The buyers: Nick Imparato, 27, program director; Dale Macauley, 28, art director.

The house: A 1,680-square-foot rowhouse in Pennsport with 5 bedrooms and 1½ baths built in 1915.

The price: Listed for $351,000, purchased for $352,000.

The agent: Sue Liedke, Compass Real Estate

The ask: Nick Imparato and Dale Macauley weren’t even sure they wanted to buy.

But their one-bedroom apartment at South 13th and Carpenter Streets was cramped. After connecting with an agent, they started to think more seriously about owning in the spring of 2024.

“If you’ve never been through the process, it’s such a black box in your mind,” Macauley said.

They knew they wanted more space, and to stay in South Philly. They also had their hearts set on a rowhouse, preferably one with an extra half bathroom. Original details were also vital — no gray laminate or fake marble kitchens.

“Nothing that felt super flipped,” Macauley said.

The search: The couple took their time as their agent sent homes in their budget, and they perused Redfin and Zillow for hidden gems.

A couple of the places Imparato liked — and that seemed to be within their budget — both ended up going for around $50,000 over asking price.

“The ones I like seem like they’re in our budget, but they’re actually not,” he said he remembers thinking.

The appeal: They came upon their future home in an online listing. There were no photos of the interior, but the exterior photos intrigued them enough to walk over and tour the neighborhood.

It was “love at first sight,” Macauley said.

Visiting for the open house only reinforced their feelings. They loved the home’s historical charm, and the personal touches from the previous owners: wooden radiator covers, old tools in the basement.

At the open house, they’d been told that all offers had to be received by that night.

“We felt really like, ‘Wow, this is the moment,’” Macauley said. They decided they were ready to make an offer.

After hearing that some of their agent’s clients had had success writing letters to sellers, they decided to do the same, praising the home’s details and vowing to honor the previous owners by keeping things as they were.

Still, their expectations were tempered. They offered $352,000, a thousand dollars over the listing price. (“Just as a little wink,” Macauley said.)

“I feel like we sent that with a prayer, and we were like, ‘There’s no way, but whatever — good experience,’” Macauley said. “And it was just the most wild, surreal feeling when” it worked out.

The deal: The offer was accepted the next day. Later, they were pleased to learn that their letter had helped seal the deal.

A presale inspection turned up a bit of structural damage in the basement, and after seeking out quotes for repairs, the couple was able to negotiate a $5,000 seller’s assist.

The money: All told, the couple put $50,000 down on the house. They worked with a mortgage company to secure a mortgage of $302,000, with an interest rate of 5.875%.

They’d been worried about the complexities of buying a house without being married, but those fears had been overblown.

“That was one area where I think there was undue concern ahead of time,” Imparato said.

The move: They closed on the home in early October 2024 and moved in later that month.

Because their previous apartment was only a 10-minute drive from the new place, the move was relatively painless. They used their Prius to move smaller items ahead of time and rented a U-Haul for the rest. A handful of friends helped.

“We did it pretty much all in that day,” Imparato said. “And that night, we all hung out in the house.”

Any reservations? Aside from the expected adjustments of living in an older home — unlike their old apartment, there’s no central air — their transition has been seamless.

Since moving in, they’ve undertaken a few home improvement projects: painting the powder room, adding an accent wall in the kitchen, and hanging some bathroom shelving.

But they’ve been impressed with how well the previous owners — whose family had owned the home since the 1960s — kept the house.

“It was just obviously a labor of love how they maintained [it],” Macauley said. “So it was just like a dream scenario being able to move in without having to do anything.”

Life after close: In a word? “Dreamy,” said Macauley.

The extra space has allowed them to host friends and family, including both of their parents for Christmas for the first time.

Their proximity to Jefferson Square Park has been a bonus, and their tuxedo cat, Stache, has also managed to make the place home. “He loves getting his energy out by running up and down the stairs,” Macauley said.

“I just feel like we really had a Cinderella story,“ Macauley said. ”Not to get so woo-woo, but I really do think it worked out how the universe wanted it to.”