Improved
Why it mattersBought for $17K in 2001. Owner pulled a alterations permit in 2022.
View supporting records →House report
1038 E Chelten Ave
3 bd · 1 ba · 2 stories · 1,486 sqft · RM1 · built 1900
Owner-occupied · assessed $143K · sold 2×. On the 1000 block of E Chelten Ave.
Property summary
Assessment$143KCity assessed value
Last sale$45KRecorded 2001
Est. annual tax$608/yearAssessment × 1.3998%
Tax delinquency$1KCity snapshot · Jun 2022
Permits2Shown in this report
ViolationsNone openNo open L&I cases
Historical tax record
Verify the current balance before relying on it.
$1K was recorded for this parcel in Philadelphia's June 2022 delinquency snapshot. That amount may have been paid, reduced, or increased since; it is not a current payoff figure.
Verify current balance with Philadelphia Revenue →What stands out
From the public record"Built 1900" is usually a placeholder
Why it mattersPhiladelphia records use 1900 as a stand-in when the real construction year was never documented. Treat the age as unknown, not as 120+ years.
View supporting records →What the record is signaling
Early patterns mined across this property's dated public records. Each flag shows what triggered it and where the inference stops.
Public-record pressure
More than one public record deserves a current-status check.
Evidence: $1,317 appeared in the City's June 2022 delinquency snapshot · failed L&I inspection activity in 2024
Limit: A screening signal, not a foreclosure prediction. Tax entries are historical and must be verified with Philadelphia Revenue.
Transparent record rules, not a machine-learning forecast. A signal is a prompt to verify the cited record, not a prediction or allegation.
What to do with this
The record, translated into moves — what a buyer, the owner, and a landlord would each want to check next under Philadelphia's actual rules.
If you’re buying
Built 1900: lead rules apply
Federal law requires a lead-paint disclosure at sale for any pre-1978 home. If it will be rented, Philadelphia also requires a lead-safe or lead-free certificate before a rental license can issue.
If you own it
$1,317 in the June 2022 delinquency snapshot
The City recorded this amount in June 2022. It may since have been paid, reduced, or increased; verify the current balance directly with Philadelphia Revenue.
Derived from this house's public records and the city's rules as of 2026 (abatement ordinance, Homestead, rental licensing, lead certification, L&I process, excavation protections). Informational only — not legal, tax, or investment advice.
The investment read
How this house has moved and where it's pointed: the city's assessed value (not a listing price) over 12 years, charted against its block; appreciation is that history's pace, and the 5-year figure simply extends it. Yield estimates rent-vs-price from area rents. Ask the record to dig into any number.
Assessed value
$143K
built 1900
Price / sq ft
$97
block $99 · in line w/ block
Appreciation
+153%
+9%/yr, city 6.5%
In 5 years (~2031)
~$144K
+9%/yr own pace held 5 yrs — extrapolation, not a forecast
Est. tax / yr
$608
0.42% effective
Jun 2022 tax snapshot
$1K
delinquency recorded then · verify current
Gross yield
12.1%
≈$1K/mo rent
Times sold
2
Value vs. the block, over time — sales, permits & L&I events marked on the line
This houseBlock median & rangeL&I violationPermit
The paper trail
ImprovedBought for $17K in 2001. Owner pulled a alterations permit in 2022.
- 2001 $17KSold$45KSold
- 2011 9 L&I violationsL&IL&I: 2 failed, 1 passedL&I visit
- 2021 Addition and/or AlterationPermit
- 2022 AlterationsPermit
- 2024 L&I violationL&IInspection failed ×2L&I visit
Flags: $1K recorded in the June 2022 delinquency snapshot — verify current balance. Informational only — not investment advice or a consumer report (FCRA).
The house, on paper
The city assessor's field record — the physical spec sheet behind the assessed number.
Bedrooms
3
Bathrooms
1
Stories
2
Interior
1,486 sqft
livable area
Lot
1,220 sqft
Heat
Forced hot air
city code A
Exterior condition
Below average
city code 5
Above averageBelow average
Interior condition
Average
city code 4
Above averageBelow average
Quality grade
C-
assessor's grade
ABCDE
Zoning
RM1
city zoning code
OPA field-assessment attributes. Condition and grade are the assessor's codes, not an inspection.
Where the record looks off
Places where the city's own paperwork disagrees with itself. These are flags on the data — not problems with the property.
"Built 1900" is usually a placeholder
Philadelphia records use 1900 as a stand-in when the real construction year was never documented. Treat the age as unknown, not as 120+ years.
Run the numbers
What owning 1038 E Chelten Ave takes, at your price and your rate. Taxes are this house's actual bill from the city record; rent starts at the area median. Assessed value is not an asking price — set the price slider to the real one.
When this house last sold (2001) a 30-year mortgage ran about 6.97% — Freddie Mac's average that year.
Mortgage
—
P&I · 30-yr fixed
All-in monthly
—
+ taxes & insurance
Cash to close
—
down + ~4% costs
Cash flow
—
rent − all costs · /mo
Cap rate
—
NOI ÷ price
Cash-on-cash
—
year-1 return on cash in
Estimates for orientation, not advice. Assumes a 30-year fixed loan, $1,400/yr insurance, 1% of price/yr maintenance; taxes from this parcel's record.
Block context
1038 E Chelten Ave sits on the 1000 block of E Chelten Ave. Open the block report to compare its parcels, ownership and public-record history.
See the whole block →Next door: 1036 E Chelten Ave · 1040 E Chelten Ave
Where this comes from
- Assessment, spec sheet & owner — OPA Property Assessments, Office of Property Assessment
- Sales & deed history — Realty Transfer Tax records, Recorder of Deeds
- Permits, violations & inspections — L&I Property History · Atlas
- Tax delinquency snapshot · June 2022 — Real Estate Tax Delinquencies, Dept. of Revenue
- Historical tax ledger & liens · through 2016 — Real Estate Tax Balances, Dept. of Revenue
- Current property-tax balance — Verify with Philadelphia Revenue
- Zoning appeals — L&I & Zoning Board appeals
- Neighborhood income & rents — US Census ACS 5-year estimates
- Historical mortgage rates — Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey, annual averages
- Imagery — Street photo © Google · Aerial © Esri, Maxar
Methodology & freshness
Available City datasets are queried from OpenDataPhilly (phl.carto.com), then reports are cached and refreshed on a rolling schedule. Source dates vary: the parcel-level tax-delinquency snapshot is June 2022 and the separate detailed tax ledger ends in 2016, so neither establishes today’s balance. Other dossiers re-pull on view once stale, and citywide benchmarks recompute weekly. AI-written passages are generated from these records only and rejected if they state a number the record doesn't hold.
First time here?
This is 1038 E Chelten Ave,
on paper.
Built 1900. Every deed, permit, L&I visit, tax bill and sale for this house — plus its whole block.
No signup, no teaser
The whole record is free.
Permits, violations, taxes, deeds, ownership, and block context are all here. The public record is free to read; membership is for deeper research.
Three taps, you're oriented
What to catch on the way down.
On the way down: the story of the house, its paper trail drawn on the value chart, and run-the-numbers, a calculator seeded with this house's actual tax bill.
Official city record ↗ · L&I history ↗ · See the whole block · Download this record (JSON)