A Philly renter inspires apartment makeovers | Real Estate Newsletter

Home envy. We’ve all felt it. You might have been watching HGTV or touring a friend’s new house or scrolling on your phone when you saw a space you wish you lived in.

If you’re a renter, you may feel that even if you wanted to give your home a makeover, there isn’t much you can do. You’re wrong.

I went inside the home of the renter behind the popular TikTok and Instagram account my.philly.home, which inspires lots of home envy among followers. To be fair, Kate Levy’s apartment on the edge of Philly’s Fairmount neighborhood was pretty amazing to begin with. But with some elbow grease, thrifting, and imagination, she’s made it into something more. And she’s inspiring other renters to do more with their own homes.

Keep reading for that story and to get some free advice from local interior designers, learn about the industry that’s grown from a state law meant to fight blight, and peek inside a Victorian home turned guest house in Manayunk.

📮 What was the most drastic or transformative change you made to your home as a renter? For a chance to be featured in my newsletter, email me.

— Michaelle Bond

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When I moved into the “mouse house” that I rented in Center City (Loyal readers know what I’m talking about.), I thought it would be cute to put a planter box full of flowers on the stoop. I never actually did.

One of my roommates made our tiny patio cute, with string lights, a table and chairs, and a rug. Inside, my roommates and I hung up some artwork and mirrors, but the space was fine, and we didn’t plan to be in the rowhouse long-term, so what was the point of going all out?

Kate Levy is a renter who goes all out. For the last few years, she’s been sharing photos and video clips on her my.philly.home Instagram and TikTok accounts showing how she’s redecorated her apartment. And she’s grown a following of more than 100,000 across both accounts.

“You’re paying to live in this space every month, so you might as well make it feel like your home,” Levy said when I visited her.

Some of her apartment improvements include:

I’ve put up curtains at rentals before, but even at my first post-college Philly apartment, which was not in great shape all around, the only thing I replaced was the worst shower head you’ve ever seen. Now after writing about my.philly.home and getting design advice from professionals to share with you, it might be time for me to step it up at my current home.

Keep reading for more details on Levy’s home transformation, hear what landlords think about renter renovations, and see more photos of Levy’s apartment.

You might not know what Act 135 is, but you’ve heard of Britney Spears. So my colleague Samantha Melamed uses the pop star’s conservatorship (which was terminated — #FreeBritney) in her latest story to explain the obscure Pennsylvania law.

Instead of allowing a conservator to control a person, Act 135 lets people, local governments, and nonprofits control abandoned and blighted properties. And the conservators can cash in.

Neighbors of blighted properties have said the law has gotten rid of eyesores, shut down criminal activity, and fixed problems that were damaging adjoining homes.

But an Inquirer investigation found that conservatorship has grown into its own industry. And, Samantha writes, that industry is “driven by single-purpose nonprofits, often run by real-estate investors, that can extract tens of thousands of dollars from owners even if the nonprofits never take over the property at all.”

Nonprofits also can abuse the court system by filing Act 135 cases to pressure owners to sell for less than their properties are worth.

Read on for the stories of affected families, find out why city officials still support the law, and learn about potential reforms.

Mark Jerde had always wanted a bed and breakfast. So he turned a Victorian home in a block of rowhouses into the Manayunk Chambers Guest House.

It’s also where he lives with his husband, Neal Orzeck, and where members of Orzeck’s family have lived for more than a century. Orzeck’s great-aunt bought the three-story house in 1900 from the Methodist Church.

The home’s transformation into a guest house took 11 years. The property was built in 1877 and needed a lot of work. Jerde and Orzeck updated the electric and plumbing systems, removed a kitchen on the third floor, installed gas fireplaces, and reconfigured the bedrooms. They collected secondhand furniture and fixtures.

Most of the 3,600-square-foot home is the Guest House, which includes a large parlor and four guest suites with full bathrooms. The couple live in the back.

Peek inside the home and see how Jerde and Orzeck took its decor back to Victorian times.

The owner of a Scranton landmark featured in the title sequence of The Office is asking fans to pitch in to restore it. The goal is to raise $295,000 to repair the historic Penn Paper tower.

Question: Roughly how old is the “cultural icon?”

A) 248 years old

B) 125 years old

C) 141 years old

D) 167 years old

This story has the answer.

Do you know the location this photo shows?

📮 If you think you do, email me back. You and your memories of visiting this spot might be featured in the newsletter.

Shout out to Cheryl P., David P., Lars W., and Debbie S., who knew that last week’s photo showed the Smith Memorial Playground & Playhouse. Debbie told me she recently visited with her children and five grandsons, who were 7 months to 6 years old.

“It was such a fun place that the boys did not want to leave, but we had the advantage — it was closing time.”

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In case you need some inspiration for your home garden, the Philadelphia Flower Show wraps this weekend. My colleague Mike Newall takes us behind the scenes.

Enjoy the rest of your week.

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