Michael Vick is Moving to Philadelphia

August 17th, 2009 by Matt DiChiara| Posted in Renting with Pets | No Comments »

Now that Michael Vick is out of jail and has signed with the Philadelphia Eagles, he’ll probably want to start looking at Philadelphia apartments. We would like to take this opportunity to offer some advice to Mr. Vick on relocating. Even if you have visited a city before, it is not until you really live there, until you can figure out, well, where you should really live. One of life’s many catch 22s; but the internet is here to help!

Rent or Buy?

Since the Eagles signed a contract with him for only one year with just an option for a second year, we would advise him to look for an apartment or home to rent, since he is unsure of how long he’ll be in Philly.

Especially when relocating, families are faced with a very difficult rent versus buy decision. People should consider the “five year rule,” which warns against buying a home if you aren’t planning on staying in that location for more than five years. According to the National Multi Housing Council’s report “The High Cost of Short-Term Homeownership,” buyers who sold within four years paid, on average, 19 percent more as owners than they would have paid as renters!

Philadelphia Neighborhoods

In order to find out where Mr. Vick should focus his search, we consulted some of our renters in the greater Philadelphia area to find out the coolest neighborhoods. Apparently, if you are relocating to Philadelphia, you should first look at apartments in Rittenhouse, apartments in Northern Liberties or apartments in Manayunk. According to our Philadelphia neighborhood expert, the Rittenhouse neighborhood of Philadelphia is known for its classy, old school charm; pleasant for walking around and an abundance of bars and restaurants. Northern Liberties is more of an up and coming neighborhood, the front lines of gentrification, as it were, featuring former factories transformed into lofts with huge open living spaces. And finally, the Manayunk neighborhood, the home of our expert, is a bit outside of the Philadelphia downtown area, but has enough nightlife of its own to attract a younger generation of renter looking to save some money on rent.

Pet Friendly Apartments

Of course, it would be difficult to deny that the impetus of this post had something to do with talking a little about Philadelphia’s pet friendly apartments. Now, we have done some research in the past, where we determined that there is a definitive geographical trend to whether renters prefer cats or dogs. Unsurprisingly, cities with more open space and better climates were more likely to search for dog friendly apartments whereas more crowded and colder cities showed a preference for cats.

Philadelphia, of course falls in that second category, which seems to work pretty well for Mr. Vick. His reprehensible past with dogs, would seem not to lend itself to a dog friendly apartment, or at least produce some raised eyebrows from leasing agents. However, Mr. Vick should not be deprived of the endless benefits of animal companionship, so perhaps upon moving to Philadelphia, he can get himself a nice housecat.