Yet another question about East Mt Airy

[tintin19119]

Originally Posted by herenia

Thank you all very much. I guess I have to scratch that one off.
I take from the posts above that West Mt Airy and West Germantown are much better bets than the east side?

Again, thanks for the input. Much appreciated.

There are some pockets of W Mt. Airy and W Germantown that is not so great also. What is going on, a few small areas of Mt. Airy have fell victim of section 8,so you have a few blocks of renters and older people who can`t really keep up their homes.
I have no ideal who started this E Mt. Airy not being nice. I grew in Mt. Airy and have lived on the East and West side. There are very clean,safe and beautiful parts of E Mt. Airy.I only started hearing this East side , West side crap within the last few years. Don`t sell yourself short by cutting out the East side of Mt. Airy in your search.

[BR Valentine]

Originally Posted by herenia

Thank you all very much. I guess I have to scratch that one off.
I take from the posts above that West Mt Airy and West Germantown are much better bets than the east side?

Again, thanks for the input. Much appreciated.

I wouldn't write-off all of East Mt. Airy. On the whole it's a very nice neighborhood and on average more affordable than West Mt. Airy. I would just think carefully about buying on the 1xx block of Hortter or the immediately surrounding blocks. That pocket of the neighborhood has historically had more crime than the rest of East Mt. Airy which as a whole is a pretty safe neighborhood by city standards.

[2e1m5a]

Originally Posted by tintin19119

There are some pockets of W Mt. Airy and W Germantown that is not so great also. What is going on, a few small areas of Mt. Airy have fell victim of section 8,so you have a few blocks of renters and older people who can`t really keep up their homes.
I have no ideal who started this E Mt. Airy not being nice. I grew in Mt. Airy and have lived on the East and West side. There are very clean,safe and beautiful parts of E Mt. Airy.I only started hearing this East side , West side crap within the last few years. Don`t sell yourself short by cutting out the East side of Mt. Airy in your search.

Well said. I grew up in East Mount Airy and the majority of the neighborhood is excellent. Like I said before, there is a small pocket between Germantown and Chew known as "Dogtown" that is not the best area. 1XX East Hortter is located there. I would be comfortable living there if only due to familiarity and future investment but others may not.

But it is true that as a whole EMA is more working class than WMA and there are much less rowhomes in WMA. WMA also is located next to the Wissahickon Park. But there are exceptions of course. Like you said, there are also pockets in WMA like Good Street, Sharpnack, etc. that are not the best. And of course there are areas in EMA like the Gowen Estates (and anything North of Gorgas Lane really) that are comparable to anything in WMA. EMA also generally has better walkability to Downtown Mt Airy and Chestnut Hill.

[rraC ynnaD]

Originally Posted by herenia

Thank you all very much. I guess I have to scratch that one off.
I take from the posts above that West Mt Airy and West Germantown are much better bets than the east side?

Again, thanks for the input. Much appreciated.

Before you buy, walk a few blocks from the house you're interested in in every direction at about 7, 7:30 on a warm friday night (spring will be here before you know it) and see if you feel comfortable.

[herenia]

I certainly like the walking a few blocks advise. I think I'm going to look elsewhere instead. The RE agent asked if I was sure about the neighborhood since there were about 3 other houses on the same block for sale. Plus, the house I'm looking at was super discounted.
The east vs west thing is something I read on these boards. Most people I've met in real life simply classify Mt Airy, in general, as a nice area.
I'm back to square one and thanks again for all the responses.

[herenia]

This certainly explains the value of the homes. The house I was looking at sold for $120k in 2007 and the current price had gone down from 105k listing to just under $65k. I saw it slashed down to $49 which is when I felt I could throw a non-financed offer at the bank but they took it off the market anyway.

Originally Posted by BR Valentine

I wouldn't write-off all of East Mt. Airy. On the whole it's a very nice neighborhood and on average more affordable than West Mt. Airy. I would just think carefully about buying on the 1xx block of Hortter or the immediately surrounding blocks. That pocket of the neighborhood has historically had more crime than the rest of East Mt. Airy which as a whole is a pretty safe neighborhood by city standards.