Divorce Appraisal

Divorce appraisals vary based on the need. Usually, a desktop or full appraisal is sufficient, and if a case goes to court, then a full, self-contained report would be required.

The divorce appraisal can be a current market value or a retrospective value based on a prior date- usually a date of separation or another date determined by an attorney. The effective date is the date the value is based on. It may be a current date or a date in the past.

The divorce appraisal may be assigned because a spouse wants to buy the other spouse’s interest in the house, the house may have to be sold, the house may be one of many assets in an estate that is being fed into a court calculator that will later determine how Solomon’s baby is divvied up. What most divorce appraisals have in common are spouses who are not very kind to one another. As an appraiser, we are dedicated to staying objective and ensuring the most thorough report.

Physical attributes: The divorce appraisal considers the home’s physical attributes as of the effective date of the assignment.

Contributory value: The divorce appraisal reports various amenities and their contributory value for the specific submarket. For example, a pool may cost $100,000 to install, but it may have a contributory value of $60,000 for one submarket and only $15,000 for another submarket. Other amenities may require contribution value extraction from the market: secondary garages, outbuildings, equine improvements, barns, etc.

The subject’s submarket: The divorce appraisal explains the statistics within the submarket. What is the criteria within the submarket? How many homes in the submarket recently sold, and what was the range? What is the current days on the market? How many months of inventory are there? What are the most common financing types in the submarket? What is the median concession amount for this submarket (this means how much do sellers usually give the buyer in the form of credit)?

What market is the subject in?

There are two markets for home sales: the wholesale market and the retail market. The listing appraisal explains which market the subject is in. A lot has to do with the condition and if the home adheres to various lending guidelines for collateralization.

Appraisals for court: Appraisals Hub, has an on staff SRA that has been an expert witness in courts of law for divorce appraisals. If the case is going to trial, the completed report is upgraded to self-contained.

Level of fieldwork: can be desktop or full inspection, comps are not inspected nor photographed from the street.