Real Estate Ramblings

This article from today's Philadelphia Inquirer gives a nice overview of the world of student housing around Temple University - a must read for investors in this area: New Temple student housing stirs a renaissance west of Broad Street

Drexel University's new president, John Fry, announced a goal of improving the neighborhoods surrounding Drexel's campus. Given that he was part of Penn's initiatives to improve University City during the 1990's and 2000's I think it's safe to be optimistic that he will have a positive impact on ...

Yesterday's auction of 1441 Chestnut - a parking lot in Center City that has been awaiting redevelopment for years - gave some good indications of where the local commercial real estate market stands. The property traded hands for $12,000,000, with the winning bidder being one of the partners in ...

Since I work with a lot of real estate investors in Philadelphia I'm frequently asked about the vacant land parcels you see scattered about the city. Even in some of the nicest neighborhoods of Philadelphia you can find large chunks or single plots of vacant land that have been sitting for years ...

The summer of 2010 will be remembered by folks in the real estate business as a long vacation from serious, qualified buyers. Since the tax-credit deadline of April 30th, the number of active buyers in my market, Philadelphia, has been very slim, and I've heard similar stories from people in othe...

If you've been reading my blog you know I expect the real estate markets to start recovering once the job market starts consistently growing. Well the national news today was a bit better than expected with reports of 67,000 private sector jobs being added in August. The June and July employment ...

The release last week of July's existing home sales figures from the National Association of Realtors was all over the news, where it was spun mostly as a sign that we might be headed for a 'double dip' recession driven by a continuing weakness in the housing market. If you dig a little deeper in...

I'm back from a long vacation and catching up on what I missed. There's a lot to cover, so check back for more blog posts over the next few days, but I'll start today with the REALLY good news for home-buyers or homeowners looking to refinance: interest rates are at all time lows! I'm seeing 30 y...

I'm headed out of town for a couple weeks - but before I leave I thought I'd share a few recent articles that might increase your knowledge of Philadelphia's past, its present, and its likely future. All are at least somewhat real estate related and I learned a bit from each one. I'll be back in ...

Starting September 7th, the Federal Housing Administration will raise the annual fees it charges FHA borrowers for mortgage insurance. Lately a huge percentage of buyers have been using FHA loans since they are one of the few options left for a low-down-payment purchase. The annual mortgage insur...