Improved
Why it mattersBought for $55K in 2015. Owner pulled a addition and/or alteration permit in 2026.
View supporting records →Mixed-use report
5129 Germantown Ave
3,240 sqft · CMX2.5 · built 1900
Investor / LLC · assessed $249K · sold 1×. On the 5100 block of Germantown Ave.
Property summary
Assessment$249KCity assessed value
Last sale$55KRecorded 2015
Est. taxes$3K/yearAnnual city record
Permits5Shown in this report
Violations12Open 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.
If you own it
12 open violations: the clock matters
L&I appeals must be filed within 30 days — just 6 days if a property is designated UNSAFE or IMMINENTLY DANGEROUS. Left unresolved, the city can do the work itself, bill the owner (routinely $50,000+ on a rowhouse), lien the property, and add court fines of $300+/day.
If you’re the landlord
No active rental license on file
If this property is rented, Philadelphia requires a Rental License (via eCLIPSE) — without it a landlord cannot legally collect rent or evict, and tenants can withhold. Licensing needs tax clearance and no open violations.
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.
Who's behind it
S & N Real Estate INC · corporate / LLC owner
• Owns 2 properties across Philadelphia under this name, assessed at $648K combined
• Tax bills mail to Po Box 378, Cherry Hill NJ, 08003 — outside Philadelphia
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
$249K
built 1900
Price / sq ft
$77
block $90 · below block
Appreciation
-21%
-2%/yr, city 6.5%
In 5 years (~2031)
~$249K
-2%/yr own pace held 5 yrs — extrapolation, not a forecast
Est. tax / yr
$3K
1.4% effective
Gross yield
-3207698.5%
≈$-667M/mo rent
Times sold
1
Value vs. the block, over time — sales, permits & L&I events marked on the line
This houseBlock median & rangeL&I violationPermitInspection
The paper trail
ImprovedBought for $55K in 2015. Owner pulled a addition and/or alteration permit in 2026.
- 2013 AlterationPermit
- 2015 $55KSold
- 2017 PlumbingPermit
- 2022 10 L&I violationsL&IChange of UsePermitInspection failed ×2L&I visit
- 2023 Inspection failedL&I visit
- 2025 Change of UsePermit2 L&I violationsL&IInspection failedL&I visit
- 2026 Addition and/or AlterationPermitInspection failedL&I visit
Flags: 12 open L&I violations. 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.
Interior
3,240 sqft
livable area
Lot
4,402 sqft
Exterior condition
Below average
city code 5
Above averageBelow average
Interior condition
Below average
city code 5
Above averageBelow average
Quality grade
C
assessor's grade
ABCDE
Zoning
CMX2.5
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 5129 Germantown 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 (2015) a 30-year mortgage ran about 3.85% — 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
5129 Germantown Ave sits on the 5100 block of Germantown Ave. Open the block report to compare its parcels, ownership and public-record history.
See the whole block →Next door: 5131-33 Germantown Ave · 5135-37 Germantown 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
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.
First time here?
This is 5129 Germantown 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 this house's actual tax bill.
Official city record ↗ · L&I history ↗ · See the whole block · Download this record (JSON)