34th+Chestnut- 295 apartments coming - Page 18 - PhillyBlog

Malloy · #**171** (**permalink**) 01-02-2008, 06:04 PM

What are the 1br units selling for?

Quote:

Originally Posted by docindigo76

I live there.

There are some people, current occupants included, who are buying the units (I'm renting currently). Currently it's less than half occupied, kind of depressing to come up on the place at night and see a lot of dark windows, and I've not seen a big rush of potential renters coming in and looking. Gee I wonder why...a 1 BR is renting now for just shy of $2K...and that doesn't include parking. It may pick up again in the warmer months, who knows, but I've noticed a lot of people looking for housing on this side of UC coming up to the place and standing on the corner opposite from the building and laughing at how much it costs to live here. I'd considered looking into buying my unit but with the slowness of renting here I am concerned with getting it off my hands if I leave PA once my fellowship at the university is done. My general feeling is that Hanover and Met Life misjudged the target market on this one--while there are quite a few Penn and Drexel people living here, there's not enough professionals meeting the income requirements who'd want to live in a college town-like environment and fewer people able and willing to pony up the rent to live here than I'll bet they thought. Lot of Wharton and law students in this bunch though, probably as expected, and a few medical people like me.

What I can tell about the appointments of the places...the website advertises hardwoods in living areas--nope. Maybe in some of the units that rent near $3K and upwards, but I have some other type of flooring, have already had one of my bathroom cabinets fall off its hinges, and am generally not impressed with the flimsy cabinetry. We get free internet in the lobby here, wireless and kiosks, but the computer "workstations" are pretty much useless for other than surfing the internet or checking e-mail (not to mention they've been down for the past couple of days here, hopefully they will fix it). The computers don't recognize USB drives or CDs or DVDs--if you want to get any real work done using online resources, you either use your laptop with wireless or have access in your own place. There have been other snafus I'm not going to go into here. I'm hard pressed to want to renew here for a second year...

The convenience of having EMS, Starbucks, Wachovia, and a cell phone place is nice and each gets a steady stream of customers; I think there are still 3 or 4 storefronts still empty. What the plans are for those, I dunno; not seen any further prep on these fronts for retail tenants in a while.

This is just my POV, perhaps someone else can offer up their perceptions and opinions.

docindigo76 · #**172** (**permalink**) 01-02-2008, 06:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Malloy

What are the 1br units selling for?

I'm not sure. I know of one person whose mortgage on a 1BR is ~ $1300/mo, but I'm not sure for what size 1BR that is.

I'm not sure about buying here. With as slow as this place has been to rent, I'd worry about being able to sell.

phillycaferacer · #**173** (**permalink**) 01-25-2008, 12:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by docindigo76

I'm not sure. I know of one person whose mortgage on a 1BR is ~ $1300/mo, but I'm not sure for what size 1BR that is.

I'm not sure about buying here. With as slow as this place has been to rent, I'd worry about being able to sell.

Asked a guy named Mark with the title of Leasing Manager in the management office of Domus how much the units were selling for, and they're not its rent only folks. No future plans to go condo.

docindigo76 · #**174** (**permalink**) 01-25-2008, 12:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by phillycaferacer

Asked a guy named Mark with the title of Leasing Manager in the management office of Domus how much the units were selling for, and they're not its rent only folks. No future plans to go condo.

Hmm, ok.

I have seen others besides the ones who I know work there leading people on tours of the place...I don't know if these are realtors or who...suppose it doesn't really matter.

Still, I find some of the appointments there rather flimsy for $2k/mo per 1BR.

docindigo76 · #**175** (**permalink**) 04-23-2008, 10:47 AM

Just FYI to add to this thread and the development of this property:

Rents in the smaller one bedroom units (like mine) have jumped on the order of 15-20% over the course of ONE YEAR. My type unit alone has seen an increase of 17%, and that's for a north facing unit with no view. I have something better so I may see more of a jump. I fully expect by the time it's time to renew my lease this summer that the smallest 1 BR's are going to crack the $2200 mark. That's not including parking. I of course have my rate locked in through the remainder of the lease but now that I know what I'm going to be faced with later--NO THANK YOU. I'm disgusted by this, frankly. But since PA has no rent control laws, it's legal. But it's still disgusting.

Some have gone down by a couple of percentage points, especially the larger units which may be impossible to rent in this market given they can go upwards of $4K. Building occupancy is still hovering around 50% and I've been told that's a success? And actually exceeded expectations?? I don't get it. 50% occupancy is way below average for a University City/West Philly property. How's this going to be a long term success if it may not sustain occupancy rates that are much higher?

eldondre · #**176** (**permalink**) 04-23-2008, 12:00 PM

if you're disgusted, move. If you want to lock in your monthly payments, buy. It's not your building and the owner has the right, and should, to jack your rent up after your lease is up. I would think that a new building would see rent adjustments (up or down) as it finds it's place in the market...or as the market teaches the owners a lesson.

docindigo76 · #**177** (**permalink**) 04-23-2008, 12:09 PM

Leaving--yes, indeed I am. I think the market will teach the owners a lesson here--decisions on the setting the rent, as I understand it, are handled at the corporate headquarters over a thousand miles away. UGH.

Now I can understand why some renters may be interested in a more personal tenant/landlord relationship, among other things.

eldondre · #**178** (**permalink**) 04-23-2008, 12:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by docindigo76

Now I can understand why some renters may be interested in a more personal tenant/landlord relationship, among other things.

We have a pretty good deal. sure, the landlord is slow to fix things but the price is good and they haven't been jacking up the rents. finding the right landlord is like finding the right roommate, it's a crapshoot...so we stick with ours. Still, I do tend to stay away from larger landlords...maybe excepting bozzuto mgmt (they run edgewater).
I've heard good things about 1500 locust as well (seems like it might be your price range).

Neuronix · #**179** (**permalink**) 04-24-2008, 11:59 AM

This sounds like a good racket to me... Open up a building, not allow any riff-raff in (minimum age limit), charge double the fair market value ($1,000 for a 1BR in UC is on the high end), and then let the building sit half empty. This way they can make as much money as they would have with the building full, but with far less work.

It's sick to have a building sitting on prime real estate half empty because they set the rents way too high for the area just for the heck of it and don't allow any undergrads. The more landlords have this mentality the sicker the rental market will be. What they're doing should be illegal in my opinion. It's the best argument for rent control I've seen.

PuntLemon · #**180** (**permalink**) 04-24-2008, 12:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Neuronix

It's sick to have a building sitting on prime real estate half empty because they set the rents way too high for the area just for the heck of it and don't allow any undergrads. The more landlords have this mentality the sicker the rental market will be. What they're doing should be illegal in my opinion. It's the best argument for rent control I've seen.

Its not just A building? Domus is a luxury apartment complex marketed to a more upwardly mobile clientelle. You can't get all bent out of shape if you dont fit that demographic. $2000 for a $1 BR is high by Philadlephia standards but it is a state of the art luxury apartment. If this complex were in Manhattan what would the rent for a 1 BR be?$4000?

http://www.domuspa.com