Prop 19 appraisal in Sacramento: the home’s value on the transfer date
A Prop 19 appraisal gives families, trustees and attorneys an independent market value as of the date a home changed hands, so you know what the county assessor is likely to compare against the exclusion limit. Order it before the assessor’s notice arrives and before any decision to sell, move in or buy out a sibling.
What Prop 19 changed, and where a value comes in
Before 2021, a child who inherited a parent’s home in California usually kept the parent’s low Proposition 13 tax value. Proposition 19 narrowed that. Today the home is reassessed to its current market value unless the transfer qualifies for the parent-child (or grandparent-grandchild) exclusion, and even then the exclusion has conditions and a value limit.
That makes the market value on the transfer date a number that matters. It decides whether a reassessment happens at all, and if it does, how big it is.
Valley-Wide Appraisal Services provides the appraisal. It does not file your claim or tell you how Prop 19 applies to your family. That is for the county assessor, an attorney or a CPA.
How the exclusion works
Under the Board of Equalization’s summary of Prop 19, a transfer between a parent and a child can avoid reassessment when all of this is true:
- The home was the parent’s principal residence and becomes the child’s principal residence. Rental and vacation homes do not qualify.
- At least one child files for the homeowners’ exemption (or the disabled veterans’ exemption) within one year of the transfer. A later filing only helps going forward.
- The child keeps living there. If every eligible child moves out, the property is reassessed as of the next lien date.
Grandparent-grandchild transfers follow similar rules, but only when the grandchild’s parent (the grandparent’s child) has died before the transfer.
The limit. The home keeps its existing taxable value (its factored base year value) plus a set amount. For transfers from February 16, 2025 through February 15, 2027, that amount is $1,044,586. The Board of Equalization adjusts it every two years, and it was $1,022,600 for transfers in the two years before that.
Illustration only: a home with a taxable value of $200,000 and a market value of $1,500,000 on the transfer date. The limit is $200,000 + $1,044,586 = $1,244,586. The $255,414 above the limit is added to the old value, so the new taxable value is $455,414 instead of $1,500,000. If the market value were $1,200,000, it would fall under the limit and the taxable value would stay at $200,000.
As the example shows, the market value on the transfer date is the figure that gets compared with the limit.
The fair market value on the transfer date
The assessor measures a change in ownership against the market value as of the date it happened. After a death, that is the date of death, even if the claim is filed months or years later. Today’s market is not the measure, and in a market that has moved, the two numbers can be far apart.
A retrospective appraisal is built from sales and conditions around that date. It is useful in a few ways:
- Planning. Whether the value is near or far from the limit tells you how much property tax is at stake before you commit to keeping the home.
- Checking the assessor. If the county’s figure looks high, you have independent support to raise with the assessor or in an assessment appeal.
The same value gives siblings or a trustee one neutral figure to divide the home (trust appraisals) and usually supports the heirs’ stepped-up income tax basis (date-of-death appraisals).
The assessor makes its own determination. It is not bound by a private appraisal, and no appraiser can promise what a county will decide. What the report gives you is a well-supported, independent opinion to rely on and to discuss with the assessor.
The Board of Equalization forms
Claims go to the county assessor where the property is located, not through escrow. For Sacramento County properties, the Assessor’s Property Transfer Section handles them. Names and deadlines below follow the Board of Equalization’s Prop 19 page, so check it for updates.
- Homeowners’ exemption (BOE-266) or disabled veterans’ exemption (BOE-261-G): within 1 year of the transfer.
- BOE-19-P, parent-child exclusion claim: within 3 years of the transfer or death, or before the property is transferred to a third party, whichever is earlier.
- BOE-19-G, grandparent-grandchild exclusion claim: same 3-year rule.
- BOE-19-B (age 55 or older), BOE-19-D with the Certificate of Disability BOE-19-DC (severely and permanently disabled), or BOE-19-V (wildfire or disaster victims): base-year value transfer claims, within 3 years of buying or finishing the replacement home.
If the homeowners’ exemption is filed late, the Board of Equalization says the exclusion applies only going forward from the filing. Read the assessor’s page or call them to confirm what applies to you.
The age 55+, disabled and disaster-victim transfer
Prop 19 also lets homeowners who are 55 or older, severely and permanently disabled, or victims of a wildfire or governor-declared disaster carry their taxable value to a replacement home anywhere in California, up to three times. A replacement of equal or lesser value keeps the full transferred value (100% if bought before the sale, 105% in the first year after, 110% in the second). When both homes sold on the open market, the sale prices usually settle it and you may not need an appraisal. The assessor makes the final call.
What we provide, what it costs, how long it takes
Daniel R. Nelson, a California Licensed Residential appraiser (BREA license AL3008584), inspects the home where it can still be inspected, researches sales from around the transfer date, and writes a signed report with the effective date you need. Residential 1-4 unit properties only.
- Cost: $400 to $500 for a typical single-family home or condo. Larger, rural, multi-unit or unusual homes are quoted individually. Additional effective dates, rush requests and court testimony are quoted separately.
- Turnaround: 3 to 7 business days after the inspection.
- What to have ready: the property address, the date of death or transfer, the trustee or probate contact, how to get access, any photos or records from around that date, and the contact for the attorney, CPA or siblings involved.
- Area: Sacramento and 18 other Northern California counties. See the service area.
If the home is already sold, cleared or renovated, the report says plainly what could be observed and what was assumed about its condition on the effective date. See more about retrospective valuations, or contact us to talk it through.
Read the rules from the source
These pages are the authority on Prop 19. This page is a general summary, and the law and the assessor’s practices can change.
- California Board of Equalization: Proposition 19
- Sacramento County Assessor: Proposition 19 (forms and FAQs; Prop19@saccounty.gov or (916) 875-0750)
Contesting a county’s value on a property whose market value has fallen is a different process. See Prop 8 decline-in-value appeals.
Prop 19 appraisal FAQ
What is a Prop 19 appraisal?
It is an independent appraisal that gives a fair market value for a California home as of a specific date, usually the date a parent or grandparent died or the date a property changed hands. Families use that value alongside the county assessor's own determination when a Proposition 19 transfer or base-year value transfer is involved.
Does the county require an appraisal for a Prop 19 claim?
No. The Board of Equalization claim forms do not ask you to attach an appraisal. The assessor determines the property's market value itself. An appraisal is a way for you to know the likely figure before you decide what to do, and it is evidence you can point to if you disagree with the assessor's number.
Which date does the appraisal value the home as of?
The date of the transfer. For an inheritance that is normally the date of death. Because the report is written later, it is a retrospective appraisal that relies on sales and market conditions from around that date, not today's market.
The house has already been sold or remodeled. Can it still be appraised?
Usually yes. The report states what could be observed, what was assumed about the condition of the home on the effective date, and the sources used. Photos, listing records and information from family members help.
Is this tax or legal advice?
No. Valley-Wide Appraisal Services provides appraisals only. For how Prop 19 applies to your family, ask a California attorney, a CPA, or the county assessor.
Planning around a Prop 19 transfer?
Send the property address and the transfer or death date for a quote, or call to talk through whether an appraisal fits your situation.
Important information about this service
Valley-Wide Appraisal Services provides independent real estate appraisal services only. Daniel R. Nelson is a licensed residential real estate appraiser, and is not an attorney, CPA, tax advisor, or estate planner. This is not tax or legal advice. How Prop 19 applies to your family, and whether to file a claim, rest with the county assessor and your own advisors.
The assessor determines assessed value and decides every claim. Valley-Wide Appraisal Services does not prepare or file Board of Equalization claim forms, represent anyone before an assessor or appeals board, or guarantee any value, exclusion, or tax outcome. Figures and deadlines were checked against the Board of Equalization and Sacramento County Assessor in October 2026 and can change.