{"id":297691,"date":"2026-10-01T15:50:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-01T15:50:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/297691\/"},"modified":"2026-10-01T15:50:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-01T15:50:11","slug":"home-buying-mistakes-real-estate-newsletter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/297691\/","title":{"rendered":"Home-buying mistakes | Real Estate Newsletter"},"content":{"rendered":"

You probably know Abigail Covington, my colleague who regularly helms the How I Bought This House<\/a> column. In the year since she joined the team, she\u2019s become one of The Inquirer\u2019s home-buying experts.<\/p>\n

So I couldn\u2019t believe it when she told me that she\u2019d opted for an information-only inspection when she bought her first home a few weeks ago.<\/p>\n

I wanted to shake her by the shoulders and say: Haven\u2019t you learned anything from all the real estate stories you\u2019ve written?!<\/p>\n

But in a new essay, Abigail explains why. Keep scrolling for that story<\/a> and more in this week\u2019s edition:<\/p>\n

\u2014 Erica Palan<\/p>\n

If someone forwarded you this email, sign up for free here.<\/a><\/p>\n

Buying a home is a huge financial decision \u2014 and an emotional one. Balancing the two can be tricky when your head knows what to do but your heart is pulling you in the opposite direction.<\/p>\n

After a year writing about real estate, my colleague Abigail Covington felt prepared to stand up to sellers and get a great deal. But when her dream house came along, she ditched her careful plans to make sure she got it. <\/p>\n

See what she got wrong (and right!) as a first-time homebuyer<\/a>. <\/p>\n

In Jenkintown, neighbors are disagreeing over Airbnbs. The town\u2019s zoning board denied its first short-term rental request last week after residents complained about noise and unexpected visitors. <\/p>\n

It made me wonder how I\u2019d feel if my next-door neighbor was a rotating cast of visitors. On the one hand, I\u2019ve stayed in dozens of Airbnbs and had memorable, comfortable travel experiences. On the other, I understand being worried about safety. <\/p>\n

Read more about how Jenkintown is dealing with these issues.<\/a><\/p>\n

\ud83d\udcee Would you be comfortable living next to an Airbnb? For a chance to be featured in next week\u2019s newsletter, email me.<\/a><\/p>\n

The latest news to pay attention to<\/p>\n

There is just something about a Tudor-style home that feels so cozy \u2014 the steeply pitched roofs, the storybook arches, the tall windows. Talk about curb appeal.<\/p>\n

The interior of this Havertown<\/a> home is just as warm and comfy with unexpected color combinations, a grandfather clock, and a lot of floral wall paper. <\/p>\n

The Finnegan family moved in five years ago and have spent that time redesigning their home to be a haven. Take a peek inside.<\/a><\/p>\n

\ud83d\udcf7 Photo quiz<\/p>\n

Do you know the location this photo shows?<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udcee If you do, email me back.<\/a> You and your memories of visiting this spot might be featured next week.<\/p>\n

Shout out to Don L. who correctly guessed that last week\u2019s image depicted workers cleaning the glass pavilions over the subway stairs at Dilworth Park.<\/p>\n

++<\/p>\n

Have a great week. Michaelle will be back next Thursday. <\/p>\n

By submitting your written, visual, and\/or audio contributions, you agree to The Inquirer\u2019s Terms of Use<\/a>, including the grant of rights in Section 10.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"You probably know Abigail Covington, my colleague who regularly helms the How I Bought This House column. In…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":297692,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[122913,69,71,70],"class_list":["post-297691","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-home-buying-mistakes-jenkintown-airbnb","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297691","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=297691"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297691\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/297692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=297691"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=297691"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=297691"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}