Guess What’s Inside in Upper Roxborough for $565K
The description of this recently built home suggests something really great inside. It's certainly nice on the outside thanks in large part to its wooded setting.
817 Crestview Rd., Philadelphia, Pa. 19128 | Bright MLS images via Keller Williams Real Estate
“Congratulations! You have received a Mystery Gift. Click here to find out what’s inside.”
If you’re like most of us, you ignore this instruction when you get one of these in an email, because if you do click, you’re likely to be saddled with 100 magazine subscriptions, some strange gadget you’d never buy ordinarily, or worse still, a condo timeshare in a resort community you’d never visit in a million years.
This newer home in Upper Roxborough is a little like that mystery gift, except that you can go see what’s inside without having to buy the home if you don’t like it.
Exterior showing storage shed and playground
The photos accompanying the listing make this much clear: The home and its grounds have been nicely kept up. You’ll save on your electricity bill thanks to the solar panels on its roof. It has a storage shed out back, and a spacious deck 12 feet above the ground gives you a fantastic view of the wooded hillsides that surround you on the edge of the Wissahickon Valley.
Deck
For everything else, you’ll have to rely on the agent’s description until you go out and see for yourself. The description makes this place sound absolutely wonderful: A two-story foyer with wide-plank hand-scraped wood floors. Elegant custom lighting fixtures fashioned from oil-rubbed bronze that compliment the natural wood trim. A totally remodeled kitchen that’s a vision in white, save for the stainless-steel appliances, of course. A master bedroom with a vaulted ceiling, walk-in closet and freshly tiled bathroom. A walkout basement media room with 11-foot-high ceilings and theater-inspired lighting, plus a soundproofed home office space and workshop/storage space on the same floor. Organic garden beds and berry bushes in the backyard. (Clearly these are eco-conscious owners.)
View from deck
Frankly, given how nice this home and its grounds look on the outside, we have no doubt that the inside will be equally nice, or at the very least won’t be an unpleasant surprise. And the owner performed a pre-inspection and made some small upgrades before listing the home in order to take care of any other possible surprises.
But there is one bit of bait-and-switch surrounding this house: The agent’s description says it’s “close to Chestnut Hill, multiple train stations, 20 minutes to Center City, and 10 minutes from the Turnpike.” Sure it’s close to Chestnut Hill and those train stations — if you put on your hiking boots and blaze your own trail through the Wissahickon Park. Don’t forget to put on your hip-waders to ford the stream too. Otherwise, your Chestnut Hill access options consist of a drive of about five or six miles via Bell’s Mill Road. And a 20-minute drive to Center City from here at rush hour? Not if you use the Schuylkill Expressway it isn’t. Your best shot at that quick commute is to drive to Ivy Ridge and take Regional Rail in from there.
Given this home’s features and setting, though, a less-convenient-than-billed commute is a small price to pay for a quiet retreat in a beautiful sylvan landscape. If you want to find out what’s inside, though, you’ll have to wait until April 22nd, when showings begin with an open house.
THE FINE PRINT
BEDS: 4
BATHS: 2 full, 1 half
SQUARE FEET: 2,210
SALE PRICE: $565,000
817 Crestview Rd., Philadelphia, Pa. 19128 [Helen Kowalchik | The Kowalchik Team | Keller Williams Real Estate – Blue Bell]
