Which Home Value Do You Need, and for What?

The home value you need depends on who will rely on it. For your own curiosity, an automated estimate is enough. To set a list price, you need an agent's CMA. When a lender, a probate court, a divorce or a tax return will rely on the number, you usually need a certified appraisal from a state-licensed appraiser. And if you are deciding whether to sell now, as-is, you need a cash purchase offer, ideally next to an open-market read of the same house, so you can compare the two nets.

The mistake is using one number for another number's job: pricing a listing from an online estimate, or handing a court an agent's opinion. The four different numbers guide defines each one. This page is the decision side: start from the job, end at the number.

The job, the number, and who makes it

Your jobNumber that fitsWho produces it

Curiosity, a rough range

Automated estimate

A website's algorithm

Setting a list price

CMA

A licensed real estate agent

A buyer's or a refinance loan

Certified appraisal

An appraiser the lender engages

Probate inventory and a court-confirmed sale

Probate referee's appraisal

The referee the court designates

Divorce: dividing or buying out the house

Usually a certified appraisal

An appraiser the parties or the court agree on

Basis of an inherited house for tax

Fair market value at the date of death

Often a retrospective certified appraisal; ask your tax professional

Trust distribution or accounting

Often a certified appraisal

An appraiser the trustee engages

Selling now, as-is

Cash purchase offer, next to an open-market read

A buyer, in writing

The rows below explain each job, what can go wrong with the wrong number, and where to take it.

Curiosity or early planning: is an online estimate enough?

For a first look, yes. An automated estimate is built from records and nearby sales and nobody sees the house, so treat it as a range. It is weakest where houses differ from their neighbors in ways records do not capture: a Claremont Village bungalow with original wiring, a San Dimas lot zoned for horses, a Pomona house in the Lincoln Park Historic District that was never restored. Zillow's own Zestimate page states that its figure is not an appraisal.

Listing the house: you need a CMA

A list price comes from a CMA: an agent's opinion of the likely sale price, built from closed, pending and active comparable sales with adjustments. California Business and Professions Code section 11302 says a licensee's opinion of value is not an appraisal and may not be called one, so a CMA is the right tool for this job and the wrong tool for the court jobs below. What a comparative market analysis includes shows how to test one.

A loan: the lender orders the appraisal

When a buyer finances the purchase, or you refinance, the lender engages its own appraiser. You do not choose the number the bank uses. This matters to sellers because the buyer's appraisal can come in below the contract price, especially when part of the living area is unpermitted. Converted garages and back units in South Pomona's post-war tracts are a common example. A pre-listing appraisal can help some sellers see that problem early; Mr. Cali Offers does not perform appraisals and refers them to Mr. Cali Appraisals, a separate appraisal practice.

Probate: the referee's appraisal sets the floor

In a California probate, the personal representative delivers the inventory to the probate referee the court designates, and the referee appraises the property (Probate Code section 8902). If the sale needs court confirmation, section 10309 requires an appraisal within one year before the hearing and an offer of at least 90 percent of that appraised value. A cash offer that prices an old roof or a full house honestly can fall near that floor, which is why administrators want the comps and deductions on paper. The court confirmation and overbid article walks through the hearing. The estate's attorney decides how the sale is conducted; this is a description, not legal advice.

Divorce: a value that both sides accept

For dividing the community estate, California Family Code section 2552 says the court values assets as near as practicable to the time of trial, with a later date after separation allowed for good cause. Spouses who disagree usually rely on a certified appraisal, sometimes one each. An agent's CMA or a cash offer can still help the conversation, for example to see what a sale would actually net compared with a buyout, but the value used to divide property is for the attorneys and the court. See the divorce sale page for how a sale fits around that process.

An inherited house: the tax basis question

IRS Publication 551 says the basis of inherited property is generally its fair market value at the date of the owner's death, or on an alternate valuation date if the estate elects one. That figure matters when the heirs sell, because gain is measured from it. Heirs often document it with a retrospective certified appraisal, one that values the house as of the date of death, rather than with a cash offer or an online estimate made months later. Ask a tax professional which value to use and how to document it; the inherited house page covers the sale side.

Selling now, as-is: you need a buyer's number

When the question is "should I sell this house as it is, this season," none of the opinions of value answers it. You need a cash purchase offer: a price a buyer will pay on written terms, with the repairs, clean-out, holding costs and the buyer's margin deducted line by line. Cash offers come from independent buyers and investors, so a cash offer is generally below what the open market would bring. That is why it belongs next to an open-market read of the same house, built from the same comps, so the two nets can be compared.

LineAs-is cash offerOpen-market read

Starting value from comps

-

-

Repairs, clean-out, preparation

-

-

Commissions and closing costs

-

-

Transfer tax (county, plus the city in Pomona)

-

-

Estimated net to seller

-

-

Two local cases change the math. A Pomona rental under the city's rent stabilization and eviction control ordinance is worth something different to an investor with the tenant in place than vacant, because just-cause and relocation rules apply to no-fault terminations. And in La Verne's manufactured home parks, a sale is the home plus the right to rent the space, so park approval and the city's mobile home rent review ordinance are part of the value.

When the open market wins

If the house shows reasonably well, nothing on it will stop a financed buyer's appraisal, and you have time for the market to work, the open-market column usually nets more. In that case the written recommendation says to list, and you are introduced to a designated local expert, an independently licensed agent who works that neighborhood. When we tell a seller to list instead lists those cases. What your house will sell for vs. what it is worth explains why the listed price and the net can sit far apart.

Getting the right number

The home value page sets the four numbers side by side. For the selling-now job, Mr. Cali Offers does one in-person walkthrough and writes both numbers on the same house; the open-market read is a preliminary estimate, not an appraisal. There is no cost and no obligation to get the two numbers and the written report. Call (909) 498-3977 with questions. City notes are on the Pomona, La Verne, Claremont and San Dimas pages, and the rest of the series is in the estimates, CMAs and appraisals hub.

Sources

• California Business and Professions Code section 11302 (definition of appraisal; real estate licensee opinions excluded): leginfo.legislature.ca.gov (accessed October 31, 2026)
• California Probate Code section 8902 (probate referee appraises estate property): leginfo.legislature.ca.gov (accessed October 31, 2026)
• California Probate Code section 10309 (appraisal within one year; 90 percent condition for confirmation): leginfo.legislature.ca.gov (accessed October 31, 2026)
• California Family Code section 2552 (valuation date for dividing the community estate): leginfo.legislature.ca.gov (accessed October 31, 2026)
• IRS Publication 551, Basis of Assets (inherited property): irs.gov (accessed October 31, 2026)
• Zillow, What is a Zestimate: zillow.com (accessed September 26, 2026)
• City of Pomona, Rent Stabilization Program: pomonaca.gov (accessed September 26, 2026)
• Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder, Documentary Transfer Tax general information: lavote.gov (accessed September 26, 2026)

Mr. Cali Offers does not perform appraisals; certified appraisals are referred to Mr. Cali Appraisals, a separate business. Cash offers come from independent buyers and investors who buy for their own account and may resell for profit; a cash offer is generally below what the open market would bring. Any value shown is a preliminary estimate, not an appraisal. Nothing here is legal, tax or financial advice.