Philadelphia Metropolitan Area Real Estate Law Blog

Archbishop Charles J. Chaput recently announced plans to consolidate operations at Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary in Wynnewood, close the building currently used for its College Division and lease or sell a large section of the 75-acre campus for development.

After the Philadelphia Office of Property‘s recent release of residential real estate valuations, the City of Philadelphia is encouraging low-income residents to participate in the Department of Revenue’s Real Estate Tax Installment Program. The program allows qualified homeowners to pay their current property tax bills in eight monthly installments without suffering any penalties.

The Philadelphia Office of Property, in an attempt to accurately determine real estate values throughout the city, conducted an assessment that created over 600 Geographic Market Areas. These are small groupings of blocks in which properties are similar and sell for similar prices.

According to a recent study of other urban school districts’ closures by the Pew Charitable Trusts, charter schools are poised to purchase abandoned buildings. In fact, the organization found that over 40 percent of cities’ closed buildings were being reused by charter schools. Although another common reuse of such buildings is housing, repurposing schools as commercial sites often doesn’t sit well with local communities, which feel a sense of ownership of buildings

Real estate sales have given agents a run for their money in the last couple years, in Philadelphia and many other markets across the nation. Fortunately, the situation is predicted to be on the verge of a change for the better in the upcoming spring market.

Postgreen, a Philadelphia-area development company, reportedly has two projects coming soon to Frankford Avenue. Unlike some developers, though, Postgreen has an eco-friendly approach more typical of urban planning than real estate development. The projects, near the East Kensington/Fishtown border, will feature a mixed-use, affordable and energy-efficient approach, an ideal mix for a modern urban planner.

Five properties from the Pennsylvania state inventory will soon be up for sale after recent approval of the 2012 Real Property Disposition Plan. The five pieces of new real estate will add to a plan hoping to save money and generate revenue for the commonwealth by putting these properties onto local tax rolls.

In our previous post, we began speaking about the importance of getting the right professional help when making a start in the real estate business or moving to increase one’s holdings. We’ve already mentioned the importance of hiring property managers and realtors.

Some people go into the real estate business as a full-time job, but for many people, real estate investment starts off small and grows over time, almost by accident. With some real estate markets beginning to recover, an increasing number of casual investors are looking to take their real estate interests to the next level.

In our last post, we wrote about a local real estate developer by the name of Ori Feibush, who got himself into trouble with the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority after he made improvements to a vacant lot next to his new coffee shop that had long been neglected.