HGTV and social media have inspired generations of people to try flipping homes — buying properties in rough shape to renovate and sell for profit.
Years ago, even the flippers who didn’t know what they were doing and made mistakes could still count on making some money in Philadelphia, because the market was flush.
But in the city and across the country, home flipping is harder than it used to be.
Keep scrolling for that story and more in this week’s edition:
Apartments coming: Learn about a proposal to build the largest new residential development in Roxborough’s recent history.
Springing for a historic home: Find out how these homebuyers in West Philly pulled together $242,000 for a down payment.
Learning experience: Peek inside an architect’s floating Poconos home.
Market update: Scroll for the latest stats.
— Michaelle Bond
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Antoinene Fullard has experience in the real estate world. She used to work with her father, a Philly developer, and she’s helped other investors find properties.
But a Germantown rowhouse was the first property she bought to fix and flip.
Fullard purchased the house in 2021 for about $40,000. The gut job and renovation took longer than she’d planned. After she sold the house in 2023 and paid investors and the interest on her loans, she didn’t really make any money.
Her second flip is a South Philly rowhouse that had been destroyed in a fire. The renovated property is now under contract but for much less than she’d hoped to get. So she’s just about breaking even.
Fullard is working in an environment that’s gotten harder for flippers.
Some challenges in recent years:
Homes cost more.
Borrowing money is more expensive.
Finding good subcontractors has gotten harder.
The current market is weeding out some flippers. More experienced ones have watched their profit margins get thinner and have pulled back.
Keep reading to learn what else has changed for flippers in the last two decades, what a “grandmom home” is, and what home flipping in Philly used to be like.
The latest news to pay attention to
The largest new residential development in Roxborough’s recent history is one step closer to reality.
This family bought a historic twin in West Philly with help from a forgivable loan from the University of Pennsylvania.
Joel Embiid’s penthouse has sold for $1.9 million less than originally listed.
What should a dead mall become in a suburb that already has everything?
Comcast is promising to “turbocharge” Mayor Parker’s efforts to revitalize East Market Street.
The Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority accused a Polish museum of using “bullying tactics” to try to win back its Old City building.
An East Market Street methadone clinic is closing in a building owned by Comcast and the 76ers.
House of the week: For $325,000 in Fishtown, a rowhouse with a Barnes connection.
Architect Tony Weber designed his Poconos vacation home to look like it’s floating.
His plans were heavily influenced by the historic Edith Farnsworth House outside Chicago. Weber’s house, too, was built in the International style.
The Poconos house sits among tall trees and backs up to a creek. Views are framed by floor-to-ceiling windows. Even a shower has a huge window in it.
Glass panels that are 1½ inches thick were among the materials Weber had imported from overseas.
He said he couldn’t find the right general contractor, so he built a lot of the 1,500-square-foot home himself. That meant learning about roofing, drywall installation, and more.
Weber originally thought the project would take about nine months. It ended up taking almost five years.
Peek inside Weber’s Poconos retreat and find out what he named it after.
📊 The market
At the end of October, the average mortgage interest rate for a 30-year fixed loan was 6.17%, according to Freddie Mac. At the same time last year, the average rate was 6.72%.
But that drop in mortgage rates didn’t translate into a flood of buyers entering the market this fall.
“Even though mortgage rates are at their lowest level in 13 months, homebuyers are still very cautious,” Lisa Sturtevant, chief economist at the multiple listing service Bright MLS, said in a statement. “Many prospective homebuyers are watching the news of weakness in the economy and are carefully monitoring their own economic situations.”
According to Bright MLS, in the Philadelphia metro area last month:
🔺The number of new pending sales increased about 3% from the same time last year. But so far this year, the number of new pending sales is only slightly higher than it was in the same period last year.
🔺The median sale price was $388,500 — about 2% higher than last October. That’s the slowest pace of price growth since May 2023.
Bright MLS expects mortgage rates to fall a little more this year. But by the end of 2025, the number of home sales will likely still be only slightly above last year’s total.
📹 Inside scoop
Have you heard the news? After more than two years of nonsense, it looks like the Greyhound bus terminal on Filbert Street is going to reopen. I know. “Seriously?” was my first reaction, too.
The terminal has been an empty hunk of real estate since Greyhound left it in 2023.
My colleague Tom Fitzgerald has been on top of the resulting saga, which includes passengers waiting for their intercity buses on the side of the road with no shelter, seats, or restrooms.
Tom answers some burning questions from readers (one quotes Cardi B) in his latest video: “What the f---- happened to Philly’s Greyhound station?!”
📷 Photo quiz
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 quiz featured a photo of the Philadelphia Public Services Building at 400 N. Broad St.
It houses the Philadelphia Police Department’s HQ. And it used to be the home of The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Shout-out to readers Bruce H. and Josh M. for their correct answers.
But I’m going to talk about my own memory of the building, since it’s my newsletter and I can do what I want.
Sadly, I never got to work in that building. The Inquirer was in its office at 8th and Market when I started in 2013. But I did realize later that I’d been inside the former building as a high school student as part of a journalism program. The space we toured was loud, messy, and just like I imagined a professional newsroom would be.
Enjoy the rest of your week.
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