6 multimillion-dollar homes for sale on 1 block | Real Estate Newsletter

Just off of Rittenhouse Square sits one of the most prestigious blocks of real estate in Philadelphia.

And now six of the multimillion-dollar homes on the 1800 block of Delancey Place are for sale.

Tour the homes and take a look at the fancy features they offer.

Keep scrolling for more on these homes and to discover the latest development in a city fight over sales of abandoned properties, learn about an agreement that could change how you pay real estate agents, and peek inside a Bucks County home that a couple inherited.

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Delancey Place is a coveted address in Philadelphia.

It’s rare for six houses on one of its blocks to be on the market at the same time. But that’s what’s happening on the 1800 block near Rittenhouse Square.

And that means up-to-date peeks into homes priced from $2.15 million to $5.75 million. The smallest of the properties is 4,400 square feet.

Inside, you’ll find:

🛗 elevators

🔥 multiple fireplaces

🛁 large tubs with jets

One home has 14-foot ceilings in the living room, a kitchen with two skylights, and a built-in wine cooler that fits 132 bottles. Another has a patio with a fountain. A couple have terraces, and one has two decks.

Take a look inside the homes and find out what else they offer.

We’ve reported about how the Philadelphia Sheriff’s Office hasn’t been doing one of the main things it’s supposed to do: auctioning the abandoned buildings and vacant lots owned by folks who are behind on their property taxes.

Like a kid who ignores his parents’ orders to put his toys away because he knows he’ll get to play with his friends anyway, tax-delinquent owners have essentially been free to ignore court notices warning of auctions.

The three-year pause in these sales has increased tax delinquency and left abandoned properties to deteriorate. Potential buyers who want to rehab or redevelop properties aren’t able to. And the city is missing out on millions of dollars that could go to building affordable homes, as noted by Mayor Cherelle L. Parker.

Now it looks as if something may finally be happening. The mayor announced she’s working with the sheriff to restart tax sales by July.

Read about how we got here and what all of this means.

If you’ve sold a home, did you pay thousands of dollars to cover the commission of the agent who brought you your buyer?

You probably did. But some home sellers complained about being expected to pay high fees and blamed the National Association of Realtors and associated brokerages. So sellers sued NAR. Last Friday, the association announced it had reached a settlement agreement.

NAR agreed to pay $418 million in damages (a lot less than the billions it could’ve had to pay after a jury ruled against the association last year). Under the agreement, sellers’ agents won’t be able to offer to pay buyers’ agents’ commissions on most databases listing properties for sale, called multiple listing services. (They can still offer compensation to buyers’ agents to attract buyers using other platforms and through negotiation.)

If the proposed agreement gets court approval, that and other terms would go into effect in July.

So what does all this actually mean for buyers and sellers? At this point, it’s anyone’s guess.

Everything depends on how much the behavior of agents, sellers, and buyers changes. And NAR still has outstanding cases against it.

While we wait to see what actually happens as a result of all this, here’s some advice that will help sellers and buyers no matter what: communicate early and often with your agent to make sure you know what services you’re getting and how much you’re paying for them, and remember that everything is negotiable.

If you’d like to see for yourself what the NAR agreement says, (warning: it’s not light reading), you can find it here.

Mel Kulenski’s mom died from a heart attack in 2020. To cope, her dad cleaned and renovated the house they shared.

Then, in 2021, Kulenski lost her dad, her “favorite person.”

The childhood home she inherited has his touches everywhere. He owned a painting business and painted most of the furniture. He built the wooden coffee table in the den. A sapling he planted decades ago is now a towering tree.

On the back deck, he built the pergola under which Mel and her wife, Rel, got married.

The couple held onto family memories while renovating the home that’s now theirs. They spent more than $30,000 to fix problems. They changed the layout of some of the rooms and created a bedroom on the third floor for one of their foster teens.

Peek inside the home and find out how much money Mel got for renovations from selling her prized Pokémon collection.

Rittenhouse Square’s lawn is being dug up and restored after it got extra trampled during the pandemic. The restoration of the grass at one of Philly’s most popular public places will cost about $500,000.

Question: About how long ago was the lawn last replaced?

A) 10 years

B) 20 years

C) 40 years

D) 50 years

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.

Last week’s newsletter featured a photo of a skateboarder on a skate ramp at FDR Park in South Philly.

Happy spring! Enjoy the rest of your week.

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