First: What the City Has Posted
The form asks about this before it asks about the damage, and that ordering is deliberate. If Licenses and Inspections has designated the property unsafe or imminently dangerous, there is a 6 day window to appeal rather than the thirty days an ordinary violation allows, and that window may already be running.
We are not lawyers and we do not file appeals. But telling you the window exists, and that it is six days, is free and it is the most time-critical thing anyone will say to you this week. If it applies, deal with that before you compare a single offer, including ours.
Why Does the City File Come Before the Damage?
Second: What the Property Owes
Delinquent real estate tax, water and sewer charges, code violation fines, and the cost of any sealing or emergency work the city has already carried out. All of it clears at settlement from the proceeds, which means it comes off your side unless the contract says otherwise.
We pull this because we have to price it, and we tell you what we find because you are going to need it whether you sell to us or not. It is all public. If you would rather establish it yourself first, that is a better position to negotiate from than taking any buyer's word for the total.
Does Municipal Debt Stop Me Selling?
Third: The Shell, and Where It Sits in the Row
Now the building. Two questions rather than one.
Did the brick survive. An interior fire in a Philadelphia row home frequently burns out the joists, the roof and the finishes while leaving the party walls and front wall sound. That shell is the most valuable thing on the property and whether it is genuinely sound is an engineer's answer.
And is the house end-of-row, mid-block, or effectively detached because neighbours are already gone. That decides whether a clearance means protecting one exposed wall, two, or none, and it moves the figure more than the visible extent of the fire does.
What Comes Back
A written figure with every line showing: what a finished house on that lot is worth, what restoring it costs with the shell credited or not, party wall protection where clearance is contemplated, everything the property owes, the transfer tax at the current combined rate of 4.578%, carrying cost, and margin.
What If the Figure Says Do Something Else?
Then It Is Your Call
No deadline from us. The city's deadlines continue regardless, which is the honest caveat rather than a sales line, and it is why we raise them first rather than last.
Pennsylvania settles through title companies. What slows a Philadelphia file is the combination this city produces: an estate that has not been opened, municipal debt that takes time to establish and clear, and an L&I file running on its own schedule.
Compare figures if you want to. The three questions on our page about how to tell local cash buyers apart sort a long list quickly, and they work on us.
Things That Never Happen
No fee at any stage. No request that you clear the property, seal it, file an appeal or make any repair first — those are costs we price in, and where an appeal or a permit filing is the right move we say so rather than doing it for you. No requirement that your claim be settled. No assignment of the contract to a third party. And nothing asked of you that involves leaving something off the Pennsylvania seller disclosure statement, which is mandatory and asks about fire damage directly.
Common Questions About the Process
How Long Does It Take?
Address to written figure is usually a few days. Settlement depends on title, on establishing what the property owes, and on whether an estate is involved.
Do I Need to Be in Philadelphia?
No. Out-of-state owners are common on inherited property and remote settlement is routine.
I Have a Notice From the City and I Do Not Understand It.
Send us a photograph of it with the address. We will tell you what it appears to be and what window it carries. That is information rather than advice, and if it is a 6 day window we will say so immediately.