How should Bob value the duplex apartment building? The other two brothers have agreed that they will accept whatever decision he makes.
Bob Mark is the executor of his parents’ estate that is being divided equally among his two brothers, Tom and Mike, and himself. The estate consists of cash and marketable securities worth $4.2 million and a duplex apartment building located in the Fort Lauderdale beach area.
The terms of the will gives Mike, the younger brother, the option of keeping the apartment building as part of his equal share of the estate. Thus, Bob must value the apartment building in order to determine how much to “charge” Mike’s total share of the estate.
The apartment building is rather unusual because it is located on a deepwater lot with only 50 feet of waterfront exposure rather than the usual 100 feet. In fact, Bob’s search of the entire area did not reveal any other waterfront properties with less than 100 feet of dock space.
Bob located three recently sold somewhat comparable buildings, each on a 100-foot deepwater lot. They were similar to the subject property except that each has four apartments instead of two apartments in the subject property. They were also considerably newer. The subject property was 60 years old, whereas the comparable properties were only 25 years old.