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Archiver > PHILLY-ROOTS > 2003-05 > 1052434790


From: "Jo Schwartz" <>
Subject: Re: [PHLY-RTS] Philadelphia Houses
Date: Thu, 8 May 2003 18:59:50 -0400
References: <000901c31593$b6268760$68a87bc0@Moya>


Susan,

You can find out who the city thinks is the current owner is and what the
property taxes are at

http://brtweb.phila.gov

However, that won't necessarily tell you if there is a house standing there,
nor is it necessarily correct. In the property tracing I described a
week or so ago, I found that the last record of a property transfer was in
1972 to the children of a 1913 immigrant. I have subsequently been told
by a family member i tracked down that the "children" gave it to an
unrelated woman. It's unclear what "gave" meant, but certainly no deed was
every recorded, and as it stands now, if you look up the property online, it
is still in the name of the father with a mailing address of one of the
married children who was taking care of him.

Using the account # you can get from a search of the above site, you can use
the automated system of the Personal Property Tax Dept to get additional
information. I found that this property had tax liens against it and (I'm
not really sure how this works) those liens were taken over by the
Philadelphia Authority for Industrial Development. The system's message was
very specific that "you" still own this property, but are delinquent in
paying taxes. It does not say who "you" are, but I assume it must be the
last person the city thinks is the owner. Well, that person has been dead
for 30 years! The daughter and son in law at the mailing address I
mentioned are also dead. However, there are other living descendants who
might be on the hook for this place. The final irony is that it no longer
is a house, it's a vacant lot! I'd love to find out who the city has been
sending delinquent tax notices to for years, but I wouldn't touch this with
a ten foot pole, and have alerted the family that they should probably clear
this situation up with someone who is a specialized in real estate law.

jo


----- Original Message -----
From: "Susan Biedron" <>
To: <>
Sent: Thursday, May 08, 2003 02:57 PM
Subject: [PHLY-RTS] Philadelphia Houses


>
> Is there any way to tell if a Philadelphia house at a specific location is
> still standing?
>
> Here in Chicago, we have the county assessor's data base - I am wondering
if
> there is something like that in Philadelphia.
>
> Thanks,
> Susan Biedron
>
>
>
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