It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.
If you think back, you'll remember that as the opening line of Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities. The overarching theme of the novel is the struggle between those who have power and privilege and those who do not.
While the two cities in the novel were London and Paris, I'd like to talk a bit about Philadelphia. Perhaps many of you can see this on your own towns and cities.
The gulf between the haves and have-nots seems to be widening. Let's look at the most expensive home sold in Philadelphia in June 2010 as listed on our MLS. An exceptional 9,000 square foot mansion in the prestigious Rittenhouse Square neighborhood of center city Philadelphia. Five bedrooms, five full and two half baths. Elevator. Fourteen foot ceilings. Garage. Roof Terrace. And with a sale price of $5,850,000 -- features truly too numerous to mention.
For those of you not familiar with Philadelphia, it is a sprawling city that is almost 23 miles long at its longest point, and has a population of 1.5 million within the city limits, and lies within a metropolitan area that boasts 6.4 million inhabitants.
So, a mere six miles from this stately manse lies the least expensive home sold in Philadelphia in the same month of June 2010. Located in Philadelphia's Kensington neighborhood, this sad little home sits on a blighted block in a run-down area of the city. At 952 square feet, this property is almost one tenth the size of the mansion above. Its selling price? $4,500. While we all know the phrase, "Under all is land," even the land in this poor pocket of the city seems close to worthless. For comparison, over at www.BestBuy.com, there are half a dozen televisions that sell for more than this unfortunate property - with the top TV price coming in at $6,999.99.
And I'm sure it will come as no surprise that the areas containing the least expensive homes in town cover a much larger area than those containing the priciest real estate. And contain more Philadelphians
Can our society continue to grow and thrive when there is such poverty within? Or are we destined to return to the Dickensian society depicted in A Tale of Two Cities?
While the contrast between these two properties is amazing, they do have one thing in common. They were both purchased for cash.
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