The Philly Pretzel

There is a style of house for everyone in Philly.

The log cabin sits at the corner of Lawrence and Popular Streets in the neighborhood of Northern Liberties. Built on four lots by artist Jeff Thomas in the 1980’s with a truckload of logs from West Virginia. Thomas’s inspiration for the home came from the “back to the land” movement of the 1970’s.

It is a two story cabin composed of one room on top of another with a steel chimney pipe rising up through the roof. The cabin is surrounded by a low stockade fence, stacks of firewood and a stand of walnut, locust and black cherry trees. Across Lawrence Street where once there was nothing but boarded-up buildings, expensive condos and rehabbed houses stand.

The cabin seems out of place until one remembers that in the 1980’s Northern Liberties was a remote section of the city, filled with abandoned row houses and factories. Most neighbors have come to accept the cabin and some love it. It stands today as a testimonial to the artists who first took over the buildings and established the area’s eclectic ambience.

Technorati: Northern Liberties, unusual houses, log cabins

posted by janice

By now, you’ve likely heard that mortgage delinquency and foreclosure rates are rising rapidly but Philadelphia foreclosures are far fewer. Foreclosures in the Philadelphia area dropped by 32 percent last year, according to RealtyTrac. The California company, which tracks foreclosures, released its Year-End 2007 Metropolitan Foreclosure Report, ranking the nation’s 100 largest metro areas by percentage of total households entering some stage of foreclosure. Philadelphia was 79th, with a foreclosure rate of 0.492 percent of households.

The scenario is not one of doom and gloom as buyers are out there and properties that show well and are priced correctly are moving. Days on market are down slightly at 67 days average for the month of February and should shorten as spring approaches.

Technorati: Philadelphia homes, foreclosure, mortgage

posted by janice

Having trouble selling your Philadelphia “fixer-upper”? Think out of the box and try creative marketing. Make sure your sound is on when you watch this video.

Technorati: real estate humor, handyman special, fixer upper, short sale

posted by janice

Interpreting housing statistics.

Sure, you know it. But you forget. So let me remind you that numbers can lie sometimes, and words can lie all the time, so please don’t take every housing statistic you read at face value.

Let’s say, for instance, that you’ve just read that “housing prices in this neighborhood have plunged 2%, the greatest drop since 2001.” Before you go hiding under the bed, ask yourself : is 2% really a plunge? If a 150-pound woman lost 3 pounds, would she shriek, “Yay! My weight is plunging!”? No, she would not. But reporters happy to hype up a story use the ol’ plunge-and-soar verbs all the time.

And that’s another thing. What area are those statistics talking about? National home prices are less meaningful if all you care about is that one townhouse at the corner of 3rd and Market. Figures that include both condos and single family homes, when all you’d ever want is a condo, aren’t so relevant to you. It’s also wise not to over-react to the “since such-and-such-a-date” part of a statistic. It adds some dimension to the numbers, but it can also be stretched to the point of absurdity, as in “Mom, I’m starving, it’s 1:30 and I haven’t eaten since lunch.”

Keep your sense of humor. Hang on to your perspective. Yes, these are challenging times in the housing market, but they’re made worse by media slants, twists, turns and melodrama. Seen a good example of it lately? I’d like to hear.

Technorati: philly real estate, market statistics, housing statistics
posted by carolyn

For most of recorded history, sellers got all the agents and buyers jumped without a net. But since the late 1980’s, Buyer Agents have also become popular.

86% of buyers have Buyer Agents. So should you.

You need your own representation when you’re talking money. And experience has shown us that buyers who don’t have a Buyer Agent end up regretting it at the worst possible moment.

Any REALTOR® or agent can act as a Buyer Agent for you, but we have taken it one step further by earning our ABR designation (Accredited Buyer Representation). Only 13 % of agents worldwide have taken this extra step.

Buyer Agents costs you nothing. And gain you everything.

Usually, the Buyer Agent is paid from the seller’s commission. But he or she is legally obliged to place the buyer’s interests above all others.  Here’s what you should expect, and we deliver:

*Undivided loyalty

*Respect for your requests

*An explanation of all paperwork, so you understand everything you sign

*Coordinating work with third parties like mortgage brokers, insurers and inspectors, so you stay on schedule

*Objective advice, including honest pros and cons, so you can make up your own mind

Buyer Agents. Don’t leave your old home without one.

Technorati: buyer agent, philadelphia home buyers, accredited buyer representation