The buyer: Bree Ross, 34, paralegal

The house: A 1,100-square-foot rowhouse in East Falls with three bedrooms and one bath built in 1945.

The price: Listed for $350,000; purchased for $343,000

The agent: Shannon Vottero, Compass Real Estate

The ask: After growing up in Lower Merion, post-school life took Ross to Washington, D.C., then Seattle — two cities where home-buying on a single salary felt impossible.

But after moving back to Philly in 2025, she decided it was time to see what was out there.

Her new-home wish list wasn’t long. She wanted something in the city. She wanted at least two bedrooms (with either an additional third bedroom or basement), good kitchen space, some kind of outdoor area, and — preferably — central air-conditioning.

Her only non-negotiable? “I didn’t want to live on Lincoln Drive,” she said. “It zigzags, and I hate it.”

The search: She’d heard from friends that a home search could be a monthslong journey — and she went in with the expectation that hers would be, too. After reaching out to her real estate agent in mid-April, though, “it was pretty much like foot on the gas,” she said.

Every morning, while getting ready for work, she checked her agent’s internal portal for new leads, which turned up a number of promising prospects.

In all, she toured close to 10 homes — a couple in East Falls, a couple in Manayunk. None was quite right.

The appeal: Even before stepping inside for the first time, Ross was smitten with her future home.

“I loved the front porch right away,” she said. “Also, the street … was tree-lined, people actually sit on their porches.” Because it was on the end of a stretch of homes, it shared only one wall — a rarity with rowhouses.

“It had all that in its favor even before I opened the front door,” she said.

Inside, it didn’t disappoint. Though some updates had been made, the home maintained some of its original features, including the wooden staircase and the archways between rooms. What’s more, it checked nearly all of her boxes: three bedrooms, a basement, a front porch, and a sizable kitchen.

The only downside was that it was slightly over her budget.

Over dinner that night with her parents, Ross weighed the pros and cons, deciding that, though it was a bit overbudget, the third bedroom and basement made it worth the stretch. After dinner, she called her agent, and they submitted an offer the following morning.

The deal: The home’s listing price had recently dropped from $360,000 to $350,000, and Ross offered less than that — $343,000. Her offer was accepted within a day.

A subsequent inspection turned up a few issues — most notably, the house was outfitted with knob-and-tube wiring, a potential fire hazard — and she was able to negotiate a $4,000 sellers credit that ultimately went toward closing costs.

The money: Ross had begun saving for a home at the start of the pandemic, so she was able to put around $17,000 down, with a mortgage around $1,800 per month. Closing costs came to roughly $6,000.

A Philly first-time homebuyer program helped her lock in a 5.3% interest rate. She explored other grants and programs, too, but either didn’t qualify or found them inapplicable.

She was, however, able to get on a waiting list for a program that would provide a rebate for the electrical work she had done to replace the wiring.

The move: Movers handled the big stuff, Ross’ parents helped with some fragile things, and the majority of the move was handled in a single day.

And though the schedule was a bit tight — she wanted the home’s wiring fixed before moving in — things ultimately worked out.

“My dad, bless him, was doing the closing walk-through with the electrician [while] me and the movers were en route to the house,” Ross said.

Life after close: Aside from a few small hiccups — the first week after moving in, she realized the kitchen sink wasn’t working — things have been peaceful.

The inspection showed that the water heater was in need of replacing, so the plumber fixed that, along with the sink. She has plans to paint soon, and because the home is bigger than her former apartment, there’s one room still in need of furniture.

But she’s enjoying taking her time with things.

“Sometimes at the end of the day, I’ll be sitting down on the couch and it hits me that I own this place,” she said. “And I don’t have to leave it unless I want to.”

Did you recently buy a home in the Philadelphia area or South Jersey? Share the story of how you did it. Email Inquirer real estate reporters at properties@inquirer.com.

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