She bought a home off Facebook | Real Estate Newsletter
Plus: Pave paradise and put up an apartment building?
I’m a sucker for scrolling Facebook Marketplace for bargains. But I’ve been skeptical when I see people listing homes for sale on the site. Surely that’s a scam, I always think.
My colleague Abigail Covington proved me wrong with the latest installment of How I Bought This House, The Inquirer’s weekly look at what it takes to become a homeowner.
📮 Have you ever considered buying a home from Facebook Marketplace or somewhere similar? If so, email me. I’m dying to know how you made the decision.
Keep scrolling for that story and more in this week’s edition:
Noodles on the wall: Yes, really. This week’s home tour is so creative.
Main Line accolades: Some Philly suburbs made the list of best places to live in America.
Mondrian inspiration: A Queen Village home’s design is straight off the Dutch painter’s palette.
The end of parking lots? Nah, but Inga Saffron says Center City has too many and the space is better for housing.
— Erica Palan
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After looking at 15 potential homes, each with downsides, Katie Pratt spotted her dream condo on Facebook Marketplace. She wondered: Could it be legit?
The spot was too good to ignore — lots of light, affordable, accessible, and her close friend lived in the same complex.
Pratt, a 29-year-old first-time buyer, reached out to the seller, hoping that it wasn’t scam. After exchanging messages, she worked with a real estate agent to further vet the listing. A few months later, she was living in her new home.
Find out how it all went down.
Philadelphia needs more housing. So why does Center City still have so many parking lots? That’s the question architecture critic Inga Saffron tackled in her column this month.
My favorite quote in the column comes from Philly parking magnate Robert Zuritsky, whose family owns dozens of lots around the country. Zuritsky is trying to pivot his business into a development company that also owns parking lots.
The problem is that “development is really hard,” Zuritsky told Saffron.
As readers of this newsletter know, he’s not exaggerating. Read on for more.
The latest news to pay attention to
Conversions of offices to apartments in Philadelphia more than doubled over the last year.
Temple University students and other renters in North Philadelphia could be affected as apartment buildings start heading to foreclosure following suspicious sales.
An apartment proposal for Queen Village is back with a new owner and affordable units.
Quirky Queen Village home for sale features bright primary colors, glass bricks and abstract art vibes.
Drexel University is selling a medical building on North Broad Street for apartment conversion.
These Main Line suburbs are some of the best places to live in the country, according to a new survey.
YouthBuild charter school’s expansion is planned in the long vacant Germantown Town Hall.
House of the week: A compact condo on Rittenhouse Square for $295,000.
Home tour: Thousands of hand-painted squares
When I first saw the walls of Carla Krash’s Narberth bedroom, I thought it was wallpaper. Nope.
Then I suspected tile. Nope again.
Krash spent about a week and a half painting the walls of her primary bedroom. She started with a deep orange base coat, followed by a layer of brushed gold paint and then a sponged square stencil with a pearlescent sheen.
The result is stunning — and that’s not even the wildest project she undertook. See how else Krash transformed her home to make every room a work of art.
📷 Photo quiz
Do you know the location this photo shows? (Hint: It’s in New Jersey.)
📮 If you think you do, email me back. You and your memories of visiting this spot might be featured in the newsletter.
Snaps to newsletter superfan Lars for correctly identifying last week’s image as the Phoenix Wheel, which has been brought back home to Phoenixville after residing in Asbury Park.
🎨 RIP El Toro. The prolific sticker artist’s work became such a fabric of Philly culture that I can’t imagine a time when I wasn’t spotting his cartoon bull on lampposts. He died at age 43.
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