Real-Estate Site Locates Redevelopment Potential Across Philadelphia

FixList compiles data from multiple city sources into a user-friendly, searchable map of Philadelphia—taking on the burden creator Stacey Mosley calls the "conflict resolution of information across departments."

Every parcel is assigned a Redevelopment Score between 0 and 100 points, using a proprietary model based on more than 50 different metrics pertaining to the property and the neighborhood. Philly Voice explains:

[The data] relates to land use of every kind: residential, commercial, or industrial. Using the website you can see how every parcel in the city is zoned, what it last sold for, who owns it, whether they are tax-delinquent (and how long they have been), as well as sales and construction trends in the surrounding neighborhood.

"I am trying to do predictive modeling to hone in on addresses that are underdeveloped in statistically significant areas that are ripe for redevelopment," Mosley tells the paper.

The wealth of data could also be useful for community groups, academics, and journalists interested in neighborhood health:

In West Philadelphia’s 19143 zip code, for instance, FixList makes visible where the 309 upcoming sheriff sales are — mostly west of 50th street, in the overwhelmingly African-American part of the area — and that 56 of those properties have been tax delinquent for more than 20 years.

On the other hand, Somerton in the Far Northeast, long a stable, white middle class section of the city, has just 15 upcoming sheriff sales, none of which have been tax delinquent for very long.

A local realtor reports that searching FixList compressed what could have been a weeklong project into about an hour of work.

It's worth noting that the resource is not a public good: a basic subscription costs $99/month.

FixList is developing databases for five other cities, which could be online by the end of next year.