How to do a Date of Death Market Valuation for a Probate Real Estate Matter
By Michael Mahoney Greater Boston Realtor Keller Williams Realtor
Date of Death CMA[/caption] Often times I will get a call from a family who had a love one who passed and now they need to have a market evaluation provided. For settling the probate matter, sometimes the estate will require you to figure out what the property was worth many many years ago. It's not so easy There was recently a question posed in our Keller Williams office by one of our Realtors who was working on a probate matter for a client here in the Boston area. Here was the question:
Anyone know the best way to calculate what a house would have been worth in 1991? Doesn't need to be exact just approximate...
There were a couple of newer agents who suggested that you should "comp it with sold homes in that time frame in MLS" and yes that it the obvious answer however easier said than done. There are a few Realtors like myself who remember when there really was not a lot of computer records. Having been a Realtor in Greater Boston since 2001, I can tell you that the evolution of technology has been amazing. When I started with Coldwell Banker in Milton, Massachusetts there was one computer in the office and it was at the "uptime desk" and the display of the software was like one of those old inventory terminals you would find at the likes of auto parts supply stores. Now, The New Kids on the Block agents don't know what's it like to use a computer since they do everything on their phones nowadays. I am not kidding, there was a time when there were no computers for real estate searches. Here is what another agent in the office had to say:
"I started in 1999, and mls was just introduced. It took a while for it to stick. We had binder "look books" for buyers to choose homes to see! We would do a broadcast fax to all the local agencies with a sheet of specs for listings we took over the weekend. Then they were broken out by town and price. Boy, am I aging myself by putting this knowledge of mine out there!
It's not as easy as you firing up your Iphone...often times you have to go to the tax records...here is one way to get started preparing a market evaluation or a CMA for a probate real estate sale in Greater Boston....Hope this helps. In the video I demonstrate how I did it for a family who was handling their probate real estate matter in Quincy - If you need the value a probate property in boston - get the value here
Video on Date of Death CMA for a Probate Estate Settlement
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