Multi-family report
1542 N 8th St
7 bd · 4 ba · 3 stories · 3,179 sqft · RSA5 · built 1915
Owner-occupied · assessed $800K · sold 1×. On the 1500 block of N 8th St.
Reading this house's deeds, permits and assessments…
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
Today's $3,010/yr reflects a 10-year abatement. It jumps to about $11,198/yr by 2026 — $8,188/yr more. Price the full bill, not the current one.
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.
The building's use almost certainly predates today's code — a "legal nonconforming" use. That status survives a sale but can lapse if the use is abandoned or the building sits vacant; verify the registered use with L&I before pricing it as multiple rents.
If you own it
An abated home cannot also take the Homestead Exemption. From 2026 it can — knocking about $1,400/yr off the full bill.
Excavation deeper than 5 feet, or within 10 feet of an adjacent structure, legally requires the developer to survey neighboring homes first and give owners 10 days' written notice. Insist on the pre-construction survey — it is your evidence if cracks appear.
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 analyst below to dig into any number.
Value vs. the block, over time — sales, permits & L&I events marked on the line
built new under a 2021 permit (tax-abated), sold for $215K in 2020.
- 2019 4 L&I violationsL&IInspection failedL&I visit
- 2020 $215KSold
- 2021 Appeal completeZoningInterior Non-Load-Bearing Wall Demo.Permit
- 2022 New construction, addition, GFA changePermitAddition and/or AlterationPermitRough-InPermit
- 2023 New ConstructionPermitAlterationsPermitAddition and/or AlterationsPermitNew ConstructionPermit
Flags: tax-abated — the bill lags real value · 1 zoning/board appeal on record. Informational only — not investment advice or a consumer report (FCRA).
The abatement clock
This house pays about $3,010/yr under a 10-year tax abatement. By 2026 the bill reaches its full ~$11,198/yr — a step up of $8,188/yr. Drag the slider.
now: ($800,000 assessed − $584,969 abated) × 1.3998% ≈ $3,010/yr
2026: $800,000 assessed × 1.3998% ≈ $11,198/yr
Flat 100% exemption (pre-2022 program, started 2016), then the cliff — reassessments move both lines. After expiry an owner-occupant can claim the Homestead Exemption (~$1,400/yr off); an abated home can't hold both.
The house, on paper
The city assessor's field record — the physical spec sheet behind the assessed number.
OPA field-assessment attributes. Condition and grade are the assessor's codes, not an inspection.
Run the numbers
What owning 1542 N 8th St 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 (2020) a 30-year mortgage ran about 3.1% — Freddie Mac's average that year.
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 (with the abatement toggle above).
Next door: 1540 N 8th St · 1538 N 8th 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
- Back taxes & liens — Real Estate Tax Balances, Dept. of 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
City datasets are fetched live from OpenDataPhilly (phl.carto.com) and cached briefly. Dossiers re-pull automatically — on view once they're a few weeks old, plus a nightly rolling sweep — and citywide benchmarks recompute weekly; the masthead date is when this page's records were last pulled. 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 1542 N 8th St,
on paper.
Built 1915. 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.
Who owns what, what they paid, what they built, what they owe. Scroll and it's all here — the paid part is not the data.
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)