Renovated & sold on
Why it mattersBought for $50K in 2005, use permit in 2015, sold for $103K in 2019 (+105%).
View supporting records →Mixed-use report
5916 Germantown Ave
2,841 sqft · CMX2 · built 1900
Owner-occupied · assessed $176K · 3 licensed units · sold 2×. On the 5900 block of Germantown Ave.
Property summary
Assessment$176KCity assessed value
Last sale$103KRecorded 2019
Est. annual tax$2K/yearAssessment × 1.3998%
Tax delinquency—Snapshot unavailable
Permits6Dated events in report
ViolationsNone openNone open when assembled
“Open” reflects records available then historical records keep their source dates estimates are labeled
BlockReport AI · cited public records
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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
$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.
Construction next door (5915-41 Germantown Ave, 2026)
Excavation deeper than 5 feet, or within 10 feet of an adjacent structure, legally requires the developer to survey neighboring homes first and give owners 10 days' written notice. Insist on the pre-construction survey — it is your evidence if cracks appear.
If you’re the landlord
Lead certificate is not optional
Built 1900: 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 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
$176K
built 1900
Price / sq ft
$62
block $77 · below block
Appreciation
+7%
+1%/yr, city 6.5%
In 5 years (~2031)
~$176K
+1%/yr own pace held 5 yrs — extrapolation, not a forecast
Est. tax / yr
$2K
1.4% effective
Jun 2022 tax snapshot
—
Gross yield
-4542873.4%
≈$-667M/mo rent
Times sold
2
licensed rental
Value vs. the block, over time — sales, permits & L&I events marked on the line
This houseBlock median & rangeSalePermit
The paper trail
Renovated & sold onBought for $50K in 2005, use permit in 2015, sold for $103K in 2019 (+105%).
- 2005 $50KSold
- 2015 6 L&I violationsL&IInspection failed ×2L&I visitAppeal grantedZoningUsePermit
- 2016 Addition and/or AlterationPermitElectricalPermitL&I: 1 failed, 1 passedL&I visit
- 2017 Major alterationPermitElectricalPermit
- 2018 PlumbingPermit
- 2019 $103KSold
Flags: active rental license · 1 zoning/board appeal on record. 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
2,841 sqft
livable area
Lot
1,642 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
city zoning code
Zoning appeals
1
granted 2015
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 5916 Germantown 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 3 licensed units × ~85% of the area's median unit rent — the whole building's income, not one unit's. Assessed value is not an asking price — set the price slider to the real one.
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, $2,100/yr insurance, 1% of price/yr maintenance; taxes from this parcel's record.
Block context
5916 Germantown Ave sits on the 5900 block of Germantown Ave. Open the block report to compare its parcels, ownership and public-record history.
See the whole block →Next door: 5914 Germantown Ave · 5918-20 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
- 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.
Official city record ↗ · L&I history ↗ · See the whole block · Download this record (JSON)