USA Today shows that the majority of the real estate crisis is confined to just 5 states: California, Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, and Florida. Most of America is not in a foreclosure crisis. Real Estate foreclosures in Philadelphia remain low and the market fundimentals are strong.
Interest Rates are making homes more affordable
Interest rates are at 30 year lows and this allows you to buy more home for lower payments. While other parts of the country have been in a real estate slump, Philadelphia has remained a good value. This and the historically low rates make it the perfect time to buy a new home.
Advice for buyers: If you are thinking about purchasing, do it now.
Interest rates haven’t been lower for 30 years and the slowdown makes sellers eager to sell. Move quickly and keep an eye on new listings as good homes still sell in days. One good way to keep track of what’s new is to sign up for our daily email from our website.
Advice for sellers: The market is strong for those who price right.
If your house doesn’t sell in the first 60 days on the market, consider lowering your price. Good values drive buyer interest and for the first time in awhile we’ve been seeing bidding wars for houses priced right.
Contact Philly Living today to learn how we can help sell your home.
Finally, a large part of our business is via referrals. If you know someone looking to buy or sell real estate please have them contact us.
Center City Real Estate prices have remained stable through 2008, but neighborhood prices have fluctuated dramatically. Learn how your neighborhood is being impacted.
You can now download the 2008 year end analysis of Philadelphia real estate trends for Center City and Mainline. This report looks at quarterly and yearly trends for Philadelphia real estate.
Center City prices have remained steady throughout the year despite national trends. However, the effects of the national financial crises are impacting the number of sales, which is down significantly. You can read full details about your neighborhood in our report.
In Philadelphia, there are two types of sheriff sales - tax lien / tax delinquent sales (tax lien and tax delinquent mean the same thing) and mortgage foreclosure sales. Each type of sale occurs once a month.
At these sales, a number of properties get auctioned off by the Philadelphia Sheriff and the highest bidder wins the property. If you are the winning bidder of a property, you must immediately pay ten percent of your winning bid in cash, certified check, attorney’s check or money order to the Sheriff. You then have 30 days to pay the remainder of your winning bid (Click here for more information about how to bid on properties at mortgage foreclosure and tax lien / delinquent sheriff sales).
Here is how each type of sheriff sale works and where you can find more find information about upcoming sheriff sales.
In general, the properties listed in a Tax Delinquent Sheriff Sale are in very poor condition. But, you are free and clear of all liens levied on any property you buy. In turn, there are a number of properties that sell for prices far below market value.
Tax Delinquent Sheriff Sales usually occur on a Thursday at 10:00 AM. You can find a listing of all upcoming tax lien / tax delinquent sheriff sales in Philadelphia by clicking here.
Mortgage Foreclosure Sheriff Sales usually occur on a Tuesday at 10:00 AM. You can find a listing of all upcoming mortgage foreclosure sheriff sales in Philadelphia by clicking here.
This sounds too good to be true, so where’s the catch? Well, there are a number of gotchas for a first time sheriff sale buyer. For example, you may end up buying a property that has a large amount of unpaid taxes. Therefore, you must do your homework.
If you are fully prepared before attending a sale, you can really walk away with an amazing deal. Be sure to research the amount of outstanding taxes due and inquire about second mortgages before buying any property listed at a Sheriff Sale. A useful online tool that will save you a lot of time researching mortgage foreclosure and tax delinquent properties in Philadelphia is PhiladelphiaSheriffSales.com. The site provides you with a detailed listing of every sale. Each property is listed on a map on a map with street view pictures, descriptive information, owner information, yearly market values, and outstanding tax information. You can also use the site to discover new property investments in Philadelphia.
For more information visit: Frequently Asked Questions about Sheriff Sales in Philadelphia.
You can now download the 3rd Quarter analysis of Philadelphia real estate trends for Center City and Mainline. Philadelphia Real Estate has remained strong and shows no sign of being impacted by national trends. Overall the market is up 1% for the quarter and 3% since same time last year. Center City West largely recovered from last quarter’s dip with median sale prices up 5%. Center City East prices have remained the same.
Interesting trends are happening in the Luxury market where the number, median, and average price are all up significantly. This mini-boom in luxury properties is a good leading indicator for the market as a whole. It says great things about Philadelphia when the rich are buying property at levels we haven’t seen for some time.
Interest Rates are making homes more affordable
Interest rates are at 30 year lows and this allows you to buy more home for lower payments. While other parts of the country have been in a real estate slump, Philadelphia has remained a good value. This and the historically low rates make it the perfect time to buy a new home.
Advice for buyers: If you are thinking about purchasing, do it now. Â Interest rates haven’t been lower for 30 years. Move quickly and keep an eye on new listings as good homes sell in days. One good way to keep track of what’s new is to sign up for our daily email from our website.
Advice for sellers: The market is strong for those who price right. Â If your house doesn’t sell in the first 60 days on the market, consider lowering your price. Good values drive buyer interest and for the first time in awhile we’ve been seeing bidding wars for houses priced right. Contact Philly Living today to learn how we can help sell your home.
Former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan said the U.S. housing market will begin to recover in the first half of 2009, according to an article he wrote for Emerging Markets magazine published on Friday.
Greenspan wrote that the recent slowing in the rate of decline in U.S. home prices is the first positive note in the year-long trauma and that eventually, frozen credit markets will thaw “as frightened investors take tentative steps toward reengagement with risk.”
“More conclusive signs of pending home price stability are likely to become visible in the first half of 2009,” he wrote.
Once the housing market finds it footing, markets will be able to tackle the core issues of the credit crisis.
The American Planning Association has awarded the city of Philadelphia two honorary designations in its 2008 “Great Places in America” program.
In the “Great Neighborhoods” category, Society Hill was a winner, and South Broad Street’s Avenue of the Arts took a “Great Streets” award. Both were among 10 national recipients in each category, but Philadelphia was the only city to garner more than one prize, Jastrzab said.
The 325-year-old Society Hill neighborhood, named in honor of the Free Society of Traders, chartered in 1682 by William Penn, “provides a stimulating confluence of varying architectural styles, mixed uses, and social diversity in a downtown urban setting.”
The eight blocks of South Broad Street from City Hall to South Street, transformed during the past decade into the Avenue of the Arts, made the APA’s “Great Streets” honor roll for “its historical character, focus on the arts, social vibrancy, and public and private redevelopment efforts.” First developed in 1681, South Broad is one of the oldest planned streets in the country.
The nine other APA 2008 Great Neighborhoods are: Echo Park (Los Angeles); Greater Park Hill (Denver) ; North End (Boise, Idaho) ; Old Town Wichita (Wichita, Kan.); Downtown Salem (Salem, Mass.); Charles Village (Baltimore); Greater University Hill (Syracuse, N.Y.); Village of Mariemont (Mariemont, Ohio); and Downtown Sheridan (Sheridan, Wyo.).
The nine other APA 2008 Great Streets are: Mill Avenue in Tempe, Ariz.; Seventh Avenue in Tampa, Fla.; West Main Street in Louisville, Ky.; Commercial Street in Portland, Maine; Washington Street in Boston; Main Street in Annapolis, Md.; Summit Avenue in St. Paul, Minn.; South El Paso in El Paso, Texas; and Clarendon & Wilson Boulevards in Arlington, Va.
HGTV will be filming their show “My First Place” in Philly over the next few months. They are looking those first-time homebuyers who are dying to be on TV. Here is what they have to say about the show:
High Noon Entertainment is producing “My First Place” for HGTV, and is based out of Denver, Colorado. Our show captures the drama of finding and financing one’s first place, and ends with the couple’s/person’s/family’s taking possession of their first home. In each episode, we give the new homeowners a surprise housewarming gift to thank them for their participation.  We will be shooting several episodes in Philadelphia this fall, and are actively looking for some fun, high-energy first-time homebuyers and their realtors who are interested in being featured on the show.
The person(s) should be very motivated to buy and not mind having a camera crew standing by to shoot all of the exciting (and not-so-exciting) processes and experiences of finding and financing their first home. Â Therefore, we need them as early in the process as possible. Â Applicants should be ready to start looking soon, with a reasonable expectation of closing within about 90 days.
Let us know if you or someone you know would be interested in this unique opportunity!
Given all of the media’s coverage of the negatives of the market, we’re seeing that many buyers are on the fence about whether to move forward now or wait a year and purchase then. The main argument for waiting tends to be something akin to: Prices will fall and I’ll get more for my money. Though there are good arguments on both sides, Kevin Gillen’s data seems to suggest that, at least here in Philadelphia, we shouldn’t expect much of an adjustment downward in price.
At the same time, we all know that interest rates have risen (about 1% in the last quarter) and most economic forecasts assume that they will continue to rise. So what is a buyer to do?
We’ve put together some simple numbers looking at what we believe could be reality - a 5% drop in home prices coupled with a 1% increase in interest rates. Most indicators show that 5% is probably a bit extreme, but erring on the side of caution seems prudent. So what does this all mean?
| Loan Amount Today | Payment at 6.5% - Current Rate | Loan Amount if prices decreased 5% | Payment at Lower Price with 7.5% Rate | Difference in monthly payment |
| $250,000 | $1,580 | $237,500 | $1,660 | + $80 |
| $350,000 | $2,212 | $332,500 | $2,324 | + $112 |
| $450,000 | $2,844 | $427,500 | $2,989 | + $145 |
It turns out, from a financial standpoint, most buyer will save themselves money by hedging their bets against increasing interest rates rather than hoping that the market will dip. After all, most people who were hoping for a dip were not so happy to find out that Center City prices are up 1% year over year….
As real estate agents, we look at a number of metrics when evaluating the performance of a market. One of the key factors is ‘inventory accumulation.’ This is simply the number of units on the market divided by the average number of sales per month. In other words, this number represents the number of months it will take to sell all of the homes on the market assuming that no other homes are listed.
Right now, Philadelphia has an inventory accumulation of 9. What is interesting about this is if you look at the breakdown by price range:
From $200,000 to $300,000 the accumulation is 9.
From $300,000 to $400,000 the accumulation is 10.
From $400,000 to $500,000 the accumulation is 11.
Notice a pattern? Now here is where it gets interesting:
From $500,000 to $600,000 the accumulation is 18!
I wish I could say that it improves after that, but it keeps climing to an inventory accumulation of 56 when you get to $2,000,000.
So what does this mean? Simply put, the city-wide numbers that are being reported are heavily skewed because of the luxury properties that just are not selling. However, for the “average” Philadelphia buyer and seller under $500,000, the market is strong and moving along. For a more detailed look at the market on a nieghborhood level, see our exclusive market report.
