Haunted House Hunting, Part Four
Jan. 24th, 2022 08:25 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rynlingWe bought a townhouse in South Philadelphia yesterday afternoon.
I mean, sort of. We were pre-approved for a mortgage, and we put in a formal offer and escrow deposit on a house that has no competing offers. Subject to inspection, appraisal, and the thirty-day period for transfer of documents, we will have a house. Hopefully. Our agent says that she’s “not unconfident” concerning the sale, and it’s likely that we’ll end up paying slightly less than the asking price.
The houses we looked at in the Philadelphia suburbs were all extremely sad. Basically, they were houses that someone’s grandmother had just died in, and all of the fixtures were from the 1960s. The property taxes are also well over $6000 a year. Despite this, the prices are incredible, and the competition is unbelievably fierce. If I had to guess, I think this has something to do with school districts (and let’s be real, also racism probably).
West Philadelphia is equally insane. There’s a lot of income inequality, so you’ll have one block filled with $2m stately restored Victorian townhomes next to a block filled with decaying rowhouses that should have been condemned decades ago. Unfortunately, the ongoing gentrification caused by the expansion of the UPenn hospital system is awful and miserable, and it’s tearing up the community. I’m not happy about people being pushed out of their homes, and I’m also not super happy about all the assaults, home invasions, and shootings. And of course I’m not happy about our rent being raised by $500 from one year to the next.
So we started looking at houses in South Philly (which is the setting of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, for what it’s worth). I’m not sure how well-known this is, but South Philly is the new Chinatown. There are a lot of contracting companies owned by Asian-Americans in the area, and they’ve been buying old rowhouses and either renovating them or completely rebuilding them from the ground up. These houses are super affordable, not to mention super nice. They’re also really close to Center City and University City; but, because they’re south of Washington Avenue, they’re $200k to $400k cheaper than older houses just a few blocks away. And on top of that, the annual property tax is less than $1,400.
There are no downsides that I can see. These renovated townhouses are solidly built with new flooring, insulation, plumbing, and HVAC systems, but their exteriors are only moderately updated and still blend into the neighborhood. The houses don’t have murder crawlspaces or murder basements, and they’ve got cute backyards with good light and good drainage. There’s no crime, no fires, and no flooding. There are a lot of trees and parks, but you’re still inside the urban heat island, so it doesn’t really snow. There’s decent street parking in addition to public transportation. You have Center City on one side, but you’re also close to the South Philly big box stores. So it’s less than ten minutes to the fancy urban Trader Joe’s, but also less than ten minutes to Target and Ikea. And, as an added bonus, you’re right in the middle of the Asian supermarkets and strip mall plazas, not to mention a few blocks over from the traditional open-air Italian market.
Basically, if you can secure a reasonable down payment and take out a thirty-year mortgage, you can buy a brand-new, gorgeous townhouse kitted out with brand-new, gorgeous appliances for a price that amounts to about $1300 a month including property taxes. But only if – and this is the important part – you’re okay with living in a mixed-race neighborhood. LMFAO. That sort of prejudice is wild to me, but I guess it’s fitting that assholes have to pay a racism tax on home ownership.
There are a ton of houses like this in the area without much competition, so we looked at a dozen and just sort of picked the one we liked. If we don’t get this one, we’ll get another one. I have a feeling that South Philly is going to be like the mixed-race Adams Morgan neighborhood in DC, which used to be considered sketchy but is now where the Obamas live. I had a friend at GMU who bought a small townhouse in Adams Morgan and was able to retire early after selling it for almost $2 million, and it would be cool if we could do something similar. For the time being, I’m just looking forward to the prospect of getting out of our garbage apartment. And maybe growing some delicious fucking tomatoes in my new backyard to celebrate.
I mean, sort of. We were pre-approved for a mortgage, and we put in a formal offer and escrow deposit on a house that has no competing offers. Subject to inspection, appraisal, and the thirty-day period for transfer of documents, we will have a house. Hopefully. Our agent says that she’s “not unconfident” concerning the sale, and it’s likely that we’ll end up paying slightly less than the asking price.
The houses we looked at in the Philadelphia suburbs were all extremely sad. Basically, they were houses that someone’s grandmother had just died in, and all of the fixtures were from the 1960s. The property taxes are also well over $6000 a year. Despite this, the prices are incredible, and the competition is unbelievably fierce. If I had to guess, I think this has something to do with school districts (and let’s be real, also racism probably).
West Philadelphia is equally insane. There’s a lot of income inequality, so you’ll have one block filled with $2m stately restored Victorian townhomes next to a block filled with decaying rowhouses that should have been condemned decades ago. Unfortunately, the ongoing gentrification caused by the expansion of the UPenn hospital system is awful and miserable, and it’s tearing up the community. I’m not happy about people being pushed out of their homes, and I’m also not super happy about all the assaults, home invasions, and shootings. And of course I’m not happy about our rent being raised by $500 from one year to the next.
So we started looking at houses in South Philly (which is the setting of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, for what it’s worth). I’m not sure how well-known this is, but South Philly is the new Chinatown. There are a lot of contracting companies owned by Asian-Americans in the area, and they’ve been buying old rowhouses and either renovating them or completely rebuilding them from the ground up. These houses are super affordable, not to mention super nice. They’re also really close to Center City and University City; but, because they’re south of Washington Avenue, they’re $200k to $400k cheaper than older houses just a few blocks away. And on top of that, the annual property tax is less than $1,400.
There are no downsides that I can see. These renovated townhouses are solidly built with new flooring, insulation, plumbing, and HVAC systems, but their exteriors are only moderately updated and still blend into the neighborhood. The houses don’t have murder crawlspaces or murder basements, and they’ve got cute backyards with good light and good drainage. There’s no crime, no fires, and no flooding. There are a lot of trees and parks, but you’re still inside the urban heat island, so it doesn’t really snow. There’s decent street parking in addition to public transportation. You have Center City on one side, but you’re also close to the South Philly big box stores. So it’s less than ten minutes to the fancy urban Trader Joe’s, but also less than ten minutes to Target and Ikea. And, as an added bonus, you’re right in the middle of the Asian supermarkets and strip mall plazas, not to mention a few blocks over from the traditional open-air Italian market.
Basically, if you can secure a reasonable down payment and take out a thirty-year mortgage, you can buy a brand-new, gorgeous townhouse kitted out with brand-new, gorgeous appliances for a price that amounts to about $1300 a month including property taxes. But only if – and this is the important part – you’re okay with living in a mixed-race neighborhood. LMFAO. That sort of prejudice is wild to me, but I guess it’s fitting that assholes have to pay a racism tax on home ownership.
There are a ton of houses like this in the area without much competition, so we looked at a dozen and just sort of picked the one we liked. If we don’t get this one, we’ll get another one. I have a feeling that South Philly is going to be like the mixed-race Adams Morgan neighborhood in DC, which used to be considered sketchy but is now where the Obamas live. I had a friend at GMU who bought a small townhouse in Adams Morgan and was able to retire early after selling it for almost $2 million, and it would be cool if we could do something similar. For the time being, I’m just looking forward to the prospect of getting out of our garbage apartment. And maybe growing some delicious fucking tomatoes in my new backyard to celebrate.
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