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Sandy Estate & Probate

Sandy Utah estate appraiser — retrospective valuations for family estates

Independent estate appraisals in Sandy, Draper, and the south Salt Lake County corridor. 5-7 business days, USPAP-compliant, deposition-ready.

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Dan Miner · Certified Residential Appraiser · Utah Lic. 10948175‑CR00

Sandy family homes purchased in the 1980s and 1990s often carry the biggest step-up-basis opportunity in a Salt Lake County estate. The parents bought at $80-140K. The homes now sit at $700-900K. Without a documented date-of-death value, the heirs' eventual sale creates a taxable gain the parent never intended to leave behind.

The estate appraisal is the document that fixes that basis in writing.

Miner Appraisals handles Sandy estate appraisals directly. Retrospective USPAP methodology, engagement letter before conflict check, reports in 5-7 business days.

Sandy market context

Sandy's residential market breaks cleanly into three tiers. The older west-side tract housing built between 1975 and 1990 now sits in the $600-800K range — the "starter home for the parents, family home for the kids" segment. The mid-tier bench neighborhoods, particularly around 9800 South and 10600 South, run $750K-1.1M. And the east-bench and Alta View corridor — Draper-adjacent, foothill views — regularly transacts at $1.2-2M. Each tier has its own comp set and its own market-conditions adjustment factors for retrospective work.

What Sandy estate & probate appraisals specifically involve

Sandy estate appraisals often deal with houses that appreciated 3-5× between the parent's purchase and death — a 1990s $130K becoming a 2024 $700K is common. That gap makes step-up basis documentation genuinely valuable. IRC § 1014 lets the heirs' basis reset to the date-of-death fair market value, so a well-documented appraisal converts the parent's $570K taxable gain into an heir's $0 taxable gain on eventual sale. The appraisal fee earns out several thousand times over.

Sandy coverage — neighborhoods and submarkets

Sandy coverage regularly includes: Sandy proper, Alta View, White City, Willow Creek, Bell Canyon, Little Cottonwood corridor, 10600 South bench, 9800 South corridor, Historic Sandy, Sandy Heights. Each has its own comp set and its own market character; the report reflects the specific submarket the subject property lives in.

Fee and turnaround

Fee range: $550-800 for a standard single-family home. Standard SFH; higher for east-bench luxury or older retrospective dates.

Turnaround: 5-7 business days from inspection to signed report. Rush available at additional surcharge for court-deadline or IRS-filing pressure. Fee due at inspection; engagement letter delivered before the conflict check clears.

Frequently asked

$550-800 for a standard Sandy single-family home. Alta View and east-bench properties with view premium run toward $700-800. Ultra-luxury Little Cottonwood-adjacent homes or historic Sandy properties with unusual features can run $800-1,100. Fee due at inspection, report in 5-7 business days from inspection.
Yes. Retrospective appraisals with historical effective dates 5-10 years back are routine work. The report methodology is USPAP-compliant retrospective, with comps from the effective-date window rather than current. Fee is toward the top of the standard range because the historical comp research takes more time. Documentation is defensible for the IRS step-up basis on the eventual sale.
Above-grade GLA and below-grade finished space are reported separately under ANSI Z765 — the Fannie Mae mandatory standard since April 2022. Below-grade finished space, even when finished as a separate mother-in-law apartment, doesn't add to the GLA reported above-grade. The report will document both the above-grade GLA and the below-grade finished square footage separately, and the value adjustment for the finished basement will reflect the market's actual $/sqft discount for below-grade space (typically 40-60% of the above-grade rate).
The appraisal is engaged by the executor or estate attorney — that's the client. The report goes to them. If individual heirs have questions after seeing the report, they should route those through the executor or the estate attorney, not directly to the appraiser. That preserves the USPAP scope-of-work integrity and keeps the appraiser out of any inter-heir disputes about value.

Related reading

The service side of this work: Estate & probate appraisal service page. For the Salt Lake County coverage overview: Salt Lake County coverage details. Related field notes:

Miner Appraisals is an independent, non-AMC residential appraisal practice in Utah — owner-operated by Dan Miner, Utah Certified Residential Appraiser (Lic. 10948175-CR00). Direct engagement, signed reports, USPAP-compliant. See the estate & probate service hub, the Salt Lake County coverage page, or the full service catalog. Practicing since 2017.