Improved
Why it mattersBought for $174K in 2025. Owner pulled a plumbing permit in 2010.
View supporting records →House report
5490 Morse St
3 stories · 1,952 sqft · RSA5 · built 1920
Owner-occupied · assessed $247K · sold 1×. On the 5400 block of Morse St.
Property summary
Assessment$247KCity assessed value
Last sale$500Recorded 1982
Est. annual tax$3K/yearAssessment × 1.3998%
Tax delinquency$69City snapshot · Jun 2022
Permits1Shown in this report
ViolationsNone openNo open L&I cases
Historical tax record
Verify the current balance before relying on it.
$69 was recorded for this parcel in Philadelphia's June 2022 delinquency snapshot. That amount may have been paid, reduced, or increased since; it is not a current payoff figure.
A separate historical parcel ledger ending in 2016 records a balance and a lien entry. It is shown as historical context only.
Verify current balance with Philadelphia Revenue →What stands out
From the public recordWhat the record is signaling
Early patterns mined across this property's dated public records. Each flag shows what triggered it and where the inference stops.
Public-record pressure
More than one public record deserves a current-status check.
Evidence: $69 appeared in the City's June 2022 delinquency snapshot · a lien number appears in the historical tax ledger through 2016
Limit: A screening signal, not a foreclosure prediction. Tax entries are historical and must be verified with Philadelphia Revenue.
Assessment/permit mismatch
The assessment jumped 28% in 2027, but no matching permit appears in the property timeline.
Evidence: assessment moved from $193,200 to $247,000 · no permit shown in 2026-2028
Limit: Not proof of unpermitted work; reassessment, corrected data, or a permit under another parcel can also explain it.
Transparent record rules, not a machine-learning forecast. A signal is a prompt to verify the cited record, not a prediction or allegation.
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 1920: 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.
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 own it
$1,399/yr may be unclaimed
This home reads owner-occupied but shows no Homestead Exemption, which removes $100,000 from the taxable assessment (worth up to $1,399/yr). Applying through the City is free and takes minutes.
$69 in the June 2022 delinquency snapshot
The City recorded this amount in June 2022. It may since have been paid, reduced, or increased; verify the current balance directly with Philadelphia Revenue.
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
$247K
built 1920
Price / sq ft
$127
block $140 · below block
Appreciation
+230%
+11%/yr, city 6.5%
In 5 years (~2031)
~$248K
+11%/yr own pace held 5 yrs — extrapolation, not a forecast
Est. tax / yr
$3K
1.4% effective
Jun 2022 tax snapshot
$69
delinquency recorded then · verify current
Gross yield
—
Times sold
1
Value vs. the block, over time — sales, permits & L&I events marked on the line
This houseBlock median & rangeSalePermit
The paper trail
ImprovedBought for $174K in 2025. Owner pulled a plumbing permit in 2010.
- 2010 PlumbingPermit
- 2025 $174KSold
Flags: $69 recorded in the June 2022 delinquency snapshot — verify current balance · historical tax ledger through 2016 with a lien entry. 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
1,952 sqft
livable area
Lot
1,224 sqft
Basement
Partial
city code H
Heat
Undetermined
city code H
Central air
No
Garage
1 space
Exterior condition
Below average
city code 5
Above averageBelow average
Interior condition
Average
city code 4
Above averageBelow average
Quality grade
C+
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 5490 Morse St 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
5490 Morse St sits on the 5400 block of Morse St. Open the block report to compare its parcels, ownership and public-record history.
See the whole block →Next door: 5488 Morse St · 5486 Morse 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
- 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 5490 Morse St,
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 an assessment-based annual tax estimate.
Official city record ↗ · L&I history ↗ · See the whole block · Download this record (JSON)