Original subtitles

You know what can go right there? A highchair.

[ laughs ]

You ready? Yeah, I'm ready.

Narrator: Sandy and allison want to start a family,

So they're moving from new york city

To less expensive philadelphia to buy a home.

But one of them's making it difficult.

Sandy can drag his feet sometimes.

-Wow. -Come into your new kitchen.

It's just a square.

That's not how you sit on a toilet.

No, this is great. Well, listen --

How -- can you fit in there?

You I even have to go through the trouble

Of turning 90 degrees.

He has a lot of requirements about bathrooms.

Seeing a lot of gray and not a whole lot of green.

It makes me anxious that we're gonna lose the one.

Narrator: And she could be right.

These homes are flying off the market.

So at some point,

You're really gonna have to make a decision.

[ doorbell rings ]

♪♪

♪♪

Sandy: You know where we are, right?

You're the one who grew up here.

I am a consultant.

I'm a freelance writer at advertising agencies.

We met at work. I was not his boss,

But definitely his superior, so... A superior.

...That was scandalous. Now we're equals.

We've been married for about two years.

We live in a little thumbnail in manhattan.

Been a fun couple of years,

But it's time to move onward and up.

We're ready to buy a place,

But definitely don't want to do that in new york.

So philly is a great alternative. First choice.

First choice.

-Hello! -Hey, welcome.

-Hi, dad. -Hi.

We made it.

We're deciding to move to philadelphia

In part because it's home for me.

All of my family, life, friends are already here,

And it's the perfect place for us to raise a family.

It's got to be better than new york, though,

Because it's -- it's more affordable here.

Oh, yeah.

The most I'd be willing to spend on a house

Would probably be 350.

I definitely want to get a good deal.

Sandy, it's like a game.

He -- sandy... Sure, yeah. That's probably --

...Cannot order takeout without spending 20 minutes

Looking for a coupon code. It is infuriating.

I don't know why my brain operates that way,

But it definitely does.

But if the space is right, I'd be willing to go up to 400.

Michael: You have, like, neighborhoods scoped out?

Like what'd you -- she does.

Allison: I'm very partial to south philly --

Coffee shops, it's --

The hustle and bustle, but also -- yeah.

The subway. Just the atmosphere.

See? They get me.

Sandy lived in south philly for a while,

And that is where I really fell in love with philly.

All of our favorite coffee shops and restaurants

And bars are there.

I'm a little more keen to still, you know,

Be in the city. Stay in the city.

You're not so much into the suburbs.

Not yet.

Which again, I thought, you know,

Would be an easy sell for sandy.

But he's like, "no".

I don't know. I'm partial to countryside.

Allison and I have spent our entire 20s

Relocating up and down 995

Between, you know, megalopolis to megalopolis.

And I think I'm ready to live somewhere

That's not smooshed between two other buildings.

What I want out of a house is something spacious,

Certainly three bedrooms.

I think we could do two if we had, like, a bonus space.

There needs to be enough room

For us to work and have kids.

I would really like to full bathrooms.

I guess a lot of my house wish lists

Are pretty idiosyncratic.

I definitely want a ground floor bathroom.

If we're having kids soon, which we plan to, um...

I don't want to poop the same place my kids do.

I want some land.

I want a lawn to complain about.

You've never touched a lawn mower

In your entire life, and now you want a yard?

A big yard's important as a bit of zen.

You've seen our place in new york.

I love character.

I love exposed brick, the hardwood.

So that's -- that's kind of important.

Allison lives by her heart.

She can be pretty hasty to rush the decisions.

Sandy can drag his feet sometimes.

And it makes me anxious that we're gonna lose the one.

♪♪

Tell me about this house you're dragging me to.

Narrator: Today, there in the north philly neighborhood

Of fishtown,

An area their agent hopes will be a compromise

Since it's halfway between

South philly and the outer suburbs.

This is not quite the neighborhood

I thought we'd be looking in.

A surprising amount of natural light

For it being a smooshy little row home.

Smooshy little row home?

Yeah. But... [worriedly] $350,000.

That's fine. We're fine.

[ normal voice ] well, whatever.

I'm surprised at how much the market has changed

Here in philadelphia since I've lived here last

And certainly since my childhood.

Its pricier.

♪♪

I mean, I see a highway and I see no coffee shops.

-Hey, guys. Great to see you. -Hi.

Narrator: Their agent kevin is a college friend of sandy's.

With sandy and allison, I really want to make sure

That I find them a home that meets both of their needs

And one that we can actually get sandy to make an offer on.

Sandy can be kind of a pain in the rear end

Looking for something that you just can't find.

The philadelphia that sandy remembers

Is a little bit different than what it is today.

A number of years ago,

You would be able to find a property

That's got everything that they're looking for

For a very inexpensive price.

But what he's expecting

Isn't exactly the case any longer.

Fishtown is a booming neighborhood.

This might be sandy and allison's best opportunity

To find a home with most of what they're looking for

At a great price.

I love the light.

I can't get enough of that. I do like the light.

I like the height.

It has a surprising amount of light for a row home.

Allison: Look.

Oh, pineapples.

I like the pineapples. I don't like the fans.

I love that. Kevin: We'll see what we can work out.

That's funny.

Big thing for you -- I got a big surprise.

Your very own half bath. This is great.

I know you've been dying to have it.

That's not how you sit on a toilet.

No, this is great. Well, listen...

How -- can you fit in there?

You don't even have to go through the trouble

Of turning 90 degrees.

It'll do the job.

Wow. Alright.

Wow. Come into your new kitchen.

This is awesome.

You know, it's not huge,

But there's enough space to move around.

Sure. Which is nice.

It's just a square.

Did you want an octagon? Everything's a square.

And that's just a rectan-- it's not a --

Not a whole lot of visual intrigue for me.

Well, that is, unfortunately, kind of what you get in philly.

Everything is pretty much the same shape.

We're a city of row homes. Uh-huh.

I mean, for a row home in philly,

This is more than I could have expected.

What's going on with the --

Like, look -- look at the cabinets.

What is that?

Kevin: So -- so the previous owners

Obviously had a-a bit of a unique style.

If you really wanted to kind of

Sand these down and repaint them,

Um, you could you can certainly do that.

And you know what can go right there? Nice ledge.

A highchair.

[ laughs ]

You ready? Yeah, I'm ready.

Alright.

Look at that.

This is something you really don't find anywhere in the city.

You're mostly gonna end up with a concrete pad.

You're gonna have to get yourself

A nice little lawnmower.

He's been waiting for this day his whole life.

This is exciting. I'll take the yard.

I'm still iffy on the house.

♪♪

We have your lovely bathroom.

Wow, it's huge. Yeah.

I love this tub. I do love the tub.

I mean, that's some of the character

That I was looking for.

It's a nice size. I really like the shower.

I'm not so sure about this weird tile.

I like the sink. Nice and big.

Especially cause it's the only bathroom in here,

You want it to be roomy. Yeah.

You're both gonna be in and out of this.

Only bathroom.

I'd probably want another bathroom upstairs.

Sandy's being a little bit picky about that.

He has a lot of requirements about bathrooms,

So I'm kind of just like, "take it.

It's a great bathroom."

Come on in. This is the master.

Lots of light.

They actually updated all of this flooring, as well.

It's not real hardwood.

It's a laminate. It's got a really nice look.

Think of it as easy to clean.

These floors...

They seem great, but they also feel cookie cutter.

Everybody has them.

More stairs. Follow me -- more stairs.

Wow.

First of your secondary bedrooms.

This is pretty big. I don't see any closets.

That's fairly typical of philadelphia.

The original homes, most of them actually

Didn't even have closets.

It connects right to the actual third bedroom.

It would be a really great playroom.

It's a big room, too.

It'd be a good guest room or a nursery.

Sandy: Or a nursery.

That's gonna be the -- that's the theme of the day.

♪♪

I love it.

The three bedrooms,

I don't even think we could get that.

I didn't think we could get outdoor space.

I don't like that it doesn't have exposed brick, um,

That it doesn't have the hardwood floors.

Not so much closet.

There are -- nope. I mean, there's the one closet.

Sandy: There's one closet.

I do feel like I'm sacrificing a bit to live in the city.

But if you think this house has any chance

To be on the top of your list,

You really shouldn't wait.

The overall market in philadelphia,

It's very healthy.

Sellers still pretty much have all the power

Because the inventory's low.

And while rates are good,

All the buyers are out there trying to buy.

So really, speed to action is -- is probably number one

To get the house that you want.

It's not -- like, I looove south philly.

Like, that's -- that's where I see us.

Narrator: But this next place in south philly is pricey.

I know you're probably a little less keen on the --

The 375,

But it's the location that matters.

♪♪

This looks great. Oh, wow. I'm excited --

I mean, obviously, I'm excited about

Being down in this area.

Narrator: Allison wants to buy a place in south philly

So they can make a move from new york

And start a family.

But getting sandy on board with this pricey downtown area

Hasn't been easy.

I know you're probably a little less keen

On the -- the 375,

But it's the location that matters.

Don't you just like just being here again?

I loved living with sandy in south philly a few years ago,

And I'm kind of surprised that he doesn't want

To recreate this time in our lives

As much as I do.

There's a reason I lived here before,

But don't you, like, kind of want to

Bundle up some new memories somewhere else?

Kevin: The reason I'm trying this house

Is really based off of the location.

I know sandy thinks that he's gonna end up in the country,

But I think he really needs to come to terms

With allison pulling the strings.

And they're gonna end up in the city.

-The brick! -The brick.

Allison: Kevin, you outdid yourself.

Kevin: Don't say don't listen to your feedback.

Sandy: You did listen to my wife. I appreciate that.

At least someone does.

I love the hardwood floors. I love the brick.

It really has the character that I'm looking for.

And I love thinking about the different ways

That we can design our space for our family.

You do have the half bath here on the first floor.

My size. This is good to have down here.

Alright.

Take a look at the kitchen.

This was an addition on -- onto the original home. I see, yeah.

Definitely nothing to do in here other than cook, though.

Yeah. I couldn't imagine.

There's no -- I guess all of our dining

Would have to take place out there.

Yeah. I-I would really like

Something a little bit more upgraded than this.

This looks like it would be a project.

I know it's not huge, but it's space.

It's outside space.

Can you get that fresh air?

That's all we need. Breathe it in.

Seeing a lot of gray and not a whole lot of green.

It's very difficult to find a row home

That has an actual grassy backyard in south philly.

Allison: Well, we can add some green.

And you're creative. Use your imagination.

Okay. Alright. Alright.

Why don't we head back in

And head on down to the basement?

Alright.

Watch -- watch your head. Ooh, gosh.

This is -- so a little bit of a surprise.

Alright. Yeah. Didn't expect this.

Finished off. Let's take a look back here.

There's another little surprise for you.

Wow! A full bathroom.

When both of us are getting ready

This would be a nice thing to have.

Allison: When I saw two bedrooms on the listing,

I was a little bit worried because that's not really

Enough space for what we're looking for.

But the bonus space in the basement will be really nice.

Kevin: This is the front bedroom.

You know, some might consider this the master

Because of the -- the closet space. Allison: Yeah.

Little teeny for a master bedroom.

I think it can work. You know, I love the hardwoods,

But I don't love that it's not connected to a bathroom.

Third and final bathroom for you.

I don't love this, like, weird brown tile.

It's a little cramped

For what would be considered a master bath.

But you have your bathroom in the basement.

So this is just fine for me.

I'm not really sure if I could see myself living here.

It's definitely on the upper end of what I'd be willing to pay.

And given the amount of space, or lack thereof,

I don't know if I'm willing to pay it.

Kevin: This is your secondary guest room.

Hardwood floors again.

We can totally fit in this. I know what you're gonna say.

There's no closet. There's no closet, kevin.

It is more of an old-school philly home feature...

Yeah, sure. ...Or lack thereof.

A lot of these homes just didn't have closets.

But I think your guests will be happy to have this room...

Oh, yeah. ...Without a closet because of this deck access.

Oh, yeah. This is great!

Sandy, this is like everything you could ever dream of.

Yeah, and less.

I can definitely see us hanging out up here. Yeah.

It's kind of an urban sanctuary.

I know allison is really partial to south philly

And all the memories we've created here,

But I think it's kind of time for the next thing.

Allison: I love this house.

I mean, the neighborhood is everything for me.

This brick, the hardwood. I mean, you can't beat that.

Sandy: I like the amount of bathrooms.

I like the basement, but...

I don't know if I like everything that's above it.

This house has everything I want.

It's in the best location.

It's really well-defined for the type of life

We want to live in and the family we want to build.

The homes down here tend to be a little bit smaller, um,

Obviously, and a little bit pricier.

Yeah. I mean, we can go to another location

And get something with a little bit more space.

Mm.

Is it gonna be a location that you're really okay with?

But the more you wait,

The more these homes go off the market.

Narrator: Since sandy's not ready to pull the trigger,

Kevin's taking them to see a bigger place outside the city.

When you say a little slice of the country, kevin,

I know what you mean.

I...I don't know. What is that?

[ doorbell rings ]

♪♪

When you say a little slice of the country, kevin,

I know what you mean.

We've been in the car for a long time.

Kevin: So we're seeing the largest home of the bunch.

Asking price is 329.

What?! That's not bad at all.

Why is it so low? Just because of the location?

People are paying a little bit of a premium

To move into the city. Yeah.

What is that?

So forgot to mention,

It is located across the street from a cemetery.

I...I don't know.

♪♪

Welcome to your country home.

It's cute,

But I don't see anything we can walk to.

Front yard's good.

I don't think you could handle all this lawn.

I think I could. Let's give him a chance.

I think this house is a great fit for sandy and allison.

This house is really right in line with what he's looking for.

But sandy's already indecisive as it is,

And he's gonna have to come to terms

And make a decision.

Allison: It's a lot of space. It is a lot of space.

I love this hardwood.

I like the molding. That's beautiful.

Into the dining room here.

Ooh, I love this color.

I like the bay window over here, too.

Yeah, that's great.

Allison: This is nice and upgraded.

Yeah. Brand new kitchen.

Really nice appliances. I love the floor.

It's a little bit smaller than I expected.

I probably would have expected a slightly bigger kitchen.

I feel like it's -- what it sacrifices and square footage,

It makes up for in countertops and cabinets.

Yeah.

Kevin: So this was very likely the garage...

Wow. ...That they converted into extra living space.

I would rather have this than a garage.

Yeah. Where are you gonna put your lawn mower, though?

I have a feeling we'll find a place.

He's itching to get out here.

Let's just -- should we just let him run free?

Please. Just go.

Okay.

Beautiful. I'm really impressed.

It's a legit yard, though. Yeah, this is--

This is -- you're gonna get a lawn mower.

You are going to have to landscape.

You're gonna be doing work.

There's gonna be a lot of complaining about that.

Yes.

Also, look at this brick.

I'm usually the decisive one.

You're making this really hard on me, kevin.

That's my job, right?

There's only room in this relationship

For one indecisive person.

Just trying to find a compromise

Between your city and your country vision.

I didn't know I wanted this, but I guess I do.

Why don't we take a look at the finished basement?

Basement?

Wow. I didn't even know I wanted this.

I love this.

This, in itself, is a row home. Pretty much.

This is the size and space we will get in philadelphia.

Yeah. Okay.

Well, you already know how I feel about that.

Yeah.

So you've got a full bath. We know sandy loves baths.

I do love baths.

I love the shower. It's so cozy.

They did a really nice job with it.

I love -- I love this basement.

I mean, this just feels like the kind of home --

This feels like the home I grew up in.

Feels like a "home" more than a house.

Yeah, yeah. I like it.

I think I'm ready to leave the city life behind.

I'm hoping that this could be the house

To convince allison the same.

Kevin: This is your master here.

Allison: I like the light.

I do not like the carpet up here, though.

Yeah, I mean, this just feels

Like my grandma's bedroom in the 80s, maybe.

So have an attached bath here.

It's a nice bathroom.

Another shower, I like.

Sandy: Stand up, but that's okay.

First of the secondary bedrooms, if you will.

Oh wow. I -- still, the carpet, I just...

I don't like it.

Sandy: We can replace it.

That'd be about the only project we'd have to do to this place.

So now you want to spend money?

I want to replace this carpet.

Kevin: He's almost ready to spend money.

Please don't ruin this for me.

Let's head on to the third bedroom.

Mm-hmm.

What do we do with all those bedrooms?

Eventually, in a few years,

Hopefully we'll have a few children

To fill those rooms, but we're not there yet.

And I don't really see a reason why I need all of that space,

Especially at the expense of location.

Kevin: So we've got the hall bath here.

And they did include a tub, which...

Allison: Yeah. ...You're gonna want to have.

For kids.

I didn't say it. You said it this time.

Something -- something's got to fill these rooms.

Yeah, yeah.

It's either furniture or kids.

Back room here is nice and big.

Oh, wow. I love it.

It sounds like she's almost convincing herself.

Is this your strategy? Sandy: It does sounds that way.

Reverse psychology? I don't have a strategy.

I genuinely want you to find a house you love.

And if this is the one...

I wouldn't mind.

♪♪

I love the space. I love all the character.

I love the backyard. I love the basement.

I love it all. I just -- I'm so conflicted

Because I wish it was closer to the city.

This house was for you,

But I'm the one who's like... I don't know.

I love this house.

Have a lot to think about. We do.

That said, these homes are flying off the market.

So at some point, you're really gonna have to...

Figure out what you're actually willing to do... Yeah.

...And willing to make a decision.

♪♪

Allison: I don't want to leave without at least

Making a decision.

I know that's gonna be hard for you.

It's gonna be hard for me.

Narrator: Sandy and allison are moving from new york city

To his hometown of philadelphia to start a family

If they can agree on how much to spend.

Fishtown home, what'd you think?

Let's talk about the price of the place.

It being such a hot market,

We definitely won't be getting a deal there.

You know I'm comfortable with anything.

The yard was great. The three bedrooms.

Yeah, three bedrooms is nice.

Upgraded kitchen.

I didn't love the floors.

I liked that there was a bath and half.

I did not like that the bottom one

Was oddly small.

And the top one was oddly big.

What'd you think of the one in south philly?

Perfect location. We can walk to all of our favorite spots.

Yeah, yeah. He gave me brick.

He gave me hardwood floors.

We're sacrificing a good bit of square footage.

I know it has that backyard area,

But it's like macadam.

What is macadam?

Like, worse than concrete.

It's what you skinned your knees on when you were 8.

[ groans ]

The other thing, too, is the price.

Based on where it's located,

We're gonna get it at asking or above.

But isn't it worth paying if you're getting

The neighborhood that I want?

Maybe.

But that brings us to our next house.

What'd you think of drexel hill?

Didn't expect to want that much space.

That basement, oh, my gosh.

The four bedrooms.

I love the backyard. I love the backyard.

I love the side yard. The place was cheap.

It was.

But I can't -- I can't live out there.

Why?

We couldn't walk anywhere except to the cemetery.

I don't really want to walk to the cemetery.

I'm not ready to be a suburban car person.

I just don't think we're at that stage of our life yet.

So what should we do?

♪♪

[ doorbell rings ]

You like right here? I can hold it.

Alright. Thank you.

We put in an offer on the fishtown row home,

And we won. Yeah.

I like to dilly dally when I make decisions.

So allison did have to nudge me along the tracks a little bit.

I'm glad she did.

The listing price was 350.

We had to go into a bidding war with another couple

Because this house was great.

We ended up paying 361.

Which, sandy was real excited about it.

Mm-hmm.

Since this is a place we both really love,

It's somewhere that I feel is worth putting our money.

We closed on this house two months ago.

We moved in last week.

I got three bedrooms. I got an updated kitchen.

I got a yard.

And in terms of city living, this is about as close

To the country as you can get in a row home.

Sandy still really wants another bathroom.

So we are gonna add in another full bath upstairs

And make some tweaks to the very tiny half bath

To give us a little bit more space.

I wish this home had exposed brick.

It's okay because the rest of this place is awesome.

We didn't get south philly, but we're still close enough

That we can go there when we want to.

And I've been really excited

To learn that fishtown has an awesome community.

Kids are on the horizon, no doubt.

And this is that -- the other thing

I think we'd liked about this house

Is it was somewhere we felt... Could grow into.

We could have young children. Yeah.

For sure.