An inherited house is valued one address at a time, as of one date.
Settling an estate, buying out a sibling's share or answering an accountant's question all begin with what the Baltimore house was worth on a particular day. Begin by sending the address, the purpose of the value and your deadline.
Get an estate appraisal quote | Call (443) 909-2324
What a citywide figure leaves out
An average sale price or an online estimate summarizes many transactions. It cannot see the roof that leaked, the kitchen that was never updated or the addition built decades ago, and it says nothing about value on a past date. An estate appraisal gives an opinion of value for a single property at a stated effective date, for a use agreed up front.
The same house can need different reports. A personal representative preparing an inventory, siblings discussing a buyout, a trustee and a tax adviser may each need a different date or level of detail, so name every user before the assignment starts.
Three questions before the appraiser visits
Which date?
Usually the date of death, though a buyout or a sale can call for a current date. The day you order the report and the day being valued are often months apart.
What condition?
If heirs have already repaired or updated the house, its earlier condition has to be documented from records rather than from today's walk-through.
Which sales compare?
Two houses on the same Baltimore block can differ in size, layout, updates and parking. Comparable sales have to be studied for those differences, not simply averaged.
Maryland's two death taxes, and the federal one
Maryland has both an inheritance tax and an estate tax. They are separate taxes, and either one can depend on the house's date-of-death value.
- Maryland inheritance tax. A 10% tax on the clear value of property that passes to someone outside the exempt groups (Tax-General § 7-204). A spouse, children and stepchildren and their descendants, parents, grandparents, brothers and sisters, and spouses of children are among those exempt under § 7-203(b). The Register of Wills determines and collects it; for a Baltimore City estate, that office is the Register of Wills for Baltimore City.
- Maryland estate tax. For a death on or after January 1, 2019, the Maryland exclusion amount is $5,000,000, plus any unused exclusion carried over from a deceased spouse (Tax-General § 7-309). The 2026 Maryland return, Form MET-1, is required when the gross estate plus adjusted taxable gifts (and certain property from an earlier Maryland QTIP election) equals or exceeds $5,000,000, even if no federal return is due. It is filed directly with the Comptroller within nine months after the date of death. The tax is capped at 16% of the amount by which the taxable estate exceeds the exclusion, and Maryland inheritance tax paid is subtracted from it.
- Federal estate tax. No inheritance tax is levied at the federal level. Federal estate tax is a liability of the estate, which the executor pays, and it reaches only estates over the threshold for the year of death; the IRS estate tax page puts the cutoff for a U.S. citizen or resident who dies in 2026 three times as high as Maryland's, at $15,000,000.
An estate can therefore reach Maryland's estate tax line while sitting well below the federal one.
What this means for the house
For inheritance tax, Maryland generally uses the appraised value required on the probate inventory (Tax-General § 7-207). For the Maryland estate tax, the 2026 MET-1 instructions list all appraisals used to value property, real property included, among the documentation to submit with the return. Your attorney or tax adviser should confirm which tax applies and which date to value. An appraisal supports a figure; it cannot promise a tax outcome or anyone's acceptance of the report.
The house the owner left, not the house you see today
If fresh paint, a new furnace or a cleared basement came after the death, a visit today shows the later house. Photos taken before the work, old listing pages, inspection reports and contractor invoices help the appraiser separate the condition on the date of death from what changed afterward. The appraiser decides how far that evidence supports the opinion, and the report states any assumption the records leave open.
In a historic neighborhood, the exact address matters more than the neighborhood name. Baltimore's Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation (CHAP) notes that the Fells Point Historic District covers only a small portion of the larger area commonly called Fells Point, and its district list marks Federal Hill and Mount Vernon as both National Register and Baltimore City historic districts. Tell us whether the house sits inside a designated district; it helps the appraiser choose comparable sales.
What to gather first
| Item | Use |
|---|---|
| The inherited home's street address and type | Points to the right comparable sales |
| Date of death, and whether an estate is open with the Register of Wills | Sets the effective date; an open regular estate has an inventory deadline |
| Every person or office expected to use the report | Lets the scope cover each user's needs from the start |
| Photos, old listings and invoices that predate any work | Documents the earlier condition |
| Entry to the house, and your deadline for the report | Shapes the inspection and delivery schedule |
| Directions from the lawyer or accountant handling the estate | Confirms the date and reporting the use requires |
How an estate appraisal proceeds
- Agree the assignment. We confirm the property, purpose, users, effective date and deadline, then agree the scope, fee and delivery estimate in writing.
- Document the house. You arrange access if an inspection is needed and share the records you have about condition and later changes.
- Analyze the evidence. Sales from around the effective date are compared with the house, and the report walks through why they point to the value given.
- Check it before it is relied on. Go through the effective date, the stated use and the assumptions, and ask about anything that looks wrong.
Fee and delivery for an estate appraisal
Leave room before any filing date, including the nine-month Maryland estate tax deadline where it applies. Ask for a written scope, fee and delivery estimate for your property, intended use and deadline. If the house is part of an open probate estate, the probate appraisal page covers the inventory rules; for an heir's basis question, see IRS step-up appraisals, or browse all of our appraisal services.
Tell us about the inherited house
Send the Baltimore address, the date of death, the purpose and your deadline, and we can go over the scope and next steps.
Get an estate appraisal quote | Call (443) 909-2324
Written with AI assistance for The Appraising Group Baltimore. It outlines how Maryland estate appraisals work and stops short of valuing any home or advising on law or taxes.