I walk past abandoned rowhouses every single day in Germantown. Boarded-up windows, overgrown weeds, crumbling facades. Some of them have been sitting like that for decades. And I used to just walk past them thinking — what a waste.
Then I saw a video of a woman who does nothing but hunt for abandoned properties. She doesn’t look for listings. She doesn’t go to auctions. She just finds abandoned buildings, talks to the county, and walks away with the deed for almost nothing.
That sent me down a rabbit hole about the Philadelphia Land Bank — and what I found genuinely surprised me.
What Is the Philadelphia Land Bank?
The Philadelphia Land Bank is a city-run agency that acquires vacant and tax-delinquent properties and then sells them — often at well below market value — to buyers who commit to fixing them up.
Think about it from the city’s perspective. An abandoned property is a headache. It attracts crime, drags down surrounding property values, costs the city money in code enforcement, and sits there generating zero tax revenue. The city wants these properties off its hands and back into productive use.
That’s where the Land Bank comes in. It acts as the middleman between problem properties and people who want to do something with them.
Philadelphia Land Bank how to buy is actually a more accessible process than most people realize — you don’t need a real estate license, you don’t need to be a developer, and you don’t need deep pockets to get started.
What Kind of Properties Does the Land Bank Have?
This is the part that blew my mind when I started digging.
It’s not just vacant lots. The Land Bank inventory includes:
Rowhouses that have been abandoned for years. Vacant lots that could be side yards, community gardens, or new construction sites. And yes — larger structures like old church buildings and former school buildings that have been sitting empty for decades.
If you’ve spent any time in Germantown, Kensington, or North Philly, you’ve walked past Land Bank inventory without knowing it. Entire blocks of it.
The properties come into the Land Bank’s possession primarily through tax sales — when a property owner stops paying taxes, the city eventually acquires the property and transfers it to the Land Bank.
The properties come into the Land Bank’s possession primarily through tax sales — when a property owner stops paying taxes, the city eventually acquires the property and transfers it to the Land Bank. Before a property reaches the Land Bank, it goes through Philadelphia’s tax sale process. Another way distressed properties enter the market in Philadelphia is through Sheriff Sales.
Philadelphia Land Bank How to Buy: The Step-by-Step Process
Here’s what the actual process looks like.
Step 1: Find available properties
Go to phillylandbank.org and click on the property map. You can see every parcel the Land Bank currently controls. Filter by neighborhood, lot size, or property type.
Fair warning — not all of these properties are actively for sale at any given moment. Some are earmarked for specific programs. But many are available for purchase applications.
Step 2: Submit a purchase application
Once you find a property you want, you submit a formal application through the Land Bank’s website. The application asks you to explain:
What you plan to do with the property. Your timeline for development or rehabilitation. How you plan to finance the project.
You don’t need to have everything figured out perfectly, but you do need a credible plan. “I want to fix it up and rent it out” with some basic numbers attached is enough to get started.
Step 3: Meet the basic eligibility requirements
To be eligible to purchase from the Philadelphia Land Bank how to buy program, you need to:
Have no outstanding tax debt with the city of Philadelphia. Have no conflict of interest with city officials. Be able to demonstrate you can actually execute your plan.
That’s it. No license required. No net worth minimum. If your taxes are current and your plan is credible, you’re in the running.
Step 4: Board approval and City Council approval
This is the part where patience comes in. After your application is reviewed, it goes to the Land Bank’s Board of Directors for approval. Larger transactions also require City Council approval.
Realistically, budget 3 to 8 months from application to approval. It’s a government process. It moves slowly.
Step 5: Negotiate the price
Here’s where it gets interesting. The Land Bank doesn’t have a fixed price list. Pricing is negotiated based on the property’s condition, your intended use, and the Land Bank’s goals for that neighborhood.
For vacant lots, prices can be as low as a few hundred dollars. For larger structures in worse condition, you might pay a few thousand. The point is — Philadelphia Land Bank how to buy almost always means paying a fraction of what you’d pay on the open market.
Step 6: Close and get your deed
Once approved and priced, you go through a standard closing process. You get a deed. The property is yours.
Then the clock starts on your development timeline, which was part of your application. The Land Bank will check in to make sure you’re actually doing what you said you’d do.
What About Those Abandoned Churches?
Germantown alone has more abandoned church buildings than I can count. Beautiful old stone structures sitting empty, windows broken, roofs deteriorating.
Can you get those through the Philadelphia Land Bank?
Sometimes — but not always. It depends on who owns them.
If a church closed and the congregation stopped paying taxes, the property may have gone through tax sale and ended up with the Land Bank. In that case, yes — it could be available through the same process above.
But many abandoned churches are still technically owned by the diocese or a religious organization that just hasn’t done anything with the building. In that case, the property isn’t in the Land Bank at all — you’d need to track down the religious organization directly and negotiate with them.
The only way to know for sure is to look up the property on Philadelphia’s Atlas site (atlas.phila.gov), check the ownership record, and see who the grantor is.
The Reality Check
I want to be honest about what this process is and isn’t.
It isn’t a way to snap up a property in a week. The timeline is long. Government approvals take time.
It isn’t completely free. Even if the land costs almost nothing, you’re still on the hook for rehab costs, permits, inspections, and eventually taxes once you own it.
And it isn’t a passive strategy. The Land Bank is giving you a deal because they want that property fixed up and contributing to the neighborhood. If you’re not serious about following through, this isn’t the right play.
But for someone who’s willing to be patient, has a plan, and wants to get into Philadelphia real estate without needing a massive down payment — the Philadelphia Land Bank how to buy process is one of the most underutilized opportunities in this city.
I live in Germantown. I walk past potential Land Bank deals every single day. The question isn’t whether the opportunity exists. It’s whether you’re going to do something about it.
Not financial advice — just someone doing a lot of research and asking a lot of questions.
Already found a Land Bank property? Run the numbers before you commit → Philly Flip Profit Calculator