The Block ReportBlockReport

House report

835 Cross St

2 bd · 1 ba · 2 stories · 1,060 sqft · RSA5 · built 1920

Owner-occupied · assessed $272K · sold 4×. On the 800 block of Cross St.

Street view of 835 Cross St
From the street — imagery © Google
From above — imagery © Esri, Maxar

Property summary

Assessment$272KCity assessed value Last sale$352KRecorded 2025 Est. taxes$2K/yearAnnual city record Permits0Shown in this report ViolationsNone openNo open L&I cases

What stands out

From the public record
Finding

Homestead exemption, mail goes elsewhere

Why it matters

The parcel claims the homestead exemption (owner lives here) while the tax bill mails to 300 Sunnybrook Rd, Springfield Pa, 19064. Those two facts sit in tension on the record — there can be innocent reasons, but one of them is usually out of date.

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 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

$621 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 record to dig into any number.

Assessed value
$272K
built 1920
Price / sq ft
$257
block $257 · in line w/ block
Appreciation
+20%
+2%/yr, city 6.5%
In 5 years (~2031)
~$273K
+2%/yr own pace held 5 yrs — extrapolation, not a forecast
Est. tax / yr
$2K
0.89% effective
Gross yield
6.3%
≈$1K/mo rent
Times sold
4

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

$0$250K$500KBefore this chart — 2009: Sold $115K 2009: Sold $140K 2009: Sold $224K2025: Sold $352K$272K201620222027
This houseBlock median & rangeSalePermit

The paper trail

Frequently traded

Traded 4×: $115K in 2009 → $352K in 2025 (+206%).

  1. 2009 $115KSold$140KSold$224KSold
  2. 2025 $352KSold

Flags: $621 back taxes (2016, $11 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.

Bedrooms
2
Bathrooms
1
Stories
2
Interior
1,060 sqft
livable area
Lot
672 sqft
Basement
Full, semi-finished
city code B
Heat
Forced hot air
city code A
Central air
Yes
Exterior condition
Above average
city code 3
Interior condition
Above average
city code 3
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.

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.

Homestead exemption, mail goes elsewhere

The parcel claims the homestead exemption (owner lives here) while the tax bill mails to 300 Sunnybrook Rd, Springfield Pa, 19064. Those two facts sit in tension on the record — there can be innocent reasons, but one of them is usually out of date.

Run the numbers

What owning 835 Cross 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.

$352K
20%
6.875%
$1K/mo

When this house last sold (2025) a 30-year mortgage ran about 6.6% — 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

835 Cross St sits on the 800 block of Cross St. Open the block report to compare its parcels, ownership and public-record history.

See the whole block →

Next door: 833 Cross St  ·  837 Cross St

Where this comes from

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.

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