House report

408 Brown St

2 bd · 2 ba · 2 stories · 1,216 sqft · RSA5 · built 2002

Owner-occupied · assessed $589K · sold 5×. On the 400 block of Brown St.

Street view of 408 Brown St
From the street — imagery © Google
From above — imagery © Esri, Maxar

Property summary

What stands out

From the public record

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

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.

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

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
$589K
built 2002
Price / sq ft
$484
block $382 · above block
Appreciation
+71%
+5%/yr, city 6.5%
In 5 years (~2031)
~$590K
+5%/yr own pace held 5 yrs — extrapolation, not a forecast
Est. tax / yr
$8K
1.4% effective
Gross yield
4.2%
≈$2K/mo rent
Times sold
5
licensed rental

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

$0$500K$1.0MBefore this chart — 2001: Land $180K 2006: Sold $357K 2008: Sold $395K 2015: Sold $423K2025: Sold $580K$589K201620222027
This houseBlock median & rangeSalePermit

The paper trail

Traded 4×: $357K in 2006 → $580K in 2025 (+62%).

  1. 2001 $180KLand buy
  2. 2006 $357KSold
  3. 2008 $395KSold
  4. 2015 $423KSold
  5. 2025 $580KSold

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.

Bedrooms
2
Bathrooms
2
Stories
2
Interior
1,216 sqft
livable area
Lot
2,000 sqft
Basement
Full, finished
city code A
Heat
Forced hot air
city code A
Central air
Yes
Exterior condition
Above average
city code 3
Interior condition
Above average
city code 3
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.

Run the numbers

What owning 408 Brown 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.

$580K
20%
6.875%
$2K/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.

Block context

408 Brown St sits on the 400 block of Brown St. Open the block report to compare its parcels, ownership and public-record history.

See the whole block →

Next door: 406 Brown St  ·  410 Brown 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)