Date of Death Appraisals in the Bay Area: Commercial Property and Apartments in Estates and Trusts

Bay Area families hold all kinds of real estate in trusts: a pre-1979 apartment building in the Richmond District or Oakland, a small industrial building in San Leandro or Hayward, a retail building on a Peninsula main street, an R&D building in Sunnyvale, a vineyard in Napa or Sonoma. Many of those properties were bought decades ago. When the owner dies, the first number the trustee, the executor and the CPA all need is what each property was worth on the date of death. Our statewide guide to date-of-death appraisals covers the basics, and our commercial property appraisal page covers how a commercial report is built. This page covers what is different when the property is in the Bay Area.

When does a Bay Area estate or trust need a date-of-death appraisal?

Most of the time when the property is commercial, multifamily or income-producing. Common reasons:

• Stepped-up basis. Under Internal Revenue Code Section 1014(a), property acquired from a decedent generally takes a basis equal to its fair market value at the date of death. Section 1014(b)(6) also covers the surviving spouse’s half of California community property, if at least half of the community interest was includible in the decedent’s gross estate. For a building bought in the 1970s or 1980s, the gap between the old basis and the date-of-death value can be large, so the CPA needs a supported number.
• Estate tax returns. For larger estates, the value of each property goes on the return. Under Section 2032, the executor can elect to value the estate as of six months after death instead, but only if the election lowers both the gross estate and the tax. That can mean two values for the same property.
• Trust administration. A successor trustee dividing or selling property needs values to treat beneficiaries fairly and to report to them. See trust administration appraisals.
• Equalizing shares. One child keeps the apartment building in the city, another takes the East Bay warehouse and a third takes cash. A value for every property, on the same date, is what makes that split fair.
• Property tax. Reassessment, the parent-child exclusion and any appeal of the new value all turn on the date of death and the value on that date (see below).
• Disputes. Heirs, trustees and creditors sometimes disagree about value. An independent, well-supported report keeps the conversation on the evidence.

General information, not legal or tax advice. Your attorney or CPA decides which values you need.

Where are Bay Area probate cases filed?

In the superior court of the county where the decedent lived. The nine Bay Area counties are Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano and Sonoma, and each runs its own probate court. A few examples:

• San Francisco: the Civil Division at the Civic Center Courthouse, 400 McAllister Street, handles probate matters.
• Alameda County: the court says probate documents are filed only in the clerk’s office at the Berkeley Courthouse, 2120 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Berkeley, not in Oakland or Hayward.
• Santa Clara County: probate is heard at the Downtown Superior Court, 191 North First Street, San Jose.
• San Mateo County: the Probate Division handles decedents’ estates and trust matters, with its clerk’s office at the Hall of Justice, 400 County Center, Redwood City.
• Contra Costa County: probate is heard at the Wakefield Taylor Courthouse, 725 Court Street, Martinez.

In a formal probate, the personal representative must file an inventory and appraisal within four months after letters are first issued, unless the court allows more time (Probate Code Section 8800). Under Section 8902, the court-appointed probate referee appraises the real property in the inventory. That referee value serves the court’s inventory. Trustees, heirs and CPAs often still order an independent narrative appraisal for basis, for dividing property or for a dispute. We do not act as a probate referee. We provide independent appraisals to trustees, executors, heirs and their attorneys and CPAs.

Many Bay Area estates never see a courtroom because the property was held in a living trust. Then there is no referee, and the successor trustee needs values on their own.

Why does the date of death decide Prop 58 or Prop 19?

Because the date of death is the date of the change in ownership. The State Board of Equalization’s Prop 19 guidance says the law in effect on the date of death applies, including when a revocable trust becomes irrevocable at death. The difference matters most for exactly the kind of property Bay Area families tend to hold: an apartment or commercial building owned for decades, with a Prop 13 base year value far below today’s market.

• Date of death on or before February 15, 2021 (Prop 58). A parent could transfer to a child, without reassessment, the principal residence with no value limit plus other real property up to a lifetime limit of $1,000,000 of factored base year value per transferor. A long-held building with a low base could fit under that limit.
• Date of death on or after February 16, 2021 (Prop 19). The parent-child exclusion is limited to a family home or a family farm, with a value limit, and Prop 19 eliminates it for other real property. An inherited apartment, retail or industrial building generally gets a new base year value at its market value as of the date of death.

For a family farm or vineyard, Revenue and Taxation Code Section 63.2 applies the exclusion separately to each legal parcel, so a Napa or Sonoma vineyard on several parcels can need a value for each one. See farm and ranch appraisals with several parcels.

Under Revenue and Taxation Code Section 480, the change in ownership statement for a death (BOE-502-D) is due within 150 days after the date of death, or, if the estate is probated, when the inventory and appraisal is filed. If the assessor’s new value looks too high, a supported date-of-death appraisal is the evidence for an appeal. For 2026, the State Board of Equalization lists September 15, 2026 as the end of the regular assessment appeal filing period in Alameda, San Francisco and Santa Clara counties, and November 30, 2026 in Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Mateo, Solano and Sonoma counties. See property tax appeal appraisals.

General information, not legal or tax advice. Confirm how Prop 58 or Prop 19 applies, and your deadlines, with your attorney, your CPA or the Assessment Appeals Board.

What Bay Area issues change a value as of the date of death?

A date-of-death appraisal has to read the property as it was on that date. In the Bay Area, these come up again and again:

• Rent control on the date of death. San Francisco says residential units first constructed after June 13, 1979 are generally exempt from the Rent Ordinance’s rent increase limits, but not its just cause eviction provisions, so most older San Francisco apartments are covered. Oakland’s Rent Adjustment Program lists units built after January 1, 1983 among its most common exemptions. San Jose’s Apartment Rent Ordinance covers apartments in buildings of three or more units built and occupied before September 7, 1979, with one 5% increase allowed in a 12-month period. Elsewhere, most rent increase limits come from state law in Civil Code Section 1947.12. For a long-held building, how far the in-place rents sat below market on the date of death is often the single biggest value question.
• Soft-story and seismic work. San Francisco’s Mandatory Soft Story Retrofit Program, started in 2013, targets older wood-frame buildings with five or more residential units, two or more stories over a basement or underfloor area, and a permit applied for before January 1, 1978. Whether the retrofit was done, under way or still ahead on the date of death changes the cost a buyer would have faced. Statewide, the Alquist-Priolo Earthquake Fault Zones mark regulatory zones around the surface traces of active faults, and the state notes ongoing fault creep along the Hayward Fault where it crosses developed parts of Alameda and Contra Costa counties. Sellers must disclose when a property is in one.
• The Bay shoreline. The Bay Conservation and Development Commission requires permits for most work in the Bay and in the 100-foot shoreline band around it. For waterfront industrial land, marinas and shoreline sites, that is part of highest and best use as of the date.
• The market on that exact date. Bay Area office, R&D and retail markets can change a lot from one year to the next. A San Francisco office building valued as of a 2019 date of death and the same building valued as of a 2024 date of death are two different appraisals, built on two different sets of sales and leases. A retrospective value uses only what was known or knowable on the date.
• Wine country rules. The Napa County Agricultural Preserve, established in 1968, limits what can be built on agricultural land in the valley. For a Napa or Sonoma vineyard or winery, the zoning, permits and planted acreage in place on the date of death all matter.
• Leases and occupancy on the date. A building that was half vacant on the date of death, or that had a below-market lease with years left, is valued that way, even if it is full today.
• Many markets in one region. A Mission District mixed-use building, a Fremont industrial building, a Palo Alto retail building and a Vallejo fourplex do not trade the same way. Comparable sales have to come from the right submarket and the right time. See our Bay Area commercial appraisal page for the property types we see across the region.

Can the appraisal be done years after the date of death?

Yes, and it often is. Trusts can take a long time to settle, and sometimes nobody orders an appraisal until a property is about to be sold, a sibling wants to be bought out or a dispute starts. A retrospective appraisal uses the sales, leases and market conditions that were known or knowable as of the date of death. What helps most is anything that shows the property as it was then: the rent roll and leases in place, rent board filings, operating statements, photos, and records of retrofit work, repairs or permits.

What should you send the appraiser?

• The exact date of death and, if there is one, the probate case number and county
• The purpose: basis, estate tax return, trust administration, division among heirs, a Prop 58 or Prop 19 matter, or a dispute
• A list of every property with address, APN and property type, in the Bay Area and anywhere else in California
• Rent rolls, leases and operating statements from around the date of death, and any rent board registrations or petitions
• Any soft-story or seismic retrofit records, and repair or permit records from that time
• For vineyards and farms: the parcels, planted acreage, water source and any use permits
• Any prior appraisals, purchase contracts, offers or assessor notices
• The attorney or CPA on the estate, and who else will rely on the report

Your appraiser will confirm the exact list on the first call.

How do Bay Area trustees, attorneys and CPAs work with PM Appraisal?

You call (805) 990-9700 and talk to the appraiser who will inspect the properties and write the reports. No coordinator and no AMC portal. We pick up the phone, and we are your ears and eyes on the property. The appraiser inspects the properties in person. Rush commercial appraisals take 5 to 7 business days. Standard timing depends on the property and scope, so call for a timeline on your assignment.

Our opinions are independent. We never take an assignment that requires a predetermined value, and our value conclusion is never tied to the result anyone wants. If heirs or trustees are on opposite sides, tell us at engagement who the client is and who will rely on the report.

Date-of-death work is one example of what we do. PM Appraisal is a family-owned California appraisal firm with about 40 years of work across the state. We appraise every commercial property type, from office, R&D, retail, industrial and multifamily to gas stations, hotels, land, vineyards, medical, care facilities and special-use property, and every kind of commercial appraisal: estate and trust, divorce, retroactive, partition, partner and LLC buyouts, fractional interests, eminent domain, tax appeal, lending and consulting. If the estate holds property in several counties, see multi-property portfolio appraisals and our pages for the Bay Area, Sacramento, Stockton and Modesto and San Luis Obispo and Monterey. Other county guides: date of death appraisal in Los Angeles, Orange County, San Diego and Sacramento. See all services.

This article is general information, not legal or tax advice. Talk to your attorney or CPA about your estate, your trust and your situation.

Keep reading

• Date of death appraisals
• Commercial appraisal in the Bay Area
• Date of death appraisal in California: a guide
• Trust administration appraisals in California
• Family LLC property appraisals in California
• Retroactive appraisals
• Commercial property appraisal
• Estate and trust appraisals

This article is general information, not legal or tax advice. Talk to your attorney or CPA about your situation.