Improved
Why it mattersBought for $78K in 2001. Owner pulled a plumbing permit in 2018.
View supporting records →Mixed-use report
8171 Castor Ave
1,680 sqft · RSA3 · built 1925
Owner-occupied · assessed $281K · sold 1×. On the 8100 block of Castor Ave.
Property summary
Assessment$281KCity assessed value
Last sale$78KRecorded 2001
Est. taxes$4K/yearAnnual city record
Permits5Shown in this report
ViolationsNone openNo open L&I cases
What stands out
From the public recordWhat 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.
Multiple units in RSA3, a single-family district
The building's use almost certainly predates today's code — a "legal nonconforming" use. That status survives a sale but can lapse if the use is abandoned or the building sits vacant; verify the registered use with L&I before pricing it as multiple rents.
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.
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
$281K
built 1925
Price / sq ft
$167
block $167 · in line w/ block
Appreciation
+17%
+1%/yr, city 6.5%
In 5 years (~2031)
~$281K
+1%/yr own pace held 5 yrs — extrapolation, not a forecast
Est. tax / yr
$4K
1.4% effective
Gross yield
4.8%
≈$1K/mo rent
Times sold
1
Value vs. the block, over time — sales, permits & L&I events marked on the line
This houseBlock median & rangePermit
The paper trail
ImprovedBought for $78K in 2001. Owner pulled a plumbing permit in 2018.
- 2001 $78KSold
- 2016 Major additionPermit
- 2017 AdministrativePermitElectricalPermitPlumbingPermit
- 2018 PlumbingPermit
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
1,680 sqft
livable area
Lot
6,320 sqft
Exterior condition
Above average
city code 3
Above averageBelow average
Interior condition
Above average
city code 3
Above averageBelow average
Quality grade
C
assessor's grade
ABCDE
Zoning
RSA3
city zoning code
OPA field-assessment attributes. Condition and grade are the assessor's codes, not an inspection.
Run the numbers
What owning 8171 Castor Ave 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.
When this house last sold (2001) a 30-year mortgage ran about 6.97% — 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
8171 Castor Ave sits on the 8100 block of Castor Ave. Open the block report to compare its parcels, ownership and public-record history.
See the whole block →Next door: 8175 Castor Ave · 8191 Castor 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
- 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
- Imagery — Street photo © Google · Aerial © Esri, Maxar
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.
First time here?
This is 8171 Castor Ave,
on paper.
Built 1925. 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 this house's actual tax bill.
Official city record ↗ · L&I history ↗ · See the whole block · Download this record (JSON)