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Here's the fact that surprises almost everyone.
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the most linguistically diverse zip code in the entire state of Pennsylvania is not Center City, it's not University City, it is 19120, Olney in Upper North Philadelphia.
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Korean, Cambodian, Vietnamese, Colombian, Jamaican, Portuguese, African, wave after wave of immigrant families bought row homes here, opened businesses on the Fifth Street, and kept this neighborhood full while other parts of North Philly emptied out.
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one of the biggest local news outlets in the city called only the neighborhood that grew without gentrification.
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But here's the twist for landlords, and it's the theme of today's episode.
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this market barely shows up on MLS.
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If you pull the official numbers, you would think almost nothing rents here.
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The reality is completely different, and today I'm going to show you both sets of data, explain where the rental market lives, and break down the five very different pockets inside this one zip code.
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Welcome back to the Philly Landlord Guy, the show built for rental owners, property managers, and investors who want real, no-fluff facts about Philadelphia market, neighborhood by neighborhood.
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I'm your host, Yuriy Skripnichenko, licensed real estate broker, and certified property manager In today's episode I will break down 19120, one of the most populous zip codes in Philadelphia, home to about 66,000 people, and one of the most misunderstood neighborhoods.
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Let's start with the citywide picture.
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Across Philadelphia in August, there were 1,799 units listed and 1,608 units rented.
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89% absorption rate.
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The median listed price was$1,850, and the median rented price was$1,800.
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Just a$50 gap, Average days on the market, 46 days.
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Months of supply, 2.2.
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That is tighter than we saw through most of the summer.
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Current September inventory is sitting at 4,000 units, down from 4345 a year ago.
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The market has absorbed the spring supply wave and firmed up.
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So that's the city baseline, accurate price, 46 days on the market.
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Keep that day on the market number in your head because what I'm about to show you for 19120 is going to look strange.
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Let me paint the full picture of the zip code because 19120 is big and changes depending on where you are standing, The story here is growth without gentrification.
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Starting in the 1980s, Korean families began moving into Olney and opening businesses along North 5th Street.
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Then came Portuguese families.
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Fifth Street was affectionately known as Ruasinka for a stretch.
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Then Cambodian, Vietnamese, Colombian, Jamaican, and African families.
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The Cambodian Association of Greater Philadelphia and the Korean Community Development Service Center still operate on Fifth Street today.
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Here's why this matters to you as a landlord.
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Unlike other parts of North Philadelphia, vacancy level in Olney stayed low Immigrant families bought the row homes, maintained them, and filled them.
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The neighborhood revitalized without displacement.
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No luxury towers, no massive rent spikes, just steady family-driven demand.
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This is a fundamentally stable rental market, and the tenant profile follows from that.
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The average household size in core Olney is 4.8 people, more than double the city average of 2.2.
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These are large multi-generational families.
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What they need is the three-plus bedrooms.
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A renovated three-bedroom row home is the bread-and-butter product, Which is exactly why the comps report we will look at in a minute focuses on three-bedroom, one-bath units.
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So here's the five pockets because one nine one two zero is not one market.
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Olney core centered on the Fifth Street corridor and Fisher Park.
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The 23-acre park donated by Joseph Wharton himself bought back in 1908.
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Median household income around$54,000 for the zip.
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Classic two-story, three-bedroom row homes, roughly 16, 17 square feet.
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This is the strongest, most stable pocket of the area.
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Fenwick, the northwest edge along Broad Street.
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It's 1920s row homes, some twins and singles, a few high-rise apartment buildings.
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Its superpower is transit.
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The Fenrock Transportation Center is the north terminal of the Broad Street Line plus three regional rail lines Longcrest, the northeast section, median income around 54,000, poverty near the city average, smaller households, steadier blocks.
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Fledonville, the southeast, extremely dense, heavily Latino, very working class, poverty rate about 40%, twice the city average.
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Price sensitive, large families, a market where condition and price matter more than anything.
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Olney Southwest the toughest
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part.
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Per capita income is lower than 96% of US neighborhoods, and two-third of children live below the poverty line.
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This is heavily voucher-driven territory.
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Not a bad investment, but a completely different business with hands-on management requirements.
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Block selection here is everything.
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Check atlas.phila.gov for violations or surrounding parcels before you buy anything.
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Now here is where 19120 gets generally interesting and why I'm going to show you two different reports today.
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First, the August bright MLS numbers for 19120.
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In August, there were seven units listed and five units rented through the MLS.
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Seven in a zip code of 66,000 people and roughly 24,000 households.
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The listed median was 1,500.
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The sold median was higher at 1,664, and the days on the market on those few units was 101.
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But it's a tiny sample size and that's the story.
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Compare that to other zip codes where we had hundreds rentals in the same month in the same zip.
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What this tells you is that the vast majority of 19120 rental market happens off the MLS.
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other rental websites For you as an investor, that means two things.
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One, you cannot judge the zip code by MLS stats alone, And two, you need to list where tenants actually look at, not just MLS.
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So let's look at the rental market second report, a rent engine comps analysis we ran at TrustArt Realty for a three-bedroom, one-bath row home in 19120, the bread-and-butter product I mentioned.
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One note to mythology, this pulse comes from about two-mile radius, so it captures 19120 plus the immediately surround areas, Fultonville, parts of Frankford, Longkirst, Logan.
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over the last 60 days.
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Hundred and thirty-seven total units in the market, 110 available, only 27 rented.
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That is a supply to demand ratio of about four to one.
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It's oversupplied right now for this product type.
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The median rent, 1,600.
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They range from 1,200 to 1,995 But here's the number that matters the most.
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The median days on the market for the units that actually rented was 26 days.
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The unit that rented moved in under a month.
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Meanwhile, the available pile is full of listings sitting for 100, 200, even 400 days, many with multiple price cuts.
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One listing started at 1,775 and has cut four times down to 1,395, and it's still sitting.
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This is the sharpest example of pricing lessons In oversupplied market like this, there is no middle ground.
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Price at the market around 1,500 to 1,550 for a standard three-bed, and you will rent in three or four weeks.
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Price at 1,800 because the renovated one down the block got that, and you will join the 100-day pile, then cut your price and lose three months of rent And those three months of vacancy on a 1,600 unit is$4,800.
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the$100 a month premium you were holding out for takes four years to earn back.
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The math never works.
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One more note on what earns a premium here, looking through the rented comps, the units that hit 1719 or 1995 almost all had something extra.
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In-unit laundry shows up over and over, renovated interiors, occasional parking, newer kitchens, newer bathrooms.
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For large families doing laundry for five or six people, an in-unit laundry is not a luxury in the ZIP code, it's a rent driver.
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all new owners got hit hard in recent reassessments.
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I've seen properties where the assessment jumped over 70% in 2023, and again this year.
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the formal Board of Revision of Taxes appeal is still open until October 5th.
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If your 19120 assessment looks wrong, you still have a path.
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Go back to your assessment episode for the full walkthrough.
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now quick thank you to our sponsor, TrustArt Realty.
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That rent engine comps report I just walked through, that is exactly the kind of analysis TrustArt Realty runs for clients before we ever set a price.
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Real comps, real absorption data, no guesswork.
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If you own in 19120 or anywhere in Philadelphia and want to know what your unit should actively rent in today's market, we are offering all of our listeners a free rental analysis.
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Reach out at trustartrealty@phillylandlordguy.com or go to trustartrealty.com and schedule that consultation.
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Okay, let's land this.
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19120 is one of the most stable, high demand rental markets in the city, built on decades of immigrant families who bought, and filled these row homes.
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But the MLS barely sees, so do your homework with real comps.
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Know your pocket.
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A block of Fifth Street and a block in Olde Southwest are different businesses.
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Serve the actual tenant, big families who need three-plus bedrooms, and value in-unit laundry and possibly parking.
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And in oversupplied moments like right now, price at the market,$1,500 to$1,550, and rent in 26 days, or overprice and cede$400.
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If this was useful, subscribe, leave a review, and drop your zip code questions in the notes.
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Keep your properties clean, stay legal, and I'll catch you in the next episode.