Center City Condos Archives - The Center City Condos Sales Team

Making YOUR Offer The Most Attractive It Can Be

by centercitycondosphillyOctober 2, 2025October 2, 2025Leave a comment

It is NOT always dollars and cents that prompt a seller to sign an agreement of sale…here are a few tips to sweeten your Philly Condo offer:

Shorten your settlement date-especially if the home is vacant.
Get a pre-approval from the mortgage company that the LISTING agent uses most. This will allow the listing agent, who will be presenting your offer to the seller, to be comfortable with your financing arrangements.
Shorten your home inspection period to 7 days instead of 15 days.
Put more money down (to be held in escrow) – a full 10%.
Add an “AS-IS” clause (which will still allow you to inspect and terminate the deal within the time frame permitted, if necessary).
Write a really nice note about how much you love the seller’s home and why you are buying their home. If it evokes a special emotion out of you, let the seller know. Every seller wants their home to be “loved”….let them know you love their home!
If a property is vacant, but still has unwanted clutter and dirt, tell the seller you will buy the home as it sits today.
If the seller is buying another home, and doing so locally, consider allowing his or her title company to do your title work. Most title rates are standard, and you (generally speaking) will not incur more costs by having your title work done by a company you or your realtor chooses.
If you are flexible in the dates you can settle, give the seller the option to pick the settlement date. You can write a contract that gives the seller the right to choose your settlement date within a specific period of time, like “ from 30 to 90 days from execution of the contract”..seller to decide.

Many things in a real estate transaction are emotional. Sweeten that emotional pot and you might find you’ll save a few dollars. It happens more often than you think! Shoot me an email at Mark@CenterCity.com or call 215.521.1523 when you are ready to start shopping for your next condo here in Philadelphia, and we’ll help you make a sweet offer.

Mark Wade
BHHS Fox & Roach Realtors®
530 Walnut St. #480 | Philadelphia, PA 19106
www.CenterCityCondos.com

Top 5 Pools in Center City Condos

by centercitycondosphillyMarch 22, 2023November 20, 2023Leave a comment

Yeah, I swim. A lot.

Here are my top five favorite pools in town.

1.) Waterfront Square

2.) One Riverside

3.) The Arthaus

4.) Symphony House

5.) The Murano

Is AirBnB allowed in this Philly Condo?

by centercitycondosphillyDecember 12, 2020December 12, 2025Leave a comment

The one condo question that always gets a negative answer? I get this ALL the time…

Is Airbnb allowed in this building? No. Never. Ever. Sorry…

Almost every Philly condo has a clause embedded into its declaration/rules and regulations that the minimum lease period is either SIX or TWELVE months. Period.

Mark Wade
BHHS Fox & Roach Realtors®
530 Walnut St. #480 | Philadelphia, PA 19106
www.CenterCityCondos.com

Why Do SOME Condo Units Have Super High Condo Fees?

by centercitycondosphillyApril 17, 2020November 20, 2023Leave a comment

I get this question all the time. Why do condo fees vary from building to building?

Generally speaking,the answer is simple, yet sometimes detailed. Let’s start with what almost all condo fees (here in Center City Philadelphia) cover: master insurance policy, common building lighting, building maintenance, water & sewer, and a what I call a “Rainy Day” fund for future improvements. This is generally true of low rise , mid rise, and high rise condos.

The base condo fees cover all of the above. Now we need to add in services.

Elevator: Some low rise condo buildings don’t have them. Therefore, they don’t have the fees to operate and maintain them.

Front Door Person: It does cost you to staff this position – Employees are not cheap!

Swimming Pools: If your building has one, it is going to cost you higher fees than if you didn’t have one (duh).

Management: Low rise (say, five unit buildings) are usually self managed, and avoid this cost.

Extras: Chauffeur, dog walking, room service, etc. YOU GOTTA PAY TO PLAY.

Every now and again, I will run across someone in a low rise building that says to me, “My condo fees are $25 a month,” and they think this is a good thing. I would suggest that it isn’t. If your association has enough in reserves to not have to collect for daily operation of the building, then you are simply draining from the savings account. And I would venture to guess that your building suffers from a lack of (much needed) on-going maintenance. I often encourage associations to keep the fees going, even if there is a lot of money in the association’s account.

Condo fees that are too high can be a stopper for some buyers, as they are NOT looking for the services afforded by such fees. Conversely, condo fees that are too low can be a signal of a lack of ongoing maintenance (as evidenced by worn hallway carpets and paint, rotted exterior window sills, an old roof, etc).

What do you think? We welcome your input/comments on this post!

Mark Wade
BHHS Fox & Roach RealtorsÂ®
www.CenterCityCondos.com

It’s Not the Kitchen Cabinets – It’s the Knobs!

by centercitycondosphillyDecember 15, 2017December 15, 2025Leave a comment

I live in a lovely loft downtown Philadelphia condominium. My condo was featured on HGTV. I won the somewhat prestigious Philadelphia Magazine Kitchen of the Year contest in 2005. People see my kitchen, and out come the “oohs” and the inevitable “aahs”. Yeah, my kitchen is pretty groovy.

But ya’ know what….?

My kitchen is from Home Depot. Nothing special there. A nice Kraftmaid cabinet done in a simple off-white Mission style. Nothing dramatic or awe-inspiring. No high-dollar custom cabinets. It’s simply done.

Nothing special, of course, besides the $26 simple crystal knobs and pulls with a matte finished nickel base that cover the face of my cabinets. And this is where I got the most bang for my buck.

Kitchens cabinets are cabinets. They all have doors and drawers. And the base cabinets all sit 34” high and 24” off the wall. If you’ve seen one, you’ve kinda’ seen them all. Variations on a theme, let’s call it. Wide variations, but variations none the less. The eye is less drawn to a cabinet, as we see them daily, in my opinion.

But the one surefire way to dress up that cabinet is with a really nice, non-gaudy knob or pull. It adds a certain flair to the cabinet, and the right knob or pull can really make all the difference in the world.

You will notice now… go to any kitchen cabinet showroom, and find your favorite display. Now compare the knobs and pulls with other displays.

SEE THE DIFFERENCE?

I know it sounds minor, and maybe not worth an entire blog entry… but what is important here is the entire concept of SHOWING ABILITY. You have to capture the buyers’ emotions… and a dressed up, eye-catching, cabinet is one easy way to do that in the kitchen of your Center City condominium.

I will be hammering on this topic (showing ability) ad nauseam.

And just an FYI… in a kitchen, Knobs are generally applied to Drawers, while Pulls are generally applied to Doors.

Let me show you how easy it is to dress up your Center City condo to improve its showability and thus increase its price and selling potential. Give me a call today at 215-521-1523 or drop me an email at mark@centercity.com.

Mark Wade
BHHS Fox & Roach Realtors®
530 Walnut St. #480 | Philadelphia, PA 19106
www.CenterCityCondos.com