House report
4215 Adams Ave
3 bd · 1 ba · 2 stories · 982 sqft · RSA5 · built 1930
Owner-occupied · assessed $178K · sold 4×. On the 4200 block of Adams Ave.
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
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.
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 most recent recorded deed moved for nominal consideration, within one family. 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.)
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 analyst below to dig into any number.
Value vs. the block, over time — sales, permits & L&I events marked on the line
Bought for $13K in 2000, plumbing permit in 2012, sold for $183K in 2023 (+1364%).
- 2000 $13KSold
- 2009 $35KSold
- 2012 PlumbingPermit
- 2021 $37KSold
- 2022 AlterationsPermitAddition and/or AlterationPermitAlterationsPermitAddition and/or AlterationPermitAddition and/or AlterationsPermitCertificate of Occupancy (CO) (may inclu…Permit
- 2023 $183KSold
Flags: long-held within one family. 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.
OPA field-assessment attributes. Condition and grade are the assessor's codes, not an inspection.
Run the numbers
What owning 4215 Adams Ave 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 (2023) a 30-year mortgage ran about 6.81% — 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.
Next door: 4213 Adams Ave · 4217 Adams Ave
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 4215 Adams Ave,
on paper.
Built 1930. 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)