estate appraisals

An estate appraisal is completed on "real property"--land and/or buildings, meaning property that is tangile, and all the rights and responsibilities associated with that property. This includes not just homes and buildings in urban, suburban and rural areas, but timber rights and other rights associated with land that has no structure, and ad valorem (property tax), for instance.

Appraisals provided on real estate are most often completed for buying and selling the property or activity related to finance such as refinancing, lending, insurance, estate taxes, property taxes, and eminent domain (condemnation).

This appraisal is also usually required for the equal distribution of the contents of an estate, and can be due to a death or possibly a divorce where the contents must either be liquidated or divided. The appraisal of the personal property of an estate is also usually required.

This last appraisal is often held at a highly stressful time for an individual or family, and it's imperative that the person who does the appraisal be someone who isn't emotionally involved in the need for the distribution, but someone who is sensitive to the situation and responsive to the needs of those involved, and who treats the materials being sold with dignity and respect.