{"id":284600,"date":"2026-09-12T17:10:15","date_gmt":"2026-09-12T17:10:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/284600\/"},"modified":"2026-09-12T17:10:15","modified_gmt":"2026-09-12T17:10:15","slug":"she-put-in-an-offer-on-a-granny-special-in-south-philly-before-her-partner-set-foot-inside","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/284600\/","title":{"rendered":"She put in an offer on a \u2018granny special\u2019 in South Philly before her partner set foot inside"},"content":{"rendered":"

The buyer: Joanna Jaeger, 32, general manager at Bart\u2019s Bagels.<\/p>\n

The house: A 894-square-foot rowhouse with two bedrooms and 1\u00bd baths built in 1920 in Lower Moyamensing.<\/p>\n

The price: Listed for $236,900; purchased for $233,000. <\/p>\n

The agent: Martha Lutz, OCF Realty.<\/p>\n

\"AdrianAdrian Schraufnagel and June on the first floor. Jessica Griffin \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n

The ask: Joanna Jaeger and her boyfriend, Adrian Schraufnagel, were tired of their one-bedroom in West Philly and fed up with renting in general. When their landlord announced a $200 rent increase in 2022, they notified him they would be moving out in 90 days. <\/p>\n

The clock was ticking to find a new home. <\/p>\n

They wanted a move-in ready place that wouldn\u2019t immediately require expensive repairs. And after renting in West Philly for six years, they were eager to move across the river, to be closer to restaurants and more public transit. They also wanted to live within walking distance of a dog park. <\/p>\n

With a ceiling of $250,000, they hoped to find something closer to $230,000. <\/p>\n

\"JoannaJoanna Jaeger’s mother paid for the floors to be redone. Jessica Griffin \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n

The search: Jaeger enlisted a friend and coworker to be her real estate agent. They visited a series of newly renovated houses because Jaeger thought they would require the fewest repairs after move-in. She put in an offer on one but didn\u2019t get it. She was becoming increasingly panicked. <\/p>\n

\u201cI was like, \u2018Oh my god, we\u2019re running out of time!\u2019\u201d Jaeger recalled. <\/p>\n

Then, in April she saw an intriguing house on Zillow. It was a \u201cgranny special,\u201d she said, featuring wall-to-wall purple shag carpeting and an upstairs bathroom paneled in dark wood with a \u201970s floral motif around the sink. When she visited, there was a framed portrait of Frank Sinatra on the basement wall. <\/p>\n

\"JaegerJaeger immediately loved the \u201970s floral motif around the bathroom sink and the pale blue sink and tub. Jessica Griffin \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n

\u201cIt felt so cozy,\u201d Jaeger said. \u201cYou could tell whoever lived there took a lot of pride in the house.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though she had been looking at recently flipped houses, she especially liked the old-school South Philly features, including the awning out front and the amber-colored textured glass in the vestibule. <\/p>\n

The house was walking distance to Marconi Plaza and close to the bus and the Broad Street Line. <\/p>\n

\"JoannaJoanna Jaeger immediately loved the textured amber glass in the vestibule of the South Philly house. Jessica Griffin \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n

The deal: Jaeger told Schraufnagel that because of their tight deadline, he wouldn\u2019t get to see the house in person before she put in an offer. He trusted her. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe usually follows the vision that I propose,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

She put in an offer for $233,000, an amount slightly under asking that her agent still deemed \u201crespectful.\u201d The sellers accepted the next day. <\/p>\n

\"WhoeverWhoever lived there took a lot of pride in the house, Joanna Jaeger thought when she visited the home. Jessica Griffin \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n

An inspection found the house in good condition. The main issues were an electrical system with cloth insulation \u2014 a feature in many older homes that would make an electrical panel upgrade more expensive \u2014 and basement tiles likely made from asbestos. They were already painted over by the previous owners. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve never tested it because we don\u2019t really want to know,\u201d Jaeger said. <\/p>\n

\"AdrianAdrian Schraufnagel and Joanna Jaeger ripped up the purple shag carpeting on the floors themselves. Jessica Griffin \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n

The money: A friend advised Jaeger not to buy a house with a boyfriend, and Schraufnagel\u2019s credit score would have negatively impacted their interest rate. <\/p>\n

So Jaeger decided to buy the house herself. She qualified for a first-time homebuyer loan for $11,650 through Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency and was able to negotiate a $2,500 seller assist after the inspection. The closing costs on the house were $13,364. <\/p>\n

Though she had saved up $15,000 to put toward the house, she ended up withdrawing only $9,214 from her savings for a $10,000 down payment. <\/p>\n

Schraufnagel contributes to the monthly payments, though the deed is in Jaeger\u2019s name. With a 5.625% interest rate, the couple\u2019s monthly payments are $1,274, plus $121 per month for mortgage insurance. <\/p>\n

\"JoannaJoanna Jaeger said buying her South Philly home made her feel grounded enough to have a child. Jessica Griffin \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n

The move: Jaeger closed on the home in early June 2022, and she and Schraufnagel moved in the day before their West Philly lease ended. <\/p>\n

They rented a U-Haul for large items and packed smaller ones into Jaeger\u2019s Prius. A new neighbor saw them unloading boxes and offered to help, a sign of the close-knit community they were joining. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey are still very fabulous neighbors,\u201d Jaeger said. <\/p>\n

When Jaeger\u2019s parents visited for the first time, her dad suggested replacing the dated bathroom. \u201cThis bathroom is why we bought the house!\u201d she told him. <\/p>\n

\"TheThe bathroom is paneled in dark wood, one of the old-school features Joanna Jaeger loved about the house. Jessica Griffin \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n

Life after close: Jaeger and Schraufnagel ripped up the purple carpets from the first floor, the bedrooms, and the hallways themselves, and Jaeger\u2019s mother contributed $10,000 to install new vinyl plank floors. But the work wasn\u2019t done by the time they moved in, so they had to camp out in a corner of the living room for two days. <\/p>\n

The house has already been a site of major life changes. Jaeger and Schraufnagel married in 2023 and welcomed their first child, June, last year. <\/p>\n

\"AA set of June’s paints. Jessica Griffin \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we hadn\u2019t bought our house, we probably would have decided not to have a kid,\u201d Jaeger said. \u201cMoving into our house gave me a big sense of grounded-ness.\u201d <\/p>\n

The house still has its quirks: The bedrooms are connected by a closet, so if both closets are open, there\u2019s a passageway between them. And sometimes Jaeger and Schraufnagel will come across something like mismatched molding that was clearly done by an amateur in a DIY spirit. <\/p>\n

Even so, they don\u2019t plan to move any time soon. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re gonna own this house forever,\u201d Jaeger said, \u201cand probably live in this house forever.\u201d<\/p>\n

Did you recently buy a home in the Philadelphia area or South Jersey? Share the story of how you did it. Email Inquirer real estate reporters at properties@inquirer.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Inquirer<\/p>\n

How I Bought This House<\/p>\n

Weekly<\/p>\n

Get the stories behind how Philadelphians bought their homes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The buyer: Joanna Jaeger, 32, general manager at Bart\u2019s Bagels. The house: A 894-square-foot rowhouse with two bedrooms…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":284601,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[69,71,70,118647],"class_list":["post-284600","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news","tag-south-philly-lower-moyamensing-home-for-sale"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284600","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=284600"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284600\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/284601"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=284600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=284600"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=284600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}