Knowing What You Have: Working with an Appraiser
Land is valuable. For many landowners, it is the most valuable asset in their estate. So having an accurate estimate of its market value is an important part of planning for your forest’s future, and can be essential for tax planning, setting up conservation easements and other activities that may be part of your estate plan.
To get a precise estimate, you’ll need to work with an appraiser. An appraiser is a professional who is licensed or certified by the state and trained to calculate the current market value of your land.
This section will help prepare you for working with an appraiser. You’ll learn:
- how appraisers do their work
- the differences between your land’s assessed value, its fair market value, and a realtor’s market assessment of your land
- what a “qualified” appraisal means and what is required of it for tax purposes
- how to find a good appraiser and what to expect when working with one
Knowing what you have is an important part of planning for your land’s future—and understanding what appraisers do and how they do it is a key first step to getting that knowledge.
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