House report

520 S 17th St

4 bd · 3 ba · 3 stories · 2,140 sqft · RSA5 · built 2025

Absentee individual · assessed $1.3M · sold 1×. On the 500 block of S 17th St.

Street view of 520 S 17th St — From the street — imagery © Google

From above — imagery © Esri, Maxar

Property summary

Assessment$1.3MCity assessed value Last sale$9KRecorded 1979 Est. taxes$12K/yearAnnual city record Permits8Shown in this report ViolationsNone openNo open L&I cases

What stands out

From the public record

Finding

Torn down & rebuilt

Why it matters

Old house bought for $800K in 2024, demolished in 2025 and rebuilt (2024).

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

The tax bill is temporary

Today's $12,494/yr reflects a 10-year abatement. It steps up every year and reaches about $18,741/yr in 2035 — $6,247/yr more. Price the full bill, not the current one.

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’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.

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

$1.3M

built 2025

Price / sq ft

$626

block $356 · above block

Appreciation

+252%

+12%/yr, city 6.5%

In 5 years (~2031)

~$1.3M

+12%/yr own pace held 5 yrs — extrapolation, not a forecast

Est. tax / yr

$12K

0.93% effective, abated

Gross yield

—

Times sold

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

This houseBlock median & rangeLand buyTeardown

The paper trail

Torn down & rebuilt

Old house bought for $800K in 2024, demolished in 2025 and rebuilt (2024).

2024 $800KLand buyNew ConstructionPermitExcavationPermit
2025 New Construction or AdditionsPermitNew ConstructionPermitDemolishedTeardownNew ConstructionPermitNew Construction or AdditionsPermitNew Construction or AdditionsPermitNew ConstructionPermitL&I violationL&I

Flags: tax-abated — the bill lags real value. Informational only — not investment advice or a consumer report (FCRA).

The abatement clock

This house pays about $12,494/yr under a 10-year tax abatement that steps down every year. In 2035 the bill reaches its full ~$18,741/yr — a step up of $6,247/yr, 8 assessment years out. Drag the slider.

2027~$12,494/yrfrom the record

now: ($1,338,800 assessed − $446,244 abated) × 1.3998% ≈ $12,494/yr 2035: $1,338,800 assessed × 1.3998% ≈ $18,741/yr The abated slice shrinks ~10% a year (post-2022 program, started 2025) — 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.

Bedrooms

Bathrooms

Stories

Interior

2,140 sqft

livable area

Lot

816 sqft

Heat

Forced hot air

city code A

Central air

Yes

Exterior condition

Newer construction

city code 1

Newer construction

Interior condition

Newer construction

city code 1

Newer construction

Quality grade

assessor's grade

ABCDE

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 520 S 17th 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.

Purchase price$1.3M

Down payment20%

Mortgage rate6.875%

Monthly rent$10K/mo

Price it at the post-abatement bill (~$19K/yr from 2035)

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 (with the abatement toggle above).

Block context

520 S 17th St sits on the 500 block of S 17th St. Open the block report to compare its parcels, ownership and public-record history.

See the whole block →

Next door: 518 S 17th St · 522 S 17th St

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

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.

Ask the recordCited city records | AI-assisted

Ask a cited due-diligence question about this property. BlockReport connects the public record - deeds, permits, violations, taxes, ownership, and comparable context - then explains what matters. Try 3 deep research questions with no card or account required.

About this data & fine print

Answers are generated by an AI agent querying City of Philadelphia open data at the moment you ask: OPA property assessments, Recorder of Deeds transfer records, L&I permits, violations & licenses, Dept. of Revenue tax balances, Zoning Board appeals, Police incident reports, Philly311 requests, and School District of Philadelphia catchment and school data.

City data is published as-is and can lag, contain errors, or be corrected later; school performance datasets run years behind and are labeled with their school year. AI answers can contain mistakes — verify anything that matters against the official record (property.phila.gov, atlas.phila.gov) before acting on it.

Informational only. Not legal, financial, or investment advice. Not a consumer report under the FCRA — it may not be used to decide anyone's eligibility for housing, tenancy, employment, credit, or insurance.

Official city record ↗ · L&I history ↗ · See the whole block · Download this record (JSON)

520 S 17th St

Property summary

What stands out

Torn down & rebuilt

What to do with this

If you’re buying

If you’re the landlord

The investment read

The paper trail

The abatement clock

The house, on paper

Run the numbers

Block context

Where this comes from

This is 520 S 17th St,
on paper.

The whole record is free.

What to catch on the way down.