A Peoria date-of-death appraisal should start by identifying the version of the property and neighborhood that existed when the owner died. Peoria runs from older West Valley housing into large newer planning areas near desert and mountain edges. The date of death controls the value opinion even when the inspection and report are completed much later.
The valuation question belongs to the date of death, even if the property is inspected and the report is written later. Comparable sales, listings, market conditions, and the subject's condition should be organized around that historical date rather than today's market. For Peoria, the appraisal should consider north-south market divide only when it changes the subject's competitive position.
When the value date is the date of death, retrospective work should not backdate today's level of development. Road connections, commercial services, parks, schools, and later subdivision phases can change the competitive setting. The comparable set should preserve that market distinction rather than flatten it into a generic citywide adjustment.
When the value date is the date of death, a newer master-planned home in north Peoria may compete on amenities, lot position, builder, and community identity, while an established southern neighborhood may compete more heavily on remodeling, lot utility, and proximity to mature services. For a date-of-death opinion, the point is whether that feature changed the subject's buyer alternatives on the date of death.
The property observed now may not be the property that existed when the owner died. Renovations, deferred maintenance, additions, pools, roof work, site changes, or a changed use should be assigned to the historical property only when the evidence supports doing so.
Historical listings, assessor and recorder records, photographs, permits, and improvement records can help separate the earlier property from later changes. The goal is to resolve material differences between the home as it exists now and the home that existed on the date of death.
A supported date-of-death conclusion should be explainable from the historical property condition, competitive market, and sales evidence without relying on today's value or a later transaction.
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