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Personal Property Appraisals

A personal property appraisal usually refers to the content of one's home or estate. A person can be motivated to obtain such an appraisal for any number of reasons to include an insurance claim, estate planning, division of marital assets, litigation, a bank or lender, a business dissolution or merger, charitable donation, tax return and probate settlement. However the majority of written appraisals done on these goods are done for insurance purposes.

Potential consignors who have a written appraisal for an item that they wish to sell at auction need to understand that an insurance appraisal is usually based on the replacement value regardless of the original purchase price. 

An appraisal is good to have but it is unrealistic when trying to sell an item out in the marketplace. In other words, an item is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it. 

Some of the shows on television have been known to give out exaggerated values of what pieces are worth. When we would quote someone a value on an item they were considering selling, more often than not, they would be utterly shocked. We would hear how so and so down the street told them it was worth three times that. We would then ask if so and so down the street offered to buy it? Of course the answer would be no. 

It's easy to throw numbers around as long as you aren't throwing around the cash with them. When you want to sell something, don't rely on appraisals or book values. You will most certainly be disappointed.

Written appraisals can be very expensive so you might want to consider only appraising something that requires such documentation for business or legal reasons. If you are merely curious about the value of an item, many antique dealers or auction houses will give you a ballpark figure based on their opinion. We would recommend getting two such opinions, especially if one of the appraisers is also making you an offer. 

At the present time the government only regulates real estate appraisals. To the best of our knowledge, there are no immediate plans for them to regulate appraisers who deal in other types of property.

There are however organizations that knowledgeable appraisers can join if they possess the requisite training and experience. If they meet the strict standards set by the organizations, appraisers may join even if their home states have no licensing laws. These organizations are:

International Appraiser's Guild
American Society of Appraisers
International Society of Appraisers
Certified Appraisers Guild of America

Written by Anne Benedetto, Auction House Talk
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