Philadelphia Real Estate Blog

There was an article last week in the Philadelphia Inquirer that suggests more Philadelphia Condos are being rented.  Here is an excerpt from the article:

Because the focus of residential construction during the boom times was on for-sale housing rather than rentals, there aren’t enough high-end apartments to go around now.

“We are finding the high-end rentals to be almost nonexistent, as they rent fairly quickly,” said real estate agent Mark Wade, of Prudential Fox & Roach.

Condos near the University of Pennsylvania and Thomas Jefferson University “have a built-in demand for rentals, and we have seen that equation play out year after year,” Wade said.

Read more here:

http://articles.philly.com/2011-06-01/news/29608739_1_rental-apartments-rental-units-center-city-district/2

Mark Wade
www.CenterCityCondos.com
Prudential Fox and Roach Realtors
530 Walnut St. #260 Philadelphia, PA 19106

Race Street Pier officially opened today! This is the first new public space of its kind located on the Delaware River as part of the Delaware River Waterfront Corporation’s ambitious new plan.  The Pier reconnects the City to the River, activates the water’s edge and establishes the pier as a distinctive new public park for the people of Philadelphia. Click to read more about The Race Street Pier.

This is a great new park for Philadelphia condo owners and Philadelphia condo buyers. If you are interested in purchasing a condo in Philly, give us a call at 215.521.1523.

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

Please come out with your Mom for a stroll this Mother’s Day and stop by our Center City open houses on Sunday, May 8.

Noon-1:00PM
38-44 N. Front St. – The Winne Condos – 12 bank owned units with unique floor plans, wood floors, top-of-the-line kitchens & baths, recessed lighting, high ceilings, landscaped courtyard. FHA Approval pending – Starting at $215,110

736 Pine St. Unit D – 2-bedroom condo in Society Hill with central air, family room, basement, 2 decks, & parking. Distinctive & delightful! $499,900


736 Pine St. Unit F –  Sunny 2 bedroom condo, private entrance, open floor plan, California closets, granite/ss and tax abatement $349,999

1:30PM-2:30PM
117 S. 16th St. #400 (aka 1551 Sansom) – Entire floor! Very Large 1 bed/1.5 bath condo- corner unit- tons of light. Hardwood floors- Elevator opens directly into unit! Mint Condition, good closets $359,000

103-07 Church St. #9 – Tons of Old City charm. Tall windows, hardwood floors, exposed ductwork, open granite & stainless kitchen. Lrg quiet MBR has natural light & good sized closet w/en suite master bath. ASKO w/d $299,999

3PM-4PM
912 Spruce St. #8 – 1 bedroom located to the rear of building away from any street noise, high ceilings, stainless steel appliances, low condo fees, move-in condition at an unbelievable price! $229,000

We hope to see you there! To view all of our Philadelphia Real Estate Listings, including Philadelphia Condos visit www.CenterCityCondos.com.

Mark Wade
www.CenterCityCondos.com
Prudential Fox and Roach Realtors
530 Walnut St. #260 Philadelphia, PA 19106

If you plan to put your Philadelphia Condo or Home on the market, you have to check out Drew Callaghan Photography. He does great work that will go a long way at showing off your Condo’s Showing Ability! Here are a few of his amazing photos:

You can contact Drew at Drew@DrewCallaghanPhotography.com or 215.431.3384.

See more at: http://www.DrewCallaghanPhotography.com/

Mark Wade
Prudential Fox and Roach Realtors
www.CenterCityCondos.com
530 Walnut St. #260 Philadelphia, PA 19106

The spring market is upon us and we have some stunning new listings available. Please come out and stop by our Center City open houses this Sunday, March 27.

Noon-1:00PM
736 Pine St. Unit D – 2-bedroom condo in Society Hill with central air, family room, basement, 2 decks, & parking. Distinctive & delightful! $515,000

1112 Spruce St. Unit 1R – Just Listed! Spacious condo in Washington Square West with wood floors, granite counters, stainless steel appliances, intercom, laundry area, tons of storage, & cute patio $399,000

1:30PM-2:30PM
912 Spruce St. #8 – Cozy 1 bedroom located to the rear of building away from any street noise, high ceilings, stainless steel appliances, low condo fees, move-in condition at an unbelievable price! $229,000

1018 Christian St. – 3BR/2ba in Bella Vista, 2004 renovation, wood floors, lovely details, separate dining area, energy efficient sliding door to brick-paved patio – Reduced to $469,000

103-07 Church St. #2 – Just Listed! Large open 1BR/1.5ba in stunning upscale rehab warehouse building in Old City with gas fireplace, large private brick patio, high ceilings, exposed brick, wood floors $333,900

1100 Vine St. #908 – Freshly painted condo with large closets, 1 bed + large separate den (2nd bedroom), new dishwasher, wood floors, lovely view, 24-hr security desk, tax abatement, great location! $242,500

3:00PM-4:00PM
736 Pine St. Unit F –  Sunny 2 bedroom condo, private entrance, open floor plan, California closets, granite/ss and tax abatement $369,000

918 Spruce St. Unit 1 – 3 bedroom brownstone condo w/2-car tandem parking, 2010 chef’s kitchen-SubZero/Viking appliances, high ceilings, 2 new baths…a true gem! $699,000

1002 Spruce St. Unit E – Just Reduced Match your dreams to this 2BR/2BA condo. Some of the highlights of this distinctive unit are skylights and central air. Celebrity-caliber luxury! $435,000

50 N. Front St. #402 – 1BR condo with fireplace and shared roof deck with views of the Delaware River. Lots of west-facing windows provide great light, tremendous closet space, exposed brick & architectural details $279,000

We hope to see you there! To view all of our Philadelphia Real Estate Listings, including Philadelphia Condos visit www.CenterCityCondos.com.

Mark Wade
www.CenterCityCondos.com
Prudential Fox and Roach Realtors
530 Walnut St. #260 Philadelphia, PA 19106

Selling Philadelphia condominiums has somewhat of a unique issue that may not be relevant to condos in, say, remote parts of Montana or on deserted private islands. And that issue would be – the noise.

Some of the most sought after condo buildings here in Center City are on or very close to lively blocks that are full of activity, or they are on or near bus routes, and can have a close proximity to highways. This is very convenient but can be noisy!

Having constant noise outside your dining room or bedroom could be a big problem. So, I devised a kinda’ cool solution that works like a gem. And in the scheme of things, really doesn’t have to cost a lot.

Here’s the solution: Replace your windows (genius, eh?)!

Depending on where you live in downtown Philadelphia, you may have a fairly strong historic association who mandates the type of window replacement you must use.  However, this does not preclude you from installing another set of windows INSIDE the historical set.

You can add a double paned, inexpensive vinyl clad INSIDE the outer set of historically approved windows, giving you a total of 3 or 4 panes of glass between you and the noise.  This ingenious little set-up demonstrates how you can effectively keep all city noise out of your Philadelphia loft or condo.

You don’t need to live 30 feet from the highway or live in a super luxury condo building to benefit from this idea.  Such insulation also provides extra protection from cold, heat loss, and dirt that gets inside of other single paned windows!

If you’re thinking of buying or selling a Center City condominium and want some more tips, I can help.  Give me a call today 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. Philadelphia, PA 19106

Here are some tips for making your offer on your potential new Philly  Condo as attractive to the seller it can be:

1) Get a pre-approval from the mortgage company that the LISTING agent uses most.
This will allow the listing agent, who will be presenting your offer to the seller, to be comfortable with your financing arrangements.

2) Narrow your contingency periods to ten (10) days. Not business days either. Make sure you can clear your schedule to do all your inspections on a timely basis. Nothing sours a seller like “15 business days” to do a home inspection.

3) If you are flexible in the dates you can settle, give the seller the option to pick the settlement date. You can write a contract that gives the seller the right to choose your settlement date within a specific period of time, like “ from 30 to 45 days from execution of the contract”..seller to decide.

4) If the seller is buying another home, and doing so locally, consider allowing his or her title company to do your title work. Title rates are standard, and you (generally speaking) will not incur more costs by having your title work done by a company you or your Realtor chooses.

5) Write a nice note to the seller, to be presented with your offer telling him or her why you love their Center City home, and why you want to buy it. If it evokes a special emotion out of you, let the seller know. Every seller wants their home to be “loved”….let them know you love their home!

These tips may give you an edge in a competitive offer situation, or may just save you a couple of dollars when it comes time to negotiate with the seller! Good Luck, and know that the dollar amount you are offering is NOT the only factor your seller may consider when looking at your offer!

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

1100 Vine Street, The Grandview is a 12 story condominium building at the corner of 11th and Vine here in Center City Philadelphia. The building is made up of mostly 1 bedrooms under 600 square feet, some nice 2 bedrooms, and a few penthouses. The Grandview has a close proximity to Jefferson.

What is so wise about this Philly condo? The condo association has limited the number of rentals allowed at any given time within this building. Fannie Mae will not lend on a unit in a building where the owner-occupancy is out of whack. This makes it exceedingly difficult to preserve value in a building that has more rentals than owner-occupants. So, the Grandview has a rule written into their condo documents limiting their rentals to around 30%. Genius!

In the buildings with more renters than owners, it is extremely difficult for a new buyer to obtain financing. Occasionally you can find a lender to do it, but you better have at least a 25-30% down payment. Which most first time home buyers here in Center City do not have. Let’s face it, these buyers are “job-rich and cash-poor”. They just started working their first great job, but they have nothing in savings and are buried in students loan payments.

Sales will begin to come to a halt in buildings that are not finance-able. Sellers will begin to compete with each other lowering prices and the value of the building will be a stake. Due to the preemptive strike at the Grandview, condos there are still selling, and selling well. Their value has been preserved. First time buyers can go in with as little as 5% down.

On the flip side, another building here in town has lost a lot of value when the condo board sued the developer. Whether their reason to sue was right or wrong is not for me to decide. But unfortunately, as a result of a lawsuit within the condominium, lenders will not lend. Sales in the building have ceased. After 3 or 4 years of no sales, the building has become filled with renters and anxious sellers lowering prices, and lowering prices some more, hoping for a cash buyer to come along.

The worst part is that when it’s all said and done, due to this short-sighted lawsuit, the owners of the building will never get back what they have lost in value. Let’s say there are 100 units, and let’s say they win the lawsuit.  Even if they win something like $1,000,000, when you split that up among the units, they end up with around $5000 each. It’s like they cut off their noses to spite their own faces. They have lost a lot more than $5,000 in value per unit. Whatever they may win, it will not be enough to override fact that they lost so much value.

Back to a more positive note, I hear another building in Old City also considering the same thing as the Grandview-limiting rentals. Great move! Keep buildings valuable by keeping them mortgage-able.

Mark Wade
www.CenterCityCondos.com
Prudential Fox and Roach Realtors
530 Walnut St. #260 Philadelphia, PA 19106

…They vary from building to building

Every Philadelphia condo association has its own set of rules and regulations in regards to cats, dogs, giraffes, and other miscellaneous pets. The general rule of thumb is as follows:

1) Low Rise and/or Brownstone Style condominiums

Almost ALL of these small associations allow dogs and cats. I dunno’ about giraffes. Rarely are size, or breed restrictions in place. Such is the case at The Garden Condominiums on the 1600 block of  Spruce Street. No elevator, and limited common space generally mean more relaxed pet policies. However, there may be a nuisance clause inserted into the condo docs, should your pet be continually yappy, or prone to biting the neighbors.

2) High Rise Condos

All Pre-War buildings on Rittenhouse Square allow dogs and cats. Breed restriction or weight limits may apply. It has been my experience that smaller high rise (and high-end) buildings with limited number of occupants do allow pets- Like 1900 Rittenhouse Square.  High rise Philly condo buildings with large populations (Academy House)  generally will not allow dogs.

Large condo associations looking to rethink their restrictive pet policies can implement size and breed restrictions to keep disruptions and the “fear factor” out of the common areas of any given association. This idea will probably gain in popularity as associations look for ways to attract, instead of repel potential buyers. In my 20+ year real estate career here in Center City Philadelphia, I have realized that the buying public is about 50 times more likely to purchase a condo with a relaxed pet policy. Most buyers will give up their first choice of condo buildings, before they will give up their beloved pet. I wouldn’t dream of giving away my dog to live in any specific building here in Center City. Would you?

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

Usually accented by very large windows and high ceilings, exposed brick walls bring casual comfort to many Old City lofts and other Center City Condominiums. But the look of those walls need not stay the same again and again.

One option is to varnish, or apply polyurethane to the brick, which controls the brick dust accumulation, and gives the brick a bit of a shine, sort of similar to shiny hardwood flooring.

Another choice, which I personally prefer, is to painted the brick. Though I can rarely convince others to paint their exposed brick, some of the coolest and most hip looks are achieved by painting interior exposed brick finishes.

Of course, once you paint an exposed brick wall, you are kinda’ stuck with the look, unless you go and have the walls sandblasted. Not a process I would wish upon my worst enemy! Messy, to say the very least.

Looking for a cool and hip condo? Let’s take a look at some units together? Maybe a Fitler Square Condo? Give me a call at 215.521.1523 or email me at Mark@CenterCity.com.

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