Do I need an appraisal before selling?
Usually not, in order to sell. A formal appraisal is a written valuation produced for a third party who requires one — a probate or estate-tax filing, an insurer, a division between heirs that has to be demonstrably fair, or a charitable-donation deduction. If none of those apply to you, an appraisal is a document you are paying for and nobody is going to read.
What you actually need before selling is different: you need to know what is in the house, what is worth selling, and which route fits. That is a valuation walkthrough, and ours is free and carries no obligation to sell through us. It is not an appraisal and does not pretend to be one — no signed document, no figure for a court file.
The person who can tell you whether your estate requires the formal kind is the estate's attorney, because it depends on the filings, not on the contents. If they say you need one, get one first: a formal appraisal has to be done before anything is sold or moved.
Which one you need
| Why you are asking | What you need |
|---|---|
| A probate or estate-tax filing requires a value | A formal appraisal — ask the estate's attorney which kind |
| Insuring items you are keeping | A formal appraisal, for the insurer |
| Heirs are dividing items and it has to be seen to be fair | A formal appraisal, so the number is not one family member's opinion |
| Claiming a deduction for a donation | A formal appraisal, to the standard the deduction requires |
| Deciding whether to hold a sale, an auction, or take a buyout | A valuation walkthrough — free, no obligation |
| Finding out whether anything in the house is worth keeping back | A valuation walkthrough |
Why the order matters if you do need one
An appraisal values what was there. Once contents have been sold, given to family or cleared, there is nothing left to appraise and no honest way to reconstruct it. If the estate needs a formal valuation, that comes first and everything else waits — which is exactly why the question is worth asking the attorney early rather than after the sale is booked.
What a walkthrough tells you
It costs nothing and commits you to nothing. If the answer is that you do not need us, that is a fine answer to get.
- What is in the house that has real resale value, and what does not
- Which items are worth holding back from a general sale
- Whether there is enough to justify an on-site sale, or whether a buyout fits better
- What the property will need once it is empty, if it is being sold