The appraiser isn’t your inspector
Two different people will walk through a South Philly rowhome before you close. The home inspector works for you and tells you what’s wrong. The appraiser works for the lender, confirms the value, and on an FHA or VA loan also certifies that the house meets minimum property standards: safe, structurally sound, and sanitary. On a house built in 1925, the second job is where the surprises live.
Conventional appraisals ask less about condition. FHA and VA appraisals have a checklist, and a 1900 to 1960 rowhome has a way of hitting several boxes at once.
What gets flagged in an old rowhome
- Peeling paint on a pre-1978 house. The lead-paint rule. Chipping or flaking paint on the porch rail, the window sashes, the basement stairs, anywhere, has to be scraped and repainted before the loan closes. Almost every rowhome in the city predates 1978.
- The roof. Appraisers want remaining useful life, and VA guidance is commonly cited as at least two years. A flat rowhome roof with a silver coat past its prime gets noted.
- Handrails and steps. Missing rails on the front stoop or the basement stairs are a safety item.
- Electrical. Exposed wiring, open junction boxes, anything hazardous. Knob-and-tube draws questions from the insurer, and the lender needs the insurance binder to close.
- Heat, water, and sewer. Adequate permanent heating, safe potable water, and a working sewer connection. A space heater in the front room doesn’t count as a heating system.
- Wood-destroying insects. Pennsylvania is a required-inspection state for VA loans, so a termite inspection is part of the file.
- Crawl spaces and access. Ventilated and dry, with legal all-weather access to the house.
What changed on May 1, 2026
VA’s Change 46 to its property requirements took effect May 1, 2026, and it loosened four things: peeling paint on a post-1978 house is treated as cosmetic, detached non-habitable outbuildings are exempt unless they’re hazardous, the certification for non-vented fireplaces was dropped, and radon testing is no longer mandated. We’ve seen this reported by one source and haven’t read the pamphlet change ourselves, so ask the lender to confirm which version applies to your file. For a 1925 rowhome, the pre-1978 paint rule still applies in full.
The sewer lateral, and other things the appraiser won’t check
The appraiser looks at what’s visible. Your inspector should look at the rest. Rowhome sewer laterals run under the sidewalk to the main and are the owner’s problem from the house to the street, so a camera scope before the inspection contingency expires is worth every dollar. Same for the party walls, the roof from above, and the basement after a hard rain. None of that is a loan condition. All of it is your money later.
Repair escrows and how to get ahead of it
If the appraiser lists repairs, there are three ways through. The seller fixes them before closing, which is the normal route on paint and rails. The lender allows a repair escrow, holding back funds at closing so the work gets done after; each lender sets its own terms, so ask early. Or the loan changes: FHA’s Limited 203(k) folds rehab money into the mortgage, and as of June 2026 it allows four draws instead of two.
The cheapest route is prevention. Walk the house with the lead-paint rule in mind before the appraisal is ordered. Scrape and paint the rail. Screw the handrail back on. Ask the seller to fix the obvious items in the inspection response, while they’re still motivated. In South Philly the seller’s uncle can usually do it by Saturday.
A pre-1978 house plus visible peeling paint equals a repair condition on an FHA or VA appraisal, every time. Handle it before the appraiser’s visit. A second appraisal trip costs money and a week, and neither comes back.
The numbers for 2026
| Item | 2026 figure |
|---|---|
| FHA loan limit, 1 unit, Philadelphia area | $630,200 |
| FHA loan limit, 2 units | $806,750 |
| FHA minimum down, 580+ score | 3.5% |
| FHA minimum down, 500–579 score | 10% |
| FHA upfront mortgage insurance | 1.75% of the base loan |
| FHA annual mortgage insurance, over 95% LTV | 0.55% |
| VA down payment with full entitlement | 0%, no loan limit |
| VA funding fee, first use, under 5% down | 2.15% |
| Conforming limit, all five counties | $832,750 |
A worked example: a $250,000 rowhome in Pennsport on FHA at 3.5% down. The down payment is $8,750, the base loan is $241,250, and the upfront mortgage insurance is $4,222, which most people finance into the loan. The annual mortgage insurance at 0.55% is roughly $1,327 in the first year, about $111 a month, and at that down payment it stays for the life of the loan. Now add the porch rail: if the appraiser flags it and the seller repaints it before closing, none of those numbers change. That’s the whole point of doing it first.
The 2-unit limit matters here too. A South Philly or West Philly rowhome with a separate apartment upstairs is a duplex loan at the same 3.5% down, and the appraiser applies the same checklist to both units.
Start with one call
One call. Tell us the block and the year the house was built, and the lender you get does FHA on South Philly stoops and will tell you what to fix before the appraiser is sent over. Call us.