Question:
“Hi Gary, my father died without a living trust, so his home is going through probate. The probate appraiser said it’s worth $850,000. That seems a little high. Are probate appraisals accurate?”
Answer:
Rarely.
In my experience, probate appraisals are about the most inaccurate appraisal you could possibly get and tend to be high.
Recently, a client called me about a home she was inheriting from a relative.
The probate referee (as probate appraisers are called) had put the value at 1.25M. Even the most optimistic valuation would price the home at $950,000.
So my advice is to never consider a probate appraisal to be an accurate evaluation.
