What was the house worth on the day it was inherited?

The answer turns on the house's condition then, the sales around that date and who will rely on the report. Start with the address, the date of death and the reason a value is needed.

Request an estate appraisal quote · Call (856) 242-7771

Why a township median cannot value an inherited house

A median is the middle of many sale prices. It cannot see a failed furnace or a kitchen nobody updated, and it describes one month, not the day of death. An estate appraisal instead gives a reasoned opinion of what this particular house was worth on the effective date, for the use agreed at the outset.

Cherry Hill shows why that matters. The demographics chapter of the township's 2018 master plan describes housing built mostly between 1940 and 1980, made up primarily of three- and four-bedroom single-family homes, and notes that many residents have lived in the same home for 25 years or longer. A house held that long can look quite different from the updated houses selling around it.

September 2026 in five numbers

Our service area page publishes Realtors Property Resource figures for the area RPR labels Cherry Hill, New Jersey. For September 2026: a median sold price of $515,000 across 80 sales, a median of 15 days listed before sale, a sold-to-list price of 100.9% and a median of $258 per square foot.

September 2026 · Area: Cherry Hill, New Jersey · Single Family + Condo/Townhouse/Apt. · Source: RPR, Sold Listings (download the CSV)

Those figures mix property types across the whole township and describe September 2026, which is rarely the month an estate needs.

Cherry Hill heirs and the New Jersey inheritance tax

For anyone who died in 2018 or later, New Jersey charges no estate tax, but its inheritance tax still applies, tied by the Division of Taxation to each beneficiary's relationship to the person who died and to the date-of-death value of what that beneficiary receives. The beneficiary classes, with rates from Form O-10-C:

Class A, no tax: a spouse; a civil union or domestic partner (within the dates the Division lists); children, adopted children included; grandchildren and great-grandchildren; parents and grandparents; a mutually acknowledged child; and stepchildren, though not step-grandchildren.
Class C: a sibling, or a son- or daughter-in-law (a child's civil union partner counts too); each owes nothing on the first $25,000 received, then 11% to 16%.
Class D: everyone outside Classes A, C and E, such as a niece, nephew, cousin or friend: 15% up to $700,000 and 16% beyond.
Class E, no tax: qualified charities and other exempt institutions, and the State and its political subdivisions.

Any transfer to a beneficiary outside Class A brings a filing duty; for a New Jersey resident, Form IT-R goes in no later than eight months after the death (filing requirements).

What the Division of Taxation accepts as proof of value

Schedule A of the return wants the property's full market value on the date of death, which the return instructions define as its open-market price in the condition it was in that day. Three methods rank as best: a certified real estate appraiser's report (a copy goes with the return), an arm's-length sale soon after the death, and a comparative market analysis using sales from the twelve months before it, a window the Division offers only as a suggestion. Realtor opinion letters, website estimates, list prices, the equalization ratio and the assessed value are discouraged and may draw an audit that holds up the estate, and the Division can appraise the property itself and disagree with any reported value.

When no appraised value is needed

When the reported real estate passes straight to Class A beneficiaries, the IT-R instructions do not require an appraised market value, and a house spouses or civil union partners held as tenants by the entirety is not reported at the first death and passes without a waiver. Other New Jersey real property generally needs the Division's Form 0-1 waiver, issued only by its Inheritance Tax Branch, before title leaves the decedent's name (waiver requirements); for an untaxable estate passing wholly to Class A beneficiaries that needs a filing only for the house, Form L-9 can request it. Your attorney or tax adviser can say which filings apply.

Uncontested probate for a Cherry Hill resident takes place at the Camden County Surrogate's Court, which issues the letters that let an executor or administrator act; see our probate appraisal page.

What federal law adds for Cherry Hill heirs

No federal inheritance tax applies to a Cherry Hill heir; none exists. The federal estate tax is a charge on the estate that the executor pays. Its filing line, for a U.S. citizen or resident who dies in 2026, sits at $15,000,000, measured by the gross estate together with adjusted taxable gifts and specific gift tax exemption; electing portability also requires a return. Heirs generally leave an inheritance out of their income (Publication 525).

Basis is where federal rules usually touch an heir: the IRS puts it, generally, at the fair market value on the date of death, and selling above basis produces a taxable gain. An executor can elect a date six months later only on an estate tax return and within the conditions of 26 U.S.C. 2032. For a house spouses held as tenants by the entirety, IRS Publication 551 counts half its value in the first spouse's estate; ask your tax adviser before assuming the whole house steps up.

Proving what the house was like then

If the house has been emptied, repaired or updated since the death, a walk-through today cannot show what was there. Dated photographs, an old listing, inspection reports and repair receipts help, and for damage present at the death the Division's instructions ask for photographs and paid repair invoices. The report states any assumption it must make where records run out.

Before you call

The address, the date of death and any other date your attorney names, since an inventory, a tax return and a buyout may each need a different one.
The report's readers: the executor, the heirs, the attorney or an accountant.
Access and any deadline, such as the eight-month return date.

The estate appraisal, step by step

Scope in writing. The property, purpose, intended users, effective date and deadline are confirmed, with the fee and delivery estimate, before work begins.
Entry and records. We arrange to see the house and review what you have on its condition at the effective date.
The analysis and the report. Sales from the relevant period are compared and reconciled into an opinion of value; look over the report's effective date, stated use and limiting conditions, and tell the appraiser about any factual slip.

Cost and turnaround for an estate report

Historical research, the size and condition of the house, access and the deadline all affect what the work costs and when it can be delivered. Ask for a written scope, fee and delivery estimate.

Next step: the Cherry Hill address and the date of death

Give us the address, the date of death and the reason for the appraisal. Request an estate appraisal quote or call (856) 242-7771.

Drafted with AI assistance for The Appraising Group Cherry Hill from the Division of Taxation, Cherry Hill Township, IRS and federal code sources linked above; it is neither tax nor legal advice, and it values no property.