What $500K Will Buy You in Bustleton

9545 Banes St., Philadelphia, Pa. 19115 | TREND image via RE/MAX Elite

Bustleton, which is almost as far as you can go in the Northeast and still be in the Northeast, is a community with a history that stretches back to the city’s early years, when it was a busy rural crossroads centered on a tavern.

The Bustleton Tavern is long gone, as are the farms. But the intersection of Bustleton and Grant avenues, the heart of the neighborhood, remains a busy crossroads. Shops, restaurants and offices have replaced the tavern, and homes have sprouted on the former cropland.

As has happened in much of the Northeast, Bustleton has become an immigrant haven: nearly one-third of its residents were born outside the United States, and South Asians, in particular Indians, make up nearly 10 percent of the population.

Those new Americans have settled in an attractive community of well-maintained homes. Most of them date to the 1950s and 1960s, when the area experienced its greatest wave of development. But there are a few homes that date back to earlier times. One of them made it into this roundup:

9545 Banes St. (above) | 5 beds, 2 full, 1 half baths, 3,725 square feet, $479,500

The Wow! factor hits you the moment you step inside this handsome Victorian. A top-to-bottom makeover has turned this home into a real showpiece that mixes classic and contemporary design to very good effect. A two-story foyer and the formal dining room showcase the home’s original design while the open main living/dining area and kitchen adjacent to them feature all of the contemporary design bells and whistles. The front staircase, with its traditional wood bannister, leads to the second floor, where you’ll find four bedrooms, the laundry and a centrally located hall bath, while the glass-railed back stairs take you all the way up to the 1100-square-foot master suite on the top floor. Its huge closets and luxurious master bath will make it hard for you to leave it when you get up in the morning.

This home’s sale price was reduced by $400 on Nov. 2.

9545 Banes St., Philadelphia, Pa. 19115 [Maxim Shtraus | RE/MAX Elite]

2115 Gregg St., Philadelphia, Pa. 19115 | Bright MLS image via Liberty Bell Real Estate

2115 Gregg St. | 4 beds, 2 baths, 2,104 square feet, $510,000

Actually, you may be able to get this home for a good deal less than that, for its owners are considering splitting its 0.3-acre lot in two and selling the home’s huge backyard as a separate parcel. But if you want that huge backyard along with the home, this is what you’ll pay for it. Inside this stone rancher you’ll find a home in very good condition, move-in ready, with enough space to handle your family. In addition to that backyard, notable features include an all-season sun room and a spacious eat-in kitchen. Don’t want the backyard? You might be able to get the house alone for $295,000, which would leave you with plenty of money to give it a facelift and update, but you and the owner would then have to subdivide the property.

2115 Gregg St., Philadelphia, Pa. 19115 [Maria Lange | Liberty Bell Real Estate]