Improved
Why it mattersBought for $85K in 2005. Owner pulled a major alteration permit in 2019.
View supporting records →Multi-family report
139 E Duval St
2 stories · 1,664 sqft · RM1 · built 1910
Owner-occupied · assessed $254K · 2 licensed units · sold 3×. On the 100 block of E Duval St.
Property summary
Assessment$254KCity assessed value
Last sale$88KRecorded 2017
Est. annual tax$4K/yearAssessment × 1.3998%
Tax delinquency—Snapshot unavailable
Permits3Shown in this report
ViolationsNone openNo open L&I cases
What stands out
From the public recordWhat 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.
Assessment/permit mismatch
The assessment jumped 82% in 2023, but no matching permit appears in the property timeline.
Evidence: assessment moved from $97,200 to $177,000 · no permit shown in 2022-2024
Limit: Not proof of unpermitted work; reassessment, corrected data, or a permit under another parcel can also explain it.
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 1910: 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
$1,399/yr may be unclaimed
This home reads owner-occupied but shows no Homestead Exemption, which removes $100,000 from the taxable assessment (worth up to $1,399/yr). Applying through the City is free and takes minutes.
If you’re the landlord
Lead certificate is not optional
Built 1910: every rental unit needs a lead-safe or lead-free certificate on file with the City. Without one: fines up to $2,000/day per unit, tenants may withhold rent, courts can order rent refunded — and no eviction will stand.
Licensed rental — keep it that way
Renewal requires city tax clearance and zero open L&I violations on the property. A lapsed license suspends the right to collect rent or evict.
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 building 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
$254K
built 1910
Price / sq ft
$153
block $139 · above block
Appreciation
+120%
+7%/yr, city 6.5%
In 5 years (~2031)
~$255K
+7%/yr own pace held 5 yrs — extrapolation, not a forecast
Est. tax / yr
$4K
1.4% effective
Jun 2022 tax snapshot
—
Gross yield
-3150846.8%
≈$-667M/mo rent
Times sold
3
licensed rental
Value vs. the block, over time — sales, permits & L&I events marked on the line
This houseBlock median & rangeSaleL&I violationPermit
The paper trail
ImprovedBought for $85K in 2005. Owner pulled a major alteration permit in 2019.
- 2005 $85KSold
- 2008 $50KSold
- 2010 7 L&I violationsL&IL&I: 2 failed, 1 passedL&I visit
- 2017 $88KSold
- 2018 2 L&I violationsL&IUsePermitInspection failed ×2L&I visitUsePermit
- 2019 Major alterationPermitInspection passedL&I visit
Flags: active rental license. 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.
Stories
2
Interior
1,664 sqft
livable area
Lot
1,665 sqft
Basement
Full
city code D
Heat
Hot water / radiators
city code B
Central air
No
Exterior condition
Average
city code 4
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.
Run the numbers
What owning 139 E Duval St takes, at your price and your rate. Taxes start with an annual estimate from the City’s taxable assessment, not a current bill or balance; rent starts at 2 licensed units × ~85% of the area's median unit rent — the whole building's income, not one unit's. Assessed value is not an asking price — set the price slider to the real one.
When this house last sold (2017) a 30-year mortgage ran about 3.99% — 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
139 E Duval St sits on the 100 block of E Duval St. Open the block report to compare its parcels, ownership and public-record history.
See the whole block →Next door: 137 E Duval St · 141 E Duval St
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 139 E Duval St,
on paper.
Built 1910. 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 an assessment-based annual tax estimate.
Official city record ↗ · L&I history ↗ · See the whole block · Download this record (JSON)