The transfer tax you do not pay, and the title discount you can ask for
Realty transfer tax is the loudest cost of buying in this county: 2% in most municipalities, 2.5% in Radnor, Upper Darby and the City of Chester, and 3% in Upper Providence Township, customarily split with the seller. On a refinance it is $0. A mortgage is not a taxable document under Pennsylvania’s transfer tax rules, and the state has confirmed that in a bulletin and in the tax code itself.
You still pay recording fees, and Pennsylvania has no separate mortgage tax. So the number that dominates a Delco purchase simply is not on the closing disclosure for a refinance.
Title insurance rates in Pennsylvania are set by the TIRBOP manual, effective August 1, 2024, and they are the same at every title company in the state. The refinance rate starts at $512 and climbs by loan size.
The part worth asking about is the reissue rate. If there is a prior owner’s policy on the property, the refinance premium comes down 50% when that policy is five years old or newer and 70% when it is older. Dig the old policy out of the closing folder in the basement, right behind the manual for a furnace that got replaced in 2019.
How far the loan can go, and the Streamline options
Rate-and-term maximums, by program:
| Program | Max loan-to-value |
|---|---|
| FHA rate and term | 97.75% |
| Conventional, one unit | 97% |
| Conventional, two to four units | 95% |
| VA IRRRL | Set by the existing loan, no new appraisal in the usual case |
Those are program ceilings. The appraisal, the credit file and the lender’s own overlays decide where you actually land, and everything here is subject to lender approval.
FHA’s Streamline refinance is built for exactly this housing stock, because in the usual case there is no appraisal. Nobody comes out to look at the porch rail, the paint on the basement windows or the flat roof over the back bedroom. The requirements are 210 days since closing, six monthly payments made, a net tangible benefit under HUD’s rules, and no more than $500 cash back at settlement.
The VA’s version is the Interest Rate Reduction Refinance Loan, with the same 210-day and six-payment seasoning and a 0.5% funding fee. Also no appraisal in the usual case.
If your current loan is conventional, there is no streamline path, and you are looking at a full file with an appraisal. On a 1920s twin that appraisal is a value opinion, without FHA’s minimum property requirements attached to it.
Getting the mortgage insurance off
This is the reason a lot of Delco refinances happen at all.
On a conventional loan, private mortgage insurance can be cancelled on request at 80% of the original value, drops automatically at 78%, and terminates at the midpoint of the term. That is federal law and no refinance is needed.
FHA is the harder case. With less than 10% down, the annual premium runs for the life of the loan, so the exit is a refinance into a conventional loan once there is 20% equity. With 10% or more down it falls off after 11 years on its own. Delaware County’s median home value was $369,806 on July 31, 2026, up 2.7% year over year, so a house bought with 3.5% down a few years back may already be past the 20% line. Whether yours is, is an appraisal question.
Two local things to check first
The county’s down payment loan. Homeownership First is a 0% loan of up to $10,000, repayable when you sell or transfer, and also repayable if you refinance to consolidate debt. It can be subordinated for a rate-and-term refinance. In the 27 Revitalization communities it is forgiven after five years of owner-occupancy. Which of those applies to you is a phone call to the county, made before you lock anything.
The escrow. Delaware County reassessed effective 2021, so assessments track market value and the millage numbers moved with them. County millage for 2026 is 4.609 mills, up from 3.873, roughly $185 a year on the average home, with municipal and school millage on top. If your escrow shortage is what pushed the payment up, refinancing does not fix that. The reassessment guide explains where the numbers come from, and the homestead exclusion, filed with your school district between December 15 and March 1, is the cheaper lever.