Personally, I would not hire a professsonal appraiser. I would use two experienced real estate agents to estimate the market value. The IRS allows this, and they most likely will never question your appraisal. Agents who are actively involved in selling houses will give you a more accurate estimate of the actual market value. You may offer a small fee to an agent, but I think you will be able to find agents who will do it for free with the hope of getting future business from you or a referral. Note that you can use the date six months after death in lieu of the date of death, if you want to do that.
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