Improved
Why it mattersOwner pulled a plumbing permit in 2017.
View supporting records →Multi-family report
4939 Cedar Ave
3 stories · 2,700 sqft · RSA3 · built 1900
Owner-occupied · assessed $517K. On the 4900 block of Cedar Ave.
Property summary
Assessment$517KCity assessed value
Last sale—No sale value available
Est. annual tax$6K/yearAssessment × 1.3998%
Tax delinquency—Snapshot unavailable
Permits2Shown in this report
ViolationsNone openNo open L&I cases
What stands out
From the public record"Built 1900" is usually a placeholder
Why it mattersPhiladelphia 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.
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.)
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
$517K
built 1900
Price / sq ft
$191
block $203 · below block
Appreciation
+152%
+9%/yr, city 6.5%
In 5 years (~2031)
~$519K
+9%/yr own pace held 5 yrs — extrapolation, not a forecast
Est. tax / yr
$6K
1.13% effective
Jun 2022 tax snapshot
—
Gross yield
4%
≈$2K/mo rent
Times sold
0
Value vs. the block, over time — sales, permits & L&I events marked on the line
This houseBlock median & rangePermit
The paper trail
ImprovedOwner pulled a plumbing permit in 2017.
- 2012 L&I violationL&IInspection failed ×2L&I visit
- 2013 Inspection passedL&I visit
- 2014 PlumbingPermit2 L&I violationsL&IL&I: 1 failed, 1 passedL&I visit
- 2017 PlumbingPermit
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
3
Interior
2,700 sqft
livable area
Lot
2,750 sqft
Central air
No
Garage
2 spaces
Exterior condition
Average
city code 4
Above averageBelow average
Interior condition
Average
city code 4
Above averageBelow average
Quality grade
C+
assessor's grade
ABCDE
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 4939 Cedar Ave takes, at your price and your rate. Taxes start with an annual estimate from the City’s taxable assessment, not a current bill or balance; rent starts at the area median. Assessed value is not an asking price — set the price slider to the real one.
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
4939 Cedar Ave sits on the 4900 block of Cedar Ave. Open the block report to compare its parcels, ownership and public-record history.
See the whole block →Next door: 4937 Cedar Ave · 4935 Cedar 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
- Tax delinquency snapshot · June 2022 — Real Estate Tax Delinquencies, Dept. of Revenue
- Historical tax ledger & liens · through 2016 — Real Estate Tax Balances, Dept. of Revenue
- Current property-tax balance — Verify with Philadelphia 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
Methodology & freshness
Available City datasets are queried from OpenDataPhilly (phl.carto.com), then reports are cached and refreshed on a rolling schedule. Source dates vary: the parcel-level tax-delinquency snapshot is June 2022 and the separate detailed tax ledger ends in 2016, so neither establishes today’s balance. Other dossiers re-pull on view once stale, 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.
First time here?
This is 4939 Cedar Ave,
on paper.
Built 1900. 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.
Permits, violations, taxes, deeds, ownership, and block context are all here. The public record is free to read; membership is for deeper research.
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 an assessment-based annual tax estimate.
Official city record ↗ · L&I history ↗ · See the whole block · Download this record (JSON)