House report
509 Fairmount Ave
4 stories · 2,772 sqft · RSA5 · built 1920
Owner-occupied · assessed $912K · sold 1×. On the 500 block of Fairmount 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
Today's $9,251/yr reflects a 10-year abatement. It jumps to about $12,765/yr by 2026 — $3,514/yr more. Price the full bill, not the current one.
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.)
If you own it
An abated home cannot also take the Homestead Exemption. From 2026 it can — knocking about $1,400/yr off the full bill.
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.
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.
Value vs. the block, over time — sales, permits & L&I events marked on the line
built new under a 2021 permit (tax-abated).
- 2021 New construction, addition, GFA changePermitAddition and/or AlterationPermitFull DemolitionPermitAddition and/or AlterationsPermitAddition and/or AlterationPermitL&I: 1 failed, 1 passedL&I visitAlterationsPermit
- 2022 L&I violationL&IInspection failed ×3L&I visit
- 2026 Exterior Window and Door ReplacementPermitAppeal filedZoningInspection passedL&I visit
Flags: tax-abated — the bill lags real value · $5K back taxes (2014–2016, $907 of it interest & penalties, lien filed) · 1 zoning/board appeal on record · long-held within one family. Informational only — not investment advice or a consumer report (FCRA).
The abatement clock
This house pays about $9,251/yr under a 10-year tax abatement. By 2026 the bill reaches its full ~$12,765/yr — a step up of $3,514/yr. Drag the slider.
now: ($911,900 assessed − $251,020 abated) × 1.3998% ≈ $9,251/yr
2026: $911,900 assessed × 1.3998% ≈ $12,765/yr
Flat 100% exemption (pre-2022 program, started 2016), then the cliff — reassessments move both lines. After expiry an owner-occupant can claim the Homestead Exemption (~$1,400/yr off); an abated home can't hold both.
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.
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.
The parcel claims the homestead exemption (owner lives here) while the tax bill mails to 1649 Denston Drive, Ambler Pa, 19002. Those two facts sit in tension on the record — there can be innocent reasons, but one of them is usually out of date.
Run the numbers
What owning 509 Fairmount 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.
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 (with the abatement toggle above).
Next door: 507 Fairmount Ave · 511 Fairmount 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 509 Fairmount Ave,
on paper.
Built 1920. 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 this house's actual tax bill.
Official city record ↗ · L&I history ↗ · See the whole block · Download this record (JSON)