To those thinking about Penn... House purchasing program extended to grad students

[Neuronix]

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I've received many questions over the years regarding Penn's West Philadelphia housing purchase assistance for faculty. In the past graduate students were NOT eligible for special mortgages on West Philadelphia housing. This just changed! This will make purchasing a place in West Philadelphia pretty nicely within reach for Penn MD/PhDs on next year's $25,500/year stipend.

Details in the link below:

http://www.business-services.upenn.edu/communityhousing/matrix.html

 

[Shatterstar17]

Great news! Thanks for sharing this.

 

[CaipirinhaQuinho]

wow. awesome. I was def interested in doing this if i go to penn. sweet deal.

 

[Nuel]

When I was at Penn all we were told was that the stipend would increase, but I wonder if 25,500 is really sufficient to buy a house amongst other calls on living. I think Philly is quite an expensive town to live in.

 

[Neuronix]

If you live in far West Philly you can get reasonable stuff for like $130k. It's all going to depend on how nice the place is and how far into the ghetto you go. In any case, you shouldn't be more than a 20-30 minute walk. It's a definite trade-off, obviously between renting and buying. I rent and will continue to rent because I like living in the really nice part of town and it's too expensive to buy (note: the deal is only in West Philly). I don't know if the mortgages extend to condos, but there are condo options in that price range as well, probably a bit closer to school if you go small.

For those of you who get into Penn, when you come back for second look make a point of seeing the housing that's in this price range I'm mentioning. Again, it's not going to be prime real estate, but I'm sure you can get something liveable. Even without the special mortgages people in my class have done it, I think even without much, if any parent help. This will just make it easier...

As for how expensive Philadelphia is, I don't think it's very expensive compared to most other major cities? To what are you comparing it and what gives you the impression that Philadelphia is expensive?

 

[Nuel]

Let me see. Baltimore. And some of the students I met at Penn seemed to share same sentiments. Of course Philly ain't as bad as LA or SF, but it is a little bit pricey.

 

[Neuronix]

Philly is pretty comparable in price to the Baltimore harbor area, which is really small and doesn't have nearly as much to offer as Center City Philly. Sure, if you move out to the burbs or the ghetto, Baltimore will be cheaper, but I certainly don't want to live in the ghetto or the burbs. I think in general Philly is very reasonably priced, especially when compared to most major cities. For comparison's sake, I live smack in the middle of the city in what I consider to be the best part (not the most expensive, but close to it) and my rent is $925/mo for a fairly large nice one bedroom plus office, most utils included. I have everything around me--theatre, lots of restaurants, bars, shopping, chinatown, two large markets, etc etc etc all within a few minutes walk of my place. If you're interested, Google Earth my nearest corner at 13th and Spruce and take a look. My take home stipend is somewhere around $1,950/mo, so I feel like I do pretty well. There are plenty of cheap and good places to eat here, and that makes me happy.

What concerns me is that alot of people are figuring out what a deal Philly is and are investing in places here. The housing market is going up quickly, more fancy restaurants are opening up, etc... Still, this city is a really fun, liveable place on the stipend.

 

[CaipirinhaQuinho]

I heard that in West Philadelphia there were a couple of guys that were up to no good and started making trouble in the neighborhood.

 

[MrMunkily]

Such an event cannot be denied, for television has said so.