What $500K Will Buy You in Mt. Airy

Want to get your Mt. Airy groove on in some nice digs? We found a few pearls and a place with potential at this price in the funky, famously integrated Northwest Philly neighborhood.

7156 Crittenden St., Philadelphia, Pa. 19119 | TREND image via Keller Williams Horsham

7156 Crittenden St., Philadelphia, Pa. 19119 | TREND image via Keller Williams Horsham

Mt. Airy may be one neighborhood, but its two sides have distinct personalities that are knit together by its main drag, Germantown Avenue. East Mt. Airy is on the whole a little more modest than West Mt. Airy, as it’s home to the bulk of the neighborhood’s middle- and lower-tier housing stock.

But when we looked around to see what we could get for somewhere in the neighborhood of $500,000, we found one picture-perfect home in East Mt. Airy along with a few others on the opposite side of Germantown Avenue.

7156 Crittenden St. (above) | 6 beds, 4 full, 2 half baths, 3,120 square feet, $475,000

Use its other address — 530 E. Mt. Airy Ave. — and what you see is a classic, beautifully maintained center-hall Colonial. It’s only when you round the corner onto Crittenden that you find out it’s a twin. Once inside, though, you won’t care that this home shares a party wall with its next-door neighbor, for this recently updated home has all the classic style and details you expect in a home of this type: wainscotting, crown moldings, marble tile foyer, built-ins in the living room, a sunny family room/sun room just beyond the stone exterior wall. You’ll also find an updated kitchen with granite countertops, top-notch stainless steel appliances and tile backsplash and floor, renovated bathrooms with modern vanities (and a bidet in the master), roomy bedrooms and a nice entertaining space with kitchenette in the partly finished basement. There’s also a detached garage with a granny flat above. Ceiling fans in almost every room, including a Tiffanyesque fan in the living room, mean your air conditioning won’t have to work so hard in the summer.

7156 Crittenden St., Philadelphia, Pa. 19119 [Patricia Crane | Keller Williams Realty Horsham]

7003 Lincoln Drive, Philadelphia, Pa. 19119 | TREND image via BHHS Fox & Roach

7003 Lincoln Drive, Philadelphia, Pa. 19119 | TREND image via BHHS Fox & Roach

7003 Lincoln Drive | 4 beds, 3 full, 1 half baths, 3,063 square feet, $499,900

This French chateau-inspired, completely updated home has a bunch of distinctive features inside and out. There’s a spiral staircase with hand-forged iron railing in the turret nestled in the hinge of this L-shaped home, a wonderful fire pit in the rear patio the home embraces, a country-style kitchen with French tiled backsplashes, butcher-block countertops and stainless steel appliances, a spacious great room with built-ins, a dining room (currently used as a family room) with bar seating at the kitchen pass-through, updated bathrooms (including a master bath with marble vanity), and spacious bedrooms. The courtyard and garden make a great place for dining or entertaining al fresco, and there’s plenty of storage space in the roomy closets, attic and basement. You’re close to the Weavers Way Co-op and the High Point Café as well, and SEPTA’s Chestnut Hill West Regional Rail line offers quick access to Center City at Carpenter station.

7003 Lincoln Drive, Philadelphia, Pa. 19119 [Mark Malfara | BHHS Fox & Roach]

645 W. Sedgwick St., Philadelphia, Pa. 19119 | Image via Zillow

645 W. Sedgwick St., Philadelphia, Pa. 19119 | Image via Zillow

645 W. Sedgwick St. | 6 beds, 2 full, 1 half baths, 2,900 square feet, $525,000

Actually, this home’s not yet on the market, but its owner will gladly sell it to you for that price (it’s that Zillow feature called “Make Me Move”). It’s situated on a great site overlooking Carpenter Woods, a great view of which you can get from this home’s above-grade first floor and enclosed side patio. This Dutch Colonial twin features an updated kitchen and a first-floor powder room with a stained glass interior window. Its third floor has gas and plumbing hookups that allow it to be converted into a mother-in-law or au pair suite with its own full bath. Located almost around the corner from the home above, it’s also a short walk from the West Mt. Airy Village business district, where you’ll find Weavers Way, the High Point and other neighborhood businesses. You might want to factor a budget for additional improvements into your offer for this home, however, as it looks like the bathrooms could use some updating.

645 W. Sedgwick St., Philadelphia, Pa. 19119 [Zillow]