On the market: A five-bedroom corner single in West Mount Airy for $525,000
The owners learned about the house through word of mouth, which is common in neighborhoods like Philadelphia's West Mount Airy.
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As an immigration lawyer, Wayne Sachs has clients from around the world, but he’s content with his own small corner of West Mount Airy.
He has lived in the neighborhood through two wives, two children and two homes — a rowhouse and his current five-bedroom, 2½-bath single. But now “the house is too much for me,” so he’s looking to buy a condo in the neighborhood.
He and his wife had been living in the rowhouse for nine years when she heard rumors that a large corner single down the block was up for sale, a common occurrence in a tight-knit neighborhood where homes often change hands by word of mouth.
“She said, ‘This house is awesome,’” Sachs recalls. “‘You have to look at it.’”
The rumors turned out to be true, and they bought the house in the fall of 1997, planning to live there together with their young daughter. But the following spring, before they could move in, Louise Reinken Sachs died of lupus at age 39.
Sachs and his daughter moved in two months later, and he would remain there for 22 years, through a second marriage and the birth of a son, who is now in college.
The 2,665-square-foot home has a large, wraparound front porch, hardwood floors, a wood-burning fireplace, a butler’s pantry, gas cooking, and new windows.
The first floor has the living room, dining room, kitchen, powder room and a back deck overlooking a large yard.
The second floor has the main bedroom, with five bay windows, a full bath, and two additional bedrooms.
The two other bedrooms and another full bath are on the third floor.
The house is down the street from the Allens Lane regional rail station, with its Mount Airy landmark High Point Café.
Walking trails, shops, and restaurants are close by.
“The little pocket where we live by the train station is a world unto its own,” Sachs says.
“I remember wheeling my daughter in a stroller and looking up at ‘the old guy on the porch.’ Now, I’m ‘the old guy on the porch.’
“I just hope the house is bought by a young couple to raise their children with love there just the way I raised mine.”
The house is listed by Richard McIlhenny of RE/MAX Services for $525,000.