Philadelphia Real Estate Blog

…can best be described as thorough.

 
It is no secret I love showing and selling Philadelphia real estate. The hallmark of the 2009 Philadelphia buyer is one of complete and utter thoroughness.

Though they are buying, and doing in fairly good numbers, there is no sense of urgency, and they want to see everything. Everything. If I had a dollar for every property I showed in the spring of 2009, I would go buy a new Lexus. Or perhaps take a cruise and drink a lot.

Such behavior is actually a good thing for an old timer like myself. I get to see sooo many places, that it really does add to my already stuffed brain. I know the size of the kitchen in unit 1902 at the xxx building. I am familiar with the condition of the 2nd Floor Front condo at 19xx Spruce St., and I see for myself why the condos at XXX and Bainbridge aren’t selling so well.

The equation here is a simple one:

Buyer Market- no sense of urgency- they can look at 18 other places, and come back to this particular unit they liked

Sellers Market- Hurry and buy. If you don’t, the unit you loved may be gone. Perhaps it already is gone.
 
The Philadelphia housing market is in a bit of a buyers market in 2009. I will let you know when that equation changes.

Mark Wade
www.CenterCityCondos.com
Prudential Fox and Roach REALTORS®
530 Walnut St., Suite 260 Philadelphia, PA 19106

 
 
Simply put, a water table is a very old architectural element found on many historic homes throughout the east coast, and in Center City Philadelphia, is most prevalent in many of the Society Hill area townhomes. A water table can best be viewed as an old fashion method of keeping water away from the foundation. Water, and lots of it- pouring down around a foundation is not a good thing. You don’t want your soil being loosened, and allowing your foundation to slip or move. Yeah, that would be bad.

The idea of a water table is to essential push or direct water away from the foundation. As water would pour down the (say) facade of a home, the angled brick would guide water out and away from a foundation. So if you ever even noticed such a thing, now you know why “it is what it is”.

Mark Wade
www.CenterCityCondos.com
Prudential Fox and Roach REALTORS®
530 Walnut St., Suite 260 Philadelphia, PA 19106

…when you get your home inspection report? 

This is a valid question. When you hire a home inspector, he will do his visual inspection, then email an 18 page report telling you that you have basically just purchased a big piece of crap. And that’s fine. That is his job. I believe it is now my job to put some of the issues into perspective.

Lets say we are in a Fitler Square Condo that clearly hasn’t been cleaned, repaired, or updated since 1912.    IF I DO NOT tell you that you should expect some needed repair work, am I really doing my job? Now there are limits to what you can and should reasonably expect me to point out.

I am not a home inspector, nor a structural engineer. But if I lead you to believe that this piece of crap Philly loft you just bought is in “fabulous mechanical shape”…then you should fire me as your Philadelphia Realtor, throw me out the back door, and basically curse my name aloud in public.

Conversely, you too should do your share of due diligence, and educate yourself about the reasonable expectations regarding home ownership. Most anything you own requires ongoing maintenance, updating, cleaning, and certainly costs money to do so. So please, don’t be shocked to learn that perhaps a $5 extension pipe from you new hot water tank is missing. Or perhaps your Air Conditioner needs to be filled. Or that outlet with black soot around it is inoperable. Shocking, eh? Be prepared, and I suggest you not become hysterical over the fact that the bathroom sink drains slowly.

A level head will help you manage the ins and outs, ups and downs over home maintenance.

Mark Wade
www.CenterCityCondos.com
Prudential Fox and Roach REALTORS®
530 Walnut St., Suite 260 Philadelphia, PA 19106

Philadelphia has been graced with some wonderful, and some not so wonderful additions to their condominium inventory over the past five years. Some are selling quite well, and some- well, not so much.

I think that the popularity of a certain building has to do more with the buildings cache, or “je ne sais quoi” rather than the normal fluctuations that occur within a given real estate market at any given time.  By that I mean that some buildings are, and have sold well due to either the builder’s name, or hype that surrounds such buildings. The lack of such hype can be devastating. 

From ultra-contemporary to elegantly conservative, Philadelphians seem split on the style design of the condos they prefer.  We have seen some very high end Penthouse units sell in Old City lately, and the addition of the most modern building to hit town become erected at 13th and South Streets.

New construction is favored by many, due to Philadelphia’s tax abatement , and the stylish finishes found in many new high and mid rise Center City condo buildings. Even high-end condos can be found, bursting with amenities, in some low rise Brownstone conversions projects found scattered about town.

In a town that brought you Ben Franklin, and Betsy Ross, historic and pre-war condos do have their place. But for some, there is nothing like a new construction condo here in Center City Philadelphia.

Like New? Prefer Old? Let’s chat! 

Mark Wade
www.CenterCityCondos.com
Prudential Fox and Roach REALTORS®
530 Walnut St., Suite 260 Philadelphia, PA 19106

One of the most distressing real estate topics we hear in the news is the foreclosure rate.  Realty Trac, the California based company that tracks foreclosure information, just released the news that foreclosures rose 81% in 2008.  But to put this in the proper perspective, one needs to consider two things:
 
The total percentage of homes in foreclosure is 1.84%.  An 81% increase appears dramatic, but the fact is that this overall percentage rate is relatively small.

 
 
The majority of foreclosures are in areas of the country where real estate values rose at unsustainable rates and/or land available for development caused excess new construction.  These include the coastal areas of California and Florida, as well as Arizona and Las Vegas, Nevada.  One of the primary reasons that there has been steep price declines in these areas is because of the number of foreclosed properties on the market. 
 
The eight-county Philadelphia region placed 77th of 100 metro areas nationwide in the number of foreclosure filings recorded in 2008, not too bad.

If you are looking to find a great deal here in Center City Philadelphia, give me a call at 215.521.1523 or drop me an email at Mark@CenterCity.com.

Mark Wade
www.CenterCityCondos.com
Prudential Fox and Roach REALTORS®
530 Walnut St., Suite 260 Philadelphia, PA 19106