[Alison] I bought a single-family house (3 BR, 1 BA, 1015 sq. ft.) in August 2007 in North Philadelphia from a woman with 7 children, one in her arms. It was pretty cheap but there were tax liens and a water bill I agreed to take care of when I closed. An agreement of the sale was that the appliances would stay in the house (no stealing). The day after I became the owner, the previous owner's boyfriend broke in and out they walked with the water heater, a couple of ceiling fans, the electric panel and some other stuff. They even left the door open! So that was discouraging...I stripped the house to rehab, hired a dumpster, discovered garbage sealed into the walls and welded security bars on many of the windows. The problem is that I am not comfortable in the neighborhood (small white woman in tough, mostly black, drug-infested neighborhood). I bought the house because I could financially and it was my first. In retrospect, not a good enough reason. I had an idealistic notion of making a nice home in this rough location for a family. After the stealing, I had to confront the fact that, during the rehab, supplies could very well walk out of the house. So it sat... and sat.
I made an agreement with the city to pay down the taxes and turn on the electric. I put in another water meter. I got an assessment on a rehab which was very high and with no specific figures for the different aspects of construction, just a total number, useless. So I have been stymied about what to do for over a year. Now the market is more difficult and it's a challenge to get out but I must.
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