On the Market: Nearly New Twin in Fishtown

1119 E. Oxford St., Philadelphia, Pa. 19125 | Images via Compass

I recommend that builders and marketers stage their new houses for sale because doing so helps buyers better imagine what they could do with the spaces they tour when they visit.

Here’s a rare opportunity to see two different approaches to staging the same house.

The canvas is one of those a-notch-above-standard new construction modern rowhouses you see springing up in neighborhoods across the city, in this case a three-year-old twin rowhouse for sale in Fishtown. It’s about to become active as a listing by Compass agent Michelle Burns-McHugh. But an agent with BHHS Fox & Roach Realtors had listed it this past June. The house had been staged when it was completed in 2016 and restaged when it went on the market this summer with the owner’s furniture.

Photos from both of these stagings appear on Zillow. Burns-McHugh informs me that the house got a third staging when the owner switched agents, but photos from that staging aren’t up yet.

So, as you look at these photos, you get to ask the question: How do you like your standard modern Philadelphia rowhouse to look? Straight-up contemporary, with a sprinkling of traditional and vintage furniture here and there? Or more traditional, with some modern touches?

I’ll let the pictures do the talking from this point out, with one exception. Where only one photo appears, that photo is of the second staging, and the space had been unstaged in the earlier listing, again with one exception.

Here are the pictures. You be the judge:

First-floor family room, original listing

First-floor family room, second listing

Main living area, original listing

Main living area, second listing

Living room, original listing

Living room, second listing

Kitchen, original listing

Kitchen, second listing

Second-floor front bedroom, original listing

The front bedroom on the second floor is the one exception. The stager for the original listing procured some distinctive graffiti-inspired wallpaper designed by artist Charles Pringuay for the French wallpaper manufacturer Pierre Frey and used it as an accent wall. Sometimes, a staging is so inspired, one just has to leave it alone.

Second-floor rear bedroom/den

Master bedroom, original listing

Master bedroom, second listing

Master bathroom

Rear patio

Roof deck

Now that you’ve seen them, what do you think?

Regardless which version you prefer, you will get a handsome modern rowhouse near the heart of Fishtown, close to Penn Treaty Park and the shops and eateries along Girard Avenue. Frankford Avenue’s hopping shopping and dining district is just a little further away.

THE FINE PRINT

BEDS: 3

BATHS: 2 full, 1 half

SQUARE FEET: 2,778

SALE PRICE: $635,000

1119 E. Oxford St., Philadelphia, Pa. 19125 [Michelle Burns-McHugh | Nigel & Co. | Compass]

Updated Oct. 15th, 9:03 a.m., to correct the name of the listing agent, the sale price and the staging history.