Public Records
Edition
Philadelphia5500 block of Boyer StJuly 9, 2026

House report

5542 Boyer St

2 stories · 1,251 sqft · RM1 · built 1925

Owner-occupied · assessed $148K. On the 5500 block of Boyer St.

Street view of 5542 Boyer St
From the street — imagery © Google
From above — imagery © Esri, Maxar
The story of this houseAI · written from the public record

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

Built 1925: 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

6 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.

$4,479 in back taxes on record

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 analyst below to dig into any number.

Assessed value
$148K
built 1925
Price / sq ft
$118
block $106 · above block
Appreciation
+97%
+6%/yr, city 6.5%
In 5 years (~2031)
~$148K
+6%/yr own pace held 5 yrs — extrapolation, not a forecast
Est. tax / yr
$669
0.45% effective
Gross yield
—
Times sold
0

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

$0$100K$200K2016: Alteration2019: 2 L&I violations2025: 2 L&I violations2026: 4 L&I violations incl UNSAFE STRUCTURE$148K201620222027
This houseBlock median & rangeL&I violationPermit
The paper trailImproved

Owner pulled a alteration permit in 2016.

  1. 2016 AlterationPermit
  2. 2019 2 L&I violationsL&I
  3. 2025 2 L&I violationsL&I
  4. 2026 4 L&I violations incl UNSAFE STRUCTUREL&I

Flags: 6 open L&I violations · $4K back taxes (2010–2016, $1K of it interest & penalties, lien filed). 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
2
Interior
1,251 sqft
livable area
Lot
1,787 sqft
Exterior condition
Average
city code 4
Interior condition
Average
city code 4
Quality grade
C-
assessor's grade
Zoning
RM1
city zoning code

OPA field-assessment attributes. Condition and grade are the assessor's codes, not an inspection.

Run the numbers

What owning 5542 Boyer 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.

$148K
20%
6.875%
$1K/mo

When this house last sold (1981) a 30-year mortgage ran about 16.63% — 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.

Next door: 5540 Boyer St  ·  5544 Boyer St

Where this comes from

City datasets are fetched live from OpenDataPhilly (phl.carto.com) and cached briefly. AI-written passages are generated from these records only and rejected if they state a number the record doesn't hold.

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