From the inky today: "Phila. property still sells"



http://www.philly.com/inquirer/local...ll_sells_.html

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Boo yah

I've heard this a lot in the last 6 months. Usually with a whole lot of coded speech and usually from people best compared to Jeremiah Wright.

They're going to push out poor people who aren't section 8? Poor people who own their houses? No South Philly old timer who owns their house is poor. Not anymore.

I don't know about you but my property taxes are ridiculously low. The people living in 2 and 3 bedroom houses on small streets are paying around $250 a year in property taxes. So if the value of their house doubles they're going to be paying $500 a year in property taxes, maybe.

It might be a concern for the retired/elderly and there are easy fixes to that problem. Freeze the taxes for seniors until the house changes hands being one example.

Otherwise you're still paying less than $50 a month in property taxes and your house just doubled in value. You're not poor anymore.

Most of my neighbors, black and asian, own their houses and they'll be the first to make fun of their friends and relatives who have been renting in the neighborhood for a decade - back when these houses sold for $12,000.

A lot of my cambodian neighbors are selling out. It's not because they're priced out by $500 a year property taxes. It's because they paid cash for their houses 10 years ago and they're walking away from settlement with checks for $150k. They're going back to Cambodia to live like kings or they're chasing the american dream in the suburbs.

One of my black neighbors told me, only half-jokingly, "yeah, your people tryin' to push us out, i know. " Which is more or less what the italians and greeks that live(d) here were saying 40 years ago.

Cities aren't museums and neighborhoods aren't specimens cast in amber. They change. Especially in an immigrant city in an immigrant country.

It's this place:
http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=3...51783441809616
(North side of Washington between 21st & 22nd)

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A big double "F-word" to that. I live directly across the streest from the Frankford Factory - and when we bought our house - We were told that it was going condo last year. I can't say that I'm particularly excited at the thought of facing an economic development center with small kiosks. If you hear anything more -- I've been trying to get info from SOSNA and Anna Verna's office for the past year, please keep me in the loop. There have been two dumpsters in the side yard for the past several months and there is someone in the security room...I'm hoping that the current owner doesn't pull a Phat from the other candy factory and one day pull down a wall and "POOF" an "economic development center".

The property is zoned for industrial. They can't do anything other than industrial (ie: no residential or commercial) without a zoning variance. That will meet at least one presentation to the community as well as a formal ZBA hearing. My understanding is that the owner lives in NYC (I can't recall his name, but at one point I jotted it down from one of the signs and googled him -- sounds like he owns a bunch of fairly run-down properties and gives a lot to charity).

My sense is that the folks from the Washington Ave are pushing for something more upscale, but I seriously doubt that condos will come in to it. There was someone who had an option on the building some time ago who wanted to do condos over upscale commercial, but they pulled out of the deal b/c they couldn't get the numbers to work. And if the numbers wouldn't work a couple of years ago, I really can't imagine it working now.

If I track down anything further -- or firmer -- I'll let you know. But any deviation from the Industrial zoning will have to come before the community so you'll have a chance to weigh in.

A.

If that neighbor owns his home, I'm sure he has his price and will be more than happy to be "pushed out" when someone meets it.

If he is smart and can afford the debt service, he should borrow against the equity in his home if he can and make some improvements that would raise its asking price down the road.

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Sandy Smith, Exile on Market Street, Philadelphia
"Perpetual optimism is a force multiplier." --Gen. Colin Powell

We've had eight years of "decisive," "experienced" "leadership." Why not try intelligence this time around?

He should cash flow the improvements, Sandy.

Hey Passyunk,
Yeah, I guess you're right. It's nice that they're making some monies but it still messes up things for people who don't own a home.

Luckily I rent a home where the landlords have been kind and haven't raised the rent too high on me since I've lived here.

I really feel bad for the single Moms who are renting. You know?

She's a recently retired cop. There's not much she has to do to her house. I mean, it's not at all my style but I can't say that isn't modern or in a good state of repair.

$160k for a 2 bedroom seems to be the tipping point for a lot of people on that block. Right now that's the going rate for a recent rehab w/ central air . . . so yeah, my guess is in two years more people will start selling.

From the trends I see developing now (in Newbold, anyway) it's looking like we're going to end up with a lot less cambodian homeowners and more indonesian, vietnamese, and white homeowners and probably about the same number of black homeowners but we'll probably have much fewer black renters, about the same number of asian renters and more white & latino renters.

It is hard renting when you have kids. My parents rented until I was 10 (with 3 kids). We didn't live anywhere for more than 2 years. I rented for 12 years myself and every year I saw a rent increase.

Now, i'm not saying that we should fully expose everyone to the whims of the market. There are off-the-shelf solutions to protect the most vulnerable renters.
It doesn't mean they'll never have to move but it might mean they'll have to move a lot less.

BTW - it's usually the Section 8 that's the first to go in neighborhoods with increasing property values. The lower end market-rate rentals usually hang on for a while, even if the rents do rise.

I know first-hand how much it sucks.