If you have inherited a home in Huntington Beach, one number will matter later: what the house was worth on the day the owner passed away. That figure is your starting point for taxes when you sell. A written appraisal for that date puts it on paper while the records are still easy to find. Here is how it works, and what to ask your tax adviser.

Ask for a retrospective appraisal quote · Phone 657-845-8112

What a step-up rests on

Internal Revenue Code section 1014(a) generally resets an heir’s basis to the property’s fair market value on the date the owner passed away. IRS Publication 551 describes fair market value as the price a willing buyer and seller would agree on, neither under pressure and both reasonably informed. Because it looks back to a past date, appraisers treat this as a retrospective assignment, and you may hear it called a step-up or date-of-death appraisal.

Nothing guarantees the number goes up. If the home was worth less than the owner’s basis, the heir’s basis follows the lower value, so “step-up” is not a promise of savings. Check the date and the use with your tax adviser before you order.

Both halves of a community property home

Publication 551 lists California as a community property state, which matters when the owners were married. Section 1014(b)(6) reaches the surviving spouse’s half as well: when the first spouse passes away, the survivor’s half of the community property can also be re-based, so the whole home takes the value on that date, as long as at least half of the community interest was includible in the estate. That is true whether or not an estate tax return is due.

Whether a house was community property is a state-law question. Family Code section 760 generally treats property acquired during a marriage, while living in California, as community property, and how the home was bought and financed can change the answer. Your tax adviser should confirm it before anyone relies on re-basing both halves.

The day the owner passed away, or six months later

Unless something else is chosen, the effective date is the date of passing. Section 2032 lets an executor use a date six months later instead, with conditions: it is elected on the federal estate tax return, only when it lowers both the gross estate and the tax, and it cannot be undone. Anything sold or distributed in those six months is valued on the date it happened. Your adviser decides whether the election is in play.

If the estate files Form 706

Under the current Form 706 instructions, a federal estate tax return is due for a U.S. citizen or resident who passes away in 2026 in two cases: the gross estate, with adjusted taxable gifts and the specific exemption added, exceeds $15,000,000, or the executor elects to transfer the unused exclusion to a surviving spouse. Schedule A asks how each real estate value was reached and for the appraisals used. Your attorney or tax adviser will know whether the estate files.

California inheritance tax, and the federal rules for heirs

According to the State Controller’s Office, California has had no inheritance tax for deaths since June 8, 1982, and no California estate tax return is required for deaths on or after January 1, 2005. Federal law has no inheritance tax either. The federal estate tax (26 U.S.C. 2001) falls on the transfer of the taxable estate and is paid by the executor, and for 2026 it reaches only estates over the threshold above. For heirs, IRS guidance says an inheritance is generally not income, though income the property earns later, such as rent, is taxable. The basis you take is generally the home’s value on the date of passing, and selling above it creates a taxable gain. Documenting that value is what this appraisal is for.

Three questions about a past date

What did the house look like then? The City of Huntington Beach’s 2013-2021 Housing Element (adopted in 2020, citing 2005-2009 American Community Survey data) counts 76 percent of owner-occupied homes as built before 1980. In a house that old, a roof, kitchen or bath replaced since the owner passed away changes what an inspection shows today. Dated photographs, an earlier listing, inspection reports and invoices let the appraiser describe the home as it stood on the date.

What was selling then? Comparable sales have to come from around the effective date. The September 2026 citywide median on our service area page covers one recent month across all of Huntington Beach, so it cannot stand in for the month the owner passed away.

Which part of the city? A Huntington Harbour house on the water, a home near downtown and a condo close to Bella Terra draw on different sets of sales. The address narrows the field, and the home’s own features finish the job.

The same date shows up elsewhere in Orange County

If the estate is in probate, the court’s probate referee sets the inventory value under Probate Code sections 8901 and 8902 unless the court waives the referee, and Orange County probate is heard at the Costa Mesa Justice Complex. A private appraisal for the date of passing does not replace that value, but it can document the heirs’ basis. Ask your attorney or adviser how the two fit, and see probate appraisals. If a parent leaves the home to a child, BOE Publication 801 treats the date of passing as the Proposition 19 transfer date, and the claim goes to the Orange County Assessor; see estate appraisals. Ask your adviser and us together whether one report can cover more than one of these needs.

Records worth collecting

The date of passing, plus the effective date your adviser picked
Whether the owner was married, and how the home was titled
The address, the type of home and how we will get in
Photographs, listings or reports dated near the effective date
Work done on the home since, with dates
Who will use the report, and any filing deadline

How it goes

Terms. The date, purpose, readers and deadline are settled, along with a written scope, fee and delivery estimate, before work begins.
Evidence. The visit is arranged around you, and your records of the home’s earlier condition are reviewed.
The period. Sales and market conditions around the date are analyzed, and the report shows the reasoning.
Your read. Look over the date, the stated use and the assumptions, and send factual corrections to us.

Cost and turnaround

Ask for a written scope, fee and delivery estimate. How far back the date goes, what records exist, access to the home and any filing deadline all affect it.

Send the address and the date

Give us the Huntington Beach property, the effective date from your adviser and the names or roles of the report’s users.