Getting the date of death value documented early protects the executor. If the home was the deceased's principal residence, the gain to that date is generally sheltered, but the estate is then exposed to any increase between that date and the eventual sale. A defensible written opinion of value as of the date of death, kept with the estate file, is what an executor produces if the return is ever reviewed.
Brevoort Park is an east side neighbourhood built largely in the 1960s, and the typical inherited property there is an original bungalow held by one family for decades. Those homes tend to be structurally sound with generous lots and mature yards, and tired in the places buyers look first: kitchen, bathrooms, flooring and windows. Buyers discount visible dating heavily, often more than the actual cost of the work.
That is the trap for an estate. Forty years of maintenance, a new furnace, shingles, a rebuilt garage, a developed basement, none of it appears in an automated estimate or a tax assessment, while every dated finish is visible in photographs. Joel Dyck inspects the house, records the improvements that were never permitted or recorded, and prices it against genuine Brevoort Park sales.
Get your hand-reviewed valuation from Joel Dyck.