Get REAL with The Main Street Team

Buying power is up $30K, and rates dipped to 5.99%, giving homebuyers in Philadelphia more options this spring. A year ago, a lot of homebuyers in Philadelphia ran the numbers and didn’t like what they saw. Today, those numbers look different. According to Zillow , a median-income household can now afford $30,302 more home than they could a year ago.  The reason? Mortgage rates have eased from nearly 7% last winter to around 6%, and recently dipped to 5.99%.  That alone lowers the monthly payment enough to change what many buyers qualify for. Here in Philadelphia, the real question isn’t what’s happening nationally. It’s what this means for you, your budget, and the neighborhoods you’ve been watching.  Let’s walk through what’s changed and how it affects your next move. You May Qualify for More Than You Think If you looked at homes in Philadelphia last year and felt boxed in by your budget, it may be worth revisiting those numbers. Mortgage rates averaged 6...

Housing affordability in 2026 looks different from what doomer Tweets suggest, with lower payments, more seller inventory, and improving rent trends. Housing is expensive. Rates are higher than they were in early 2020. Home prices have gone up. Rent hasn’t exactly been a bargain either.  So, when a bold graphic like this one shows up in your feed confirming that frustration, it’s easy to assume that’s the whole story.  The good news? It’s not. Because affordability isn’t just about home prices. It’s about mortgage rates, wage growth, housing inventory, negotiating power, and even local supply. And over the past several months, some of those pieces have started moving in a better direction. So, before you make a major decision based on a social media post, let’s look at what the data actually says and how it applies to real people in real markets, including ours. 1. Mortgage Rates Have Eased and Refinancing Is Back on the Table Let’s start with mortgage rates, because they dri...

Zillow analyzed 20 years of listings and found buyers value livability, lower costs, and practical layouts more than size or formality. If you’re thinking of selling in 2026, you might think bigger rooms, formal spaces, and neutral paint colors equal higher value.  But today’s buyers aren’t shopping that way anymore, and new Zillow data backs that up. After reviewing 20 years of for-sale listings, Zillow found buyers now care more about practical layouts and manageable sizes, along with features that help keep long-term costs under control. To understand why, it helps to look at how home design priorities have changed over the past two decades, starting with the rise and fall of the McMansion era. Why Bigger Doesn’t Automatically Mean More Valuable Anymore For a long time, size felt like a safe bet. More square footage was easy to point to when justifying price, especially during the height of McMansion-style homes. Zillow’s 20-year review shows newer homes have been getting small...

Simple home improvements with proven ROI can boost your sale price in  Phila delphia . See where to invest your prep dollars for the biggest returns. When you sell your home, every dollar you spend before listing should have one job: come back to you in the form of a higher sale price. The challenge for most homeowners isn’t deciding whether to update their home. It’s figuring out where those prep dollars will work hardest. Some projects bring back two or even three times what they cost, while others barely move the needle. The good news? You don’t need a full renovation to maximize your profit. A handful of targeted, high-ROI improvements can dramatically improve how buyers perceive your home and how strong their offers are.  Here’s what to focus on if you want the biggest return with the least stress. The Highest-Return Projects That Boost Value Fast First impressions matter more than most sellers realize. Curb appeal and visible upgrades often shape how buyers feel about a...