I recently inherited a family farm along with a sibling, early 2012. The farm has 3 revenue streams; a communication tower, a recreational lake, and the farm. I know currently if we sold it there would be very little tax consequence since it has only been about 1.5 years since we inherited it. I think the actual assessed value of it would be very tricky to determine. In particular the recreational lake with over 100 members is very tricky to put a value on, if one were to build it today it would be big dollars, the land used for farming would be easy to value now, and in the future, lots of data available on that. We do not plan to sell it for quite a long time, but it is very likely we will sell when we get too old to manage it.
My question is, would it be wise to have it appraised now so that the value when it was inherited would be documented? I am concerned that if we keep it 10-15 years then sell it, of course we would know the value then, but how would someone determine what it was worth when we inherited it for tax purposes? Does someone have personal experience with this and could offer some sage advice? About 2 years ago I contacted an appraiser and he said it would cost about $500-$1000 to have it appraised, now that is in our possession I am thinking this might be a good idea. It might even be wise to have several appraisals done now, it seems like the higher the appraised value at the time of inheritance the better, it would minimize the tax bite.
Appreciate the advice.