Maybe it's a typo and should be 1300 square feet?
I'm always surprised when I see comments on blogs by people who seem to have no idea how much housing costs vary around the country - either that a price is outrageously high or the opposite - they assume everywhere is like LA County or whatever. I think people in general have a hard time putting themselves in the shoes of someone with very different financial circumstances.
I just recently started reading your blog....and I live in philly to and was surprised by that article. Guesse Im lucky i bought my house in 1988 when I was 20 and its paid off....
I'm encouraged to see there are affordable housing purchase options in Philly. I imagined Philly home prices to be much higher than what you referenced. Philly is someplace we've considered for our impending (in a 1-2 years) relocation.
3bean,
On my street in the past year you could have bought a fully renovated 3 bedroom twin with a finished basement and detached garage for around $150K-170K. You can easily get a fixer-upper in a slowly improving neighborhood for $100K. If you want a nice house with a yard in a good school district within the city limits, you'll pay closer to $400K or $500K.
I'm so excited to read you live in Philly! I've had you on my blogroll but didn't guess your location. I live in Brooklyn but am planning to move to Philly in the next two years, and your postings keep me optimistic about the change.
BTW, did you see the March issue of Philadelphia magazine? I tried to find it online for my blog but they don't seem to have posted it; the cover story is all about what Philly neighborhoods are on the rise and where they recommend you live in 2012.
INteresting comparison. If Philadelphia mag is anything like New York mag or Boston mag, there is definitely a materialistic skew to it-- NY Mag kind of has a sick fascination for me on the rare occasions I read it!
I wish I could get a house that large for that cheap. Maybe in the 1970s but not now.
I recently came back to my "finance" journal and remembered that you were the first link I ever added.
Glad to see that you still update often.
I have started back as well now that I have been buying stock a few times a month.
Although I haven't seen any 3100 square foot houses for $90,000 recently, I regularly see them in Germantown for $120,000-$150,000.
For example:
http://www.mlsfinder.com/
nj_tren...erty_id=4903209
DCL - There is a huge difference between $90K and $155K in Philly. And honestly, IIRC, that's not a very nice neighborhood. When you go east of Gtown Ave that far south, it can get super sketchy, fast. It's way too close to the expressway and I wouldn't call that neighborhood Germantown anymore. Google Maps calls it Wayne Junction and it's very close to the Wayne Junction SEPTA station. A quick refresher on the satellite view reminds me that it's the industrial area I remember it to be. You can see the large buildings which used to be factories and warehouses. N.B. the large parking lots.
The one thing that bums me out about Philly is that everyone is a lawyer, doctor or banker there. There isn't much in the way of software and IT work. Not like other mkts in DC, Boston or Silicon Valley. I'd love to move back home, but I just can't find a job I can afford to have there and still live where and how I want.
DCL, you know Wayne Junction pretty well, right? What do you think of that area? Would you live there?
Mapgirl, your point is well taken--you can buy a gorgeous house in Philly for peanuts, but it may be the only house on the block that's not boarded up. The trick is to find the in between areas (like my street!) that have been overlooked and undervalued but are relatively stable and safe. I've noticed that these areas also tend to be more segregated--middle class black neighborhoods, or historically working class white neighborhoods (like Fishtown), all gentrifying at an alarming rate right now.
What a weird town this is. Not at all like where I grew up in California, where the good neighborhoods stretch for miles and miles and so do the bad ones, so you have to go pretty far out of your way to see how the other half lives. In Philly, it's block-to-block. In my neighborhood, there are mansions two blocks in one direction, and boarded-up shells two blocks in the other direction. And in between? My street, full of well-cared for but modest row houses.
Commenting by HaloScan
