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jedilips t1_j5vudzs wrote

Reply to comment by CommunicationTime265 in For anyone looking to buy a house in West Philly... by kingintheyunk

you can thank the Ivy League neighbors for that... all of those well paid professors, academics, and medical folks gotta live somewhere.

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mikewarnock t1_j5vvlei wrote

I believe Penn did, and might still, have some sort of program for staff and faculty to buy houses in the area. I think it was special loans with favorable terms.

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jbphilly t1_j5vwm03 wrote

They've had to expand it westward, as now the original area Penn was trying to gentrify has become entirely unaffordable to buy in if you aren't upper-upper-middle-class at least.

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Astrogrover t1_j5wn3am wrote

Penn and Drexel both have housing assistance programs for faculty and staff. They have different regions. Penn's is a five year forgivable loan for up to $7500 that prevents the property from ever being used as a rental in the future. Can be used for purchase or renovations. Drexel is a five year forgivable loan for up to 15000, or 5000 for renovations.

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GoldenMonkeyRedux t1_j5ycu0q wrote

It’s literally going back to it’s origin. My house had maid’s quarters on the 4th floor. Average Joes didn’t live in 9-bedroom homes.

For the record, houses on my block sold for under $200k in 2001. I’ve lived here for 25 years, and I could have purchase my whole block for what the city is claiming my house is currently worth. Luckily, we bought in 2010, when the market bottomed out.

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