Fair appraisals. Accurate values. Real results.
What was the property worth on the date that matters?
Independent USPAP appraisals for date-of-death, probate, trust, divorce, and pre-sale valuations across California — written to hold up with the IRS, the court, and everyone else who reads them.
- Any effective date, including years in the past
- Signed report in 5–7 business days
- Flat fee, quoted before we start
Start with the property
Two minutes for a fee quote and turnaround time. No obligation.
Our fee is based on the work the assignment takes — never on the value we conclude.
- State-certified California appraiser
- USPAP-compliant reports
- Retrospective & current values
- Expert testimony available
Why an appraisal, not an estimate
A number someone else has to accept
An online estimate or an agent's opinion is fine for deciding what to list at. When the IRS, a probate judge, an opposing attorney, or a county assessor is on the other side of the number, the standard is different.
Independent by design
No side to take and no stake in the outcome. That independence is exactly what makes the report usable by everyone involved.
Any date of value
Today, the date of death, the date of separation, the date of a filing. Retrospective values are built from what the market was doing then, not now.
Written to be reviewed
Comparable sales, adjustments, and reasoning are all shown. A CPA, an attorney, or an IRS reviewer can follow how the value was reached.
Delivered when promised
Flat fee agreed up front, inspection scheduled within days, signed PDF in your inbox in 5–7 business days. Rush available.
How it works
Three steps to a signed report
Step 1: Tell us the assignment
The property, the purpose, and the effective date of value. That's what determines the scope of work — and the fee, which we quote before anything starts.
Step 2: We inspect and research
Usually an interior walkthrough with measurements and photos. When there's no access — the home sold, or a tenant won't allow it — we'll tell you what's possible and what assumptions the report will carry.
Step 3: You get the report
A signed PDF with comparables, adjustments, and a USPAP certification. Copies go to your attorney or CPA if you want them to have one.
What we appraise and why
Most of our work starts with a death, a filing, or a sale
Estate and settlement work is the core of what we do. If your situation isn't listed, it probably still fits — ask.
Most requestedDate-of-death valuation
Fair market value as of the day the owner died. This is what establishes the heirs' stepped-up cost basis, so it decides the capital gains tax when the property is eventually sold.
EstateProbate & court
For executors and administrators moving an estate through California probate, including value support alongside the probate referee's Inventory and Appraisal.
EstateTrust administration
A trust doesn't get a probate referee. A successor trustee needs an independent appraisal to value the property, distribute fairly, and document the basis.
Family lawDivorce & buyouts
Values at date of separation, date of trial, or today — often more than one date in the same assignment. Declarations and testimony available when the case calls for it.
HeirsPartition & sibling buyouts
When one heir keeps the house and the others get cashed out, an independent number is what keeps that conversation from turning into a lawsuit.
TaxEstate & gift tax filings
Supporting values for Form 706 and gift returns, including the alternate valuation date six months after death when the estate elects it.
TaxProp 19 transfers
Parent-to-child and grandparent-to-grandchild transfers need a market value at the date of transfer to work out what the reassessment looks like.
TaxAssessment appeals
Decline-in-value and assessment appeal support, valued as of the county's lien date rather than the date you noticed the bill.
SellingPre-listing & FSBO
A defensible list price before the sign goes up — most useful on custom, rural, or unusual homes where the comps don't speak for themselves.
LendingPMI removal & equity
Documenting current value to drop mortgage insurance or to see where you stand before a refinance. Check with your servicer first — some order their own.
LegalBankruptcy & litigation
Values as of a filing date, a loss date, or any other date the matter turns on, with the file documented for review by the other side.
CharitableDonated property
Qualified appraisals for donated real property, prepared to meet the substantiation requirements that come with the deduction.
Single family, condos, townhomes, small multi-family, manufactured homes on permanent foundations, and land. Occupied, vacant, tenant-occupied, hoarded, fire-damaged, or mid-remodel — condition is something we document, not something that disqualifies the assignment.
The one most families need
Date-of-death appraisals, explained plainly
When someone dies owning real estate, the property's cost basis generally resets to its fair market value on the date of death. Everything the property gained during their lifetime stops being taxable. That reset is the single biggest tax event in most estates, and it rests entirely on the value assigned to that one day.
If the family guesses at that number, or uses a county assessment, or pulls a figure off a website, there's nothing behind it. A retrospective appraisal puts a documented value on the record — before anyone needs it in a hurry.
It's not too late if the death was years ago
Retrospective appraisals are routine. We use sales that closed on or before the effective date, market conditions as they were at the time, and whatever evidence exists of the property's condition then — photos, old listing records, repair invoices, or a walkthrough today with the changes since accounted for.
Even if the house has already sold
A sale after the date of death doesn't establish the date-of-death value, and the gap between them is where the tax liability lives. We can still appraise as of the earlier date using records and photos, with the assumptions stated clearly in the report.
What we'll need from you
Nothing here is a dealbreaker if you don't have it. It just shapes the scope.
- The date of death and the property address
- Who's ordering — executor, trustee, heir, attorney, or CPA
- Access to the property, if it's still available
- Any photos from around that date
- Known repairs, permits, or additions, and roughly when
- Whether the property has since sold, and for how much
We're appraisers, not attorneys or tax advisors. Your CPA or estate attorney decides how the value gets used on a return.
Which one do you actually need?
An appraisal and an agent's opinion aren't the same tool
If you're deciding what to list at and nothing official rides on the number, an agent's comparative market analysis is free and usually enough. We'll say so rather than sell you a report you don't need.
Defensible
Appraisal report
An independent opinion of value from a state-certified appraiser, developed and reported under USPAP.
- Accepted by courts, the IRS, and counties
- Any effective date, current or retrospective
- Signed and certified, with testimony available
- Flat fee, typically $550–$950 residential
Agent opinion of value
A comparative market analysis from a licensed agent, built around what the property should list for right now.
- Free and usually same-week
- Current market only — no retrospective dates
- Marketing-focused, not a certified opinion
- Not accepted where a formal valuation is required
What you actually receive
Inside the report
A signed PDF, delivered by email, formatted the way reviewers expect to see it.
- The assignment on the record
Client, intended users, intended use, and the effective date of value stated on the front page, so there's no question later what the report was for.
- Subject description and photos
Interior and exterior photos, room count, condition, upgrades, and anything unpermitted or unusual, described rather than glossed over.
- Sketch and measured living area
Square footage measured on site rather than copied from tax records, which are wrong more often than people expect.
- Comparable sales with adjustments
Sales appropriate to the effective date, with each adjustment shown and explained — the part a reviewer reads first.
- Market conditions as of that date
What the neighborhood was doing at the time: direction, pace, and supply. Essential on retrospective assignments.
- Certification and license
Signed certification, license details, and a statement that the fee wasn't contingent on the value reached.
For attorneys, CPAs & fiduciaries
Set up a firm account
If you order valuations for clients more than once or twice a year, a standing account cuts the back-and-forth to a single email with an address and a date.
- Priority schedulingFirm files go to the front of the inspection calendar, with hard court and filing deadlines flagged at intake.
- Billing that fits the matterInvoice the estate, the trust, your trust account, or the client directly — set once and applied to every order.
- Multiple dates in one engagementDate of death and current value, or date of separation and date of trial, handled as one assignment on one inspection.
- Testimony and declarationsDeclarations, deposition, and court testimony quoted separately and scheduled around your calendar.
Tell us how your firm works
Four minutes, once. After that your orders come in pre-configured.
- Your practice area and the counties you file in
- Assignment types you order most
- Typical turnaround and how often deadlines are hard
- Report delivery, copies, and who gets them
- Billing arrangement and who pays
- Whether you need declarations or testimony
No retainer. No minimum volume. Quoted per assignment as always.
Straight answers
Questions families and firms ask
Can you appraise a property as of a date in the past?
Yes — that's a retrospective appraisal, and for estate work it's most of what we do. The value is developed using sales that closed on or before that date and market conditions as they were then. Ten days ago or ten years ago, the process is the same; older dates just take more research, which is reflected in the fee.
What does it cost?
Most residential assignments run $550 to $950, driven by property type, size, how complex the assignment is, and how far back the effective date sits. Acreage, multiple parcels, small income property, and litigation work are quoted individually. You get the number before we start, and the fee is never tied to the value we conclude — that's prohibited, not just discouraged.
How long does it take?
Inspection usually happens within a few business days of scheduling, and the signed report follows five to seven business days after that. Rush service compresses that when a filing or hearing date demands it — say so at intake rather than after.
Do you need to go inside?
An interior inspection produces the most credible result and is what we recommend for anything headed to the IRS or a court. When it isn't possible — the property already sold, a tenant refuses, the family doesn't have keys — we can work from exterior observation and records, with the limits stated plainly in the report so nobody is surprised by them later.
Will the IRS accept it?
A complete appraisal report from a state-certified appraiser, developed under USPAP, is the recognized way to support a value on an estate or gift return. We can't promise what any examiner will do with it, and we're not the ones who decide how the value is reported — that's your CPA's call. What we control is that the reasoning is documented well enough to be defended.
California probate already uses a referee. Why order an appraisal?
The probate referee values estate assets for the Inventory and Appraisal, and that's a court-appointed role we're not replacing. Executors still order independent appraisals to understand the number before it's filed, to support an heir buyout, to document basis for the IRS, or to raise a question about a referee value. Property held in a trust is different — there's no referee at all, and the trustee needs an independent appraisal.
We're in a divorce. Can you work for both sides?
Yes, and it's often the cheaper path — a single jointly-engaged appraiser instead of two competing ones. The engagement letter names both parties or both attorneys, and the report goes to everyone at the same time. Either side is free to hire their own appraiser instead.
Zillow shows a different number.
An automated estimate is a statistical guess from public records that has never seen the inside of the house, can't value a remodel or a failing foundation, and can't produce a value as of a date in the past at all. It's a starting point for curiosity, not a valuation anyone is required to accept.
Who am I hiring?
Mr. Cali Appraisals is an independent California appraisal practice. Appraisals are prepared and signed by a state-certified appraiser under the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice. We don't take a commission on any sale of the property, and we don't take assignments where the fee depends on the outcome.
Get the value documented before someone else needs it.
Two minutes for a fee quote and a turnaround date. Nothing is scheduled until you say so.
Request an appraisal