What can $1,900 in rent get you around here these days?
That’s the typical asking price to rent a home in the Philly region, according to Zillow.
As a newsletter reader, you know about my series The Price Point, which compares homes for sale for about the same price, so homebuyers can get a sense of what’s out there. This week, I’m expanding the series to rentals.
I compared apartments and a house for rent in Fishtown, West Philly, and Bala Cynwyd.
Keep scrolling for that story and more in this week’s edition:
Homes at risk: Learn about Grassy Sound, a Shore community where residents are afraid their houses will soon float away.
Bye, bye, Bride: See what’s next for the former Painted Bride building in Old City after years of twists and turns at the site.
A long time coming: Find out why a plan to build 199 apartments in West Philly is just now moving forward, even though the city approved it in 2021.
Backyard forest: Peek inside a property in Norristown that features a pond-like swimming pool.
📮Your input needed: A colleague and I are working on a story about vacant and dangerous buildings in the city, and we’re looking for properties that have become problems for neighbors. Are you or someone you know living near a building like this? Let me know.
— Michaelle Bond
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In last month’s edition of The Price Point series, I compared homes for sale for $420,000: a Fishtown condo, a Moorestown rancher, and a Lansdowne Victorian.
That was the record-high median sale price for homes in the Philly metro area for July.
This week, I’m focusing on readers looking for rentals. The median advertised rent in our area is $1,900. It’s up 3.6% from last year.
Here’s a brief look at three local homes you can rent for that much:
In Fishtown, a 646-square-foot apartment with one bedroom and one bathroom in a newly constructed building.
In Bala Cynwyd, a 1,000-square-foot garden apartment with two bedrooms and one bathroom.
In West Philly, a 1,740-square-foot rowhouse with three bedrooms and 2½ bathrooms.
For more details and photos, keep reading.
Grassy Sound, near North Wildwood, is an island that straddles both sides of North Wildwood Boulevard. It has no streets. A boardwalk winds around houses built on pilings.
A decade ago, residents watched as the home that was farthest out at the edge of their chunk of marshland floated away during a powerful nor’easter.
Now, 78-year-old Haldy Gifford owns the outermost home. And he knows his property is next.
The marshland is rapidly eroding. Sea levels are rising. And residents are afraid their whole community could soon float away.
Keep reading to learn about the threats to Grassy Sound and other marshland and what residents want to see happen.
The latest news to pay attention to
The former Painted Bride building in Old City will soon be demolished to make way for apartments.
A project to build 199 apartments in West Philly received permits in 2021, but it’s just now moving forward.
Philly has created a new online tool that could make it easier for homeowners to enroll in property tax relief programs.
The president of an influential association of residential developers resigned after his speech about Gaza provoked a backlash from members.
A federal ruling may have cleared the way for Philly to expand the Rail Park.
SPS plans to replace its Abington factory that was destroyed in a massive fire with a smaller factory that has more robots and fewer jobs.
House of the week: For $585,000 in Royersford, a Cape Cod-style house with a separate garage apartment.
Luxe listing: For almost $3.3 million, a Philly-area home that was once George Washington’s headquarters.
Nia Eaton wanted her backyard swimming pool to look like a pond. So she painted it black.
The water’s dark surface clearly reflects the mature trees and shrubs that surround it. The 40-foot pool has a natural, curvy shape. And its pond-like look attracts wildlife, which Eaton enjoys, even though deer and groundhogs snack on some of her plants.
Eaton’s two-story Colonial home sits on 1½ acres and has four bedrooms and 2½ bathrooms. She and her former husband had an addition built in the early ‘90s for a new kitchen and sunroom.
Her home is furnished with pieces that date back hundreds of years, as well as newer pieces. The drapes in her living room were a gift from the city of Paris to a former U.S. president.
Peek inside Eaton’s home and see her pool and gardens.
📷 Photo quiz
Do you know the location this photo shows?
📮 If you think you do, email me back.
I was surprised to see I didn’t get any correct answers to last week’s photo quiz (which I thought was pretty easy. But maybe that’s because I knew the answer).
That photo showed flowers in planters at Dilworth Park, outside Philly’s City Hall.
Enjoy the rest of our week.
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