House report

1638 E Berks St

3 stories · 2,340 sqft · CMX1 · built 1875

Owner-occupied · assessed $538K · sold 4×. On the 1600 block of E Berks St.

Street view of 1638 E Berks St — From the street — imagery © Google

From above — imagery © Esri, Maxar

The story of this houseAI · written from the public record

Reading this house's deeds, permits and assessments…

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 analyst below to dig into any number.

Assessed value

$538K

built 1875

Price / sq ft

$230

block $279 · below block

Appreciation

+110%

+7%/yr, city 6.5%

In 5 years (~2031)

~$540K

+7%/yr own pace held 5 yrs — extrapolation, not a forecast

Est. tax / yr

$8K

1.4% effective

Gross yield

—

Times sold

Value vs. the block, over time

This houseBlock median & range

The paper trailRenovated & sold on

Bought for $125K in 2004, use permit in 2011, sold for $750K in 2025 (+500%).

2004 $125KSold
2010 3 L&I violationsL&I
2011 UsePermit
2012 $265KSold
2013 PlumbingPermit
2016 4 L&I violationsL&I
2017 Appeal grantedZoningElectricalPermitUsePermit
2018 2 L&I violationsL&I
2020 $440KSold
2025 $750KSold

Flags: 1 zoning/board appeal on record. Informational only — not investment advice or a consumer report (FCRA).

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 1875: 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.

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 house, on paper

The city assessor's field record — the physical spec sheet behind the assessed number.

Stories

Interior

2,340 sqft

livable area

Lot

1,449 sqft

Exterior condition

Above average

city code 3

Above averageBelow average

Interior condition

Above average

city code 3

Above averageBelow average

Quality grade

assessor's grade

ABCDE

Zoning

CMX1

city zoning code

Zoning appeals

granted 2017

OPA field-assessment attributes. Condition and grade are the assessor's codes, not an inspection.

Run the numbers

What owning 1638 E Berks 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.

Purchase price$750K

Down payment20%

Mortgage rate6.875%

Monthly rent$4K/mo

When this house last sold (2025) a 30-year mortgage ran about 6.6% — 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.

Next door: 1640 E Berks St · 1642 E Berks 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

City datasets are fetched live from OpenDataPhilly (phl.carto.com) and cached briefly. AI-written passages are generated from these records only and rejected if they state a number the record doesn't hold.

I research this house across Philadelphia's live records — assessments, deeds, permits, violations, taxes, licenses, zoning appeals, schools, crime, and 311. Tap a question below to try me free; your own questions come with membership (free to start).

About this data & fine print

Answers are generated by an AI agent querying City of Philadelphia open data at the moment you ask: OPA property assessments, Recorder of Deeds transfer records, L&I permits, violations & licenses, Dept. of Revenue tax balances, Zoning Board appeals, Police incident reports, Philly311 requests, and School District of Philadelphia catchment and school data.

City data is published as-is and can lag, contain errors, or be corrected later; school performance datasets run years behind and are labeled with their school year. AI answers can contain mistakes — verify anything that matters against the official record (property.phila.gov, atlas.phila.gov) before acting on it.

Informational only. Not legal, financial, or investment advice. Not a consumer report under the FCRA — it may not be used to decide anyone's eligibility for housing, tenancy, employment, credit, or insurance.

Official city record ↗ · L&I history ↗ · See the whole block · Download this record (JSON)