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Retrospective Appraisals in Palm Beach & Broward County

Straightforward retrospective appraisals from Slater Appraisals, Inc.. Independent, well-supported valuations with clear, upfront fees.

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A retrospective appraisal is required any time the relevant value isn't today's value — it's the value as of a specific date in the past. The need arises in estate matters when the date of death precedes the appraisal by months or years, in divorce proceedings when the date of separation establishes the relevant valuation point, in partnership dissolutions, in casualty loss claims where the IRS requires a pre-loss value, and in a range of other legal and tax situations where the effective date is fixed and cannot simply be moved to the present for convenience. Using a current value in these situations isn't just imprecise — in many cases it's incorrect under the applicable legal or tax standard.

Preparing a credible retrospective appraisal requires reconstructing the market as it existed on the effective date. That means identifying comparable sales that closed around that date, analyzing the trends that were active in the South Florida market at that time, and drawing conclusions based on what buyers and sellers were doing then — not what they're doing now. Slater Appraisals, Inc. maintains access to historical market data and has the experience to interpret past market conditions accurately. The finished report documents the methodology clearly enough that attorneys, accountants, and taxing authorities reviewing it can follow the historical analysis without needing to question the sourcing or the logic.

Retrospective appraisals are often ordered under some degree of time pressure — a legal filing deadline, a tax return due date, or a court-imposed schedule — and the work requires care that can't be rushed carelessly. Clients across Palm Beach County and Broward County who come to Slater Appraisals, Inc. for a retrospective valuation receive a report that is prepared with the same rigor as any other assignment, anchored to the required date, and structured to withstand professional review. When the report is used in a proceeding or submitted to a taxing authority, the goal is that the historical analysis speaks clearly enough that the value conclusion stands on its own.

What's Included

Every retrospective appraisals visit includes

  • Value as of any prior date
  • Historical market analysis
  • Suitable for legal and IRS use
  • Defensible supporting documentation

Fee quoted per assignment

Service Area

Serving Palm Beach & Broward County

West Palm BeachBoca RatonDelray BeachBoynton BeachWellingtonJupiterFort LauderdalePompano BeachCoral SpringsHollywood
The Process

How a retrospective appraisal works

1

Set the effective date

The assignment starts with the past date that matters — a date of death, a divorce filing, a casualty event, the day a property converted to a rental, or any other date your situation requires.

2

Reconstruct the property

Using prior listings, photographs, permits, and county records, Robin establishes the property's condition as of that date — not as it stands today.

3

Research the historical market

Comparable sales are pulled from the months surrounding the effective date. The value reflects that market, at that moment.

4

Deliver the documented opinion

The written report states the retrospective value with its full support — built for the attorney, CPA, or agency that will rely on it.

Common Uses

When the date matters as much as the number

Retrospective values answer questions that current market value simply can't:

  • Estate settlement and stepped-up basis (date-of-death values)
  • Capital gains calculations — value when a property was inherited, gifted, or converted to a rental
  • Divorce cases using a filing or separation date
  • Insurance and casualty claims requiring pre-loss value
  • Tax disputes and amended filings involving a prior year's value
Frequently Asked Questions

Questions about this service

Decades, if the records support it. South Florida sales data, county records, and MLS archives reach well into the past, and Robin's own four-plus decades appraising this market are themselves a resource — she was working these neighborhoods when many of those historical comps closed.

No — it's the same discipline pointed at a different date. In some ways the analysis is cleaner: the market around the effective date is fully settled, with complete data on what actually sold and for how much.

Old listing photos, inspection reports, permits, insurance records, and family photographs all help. If little documentation exists, Robin works from county records and the property's current state, with assumptions clearly disclosed in the report.

Estate and family law attorneys, CPAs, executors and trustees, and homeowners responding to IRS questions are the most common clients. The report is prepared to the documentation standard those professionals require.

Also Available

Other services we handle

Full list on our services page.

Residential Real Estate Appraisals

Complete appraisal reports for single-family homes and residential properties throughout Palm Beach and Broward County, prepared with more than four decades of local market knowledge. Includes a full interior and exterior inspection, photographs, sketch, market analysis, and comparable sales research specific to the subject's neighborhood. Reports are written to be defensible for lenders, attorneys, or private use. Typical turnaround is a few business days after inspection, depending on complexity. Every report is prepared personally by Robin Slater.

Learn more

Estate & Date-of-Death Appraisals

Retrospective valuations for estate settlement and probate, giving attorneys, executors, and families a defensible value as of the date required. Reports are prepared to IRS-friendly standards with historical comparable sales pulled from the effective date, not today's market. Used for step-up in basis calculations, estate tax filings, and distribution among heirs. Delivered in a format that won't slow down a probate filing or trigger follow-up questions from an accountant or auditor.

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Divorce & Family Law Appraisals

Independent, unbiased valuations for equitable distribution. Clear, well-supported reports that stand up in negotiation and in court. Robin works with attorneys on both sides and with mediators, and can serve as a neutral joint appraiser when both parties agree. Reports include full supporting documentation and can be accompanied by testimony if the case requires it. Confidential handling, professional communication with counsel, and turnaround that respects court and mediation deadlines.

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Pre-Listing Appraisals

Know what your home is really worth before you list. An objective valuation that helps sellers price with confidence and avoid leaving money on the table, or chasing the market down with price cuts. Unlike a broker's opinion, a pre-listing appraisal is prepared by a disinterested third party with no commission at stake. Useful for owners considering a sale, negotiating with a buyer directly, or evaluating an offer that came in below expectations.

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Tax Assessment Appeals

An independent appraisal to support a property tax appeal when your assessed value looks out of line with the market. Palm Beach and Broward County assessments can lag or overshoot actual values, especially in fast-moving neighborhoods. A defensible appraisal, prepared as of the assessment date, gives you the evidence needed to petition the Value Adjustment Board or negotiate directly with the property appraiser's office. Timing matters, so call early in the appeal window.

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PMI Removal Appraisals

Current-value appraisals homeowners can use to petition their lender to remove private mortgage insurance once equity supports it. Many South Florida owners have gained enough value to drop PMI but don't realize the lender will accept an independent appraisal as evidence. The report is prepared to standard lender format so it can be submitted directly to your servicer. In most cases the appraisal fee is recovered within a couple of months of PMI savings.

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Retrospective Appraisals in Palm Beach & Broward County

Slater Appraisals, Inc. delivers date-anchored retrospective valuations built to satisfy attorneys, CPAs, and taxing authorities throughout South Florida.

Why South Florida Market Conditions Make Retrospective Work Unique

Palm Beach and Broward County real estate has moved through several distinct cycles — the post-2008 distressed-sale period, the sharp 2020–2022 appreciation run, and the coastal inventory shifts driven by flood-zone remapping under FEMA's Risk Rating 2.0. Each of those phases produced market conditions that look nothing like the present, and a retrospective appraisal assigned to any date within them requires an appraiser who was actively working those neighborhoods at the time.

Homes in coastal ZIP codes across Boca Raton, Delray Beach, and Boynton Beach carry flood-insurance and permitting histories that materially affected marketability at specific points in the past. In Wellington, equestrian property values tracked a micro-market with its own seasonal demand patterns that diverge from the broader county trend. A report that doesn't account for those local dynamics — using only county-wide medians as a proxy — won't hold up when an attorney or IRS examiner asks how the specific neighborhood was behaving on the effective date.

Slater Appraisals maintains deep archives of Palm Beach County and Broward County sales data reaching back decades. When the effective date falls in a period of rapid appreciation, distress, or unusual seasonal compression, the analysis calls that out explicitly so the reader understands why the historical comp selection looks the way it does.

What Determines Whether a Retrospective Report Will Hold Up

The most common reason a retrospective appraisal gets challenged — by opposing counsel, a CPA, or an IRS examiner — isn't the value conclusion itself. It's the documentation trail. If the comparable sales selection can't be tied clearly to the effective date, if the market-trend analysis doesn't reference the actual conditions active on that date, or if property condition as of the past date is assumed rather than supported, the report becomes vulnerable.

Every retrospective assignment from Slater Appraisals starts by establishing what the property actually was on the effective date — not what it is today. That means pulling prior listing photographs, reviewing permit history through the Palm Beach or Broward county portal, and identifying any improvements, damage events, or condition changes that occurred after the effective date and need to be excluded from the analysis. The comparable grid is then built from sales that closed within a defensible window around that date, with time-adjustment logic that reflects documented market movement — not a generic rate applied across all years.

The finished report is written so that a non-appraiser — an estate attorney, a family law judge, a CPA preparing an amended return — can follow the historical reasoning without needing to question sourcing. That transparency is what allows the value conclusion to stand on its own when the report enters a proceeding or a filing.

Common questions

Can a retrospective appraisal be used for a federal estate tax return or IRS inquiry?
Yes. The IRS requires that estate and casualty-loss valuations reflect value as of a specific past date, and a USPAP-compliant retrospective appraisal is the standard way to satisfy that requirement. The report from Slater Appraisals documents the methodology, comparable data, and market conditions in the format that CPAs and tax counsel expect to submit or rely on.
What if very little documentation exists about the property's past condition?
Limited documentation is common, especially for older effective dates. In those cases, the analysis works from county property records, historical permit data available through the Palm Beach or Broward county portal, and the property's current state — with any assumptions about past condition explicitly disclosed in the report. Disclosed assumptions are defensible; undisclosed ones are not, and the report is written accordingly.
How long does a retrospective appraisal take, and does the past effective date affect the timeline?
The effective date doesn't lengthen the timeline significantly — the work is driven by how quickly historical records and comp data can be assembled, not by the date itself. Most assignments are completed within the same timeframe as a current appraisal. If there's a legal filing deadline or tax return due date driving the order, that context is noted at the start of the assignment so the schedule is understood.

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