Eagle Home Appraisal Wilmington
Date-of-death appraisals in Wilmington, Delaware.
When your tax adviser asks for an earlier value of an inherited home, the records have to lead back to that date.
We help with past-date appraisals for the tax records on inherited property. Your adviser tells you the date and how the report will be used, and we document what the house was worth.
Serving Wilmington and New Castle County, Delaware
The date matters as much as the address.
A recent sale price or this year's assessment may answer a different question from the one in an inherited-property file. Start with the date your adviser gave you and whatever instructions came with it.
Check the tax question first.
Ask your tax adviser what date and which records the inherited-property file needs. The IRS guidance on inherited property is a good place to start that conversation. Which date and treatment apply to you is your tax adviser's call.
Send us their instructions before you order. The appraisal gives an opinion of value. Figuring the tax is for your adviser.
Picturing the house as it was.
A Wilmington house may have been cleared out, remodeled or sold since the owner passed. A new kitchen you see today tells us nothing about the old one.
Gather dated photographs, an old listing, repair invoices and any record of additions or major changes. Tell us what happened before the date you need and what came after.
Sales from the right time.
For a past date, we look at evidence from around that date. Today's asking prices and a later city median can't stand in for that research.
For a Quaker Hill row house or a detached home elsewhere in Wilmington, the comparisons still have to fit the house's type, size, condition and setting. The report explains the evidence we used and anything that limits what we can say.
Keep one clear record of the property.
Send the street address, the parcel number, the date you need and who will read the report. A deed or existing property record helps us be sure exactly what is being valued, and recorded documents are available through the New Castle County Recorder of Deeds.
If the house has already sold, or we may not be able to get inside, say so right away. What evidence from that time still exists, and our access, shape the job.
Ask for the report your adviser needs.
Use the earlier-date appraisal inquiry and include your tax adviser's instructions. We'll go over the job, the fee, the records needed and when we could deliver before any work begins.
If the same house also needs a value for today, for a family buyout or a sale, tell us separately. Our estate appraisal page explains why a family may need more than one date.
A few questions that come up.
Can an appraisal be done after the house has sold?
It depends on what evidence still exists. Tell us the date you need, when it sold, whether we can get inside and what records you have. A past-date value depends on the evidence from that time, so let's talk it over before you assume the sale price answers it.
Is this always a step up in basis?
Your tax adviser decides the basis and how it's treated. The value on the date can be higher or lower than an earlier figure. We document what the house was worth on the date and for the use the report states.
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Eagle Home Appraisal Wilmington