Multi-family report

3601-05 Decatur St

2 stories · 2,172 sqft · RSA3 · built 1900

Absentee individual · assessed $331K. On the 3600 block of Decatur St.

Street view of 3601-05 Decatur St
From the street — imagery © Google
From above — imagery © Esri, Maxar

Property summary

What stands out

From the public record
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.

Multiple units in RSA3, a single-family district

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’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 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
$331K
built 1900
Price / sq ft
$152
block $192 · below block
Appreciation
+39%
+3%/yr, city 6.5%
In 5 years (~2031)
~$332K
+3%/yr own pace held 5 yrs — extrapolation, not a forecast
Est. tax / yr
$5K
1.4% effective
Gross yield
4.2%
≈$1K/mo rent
Times sold
0
licensed rental

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

$0$250K$500K2018: 2 L&I violations 2018: Inspection failed ×22019: Use 2019: Major alteration 2019: Plumbing 2019: Electrical 2019: Mechanical 2019: 2 L&I violations 2019: Plumbing 2019: Inspection passed2024: L&I violation 2024: L&I: 1 failed, 1 passed$331K201620222027
This houseBlock median & rangeL&I violation

The paper trail

Owner pulled a plumbing permit in 2019.

  1. 2018 2 L&I violationsL&IInspection failed ×2L&I visit
  2. 2019 UsePermitMajor alterationPermitPlumbingPermitElectricalPermitMechanicalPermit2 L&I violationsL&IPlumbingPermitInspection passedL&I visit
  3. 2024 L&I violationL&IL&I: 1 failed, 1 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
2,172 sqft
livable area
Lot
2,849 sqft
Exterior condition
Average
city code 4
Interior condition
Average
city code 4
Quality grade
C+
assessor's grade
Zoning
RSA3
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 3601-05 Decatur 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.

$510K
20%
6.875%
$1K/mo

When this house last sold (2022) a 30-year mortgage ran about 5.34% — 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

3601-05 Decatur St sits on the 3600 block of Decatur St. Open the block report to compare its parcels, ownership and public-record history.

See the whole block →

Next door: 3607-11 Decatur St  ·  3613 Decatur 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)