Hello, my wife and her sister inherited their mother's house in 2019. They did not do an appraisal at the time of their mother's death. They sold the house in 2024. I am trying to figure out the step up basis, or the fair market value, of the inherited house on the date of their mother's death. The house is in Michigan, where the county shows taxable value and assessed value for houses in the county records. I think the assessed value normally is supposed to be 1/2 of the market value per the county's assessment, but the county's assessment usually lags behind the real market value. I was able to search Zillow and found the market value of the house for the month in which their mother passed away in 2019 per Zillow's assessment. Can I use what Zillow showed as step up basis? Or are there other methods/options that you can recommend? Thank you.
