Allentown, PA
Lehigh Valley purchases and the USDA eligible fringe
The Lehigh Valley is where our USDA volume sits. Parts of Lehigh and Northampton counties outside the built-up areas remain USDA eligible, which means zero down for households inside the income cap. Most buyers here do not know that until we check the map with them.
Lending in Allentown
The Lehigh Valley is where our USDA volume sits. Parts of Lehigh and Northampton counties outside the built-up areas remain USDA eligible, which means zero down for households inside the income cap. Most buyers here do not know that until we check the map with them.
Prices remain well below the Philadelphia metro, which brings a different problem: appraisals on older housing stock with thin comparable sets, and a fair number of properties needing repair that pushes them out of standard FHA condition requirements.
What the local data says
- $289,000Median sale price
- 33 daysMedian days on market
- 1.86% effective, Lehigh CountyEffective property tax
- 2.00% combined, customarily splitTransfer tax at settlement
Sample market data for this demonstration site. Ask us for the current figures on a specific address.
Three things that catch people out in Allentown
- 01
USDA eligibility varies street by street
Eligible tracts sit right against ineligible ones in both Lehigh and Northampton counties. Send us the address before you view the property; the check takes two minutes.
- 02
203(k) for older stock
A great deal of the Valley's housing needs a roof, a heater or a kitchen. FHA 203(k) limited rolls up to $75,000 of work into the purchase loan rather than asking a seller to fix it.
- 03
Thin comparable sets
Rural and semi-rural appraisals sometimes reach further for comparables than an urban file would. We brief the appraiser with our own comparable research before the inspection.
Lead originator here
Yasmin Haddad
Senior loan officer, purchase · NMLS #XXXXXXX
Yasmin handles more first purchases than anyone else here, most of them in South Philadelphia, Kensington and Point Breeze. She knows which PHFA programs are funded this quarter and which have run dry, and she will tell a buyer to wait six weeks for a credit rescore when that saves more than the rate ever could.
What tends to fit in Allentown
Conventional
Conforming loans to $832,750 with cancellable PMI
FHA
3.5% down from a 580 score, 10% down from 500
USDA guaranteed
Zero down in eligible outer-county tracts, income capped
Areas served from this office
- Allentown
- Bethlehem
- Easton
- Emmaus
- Macungie
- Whitehall
- Nazareth
- Northampton
- Coopersburg
Other offices
- Center City Philadelphia, PA · (215) 555-0145
- Bala Cynwyd, PA · (610) 555-0146
- King of Prussia, PA · (610) 555-0147
Buying or refinancing in Allentown?
Send the address and the price. We come back with the tax figure, the likely appraisal range and the real monthly cost.
No application fee. Soft credit pull at pre-qualification. Flat $1,095 origination at closing.