The Block Report

House report

5552 Willows Ave

3 bd · 1 ba · 1 story · 1,316 sqft · RSA5 · built 1925

Owner-occupied · assessed $153K · sold 1×. On the 5500 block of Willows Ave.

Property summary

Assessment$153KCity assessed value Last sale$27KRecorded 2019 Est. annual tax$2K/yearAssessment × 1.3998% Tax delinquency—Snapshot unavailable Permits1Dated events in report ViolationsNone openNone open when assembled

“Open” reflects records available then historical records keep their source dates estimates are labeled

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Street view of 5552 Willows Ave
From the street — imagery © Google
From above — imagery © Esri, Maxar

What stands out

From the public record

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.

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.

If you’re the landlord

Lead certificate is not optional

Built 1925: every rental unit needs a lead-safe or lead-free certificate on file with the City. Without one: fines up to $2,000/day per unit, tenants may withhold rent, courts can order rent refunded — and no eviction will stand.

Licensed rental — keep it that way

Renewal requires city tax clearance and zero open L&I violations on the property. A lapsed license suspends the right to collect rent or evict.

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
$153K
built 1925
Price / sq ft
$116
block $116 · in line w/ block
Appreciation
+182%
+10%/yr, city 6.5%
In 5 years (~2031)
~$153K
+10%/yr own pace held 5 yrs — extrapolation, not a forecast
Est. tax / yr
$2K
1.4% effective
Jun 2022 tax snapshot
—
Gross yield
13.5%
≈$2K/mo rent
Times sold
1
kept in the family

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

$0$100K$200KBefore this chart — 2010: Plumbing2019: Sold $27K$153K201620222027
This houseBlock median & rangeSalePermit

The paper trail

Improved

Bought for $27K in 2019. Owner pulled a plumbing permit in 2010.

  1. 2010 PlumbingPermit
  2. 2019 $27KSold

Flags: active rental license · long-held within one family. 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.

Bedrooms
3
Bathrooms
1
Stories
1
Interior
1,316 sqft
livable area
Lot
1,336 sqft
Basement
Partial, semi-finished
city code F
Garage
1 space
Exterior condition
Average
city code 4
Interior condition
Average
city code 4
Quality grade
C
assessor's grade
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 5552 Willows Ave 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.

$153K
20%
6.875%
$2K/mo

When this house last sold (2019) a 30-year mortgage ran about 3.94% — 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

5552 Willows Ave sits on the 5500 block of Willows Ave. Open the block report to compare its parcels, ownership and public-record history.

See the whole block →

Next door: 5550 Willows Ave  ·  5554 Willows Ave

Where this comes from
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.

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