10 year tax abatement -Philadelphia

[Mike B.]

Anyone have any experience rehabbing/flipping a property in Philly who applied and was approved for 10 year tax abatement? I will be doing a 50-60K rehab on a property near 13/Oregon next month and realized I may qualify. I say "may" as there aren't good specifics on the city website about who does and doesn't qualify. Based off their non specific info it appears I would be fine. I'm doing a partial electrical rewire, updated plumbing, gut and new bathroom, new kitchen, new floors throughout and finished basement. Appreciate any help in advance. Thanks!

[Mark Redmann]

Hey Mike! I am just about to list a flip. it is my 2nd one with a tax abatement.  When I closed on the purchase, I immediately went and pulled building permit. After that, I went to the tax abatement office to apply for the 10 year tax abatement. You'll need to submit a copy of the building permit with the application.  I was able to do all of this in one day, closing, permit, abatement. 

As far as I can tell, they want a certain dollar amount of work to be completed. My first flip with the abatement was denied at first. I had understated how much money I was spending on the building permit application. I'm sure a lot of people do. DON'T. there is no reason for it. the fees and charges on the building permits are based on the square footage. they don't give a crap about how much money you are about to spend on a rehab. This came directly from the mouth of my building inspector, haha. I had to get the permit amended and submit that to the abatement office. big time pain in the ***. do it right the first time and everything always works out.

so now on my current flip, I did it the right way. I am unsure of the final steps of the process. MY final inspections are done and I put in a call to the OPA (office of property assessment) to ask whats next. i probably won't remember to, but I will update this thread when I reach the next steps.