South Allentown (Macungie, Salisbury: for sale, rental, crime)

[Coco73]

Hi - we are considering buying one of the new homes in South Allentown.
Can someone please give me some background on the area? One of the new homes we have looked at is located on s. front street - it's my understanding that they are having a hard time selling these units - any idea why? We just want to be careful not to fall in a hole

[toobusytoday]

The Allentown school district has a very poor reputation and it's a buyers market right now, meaning that there are more houses to sell then there are buyers to purchase them. Allentown itself is having a bit of a crime problem so that's probably also keeping people away.

[EmmausRocks]

Originally Posted by toobusytoday

The Allentown school district has a very poor reputation and it's a buyers market right now, meaning that there are more houses to sell then there are buyers to purchase them. Allentown itself is having a bit of a crime problem so that's probably also keeping people away.

A bit of a crime problem? Allentown has a HUGE crime problem and has since the mid to late 80's. The SD is shot and one of the worst in the state, gangs, RAPES, you name it.

A buyer's market? LOL, it's going to be a "Buyer's market" for the next 20 years. That little thing called the housing bubble is only in the 2nd inning of price decline. That's a fact, you'll never see the prices people paid for homes, in the next 40 years. Those homes are overpriced bigtime still, you can wait it out another couple years by renting for under a 1k price look around there's plenty of nice $850 and under HOMES for rent. Check out this site.

www.patrick.net

[manderlyles]

I agree stay away from S. front they have been on the market for some time. The school district is terrible.

[JohnZ963]

South Allentown isn't what it used to be. It's become a lot more "diverse" and run down in the past 10 years. The old Allentown lifers are dying off, being replaced from lower class NY/NJ folks. My father used to own rental property in the area, and sold it off when the demographics changed so that honest working folk did not want to live there anymore. And as the other posters pointed out, the school district is the worst in the Valley. You want cheap new construction? Try that Ryan townhouse development in Breinigsville/Upper Macungie. It's in the middle of nowhere but you get good Parkland schools and can spend under $175k.

Even if the housing market were to stabilize, S. Allentown is an area in decline.

[Stavs]

If you want to be in the South Allentown area, take a look at Salisbury Township. Its convenient to everything and residents pay an extra 1% tax which helps keep the riff raff out. Schools are excellent, and crime is very low. It is nowhere near as "diverse" as South Allentown, but there is diversity (the good kind). Lots of good older homes for sale in all price ranges.

Stavs