PHILLY-ROOTS-L Archives

From: "Sue" <>
Subject: Re: [PHLY-RTS] Philadelphia Houses
Date: Fri, 9 May 2003 09:17:38 -0700
References: <007b01c315b5$8a0d57e0$1244c0d8@ch8s101>

Here's another option for those who live far away and want to know what's
currently at the location where their ancestors lived...

I use MapQuest to look up an address. www.mapquest.com They have a
function to view an aerial photo of the location. You can zoom in, and see
(very roughly) what's currently in that location. You can't see details of
a home, but you can at least see if the area is now a big parking lot!

Unfortunately I found that many of the addresses of my ancestors are no
longer residential areas and have been "swallowed up" by expansions of
schools or hospitals. Alas!

Happy searching!
Sue in Seattle
(My family names in Philly: MALONE, MCGRATH, VANOSTEN, KOLB, DWYER, DOWD,
BRENNAN, and lots of others...)

----- Original Message -----
From: "Jo Schwartz" <>
To: <>
Sent: Thursday, May 08, 2003 3:59 PM
Subject: Re: [PHLY-RTS] Philadelphia Houses


> 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
> >
> >
> >
> > ==== PHILLY-ROOTS Mailing List ====
> > Send only Plain Text messages to the list. Don't attempt to send
> attachments to list.
> >
>
> ______________________________

This thread:

• [PHLY-RTS] Philadelphia Houses by "Susan Biedron" <>
  • Re: [PHLY-RTS] Philadelphia Houses by "Jo Schwartz" <>
  • Re: [PHLY-RTS] Philadelphia Houses by
  • Re: [PHLY-RTS] Philadelphia Houses by "Larry B." <>