Appraisal Service Area — Allentown

City of Allentown · downtown, around Center Square

The city grew outward from Center Square, at Seventh and Hamilton Streets. Along Hamilton Street, 19th-century brick row houses gave way to commercial and institutional buildings; the PPL Center opened at the square in 2014, and large rental apartment buildings have gone up on nearby streets. On February 23, 1994, a sinkhole just north of the square took part of Seventh Street and the Corporate Plaza building, which was imploded weeks later. An appraisal downtown looks for cracks or settling and asks for foundation repair records.

What can lower an appraised value

City of Allentown · local historic district northwest of Center Square

The streets here follow the plan William Allen ordered in 1762 for Northampton Town, as Allentown was first called, and houses went up as the city grew north and west. In 1978 it became the city's first historic district. Federal, Italianate, Eastlake and Victorian styles stand side by side. Any exterior alteration needs a Certificate of Appropriateness, and substantial changes visible from the street go before the Historical Architectural Review Board. An appraisal compares a house here with sales inside the district.

Estate appraisals for an older Allentown house

City of Allentown · local historic district since 1981

From 1852 to 1888 the Lehigh County Agricultural Society held its fair on this ground. When the fair moved to 17th and Chew Streets, where it still is, the land was auctioned to developers. Building between 1888 and 1910 left late Victorian styles such as Italianate, Queen Anne and Second Empire, and the city's preservation plan calls these row homes more modest, working-class houses. Exterior work needs a Certificate of Appropriateness. A valuation weighs surviving original detail against sales of similar row homes.

Probate appraisals in Lehigh County

City of Allentown · local historic district since 2000

This district is centered on West Park, the city's first park. Most houses went up between 1895 and 1930, including banks of substantial row homes once linked to Center City by trolley, and the city cites them as Colonial Revival and Queen Anne examples. Created on December 20, 2000, it was the first historic district outside Center City; the Masonic Temple there joined the National Register in 2004. An appraisal notes whether a house faces the park and uses sales from inside the district.

Divorce appraisals for a shared home

City of Allentown · west of 17th Street and West Park

Muhlenberg College, Cedar Crest College and the Allentown Fairgrounds anchor this part of the city. The 46-acre fairgrounds, between 17th and 20th Streets, moved here in 1889 and host the Great Allentown Fair, which runs through Labor Day. Near 19th Street, houses built in the mid-to-late 1920s are often duplexes in a bungalow style. Elsewhere the stock runs from historic row houses to single-family homes on large lots. An appraisal keeps duplexes, row houses and detached houses in separate comparisons.

What an Allentown appraisal costs

City of Allentown · bounded by the Lehigh River on the south and west

This was mostly Hanover Township farmland until the city annexed it. The part east of today's Irving Street, with the East Side Reservoir, joined Allentown in 1911, and the part west of Irving Street in 1920. The old village of Rittersville stretched along Hanover Avenue. Houses from before 1930 are mainly banks of brick row houses and single-family bungalows; many more homes followed in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. An appraisal compares a pre-1930 house with others of its period.

Appraisals on a short deadline

City of Allentown · south of the Little Lehigh Creek

The part of the city south of the Little Lehigh Creek was annexed in stages. Fairview, on the ridge above the creek, was annexed from Salisbury Township in 1907. Between 5th and 12th Streets its early 20th-century blocks are brick row houses and closely spaced duplexes and twins; south of Cumberland Street come post-war brick ranch homes. After World War II, new houses filled lots platted earlier south of Emaus Avenue, which runs along the foot of South Mountain. An appraisal compares a twin with other twins.

What a home appraisal is for

City of Allentown · the Little Lehigh Creek west of 15th Street

West of 15th Street, the city has kept the Little Lehigh Creek as the Little Lehigh Parkway, part of its park system. The 1841 Bogert Covered Bridge there is on the National Register. It stands in the Saltzburg Historic District, which the state historic preservation office and the National Park Service found eligible for the Register in 1982-83. A house near the parkway has a park setting but also a creek nearby, so its appraisal notes both and checks FEMA's flood map.

Answers to common appraisal questions

City of Allentown · evacuated in the 1996 Lehigh River flood

In the flood of January 19, 1996, Adams Island was evacuated because of Lehigh River flooding, the regional hazard plan records. The city's own section of that plan lists drainage work and the raising of homes on the Island among its flood projects, weighing retrofits against relocation. Building, repairing or renovating anything in the mapped 100-year floodplain needs the city's Floodplain Development Permit. An appraisal here records the flood zone and any elevation work done.

Residential appraisals in Allentown

City of Allentown · Lake Muhlenberg and Cedar Creek

Lake Muhlenberg lies inside the city limits in Cedar Creek Parkway, the city's section of the hazard plan notes. The regional plan also records a flash flood on July 9, 2023, when a vehicle was trapped in floodwater on Union Street at Cedar Creek. Whether a house near the creek sits in a mapped flood zone shows on FEMA's flood map; the city cites the map dated July 16, 2004. An appraisal near the parkway checks that map and asks about water in the basement.

Problems an appraiser will notice