Dear "potential gentrifier",
I hate to burst your bubble, but no matter where you live you will not be a "gentrifier". By your own description, you are a working class stiff like everyone else who is looking for a place to live. Sorry, but "atypical broke, waiter types" doesn't describe gentrification.

Ouch. IMO, though, class is more determined by education and self-image than by career choice. We Americans can and do 'switch' classes.

Where does the girlfriend work?

If the 'average price in Fishtown' really is 250k, then it has gotten quite expensive indeed. I may be behind the times, but I doubt it has gotten that high; there are plenty of decent neighborhoods in the city where you can but a house for much less than that, and I've always thought the Fishtown's main selling point was that it is cheap. If you take that away, then why buy in Fishtown?

Fishtown is cheap in comparision to Northern Liberties. What sells for $250K in Fishtown brings more than $450K in No Libs, so cheap is relative.

I was not insulting anyone. If someone was looking for a cheap place to buy and said "looking for a cheap place to live", then there would be nothing to comment. In that case I'd recommend Pennsport which has a lower home price as well as pretty low crime statistics. Instead, a person was classifying themselves as a gentrifier, which is an economically pretentious term describing "someone who is affluent or in the middle class who displaces poor people from distressed areas to improve property values". Education and self-image have no say in the wax and wane of realty values other than the recent mortgage collapse, where people who perceived class as self-image bought more than they could afford on interest only arm loans and are now going into foreclosure because their class outspent their bank account.

Please don't let the blog get you down.
~The Welcome Wagon.

Yes. My apologies. You are a potential gentrifier as you stated. Yep, you are potentially an affluent person pushing out the poor for economic gain through property values.

Huh? I never said that.
Gentrification happens, that's for sure, but not always by the potentially affluent.

I did not say you did; I was reciting the definition of gentrifier:
gen·tri·fi·ca·tion Audio Help (jěn'trə-fĭ-kā'shən) Pronunciation Key
n. The restoration and upgrading of deteriorated urban property by middle-class or affluent people, often resulting in displacement of lower-income people.

A "broke, waiter type"-by their own example, does not fit the definition of gentrifier.

Anyway, getting this back on topic, I think Fishtown should be fine, depending on where you work...East Kensington is even more affordable, though slightly sketchier. In my experience, South Philly is substantially more expensive than Fishtown and there are plenty of properties for sale below $200K. As far as shopping, the situation is improving and we have our first legitimate produce market, Cornerstone Market, steps from the Girard El stop. There are 2 El stops, 2 buses that run through the area and a couple PhillyCarShare pods scattered throughout. Good luck.

South Philly has its boosters too, so obviously everyone is going to push their neighborhoods. Best thing you can do is get a realtor who knows their stuff and have them show you around.

__________________
"What's up Pops!" - Lebron James to Bush 41.

edit-double post