Married couple attending grad school and looking for rowhouse (Philadelphia: real estate, city hall)

[KandJ4ever]

Hello,

My husband and I are looking to relocate to Philly in the last Summer, and are looking to buy or rent a rowhouse. We want to live in a safe neighborhood near public transportation. We are looking for a rowhouse in the 150K range. Ideally, we would like to be in an "up-and-coming area" or an area undergoing revitalization, but are fairly flexible. We don't have any kids now, so school districts don't matter, however we may be renting this place out in a few years so it should be convenient to local colleges. Having a backyard (especially one with grass, even if it's small!) would be a great plus.

Thanks!

[Marius Pontmercy]

Convenient to which colleges? Temple is most convenient to neighborhoods along the Broad Street Subway, so you would be looking into areas in South Philly, or Francisville near Fairmount Station. UPenn and Drexel are most convenient to places nearby the Market-Frankford Line, you could look into areas around the fringes of University City, or on the other end of the line around Fishtown/Kensington areas.

[KandJ4ever]

Not sure yet which college we will be attending - most likely Temple or Drexel. I'm less concerned with being super-close to any one college, and more concerned about finding a good neighborhood.

[Clark Park]

If you will be going to Drexel, you might want to consider the new "up and coming" neighborhood of "West Powelton", centered around 40th and Powelton Ave. Ten years ago this area was still kinda rough, the demographic was 95% African American, but since Powelton Village is undergoing gentrification (sorry, you won't find anything in your price range there) you might consider several blocks to the west where you can get a century old brick row house from about $80K - $160K. A local realtor is Urban & Bye. In West Powelton you can walk to Drexel, and Center City itself is only about a mile and a half away.

[a75206]

Lot of rehabbing/redevelopment/gentrification occurring in Southwest Center City (South of South St, west of Broad St) and Francisville, Brewerytown, and neighborhoods just north of Fairmount. Also, Fishtown/Kensington and Port Richmond ("Port Fishington"?!) also apparently has a lot of new rehabs and lots of positives happening. Of these, Francisville seems very centrally located and ripe to get better and better... if you buy now, may be in for a nice ride... it is also just a few blocks south of Temple and if you attend Drexel, you can take the BSL down to City Hall Station and change over to MFL...

[bryson662001]

I would just advise you to be wary of any advice you get on a message board like this when buying real estate in "up and coming", otherwise questionable neighborhoods in Philadelphia. It is very easy to get burned if you are not very careful. The only really safe and secure (not up and coming but stable) neighborhoods in the city that have what you are looking (lower prices) for are in the far north east, 19116, 19154, 19114, 19115 and the northwest 19118, 19128, 19144, 19129 and 19145 in Far south Philly. Even then it is sometimes block by block.

[Marius Pontmercy]

The far NE is both inconvenient to Temple and Drexel, and are by far not the only stable and neighborhoods in Philadelphia.

[bryson662001]

Originally Posted by Marius Pontmercy

The far NE is both inconvenient to Temple and Drexel, and are by far not the only stable and neighborhoods in Philadelphia.

I also recomended the NW (Roxborough, Mt Airy etc) and far south philly(would be my 1st choice). The key componants are safe and stable but within the $150,000 range and that excludes anything near Drexel or Temple for one reason........or the other.

[Marius Pontmercy]

I would say Fishtown or South Philly then. Easy access to mass transit which puts you right on either Drexel or Temple's campus.

South Philly may be a better bet since I would feel more comfortable using Oregon Station at night than some of the El stations up that way.

If you're in the NW you do have access to regional rail, but that's still not as easy as hopping on one or two subways.

[bryson662001]

There are several listings within a few blocks of Broad and Oregon from the low 100's up to 250,000. A very stable area, maybe even still some room for more appreciation once the current situation passes. Like every where else they have been sitting on the market for a long time and will probably accept much less.

BTW the NE (Toresdale) is also served by regional rail and the Trenton line is arguably more dependable than Chestnut hill. Also buses on Frankfort Av go to the Frankfort EL terminal so at worst it's a tossup for convenience between NE and NW. Prices are a little lower in the NE and housing stock is newer. South Philly is the best location but it will cost more per sq ft. and with no garage or lawn.