House report

247 E Haines St

4 bd · 2 ba · 3 stories · 1,290 sqft · RSA5 · built 1900

Owner-occupied · assessed $175K · sold 2×. On the 200 block of E Haines St.

Street view of 247 E Haines St
From the street — imagery © Google
From above — imagery © Esri, Maxar

Property summary

What stands out

From the public record
Finding

Renovated & sold on

Why it matters

Bought for $5K in 2015, plumbing permit in 2016, sold for $120K in 2023 (+2300%).

View supporting records →
Finding

"Built 1900" is usually a placeholder

Why it matters

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.

View supporting records →

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.

Zoned RSA5: one household by right

Single-family rowhouse (the classic Philly row). Converting to a duplex or apartments needs a use variance the zoning board rarely grants — Pennsylvania courts require a physical hardship of the lot itself, and economics alone do not qualify.

The last transfer was not a sale

The most recent recorded deed moved for nominal consideration. That is where tangled-title problems live — budget a real title search. (Occupants untangling an inherited deed can get help from the city's Tangled Title Fund.)

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.

$7,981 in back taxes on record

Interest and penalties keep compounding until a Revenue payment agreement is in place, and a lien is already filed — an owner-occupant agreement also stops the sheriff-sale track.

If you’re the landlord

Lead certificate is not optional

Built 1900: 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 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
$175K
built 1900
Price / sq ft
$136
block $129 · above block
Appreciation
+78%
+5%/yr, city 6.5%
In 5 years (~2031)
~$176K
+5%/yr own pace held 5 yrs — extrapolation, not a forecast
Est. tax / yr
$2K
1.4% effective
Gross yield
5%
≈$729/mo rent
Times sold
2
licensed rental

Value vs. the block, over time — sales, permits & L&I events marked on the line

$0$125K$250KBefore this chart — 2008: L&I violation 2008: L&I: 2 failed, 1 passed 2008: Plumbing 2015: 4 L&I violations 2015: Inspection failed ×3 2015: Sold $5K2016: Inspection passed 2016: Plumbing2023: Sold $120K$175K201620222027
This houseBlock median & rangeSalePermit

The paper trail

Bought for $5K in 2015, plumbing permit in 2016, sold for $120K in 2023 (+2300%).

  1. 2008 L&I violationL&IL&I: 2 failed, 1 passedL&I visitPlumbingPermit
  2. 2015 4 L&I violationsL&IInspection failed ×3L&I visit$5KSold
  3. 2016 Inspection passedL&I visitPlumbingPermit
  4. 2023 $120KSold

Flags: active rental license · $8K back taxes (2002–2016, $976 of it interest & penalties, lien filed). 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
4
Bathrooms
2
Stories
3
Interior
1,290 sqft
livable area
Lot
1,720 sqft
Basement
Full
city code D
Heat
Hot water / radiators
city code B
Central air
No
Exterior condition
Below average
city code 5
Interior condition
Average
city code 4
Quality grade
C
assessor's grade
Zoning
RSA5
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 247 E Haines 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.

$175K
20%
6.875%
$725/mo
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

247 E Haines St sits on the 200 block of E Haines St. Open the block report to compare its parcels, ownership and public-record history.

See the whole block →

Next door: 245 E Haines St  ·  249 E Haines St

Where this comes from

Methodology & freshness

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. AI-written passages are generated from these records only and rejected if they state a number the record doesn't hold.

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