The same thing's happening in Philadelphia, so no doubt New York and DC are running out of places to snatch up. It's insane. I landed a pretty sweet deal on an

The same thing's happening in Philadelphia, so no doubt New York and DC are running out of places to snatch up. It's insane. I landed a pretty sweet deal on an old building close to the Delaware River for ~$265,000. A vacant lot near us sold for about the same a couple of years before that. This year, the lot behind us went on the market for $600,000 - a number I thought was pretty absurd. But two days after it had been on the market, I saw a couple of guys walking through the vacant lots. I introduced myself and asked if they had any questions about the neighborhood. In a heavy accent, the younger guy asked "Who owns these other lots? Do you think they would sell them?" They wanted to buy up every vacant lot and wrap our building with condos. I mentioned the vacant lot that had just gone up for $600,000 - the older Russian smiled, saying "We make good offer. Seven hundred thousand cash." I figured maybe they were boasting. That week, the lot went off the market. On one hand, I feel like we got in when the getting was good, but on the other hand, I'm not terribly excited about what's going to get built around us. I think my general feeling about it is best summed up as, "Oh boy, here we go."