I recently moved to Philly from Boston about 6 months ago. I am currently living at 37th and Spring Garden. I have been looking around for a nice place to buy a house, around 200k. I am looking at up and coming neighborhoods, in particular Fairmount/Brewerytown (27th and Cambridge) and Powelton (40th and Powelton).

My question is a little general, but how has west powelton changed over the years? Is it a nice place to live? Rehab a house? How is UPenn affecting the real estate market in and around UC? I have walked by and driven around the area, but only recently considered buying a home.

Any info that anyone can provide is much appreciated.

i think west powelton has changed very little over the years (for good or bad).

personally, i never considered it to be an unsafe, crime ridden place until you get north of haverford and west of 42nd st.

the only changes i've seen over the years has been more students venturing out north and west, an increase in real esate speculation (and thus prices) and a few rehabs here and there (although things seem to be picking up a little more). the fear of penn still remains, but i think the hatred has substantially subsided.

if i were you, i'd go w/ 27th and cambridge. but then again i don't know what your priorities are in looking for a home.

also refer to these recent threads:

http://www.phillyblog.com/philly/showthread.php?t=23144

http://www.phillyblog.com/philly/showthread.php?t=23068

http://www.phillyblog.com/philly/showthread.php?t=23144

http://www.trulia.com/PA/Philadelphi...West_Powelton/

West Powelton is safe but really ghetto. Unlike a lot of UC and PV there is ample parking. Most houses in WP are very large and have porches.

Brewerytown sounds nice but I would imagine there is less of a buffer as far as demand. You can always rent out a house to Drexel/Penn students in WP.

Wasn't a high school student raped at 40th and Powelton around this time last year? I hope I'm not casting aspersions on the area if that's not the case. Personally, I think there's some great houses in that area.

i can't find a record of this but then again that area is the 16th district - not Penn or the 18th.

As I've mentioned in other threads, I think West Powelton is on the rise, slowly but suredly. I think its a little overpriced right now (I see many homes on the market for 300k +), but I don't find this neighborhood to be dangerous like I find Mantua or Brewerytown to be dangerous. I haven't spent much time in West Powelton at night, so things may be entirely different as far as that is concerned.

West Powelton is seeing a fair amount of new construction, which is a sign that private developers see this neighborhood as a good investment. The new construction isn't the most inspiring, but that will come with time.

I'll be honest, if I were looking for a home right now (In the $150-$250 range) I'd seriously consider this neighborhood.

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some of the houses on the trulia site above are close to reasonable if you base the pricing on rental income

the "1% rule" rental heuristic:
monthly rent/house price ~ .01

though i bet most of those listings are like .8%
i imagine you'd have to offer less than asking to justify this as an investment

At 37th and Spring Garden you are in an edge of Powelton Village that looks and feels very nice but is in close physical proximity to some pretty rough stuff due north in Mantua. At 40th and Powelton it looks rougher than Powelton Village (it is) but there are many, many more blocks of sort of moderately rough around the edges between you and blocks that are truly bad where there is little but the drug economy. Thats something to consider. The Powelton Village/Mantua line is so sharply delineated that I think it attracts a certain ammount of deliberate crime where all the students and rich people are. I think in West Powelton its a little easier to fly under the radar because those race and class lines are slightly more blurred and softer.

Hmm... when I think ghetto, I imagine drug dealers and baby momas with strollers. West Powelton doesn't really have these. WP's over 80% African American, but it's pretty solidly working class, rather than "ghetto." But I suppose that depends on what you're definition of "ghetto" is. That isn't to say that there aren't sections that look pretty run down (the 4000 block of Baring and 40th St between Market St and Powelton come to mind).

I also see homeless people passing through at times, but they very rarely talk to me like in Center City and North Philly. In the 1 year+ I've lived here, I think I've had two people ask me for money and one woman came up while I was watering my plants and I filled up a water bottle for her (she was courteous. I didn't have a problem with it). That's roughly the same kind of stuff I've had happen in Fairmount from time to time.

I haven't heard about a rape at 40th & Powelton. The only one I've heard about in the vecinity (which may be the one you're thinking of) was at around 44th & Powelton, I think (around the entrance to Westpark Apartments). The perp was a high school student from North Philly (he went to Olney H.S., IIRC) and had raped several women in various neighborhoods around the city before getting caught.

As far as crime, it gets safer the closer you get to Market St. In fact, I was surprised at how safe WP is below Baring St. The rate goes up significantly between Baring and Haverford, but I haven't really noticed any suspicious behavior up in that area (other than loitering outside the apartments on the 4000 block of Baring). I don't think West Powelton is any more dangerous than the area between Parrish St and Girard and is probably a good bit safer than Brewerytown north of Girard (which is probably about like Mantua).

I obviously think it's a decent investment since I bought here (although I'm farther West. I think Powelton Ave gets nicer a couple blocks West of 40th St).

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