Basis is measured on the day of death, so the appraisal looks backward.
A date-of-death appraisal estimates what an inherited Allentown house was worth on an earlier effective date, from the market of that moment and the house's condition then. Begin with the house's street address, the reason a value is needed and whichever date your tax adviser has chosen.
Request a retrospective appraisal quote · Call (610) 798-1017
Why a "step-up" appraisal carries a past date
The Internal Revenue Code's basis rule for inherited property, 26 U.S.C. 1014(a), generally uses what the property was worth at the decedent's death, its fair market value then. The IRS points out that this holds even when no estate tax return is filed. An executor who files Form 706 can elect alternate valuation under 26 U.S.C. 2032. Property is then valued six months after the death, or on the date it was sold or distributed if that came first. The election is permitted only when it lowers both the gross estate and the tax, and it is irrevocable. Sell the house later for more than its basis and the excess is a taxable gain.
The "step-up" label is shorthand. Basis resets to the value at death, which can land below the decedent's own basis as well as above it, so the word promises no saving. What the appraisal supplies is an opinion of one house's value on that past date; how it is used is your tax adviser's decision.
What today's price misses
The day being valued
Ordering, inspecting and the effective date are usually separate days, often years apart, and the research targets the market of the effective date.
The house back then
An heir who moved in or modernized may have changed the kitchen, the roof or the layout. Dated photos, inspection reports and invoices reconstruct the house of that time.
Like-for-like sales
The relevant sales are houses comparable to this one that sold in the market around the effective date. Allentown's Vision 2030 plan describes West Allentown's housing as running from historic rowhouses to duplexes and single-family homes, so matching type to type matters a great deal here.
September 2026 figures are not a date-of-death value
According to the site's RPR figures for September 2026, 88 properties sold within Allentown's city limits at a $337,500 median sold price, with a median of 8 days listed before sale.
September 2026 · Area: Allentown, Pennsylvania · Single Family + Condo/Townhouse/Apt. · Source: RPR, Sold Listings (source values, CSV)
Those are one month's numbers for the whole city. If your relative died years ago, or just earlier this year, they say nothing about the market on that day, and they never spoke for any single house. The September numbers are explained on the service area page.
Reconstructing condition on the effective date
If the house was renovated, emptied or rented out after the death, an inspection today can't show its earlier state by itself. Gather what survives from that time, such as photos, an old listing, inspection reports and repair invoices, and tell us roughly what changed and when. The appraiser weighs how much that evidence supports the value and records the assumptions.
Later paperwork can prove an earlier fact, such as the year a roof went on, without making today's house or today's prices the answer.
Federal and Pennsylvania rules to confirm with your adviser
Allentown heirs should know there is no federal inheritance tax. What federal law does tax is the transfer of the decedent's taxable estate, a bill the executor settles (26 U.S.C. 2001, 2002). A Form 706 is needed only when the estate, counting certain lifetime gifts, tops the threshold; reckoned for a U.S. citizen or resident who dies in 2026, Allentown estates included, the IRS sets it at $15,000,000. An executor may still file to elect portability. An inheritance generally isn't income to the heir, but rent or other income the house later produces is taxable (Publication 525).
Pennsylvania's estate tax does not reach deaths on or after January 1, 2005; Revenue's REV-229 sheet says there no longer is a basis for it. Its inheritance tax is very much alive, and it looks only at the date of death, with no six-month alternative (72 P.S. § 9121(a)); for a decedent who lived in Lehigh County, that return goes to the county's Register of Wills. Electing the federal alternate date leaves the Pennsylvania valuation date where it was.
Because Pennsylvania is not a community-property state (Publication 555), the federal rule that also steps up a surviving spouse's half of community property has no application here. For a house an Allentown couple held as a qualified joint interest, a tenancy by the entirety for instance, Publication 551 includes half its value in the gross estate of the spouse who died. Ask your tax adviser how basis works for a home you owned with your spouse. An appraisal supports a value; it does not decide how the IRS or the Department of Revenue will treat it.
Records that help with a retrospective quote
| What to send | How it is used |
|---|---|
| Address and type of house | Focuses the research on the right area and sales |
| Date of death or the date your adviser chose, and the purpose | Sets the effective date and the report's use |
| Records of repairs, renovations or damage since then | Separates the house then from the house now |
| Everyone who will rely on the report: executor, heirs, accountant | Names the intended users before scope and fee |
| Access, and any return or closing date | Sets the inspection and the delivery estimate |
How the retrospective assignment unfolds
- Scope the job. Address, purpose, effective date, readers and deadline; you get a written scope, fee and delivery estimate before anything starts.
- See the house and its paper trail. We arrange entry, document the property and go through your evidence of its condition on the effective date.
- Rebuild the period. Market evidence from around the effective date is analyzed, and the report shows how it supports the value.
- Read before you file. Check the effective date, intended use, assumptions and limitations, and put factual questions to the appraiser.
Cost and timing of a look-back appraisal
Each retrospective Allentown assignment is priced on its own facts; once your adviser has fixed the date, ask for a written scope, fee and delivery estimate. The quote turns on how far back that date reaches, the property's size and complexity, access and your deadline. A single date-of-death value can sometimes serve the inheritance tax return, the probate inventory and later basis records. Whether one report should do all three is for your adviser and the appraiser to decide. See also estate appraisals and the full list of Allentown appraisal services.
Send the address and the date your adviser named
Use the contact form, or call (610) 798-1017, with the inherited Allentown house's address, the tax question behind the request and the date your adviser set.
Request a retrospective appraisal quote · Call (610) 798-1017
AI-assisted text for The Appraising Group Allentown, drawn from the Internal Revenue Code, IRS publications and Pennsylvania's inheritance tax law; not tax advice.