Penn Students Taking Questions Forum

[ymmv]

anyone who knows a lot about housing pls pm me

Would like to piggyback on this as well.

Lots of good info in this thread. Best bet is usually Craigslist. West and South Philly run cheaper than Center City for the most part, but unless you're biking South Philly can be a bit of a commute. Grad Hospital (neighborhood between Center City and South Philly) is a popular choice - cute area, short bike ride or bus to school, and inexpensive. West Philly has some similarly nice and cheap neighborhood spots along Baltimore Ave, particularly from 35-45th Streets. In Center City walkups and condos range wildly in price, but you can easily find reasonably priced studios and even 1BRs. Some popular condo rental buildings in CC within walking distance of school are RiverWest, 3400 Chestnut, and 2121 Market.

Or, if you have a trust fund to blow, there's Domus.

[Mack.Hambleton]

domus is dumb

[Mack.Hambleton]

Also I have some questions about OCI if someone who's been through the process wants to pm me

[Flokkness]

anyone who knows a lot about housing pls pm me

Would like to piggyback on this as well.

Lots of good info in this thread. Best bet is usually Craigslist. West and South Philly run cheaper than Center City for the most part, but unless you're biking South Philly can be a bit of a commute. Grad Hospital (neighborhood between Center City and South Philly) is a popular choice - cute area, short bike ride or bus to school, and inexpensive. West Philly has some similarly nice and cheap neighborhood spots along Baltimore Ave, particularly from 35-45th Streets. In Center City walkups and condos range wildly in price, but you can easily find reasonably priced studios and even 1BRs. Some popular condo rental buildings in CC within walking distance of school are RiverWest, 3400 Chestnut, and 2121 Market.

Or, if you have a trust fund to blow, there's Domus.

This is great, thanks. (No trust fund, sadly)

[PennBull]

Or, if you have a trust fund to blow, there's Domus.

It continues to blow my mind how anyone with a stake in the game would ever choose Domus or Sansom Place

Just terrible values for the price. Domus is nice and all, but the same money would get you SO much more in Center City.

I guess these people have this odd freakout if they're not living RIGHT ACROSS THE STREET from the school

I lived a 15 minute walk away my 1L year--hardly the other side of the city.

[r6_philly]

There are people who still live across the street from their firms now...

[PennBull]

There are people who still live across the street from their firms now...

probably the same people, right? haha

[NotASpecialSnowflake]

How is Powelton Village? I found some pretty great places around 40th and Powelton, but I want to make sure its a good area. Also how far west is the limit for good housing options? I've heard anywhere from 45th-50th

[Clearly]

Powelton is alright, it's no Malibu, but it's perfectly fine.

Also the west boundary isn't a straight line. 45th and Baltimore or spruce is great, 45th and say powelton might get sketchy. That said, I'm of the mind that very few of these neighborhoods are as sketchy as Penn students portray them.

[PennBull]

That said, I'm of the mind that very few of these neighborhoods are as sketchy as Penn students portray them.

Same here.

And I totally agree about the Western boundary as well. I'd happily live at 50th, but probably a little south (say, Spruce or Baltimore) and probably not up to Market Street. Most of that is because there isn't much of a $ difference and you're already saving a shitload of money living there anyways.

That said, you can find really affordable housing 40th and west in a variety of different styles (1 BRs, studios, I personally lived in an 8-BR with 7 other guys because why not), just know that they will be part of converted houses and whatnot and not like, apartment buildings (altho there are scattered apartment complexes out that way)

[NotASpecialSnowflake]

Awesome thanks for the advice!

Does anyone know/recommend any gyms in Philly? And if I'm looking to buy furniture, where should I start? I'm not looking for anything fancy and wouldn't mind buying it secondhand.

[Clearly]

Awesome thanks for the advice!

Does anyone know/recommend any gyms in Philly? And if I'm looking to buy furniture, where should I start? I'm not looking for anything fancy and wouldn't mind buying it secondhand.

Once you're a Penn student, sign up for Potruck, it's right up the road from the school and is legit and not a bad deal for students.

[Mack.Hambleton]

are campus gyms not included with tuition?

[ymmv]

Awesome thanks for the advice!

Does anyone know/recommend any gyms in Philly? And if I'm looking to buy furniture, where should I start? I'm not looking for anything fancy and wouldn't mind buying it secondhand.

Philly Sports Center is only $20 a month (no contract) with locations in Center City, Fairmount, or Old City, and most of their facilities are in pretty good shape. LA Fitness in Center City is decent, similarly priced with their usual promotions. 12th St Gym (Washington Square) is great, but pricier at $300-400 a year depending on what their student discount is these days.

Penn has a gym, but I was never interested because of price/location. Details are easy to find if you google it.

[Clearly]

are campus gyms not included with tuition?

They are not.

[Auxilio]

Any current students have thoughts about just buying a condo or something near the university? It seems like there are a lot of surprisingly cheap options quite close to Penn. My parents are lending me my tuition costs (international so loans get difficult) and are looking at just buying a property as opposed to lending the money for rent. It does seem pretty viable at an initial glance.

Would love to hear any thoughts from current students or just Philadelphia residents.

[ymmv]

Any current students have thoughts about just buying a condo or something near the university? It seems like there are a lot of surprisingly cheap options quite close to Penn. My parents are lending me my tuition costs (international so loans get difficult) and are looking at just buying a property as opposed to lending the money for rent. It does seem pretty viable at an initial glance.

Would love to hear any thoughts from current students or just Philadelphia residents.

Philly real estate sales are on the up but it's very much a buyer's market. Despite a growing population there is still an overabundance of housing, though I'm not sure whether this applies as strongly to condos. No one can tell you the future, but as someone who's lived here for a while I'd say Philly has been on a steady incline of improvement for a while now, and it feels like every month the Center City revitalization spreads further out west and south. It's an increasingly exciting place to be right now, and my uneducated guess would be that that makes it a reasonable place to invest in housing.

[Clearly]

Any current students have thoughts about just buying a condo or something near the university? It seems like there are a lot of surprisingly cheap options quite close to Penn. My parents are lending me my tuition costs (international so loans get difficult) and are looking at just buying a property as opposed to lending the money for rent. It does seem pretty viable at an initial glance.

Would love to hear any thoughts from current students or just Philadelphia residents.

Philly real estate sales are on the up but it's very much a buyer's market. Despite a growing population there is still an overabundance of housing, though I'm not sure whether this applies as strongly to condos. No one can tell you the future, but as someone who's lived here for a while I'd say Philly has been on a steady incline of improvement for a while now, and it feels like every month the Center City revitalization spreads further out west and south. It's an increasingly exciting place to be right now, and my uneducated guess would be that that makes it a reasonable place to invest in housing.

I've constantly thought about buying a cheap property just on the penntrification border. It actually seems like a smart investment. That said though, that's a different strategy than the condo move, which are pretty much by definition in places people already found investment worthy.

[Mack.Hambleton]

Any current students have thoughts about just buying a condo or something near the university? It seems like there are a lot of surprisingly cheap options quite close to Penn. My parents are lending me my tuition costs (international so loans get difficult) and are looking at just buying a property as opposed to lending the money for rent. It does seem pretty viable at an initial glance.

Would love to hear any thoughts from current students or just Philadelphia residents.

how much these condos go for?

[Auxilio]

Any current students have thoughts about just buying a condo or something near the university? It seems like there are a lot of surprisingly cheap options quite close to Penn. My parents are lending me my tuition costs (international so loans get difficult) and are looking at just buying a property as opposed to lending the money for rent. It does seem pretty viable at an initial glance.

Would love to hear any thoughts from current students or just Philadelphia residents.

how much these condos go for?

I have not done a lot of searching yet, but it seems like there are a fair amount of decent options for <130,000. If you consider paying like 1000 in rent for 3 years, that is already a big chunk of the cost.

[NotASpecialSnowflake]

Does anyone have any information about where to find cheap furniture?

I know I asked about it before, but I think people may have focused on my gym question.

[PennBull]

Uhuru has some great secondhand gems. I found a matching sofa and chair in opposite corners of their disorganized mess of a store and they're still my couches today even after I moved to manhattan

[NotASpecialSnowflake]

Uhuru has some great secondhand gems. I found a matching sofa and chair in opposite corners of their disorganized mess of a store and they're still my couches today even after I moved to manhattan

Awesome I'll check them out. Thanks!

[Clearly]

If you're in west philly theres a used furniture place on 40th and market that has cheap stuff, some of it can be nice, across the street is a new furniture store that is deceptively gigantic... You walk into what feels like a slightly larger than normal city store-front and find yourself in a furniture store that's gigantic . Obviously that stuff is new, but they still have decent prices for certain things so i'd check it out too.

[NotASpecialSnowflake]

Thanks guys! Sorry about the barrage of questions, but does anyone know/remember where to find the dean's certification form?