Hi guys,

Have seen some other posts where you talk about how Fishtown real estate prices are going up, up, up... I am guessing that it depends on where in Fishtown you're located? So here's my question... I have a client who claims to live in Fishtown at East Albert Street. The estimates on the real property value are in the basement... Does that sound right to anyone?

Thanks,

I would love to see some actual sales data for Fishtown.

Hal, can you share this kind of info? Meaning, in Fishtown 'proper' x amout of properties sold in the last 2 years, with an average selling price of y, and they went for Z% under asking price...

Yes, primary consideration - Location, Location, Location.
You have to incorporate the house size and the layout of the house,
compare them to the homes around it - i.e. did you build a McMansion in Fishtown on 3 row home lots you consolidated - something that just looks out of place?

Look at who the immediate neighbors are, is it anothe 1/2 twin, rox etc, is is converted into a rental, do you have yard behind the house or does it back up to a commercial establishment. What's the "street feel" - is there "street furniture" i.e. bicycles, potted plants gardens and lawn, or is it a bleak street scape where anything that isn't bolted down is gone, and anything that can't be taken is vandalized?

Yes it make sense, because he {might not be} in Fishtown-
{and he's still beyond the "hot" section of Fishtown which

Sounds like he's {closer to Port Richmond} and hoping nobody will notice
{that his section of town is close to, but not quite the same, as the area where prices are going through the roof}

We've gone round on this not that long ago.

http://phillyblog.com/forum/viewtopi...;postorder=asc


{Figuring out the boundaries of some neighborhoods are difficult-
figuring out how far out the "hot market" will extend is difficult,
close to a guessing game.

Guess correctly and somehow you're seen as a savvy investor who bought early, guess wrong and you're seen as somebody who overpaid to a more savvy long term resident or flipper who sold the house based on PR and momemtun.}

So, it depends on where the house actually is -
{I'd think that } East Albert street near Kensington Avenue would be stretching it to be anywhere else but Kensington. Further south, and you're in sight of the old Port Richmond coal railroad - so your really Port Richmond or Richmond.


Whatever the area is called, here are the twelve properties that were listed with Real Estate Agents on Albert Street in the last 12 months -



Bright Green are for sale now at the price indicated

Red were sold for the price indicated

Purplish means the marketing contract with the Realtor was cut short.
The house was for sale (i.e. soliciting offers from buyers) but it was withdrawn from the market. The house could be off the market, or it could be for sale by owner.

Dark means the marketing contract with the Realtor expired without the house recieving an offer. As above, the house could be off the market, or it could be for sale by owner.

That only gives you an idea of what happened on that street-

To get a good idea of the value of a house mean a fair amount of work- what are other sales, how many bedrooms, baths, what is the square footage like, can you even find comparable properties that have sold? Getting and comparing all that data is a chore, and that's why a good appraisal costs several hundred dollars.

Real Estate Agents can do a more limited the "mini appriasal" known as a Comparative Market Analysis (CMA) that Real Estate Agents give buyers and sellers as an estimates of value in the current market. Realtors normally only do a cost estimate on a house for a prospective buyer or seller- you COULD do it for other reasons, but you can't be paid, so nobody's likely to take the time to do a value assessment on a particular property.

That's different from "what are prices like on X Street" which is much easier to do, because they dont' require any analysis.



Well, look above - quick search of what "the neighborhood" is worth are
easy.

But that's like knowing the "US AIR averages X numer of flghts out of Philadlephia everyday - neat but useless, since what you want to know about a flight is "where and when" -
just like for a house, you want to know "how much and NOW"

First problem is defining Fishtown- if you make it all of 19125 -
north of Girard, east of Front, south of Lehigh - that's easy.

But you get people like Lawmummy's client, who are hoping to
get Fishtown prices while living in Port Richmond.


That's easy 618 have sold in 19125 in the last 2 years
Since January 2004 there have been 151 homes sold
(those are both through Real Estate agents)

Since January in 19125, average selling time has been 71 days, average price is $91,000 with the highest sale at $454,000 and lowest at $13,000.

2/3 of the sales were under $100,000

That takes more time- sitting down and sorting through the homes to
compare them- Of course, that also is the most useful number.

Hal

Houses are through the roof in Fishtown--but not compared to, say, other parts of the city. For where they are, they've skyrocketed. A lot of people consider Fishtown south of York Street...regardless, it's mostly a better neighborhood down here and the houses sell for much more. I would also say that 3 stories above, say, 1400 feet have seen the highest increase in value in percentages, but this is just based on my own watching of the market.

Probably not helping the guy's case is all the press on Fishtown. ;-) But a lot of people would argue he's not in it, or if he is, he's on the fringe. If he's over Frankford Avenue (west), most people would agree he's not in Fishtown anymore.

__________________
Resident of Fishtown, Moderator of Fish/No. Libs/Kenzo forum, Real Estate Agent-Prudential Fox & Roach

Following up on that-

Out of curiosity, I just ran a search for the earliest listings for Albert Street-
looking back at homes for sale back before 1996-

11 Homes on East Allen listed as Fishtown, 2 Kensington, 1 Richmond.

Of course, 18oo 21oo and 23oo blocks were mixed Kensington & Richmond -

So, I'll have to backtrack - seems like the client IS "resident's fishtown", although the client ISN'T in the "realtor's fishtown"-

So, if the first rule of Real Estate is "Location, Location, Location" then the
second rule is perhaps "you don't live where YOU say you live, you live where everyone ELSE says you live."

Hal

Thanks Hal, this is exactly what I had expected.

There is no way East Albert Street is in Fishtown. York Street is about as far north as you can go and still be considered Fishtown. There are some people who think that Norris street is the limit. I would say if you are in St Ann or Visitation Parish, you're not in Fishtown.

Donna Marie

So, what does that make it? Kensington? Sorry, a bit clueless about that section of Philly.

PS - Thanks, Hal, for the very detailed reply.

Yes, east Albert street is in Kensington. In fact, Fishtown is actually part of Kensington, the same as K&A (Kensington & Allegheny) is part of Kensington. I think when the rest of Kensington started to decline, Fishtowners wanted to be seperated from it, at least in people's minds. it has been sad to see the decline in Kensington, it was once a good solid working class neighborhood. But then the jobs went and everthing else followed.

Donna Marie

Is there a website that you can find info on recent sales? Who, when, where and how much?