Part 3, Successor Trustee Process, selecting the appraiser

Here is Part 3 of the four part series on Estate Appraisals;

Getting prepared if you are a Successor Trustee, Executrix, Executor, or personal representative or administrator for a Will

If you have any questions about the process, please feel free to contact me at bradbassi@yahoo.com mobile # 909 262-3434. I will be happy to share information and I will try to guide you in the right direction.

Part 3

Selecting the Appraiser for the Real Estate.

For residential home, units 2-4, residential vacant land, manufactured home or condominium, I would recommend hiring a local appraiser. I would suggest a certified residential appraiser, which is the highest licensed level for residential properties. Some appraisers say they cover the area, but where are they located. There are appraisers claiming to cover an area, but they are coming from another County. They may be competent, but I would place more emphasis on a local appraiser if you can find one, if not expand your search is certainly acceptable.
Do some google searches for an appraiser in the area, ask some local Real Estate Agents for their suggestions, if the bank has a Trust department get in touch with that group and ask them for a few appraiser references.
During the interview, find out how many Estate appraisals they have completed.
How long have they been in business, where is their office located, what market area do they cover, and how many appraisals have they completed on the type of property you need appraised. If tract house or condominium I would not be too concerned if the appraiser has been in business for over 10 years. If it is a custom home, residential land, manufactured home or 2 to 4 units, I would ask to verify they have completed a significant number of these type of appraisals. These are what I classify as more complex and you should be careful in your selection of an appraiser for this type of work.
Ask them for some references if possible, to verify your thoughts, call those references.
Ask them the definition of Market Value they will use. If you don’t give a quick answer to this question, then I would suggest you keep searching. The reason being is the answer is the IRS/U.S. Treasury Regulations for Estate Tax, is the definition of market value. You don’t need the exact code reference, but I see many appraisers working on estate work not referencing the IRS definition of market value and using the Fannie Mae Form for Estate work. That is not a good thing and shows a lack of knowledge on the part of the appraiser.
Give them the date of death of the passing of the last spouse or trustee, this will be their effective date of the report. This is what we call a retrospective appraisal report. The effective date and date of the site visit will be different of course, but that is not a problem. The appraiser just needs to identify all of this in their scope of work.
Have them send you a written bid via email for your file. Don’t always go with the low bidder, make sure you are comfortable with the appraiser, they seem knowledgeable and that they will take the time to work with you and support your questions and concerns. Once you get the bids make the selection and email them back with your acceptance.
Once you have the appraiser set up, schedule the appointment for their site visit and confirm when to expect the appraisal emailed to you via PDF. Get this in writing.
Once the report is complete and you have reviewed it to see if it makes sense to you, if not call them and ask questions. Then you can get all the data to the accountant or attorney for their review.
If the property is commercial, medical, office, retail strip center and other type of properties, you will need to hire a Certified General Appraiser. Again, same process, go to the internet do some searching, find Commercial Brokers that deal with this type of property and ask them for referrals and go to the Trust department of the bank and ask for referrals. In the world of commercial you may find more niche appraisers, they may only do retail or office or industrial. This is not unusual. The process is the same, but the length of time needed for them to complete their work and the amount of data they will need from you could be lengthy and complex. Also, the commercial appraisals will be significantly more expensive than the residential appraisal. You may need help from others regarding the hiring of an appraiser and the data they will require, don’t be afraid to ask for help from your attorney, accountant or CPA, especially on the commercial properties.
Once this is all completed get the details and reports to the accountant and attorney.

Remember this isn’t everything that is needed as each situation is different, but hopefully this will answer some questions or may lead you to ask some more questions of the right people in order, to assist with the process.

Part 4 of the sequence will be selling the Real Estate

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