The buyer: Aaron Robinson, 28, banker

The house: A 1,368-square-foot townhouse with four bedrooms and three bathrooms, built in 1915.

The price: listed for $265,000; purchased for $245,000

The agent: Sam Webster, Keller Williams

The ask: Aaron Robinson knew the home-buying process better than most first-time buyers. As a banker, he had spent years helping other people think through their finances and understand what it takes to buy a home. Eventually, he decided he wanted to go through the process himself. He was tired of paying rent without building equity.

“After you go X amount of time paying into rent and then you look back and you don’t have anything to show for it,” he said, “it really starts to kind of shift the perspective a little bit.”

Robinson gave himself three years to prepare. He spent that time studying his finances, saving, looking into grants, and figuring out how to make the numbers work. By December, he was ready to begin his search.

The search: Robinson had two main priorities: appreciation and affordability.

He wanted to buy in a neighborhood where the home could grow in value. He also wanted his monthly housing costs to stay close to what he was already paying in rent. Brewerytown quickly became his top choice. He liked the neighborhood’s proximity to the Art Museum area and Temple University, and he saw it as a place with growth potential.

“I know that Brewerytown is one of those faster appreciating neighborhoods,” he said. Even within Brewerytown, Robinson was hyper-focused on location. He often spent several days ahead of a showing circling the surrounding blocks and “listening to the way the neighborhood interacts,” he said. “I wanted to see what the actual experience of living here for the next five to 10 years would look like.”

Robinson saw five houses in person. He didn’t want anything that would require immediate work, so all of them were move-in ready. He also ruled out homes that would require major repairs in the next few years.

The appeal: The house he eventually bought sits on a corner lot, and it is near a convenience store, two schools, and several parks. “Just the immediate value of that property,” Robinson said. “It was stunning.”

He also liked that it had been recently renovated and offered more space than the other homes he was considering.

“I was really battling between a lot of three-bedroom and two-bedroom units,” Robinson said. “This one offered me four bedrooms, which was premium.”

It also had two and a half bathrooms.

There was enough space for a roommate and a home office. Most important, his mortgage payment would be $1,703 — “almost exactly the same as my rent,” Robinson said.

The deal: Robinson moved quickly once he found the one. He offered $245,000, and the seller accepted immediately.

The inspection did not reveal any major problems, but it did give Robinson room to negotiate. He asked the seller to take care of several small repairs before closing, including installing an electric meter and making sure the appliances were working properly.

He also negotiated just under $6,000 in seller assist, which helped cover his closing costs. And instead of putting down the $2,000 to $5,000 earnest money deposit that many buyers are told to expect, Robinson asked whether the seller would accept $600.

They did.

“A lot of people are told to prepare between $2,000 and $5,000 for earnest money deposit,” he said, “but you never really know unless you ask.”

The money: When it came to financing his purchase, Robinson said, “the name of the game was stacking grants and timing.”

His down payment was $15,000, and his closing costs were $19,000. He covered those expenses with a $10,000 Philly First grant, an $18,000 lender grant tied to eligible zip codes, and the $6,000 seller assist.

“By the time I made it to closing,” Robinson said, “the entire deal was completely funded.” The only things he paid for were the $800 inspection and the $600 earnest money deposit to take the listing off the market. His total out-of-pocket costs were $1,400.

“People think that to get into real estate, you need some obscene amount of money up front,” Robinson said, “But I wanted to prove that you can get through the process with as little out of pocket as possible. It just takes extra diligence and the proper preparation.”

The move: Robinson went under contract in mid-February and closed 45 days later. He used the extra time when his house was empty to conduct a careful inspection, knowing it would be harder to fix things once the furniture was in place. He moved into his new place in mid-April, but thankfully, his mortgage payments don’t start until June, when his lease is up.

Any reservations? Robinson doesn’t regret his purchase, but his mind has immediately shifted into homeowner mode.

Now, he is thinking about repairs and projects he might want to tackle himself. Family members told him the first thing he should do was replace the locks. After getting a quote from a locksmith, Robinson decided to do it himself.

“YouTube University,” he said. “New skill. Unlocked.”

He also has started looking into classes on installing floors, doing drywall, and basic electrical work.

The question is no longer “How do I get into the space?” Robinson said. “It’s how do I beautify the space?”

Life after close: Now that he has moved in, Robinson is focused on becoming part of the neighborhood. He recently saw people grilling and kids playing outside. It made him think about how he wanted to show up on the block. “How do I make sure that I fit into this neighborhood and contribute to that happiness?” he said.