bedroom, 1.5 bath colonial and a 102-year-old five-bedroom, 1-bath colonial. Both had porches and wood floors and cost about $185,000. "The advantage here is that you’re in Lower Merion Township and people like to live in that school district," said Benigno. "It’s also very convenient to the train and shopping. (Follow the same side-street search strategy in Wynnewood, he suggested.)

West Chester. In the borough of West Chester, shoppers will be looking at houses such as the three-story 1870 brick Victorian with five bedrooms and one bath that was listed in the high 190s this past spring. In the surrounding townships, "somewhat updated" 20-30-year-old townhouses and singles needing work are more typical, according to Pam Armento-Reeves of Reeves Realty, West Chester. June listings included a 1947 rancher with three bedrooms and one bath for just under $200,000. "People out here really love the borough," she said. "We have a great little downtown that has been thriving the past couple of years. There are great restaurants and boutique shopping. Plus, it’s a college town, so there are activities for different age groups." Access to Route 202 – and via that to I-95, the Great Valley and Wilmington – is also a big plus, she said.

Broomall. House buyers looking here and in the surrounding Marple/Newtown area will find mostly 1960s and ‘70s houses that need some updating, said Peterson. Some of the updating – paint and carpet – will be easy, while kitchens and baths will require bigger investments. June listings included a 1967 split-level with three bedrooms, one bath and two half-baths for about $240,000 in the Rose Tree Woods section. For another $10,000 a nearby listing included an extra bedroom and a second full bath. "Marple-Newtown has great accessibility," said Peterson. "The Blue Route is just down West Chester Pike."

Radnor. Jump $100,000 (or more) and there are lots more choices up and down the Main line. But Wayne (and its Radnor neighbors) is hottest of all, according to Paoli-based realtor David M. Gratz. "People just think Radnor is (the center) of the world," said Gratz. "We’ve had houses in Wayne and St. Davids that were just a mess – old kitchens and baths with the ceilings falling in. And people were standing in line to buy them." Why? Location, he said. Wayne’s old-fashioned downtown is considered very desirable and people like the idea of being able to walk to church or the movies. Don’t expect much new housing, though. More typical was a June listing for a 1957 Wayne Cape Cod with three bedrooms, one bath and two half-baths for about $300,000, or a 1958 Villanova ranch with three bedrooms and two baths for $500,000.

Narberth. A corporate transferee probably wouldn’t think to look in a place like Narberth. But this little island just off Montgomery Avenue is loved by locals for its walkable old-fashioned neighborhoods and business district. And with that comes old houses – at least 50-80 years, says Jim Hocker of Duffy Real Estate. So, think charm-and-character, not bells-and-whistles. "It’s not like a field that was just bulldozed and new houses put up," he said. But house shoppers can get into Narberth without zooming to the top of this price category. In June, for instance, a 1910 Victorian with three bedrooms and 1.5 baths was offered for $329,000. Nearby, a 1960 split-level with four bedrooms and three baths was listed at about $475,000.

Tredyffrin. It’s right next door to Radnor and, while a popular destination, the market here is less "hysterical," according to Gratz. Extending from the Gulph Mills area at Route 320 west to just north of Malvern, Tredyffrin’s east end has a traditional Main Line flavor (read: older housing) while offerings in its Great Valley extremities are newer and larger. The King of Prussia mall is nearby. In addition, Route 202 also bisects the township from end to end so, once its reconstruction is complete, the area will again offer good access. June buyers could get into a 1960 Paoli split-level in the Friendship Hills section with three bedrooms and one bath for almost $300,000. In a development called Summerhill, near Malvern, a 1995 two-story colonial with four bedrooms and 2.5 baths was asking $500,000. And let’s not forget Chesterbrook, where singles also get up near $500,000.

Broomall-Newtown Square. These areas are "very hot" in this price range, according to Cathy Bates of Coldwell Banker Real Estate, who said buyers value the accessibility provided by the Blue Route. (Before the highway opened in the early ‘90s, these communities were more land-locked.) Typical is a 1950s brick colonial on a generous-sized lot, like the $350,000 1975 colonial with four bedrooms and 2.5 baths on a 1.1-acre lot that was listed in June. For $480,000 buyers could have a 1985 two-story contemporary with five bedrooms and 3.5 baths on a .79-acre lot.

Exton. Think of this area as the un-Narberth. People who move here have fully embraced the car culture – Walk? What’s that? – and are looking for new houses on big lots. Yes, there’s a train station, stuck across the Downingtown Bypass across from the Exton Industrial Park. But people here are more likely to commute to the Great Valley Corporate Center. In short, it’s just the sort of market that Toll Brothers likes and the builder has several projects in the Exton area. At its Whiteland Woods development, Toll offers a new two-story colonial with three bedrooms and 2.5 baths for about $325,000. Meanwhile, Toll’s Swedesford Chase project offers six models ranging in price from $439,000 to $502,000. The 4,300-square-foot "Chesapeake" – with a $499,000 base price – includes four bedrooms, 4.5 baths and a two-story foyer.

Radnor. Yeah, again. But in this price range, houses tend to be either fully updated older homes, or newer structures located away from the center of Wayne on larger lots. (Moral: If you like to walk, buy less than you can afford.) If the latter, you’ll be driving to the train. Illustrating the options were June listings for an 1895 Victorian ($875,000) and a to-be-built chateau-style house ($895,000). The Victorian, located off North Wayne Avenue, had six bedrooms, 2.5 baths and a turret. The new house, planned for a site off Radnor-Chester Road in Villanova, promised five bedrooms and 3.5 baths. Also opening this year in Radnor is Bentley Homes’ new Whitegate development with 69 homes starting in the $800s.

Merion. There’s not much new construction here, so buyers tend to be old Main Line types who like vintage houses. On the upside, these older houses were large to begin with and have been well kept. What Merion offers is easy access to highways, proximity to downtown Philadelphia and upscale shopping at places such as Suburban Square. June listings included a 1945 stone English-style house ($895,000) with five bedrooms, three baths, two powder rooms, new kitchen, a library and a pool. A 1930 center-hall colonial ($774,000) offered eight bedrooms, four baths, two powder rooms and a tennis court.

Haverford. On the lower Main Line, shoppers in this price range have a choice between grandeur of new construction on small lots or older (but not very old) houses in good condition on larger lots. (Adjacent Lower Merion can also be good in this price range, said Bates.) The presence of Haverford College – with its open-to-the-community activities – is also considered a perk. In June, Haverford listings included a 1958 ranch (599,000) on 1.39 acres and a 1992 chateau-style house ($639,000) on .23 acres. The ranch included four bedrooms and 2.5 baths; the chateau, five bedrooms and 3.5 baths.

West Chester. Houses in this price range are available in the townships surrounding West Chester, though not in the borough itself. (Hey, you can drive in for the street life.) Rather than access to Philadelphia, what buyers out here want is to look out their windows – their big windows in their big, new houses – and see rolling hills and horses. Or, noted Armento-Reeves, you might find a converted stone barn. In the spring, several to-be-built houses in the Applebrook development in East Goshen Township were available at $661,000, offering three bedrooms, 2.5 baths and home offices. Also in East Goshen was a year-old farmhouse-style property in the Hadleigh development for $899,000, including five bedrooms, three baths, two half-baths, a home office and a three-car garage. Also in East Goshen, IDC Developers was offering new 4,000-square-foot-and-up houses starting at $569,000.

Willistown. Can you say "horse country?" Willistown Township includes the borough of Malvern on the north and several townhouse developments along West Chester Pike on the south. Buyers in this price range will probably want to look in the middle, near Willistown’s major industry, the Radnor Hunt Club. "If you drive south out of Malvern, you’re getting into four-acre zoning," said Gratz, "and there is development zoned for 10-acre lots." Accessibility is not a major perk here. Route 202 is about five miles west; the Blue Route, still farther. In June, a five-bedroom, 3.5-bathroom farmhouse-style house in the Fox Ridge development for $698,000.

Face it, people with a million dollars or more to spend on a house can live anywhere they want. At this price, it’s no longer a matter of whether the house is nice or not. That’s a given. Instead, the issues are where do the buyers want to be, how much land do they want and what style of house do they crave. Here are some possibilities.

Gladwyne. What million-dollar-plus buyers get for their money here is either land or the glitz of new construction. The schools? Sure, they’re good. But at this price range, who cares? You can afford to send your kids to private schools, and a large percentage of Lower Merion residents do. In June, seven properties in the $1-1.5 million range were available, including a recently built chateau-style house with four bedrooms, 3.5 baths, office and three-car garage for $1.1 million. Another option: a 1931 house with more-recent additions, including five bedrooms, 4.5 baths, an office and a swimming pool for $1.3 million.

Charlestown. Think of it as North Malvern, because much of Charlestown Township is in the 19355 ZIP code. What this area offers is access to the Great Valley / 202 corridor, new construction and space around it. (The Pennsylvania Turnpike also runs through Charlestown, but without any entrances or exits.) Emma Builders’ new Blackberry Hill development offers wooded homesites of 2.2 to 5.8 acres and several models. In June, a chateau-style house with five bedrooms, four baths, two powder rooms, office and four-car garage was available for $1,350,000. For $1,490,000, shoppers could buy a 6,500-square-foot 1993 farmhouse-style house with five bedrooms, five baths, two powder rooms and an in-law suite. One- and two-year-old houses in the Spring Meadow Farm, Dovecote and Whitehorse Meadows were also available for $1-1.5 million.

Newtown Square. The 19073 ZIP code includes parts of Willistown and Radnor and, in this price range, you can get…almost anything you want. One option is an 1802 farmhouse with five bedrooms, 3.5 baths, three fireplaces and two kitchens for $1million. No? Also, Bentley Homes has a new project, the Harrison Estate, where prices start at $1.2 million. In June, a nearly 5,000-square-foot, five-bedroom model with three baths, two powder rooms, office and three-car garage on 1.5 acres was available for about $1.4

Paoli. Once you pass $1 million here, most of the offerings tend to be new construction. Then, it’s just a matter of square footage, says Collins who considers Paoli addresses at this price level are on a par with Berwyn, Devon and Wayne. "If you want space, you tend to leave the lower Main Line and come out here," he said. "Then, the issues are, ‘Is it a three-, four- or five-car garage?’" Offered in June was a to-be-built farmhouse-style house on 1.3 acres with five bedrooms, four baths, two powder rooms and a media room for $1.5 million. "At this range, you can always find new construction, so your options are pretty open," he said.

Radnor. Yes, again. Although highly affluent buyers tend to want the bells and whistles of new construction – which, in general, means moving west – lots of such folk need to be within traveling distance of the city. So, Radnor has the same appeal for the $1-$1.5 million buyer as it does for the working stiff buying a $500,000 shack. Offered this past spring was a 1994 chateau-style with five bedrooms, three baths, two powder rooms and an office for $1.25 million. Also an option: a year-old contemporary with four bedrooms, 3.5 baths, an office and a dramatic porch for $1.495,000. (In addition, Bentley Homes just opened its new Blackburn project in adjacent Easttown Township, with 22 new "estate" homes selling for $1 million and up.)

Demo King

Kevin Tobin can't save old homes, but he can save some of their treasures.  Now if you only knew where to find them...

by Mark E. Dixon

Before I tell you about Kevin Tobin – Mr. Main Line Demolition Sale – you should know something about our relationship.

All that thick, weathered flagstone on my patio? I bought it from him.

Those solid six-panel 1940s doors on my laundry room? Tobin.

The heavy chrome shower doors in my daughters’ bathroom? Yup.

That 1956 one-piece American Standard toilet (five gallons a flush!) in our powder room? Uh-huh.

Our garage door operators? Yeah, Tobin again.

Tobin is to houses what a transplant surgeon is to cadavers. Instead of hearts and livers, he provides second lives for oak floors, kitchen cabinets and flagstone from soon-to-be-demolished houses. All stuff that would otherwise have been buried in some landfill.

I love the guy.

For a putterer like me, Tobin’s sales are better than a trip to Home Depot. I still get the fun of installing my latest acquistion after I get it home. But there’s also the thrill of the hunt, the experience of detaching it from the condemned house and, yes, the prices.

Roughly twice a month, Tobin -- with the help of his daughter, Kelly, 26, and two sons, Ryan, 22, and Mike, 17 – operate a sale somewhere along the Main Line. The location is kept secret until 8 a.m. on sale Saturdays, when one of the Tobins posts a directional sign at an intersection cited in their ad. Quickly, the buyers descend, and anything that can be lifted, unscrewed, pried loose or dug up is fair game.

"I don’t get a thrill out of seeing anything torn down," he said. "But if it’s going to happen, I think it’s better to give new homes to whatever you can."

Tobin’s business is a symptom of a real estate market gone nuts. With desirable Main Line neighborhoods fully developed, the only way to get a large, new house is to buy a small, old one and tear it down.

How much of this is going on? In Easttown, five or six residential demolition permits are issued annually. If that’s representative of the other hot townships – Lower Merion, Radnor, Tredyffrin and Newtown – the total is very close to the 20-25 sales the Tobin family manages each year.

"It’s amazing, some of the houses that are being bought and torn down," said Tobin, who lives on a quiet back street in Radnor in a new house that looks old. "Lots of the people come to these sales and say, ‘My God, I’d love to live here."

Some of those folks may have seen the 5,000-square-foot Bryn Mawr contemporary whose demolition sale Tobin managed in June. That stone-and-cedar structure, built in the 1970s and significantly enlarged in the late 1980s, had three redwood decks, soaring ceilings, six bedrooms, 6.5 baths, granite counters, upscale appliances and woodland views. It didn’t sell, realtors reported, because the front door did not face the street.

Tobin also managed the 2000 sale at the Peterson mansion on King of Prussia Road, demolished by Radnor Township to make way for its new elementary school. The house’s terracotta roof was sold to a Chicago dealer who sent six workers here with a flatbed truck. (They spent a week dismantling the roof and piling its tiles on pallets.) The building stone and dimensional lumber, meanwhile, went into a new office building in Lancaster.

This past spring, Tobin managed the dismantlement of the former Regina Mundi Priory in Devon.

All this causes preservationists such as Mike Weilbacher, director of the Lower Merion Conservancy, to cringe. "I at least hope that he occasionally tries to help these people find alternatives to demolition," he said. (For the record, he doesn’t. According to Tobin, such issues have already been settled before his clients call.)

Most of Tobin’s houses, however, are nondescript post-World War II ranchers or colonials. Like the Greatest Generation that built them, they’re just not exciting. And to the Boomers who grew up in them – and now want something to match their egos – that may be these houses’ biggest crime.

But that’s how things work. The world is run by sharks who want what they want. It’s Darwinian but, in a way, it also works for people like me. We’re like the remora, the scavenger fish that linger nearby to grab whatever scraps drift our way.

The business of running demolition sales fell into Tobin’s lap. After starting out as a builder in the 1980s, Tobin quit to sell real estate. Then, in the early 1990s, he was approached by a client with an unusual offer.

"He had an old Victorian he was about to demolish and knew I had an interest in architectural antiques," said Tobin, "So, he asked if I wanted to buy some of his stuff."

Instead, Tobin suggested a sale. Then he offered to run it, for a percentage. And, basically, that’s what he’s been doing ever since.

"We’ve refined our act a lot," said Tobin. "In the beginning, we didn’t (price) stuff, so we were overwhelmed by people asking how much we wanted for this and that."

Now, the Tobins go through the house before each sale and determine a price for everything that could possibly be removed. The prices are written on the nearest wall with a black marker.

Tobin likes to keep mum about the proceeds of his sales but township records of the Peterson sale provide a glimpse. There, the mansion’s parts produced gross receipts of $41,654. Of this, Tobin got 40 percent, or $16,662.

Of course, the Peterson house was quite a mansion. Most houses are much more modest and far smaller.

So, what sells at these sales?

"Outdoor stuff goes extremely fast," he said. "Our hottest items are planters, fountains, iron fencing and gates, statues and benches. Anything that is outdoors sells very well."

That includes the landscaping. At one sale, Tobin sold two mature crabapple trees for $500 each. The buyer then hired a six-man crew that spent the next three days digging them out by hand.

Inside, ornate mantels and paneling move. Ditto old leaded glass windows. "People hang them on the wall," said Tobin.

What doesn’t sell?

Carpet. Cheap kitchen cabinets. Mundane molding and trim. Hollow-core doors. And clawfoot bathtubs.

"Lots of people seem to think there is a big market for clawfoot tubs, but there really isn’t," said Tobin, guessing that most people are put off by the tubs’ weight and the plumbing know-how required to remove them.

Who buys? A mix of do-it-yourselfers, curious neighbors and contractors. In recent years, Tobin has compiled an e-mail list of 300-400 regular buyers. That list has proven a highly effective tool.

"The e-mail people are very loyal," he said. "And if it’s a short-notice sale, they may be the only ones to hear about it." (To get on Tobin’s list, call 610-993-2764.)

Tobin is extremely protective of both his clients and those who buy from his sales. Demolition of well-known houses tends to make headlines, he said, and his clients don’t appreciate being hassled by preservationists and protesters. Buyers, meanwhile, often don’t want it known where they obtained their treasures.

The oak paneling in Regina Mundi’s dining room, for instance, went to New York where an architect incorporated it in a new project.

"I know what he paid for it, but I don’t know what he charged (his client) for it," said Tobin. "Everybody is happier when I keep my mouth shut.

Main Line Today / September 2002

Mark E. Dixon