An inherited house, valued as it stood on the day it was inherited.
Executors and heirs in Allentown usually need three things lined up: the date of death, the condition of the house on that day, and the sales that had closed around it. Send the address, what the value will be used for and any deadline the estate faces.
Request an estate appraisal quote · Call (610) 798-1017
What the Allentown median can't tell an heir
A median sits in the middle of a pile of sale prices. It cannot tell a freshly re-roofed twin from one that needs a roof, and it belongs to the month of those sales rather than to the day your relative died. What an estate appraisal offers instead is a reasoned opinion about this Allentown house alone, tied to a single effective date and to the purpose the estate names at the outset.
Estates put that opinion to different uses. It can back the figure reported for Pennsylvania inheritance tax, set a price when one heir buys out the others, inform a decision to sell, or hand a tax adviser a basis number. Each use can need its own date, so name the readers early.
Date, condition, comparables: three gaps in a headline price
The date
Pennsylvania's inheritance tax values property as of the date of death under 72 P.S. § 9121(a), and Revenue's REV-1500 instructions state plainly that the Commonwealth has no six-month alternate valuation date. A sale or buyout further down the road may need a current value instead.
The condition
Inherited houses are often emptied, cleaned and patched up before anyone calls an appraiser. Snapshots from around the date of death, an old listing sheet and contractor bills help show what the house was then.
The comparables
Much of older Allentown is attached housing. The city's historic-district design guidelines call attached rowhouses the typical building form in Old Allentown and describe rowhouses and semi-detached twins as prevailing in Old Fairgrounds. Rowhouses get compared with rowhouses and twins with twins, and for a house in one of the city's three historic districts, part of the question is whether sales inside the district fit best.
September 2026 in Allentown: one boundary, one median
RPR's September 2026 sold listings for the Allentown city limits: 88 sales, a $337,500 median sold price, $186 median per square foot, and a 99.83% sold-to-list ratio.
September 2026 · Area: Allentown, Pennsylvania · Single Family + Condo/Townhouse/Apt. · Source: RPR, Sold Listings (source values, CSV)
Those counts lump single-family homes together with condominiums, townhouses and apartments citywide, and the site publishes no neighborhood split for the month. The median climbed 7.1% over the prior month as the number of sales dropped 34.8%, which reflects which houses happened to sell, not what any single Allentown house gained. Treat the month as background; the service area page has the full figures.
Rebuilding the house as of the date of death
A house painted, re-roofed or cleared out after the funeral looks different today, and an inspection now only records the present. Pass along dated photos, inspection reports, repair bills and any listing from that time, and tell us roughly what changed and when. The appraiser judges how far that evidence carries the date-of-death value and states the assumptions in the report.
Retrospective work leans on the sales around the effective date, not on current prices, and where the record has holes the report says so.
Inheritance tax, estate tax and basis: questions for your adviser
Pennsylvania taxes the share each beneficiary receives, at a rate tied to the relationship with the decedent (72 P.S. § 9116). A surviving spouse pays nothing. Nothing is due either when a parent inherits from a child who was 21 or younger, or, for deaths from January 1, 2020, when a child of 21 or younger inherits from a parent. Lineal heirs such as children and grandchildren pay 4.5%, brothers and sisters 12%, and most other beneficiaries 15%. Revenue's inheritance tax page gives the general schedule.
An appraisal is one accepted route, not the only one. Revenue's Schedule A instructions name two others: the gross price of a sale that closed within 15 months of the death, or a formula figure, Lehigh's assessment times the common level ratio. When the buyer was a relative, or anyone involved in running the estate, Revenue wants an appraisal or other documentary proof of fair market value, and the Department can put forward its own valuation.
For an Allentown heir there is no federal inheritance tax to pay. What federal law does impose is an estate tax, charged against the estate itself and paid by its executor, and only when the estate is above that year's threshold. That cutoff, figured for a U.S. citizen or resident who dies in 2026, Lehigh County decedents included, is $15,000,000, per the IRS estate tax page. What the heir carries forward for a later sale is a basis generally equal to the house's fair market value at the date of death, per the IRS guidance on inherited property. Your attorney or tax adviser decides which method and value the estate reports; an appraisal backs up a number but does not settle the tax.
What the estate should send us
| What to send | How it is used |
|---|---|
| Address and type of house | Aims the research at the right area and kind of sale |
| Date of death and what the value is for | Distinguishes a date-of-death value from a current one |
| Photos, bills and records from about that time | Shows the house before later changes |
| Instructions from the personal representative and the estate's lawyer | Names the client, the readers and the reporting needed |
| Who holds the keys, plus any filing date | Drives the inspection and the delivery estimate |
Four steps from first call to finished report
- Define the job. Property, purpose, effective date, readers and deadline; a written scope, fee and delivery estimate follows before work starts.
- Document the house. We set up entry, measure and photograph, and go through your records of the house at the date of death.
- Reconstruct the market. Sales and conditions around the effective date are analyzed and the reasoning explained.
- Check the result. Read the effective date, intended use, assumptions and limitations, and raise factual points about the house with the appraiser.
What an Allentown estate appraisal costs, and when it arrives
For an inherited Allentown house, ask for a written scope, fee and delivery estimate; size, type, access, how far back the date reaches and your deadline all play in. Estates chasing the three-month inheritance tax discount or the nine-month return should mention it on the first call.
If the estate is in probate, the probate appraisal page covers the inventory and the Register of Wills. For basis, see IRS step-up appraisals, or browse every Allentown appraisal service.
Start an Allentown estate request
Share the inherited house's address, the reason for the appraisal and the date to be valued, or phone (610) 798-1017.
Request an estate appraisal quote · Call (610) 798-1017
Written with AI assistance for The Appraising Group Allentown from Revenue and IRS guidance and the site's September 2026 RPR figures; it values no property.