Watch Out For Probate Appraisal

If you are buying or listing a home that is being sold through the probate process my congratulations. It is a great niche to be involved with.  One of the first steps in the process is to have the estate appraised. A probate appraiser will come in and give an opinion about how much the home is worth. 

Most of these appraisers are honest,  hard working people, but occasionally you will run into a problem.  The appraiser may over inflate the worth of the property.  This can cause a potential problem down the line when the home is listed and sold.

 First of all the heirs are going to expect that if the appraiser comes in and says this home is worth $600,000 the probate court is going to have a hard time approving a sale at $500,000, and the heirs are not going to be too happy.

You are probably asking: why would this happen?  It may just be a mistake, but it may also be because the probate appraiser pay is tied to the value of the estate, so there is anincentive to over appraise the value.

If this happens, just be over prepared to justify what the true market value is.  A good realtor should be able to do this in his/her sleep, so if you are a buyer, use a good realtor. If you are a realtor, make sure your CMA is airtight.

If you have any questions about probate or trust sales, feel free to e-mail or call me.

And if you are interested in reading any of my other posts about probate sales, here's a link:

WHAT IS A PROBATE SALE?

Marcy Moyer

Keller Williams Realty

650-619-9285