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Boat appraisals in Iowa for donations, insurance, estate tax, and divorce, prepared in accordance with USPAP and IRS requirements. AppraiseItNow appraises fishing boats, pontoons, sailboats, personal watercraft, and motorboats across Iowa, including Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, and Davenport.
DEFENSIBLE, USPAP-COMPLIANT BOAT APPRAISAL REPORTS — QUALIFIED FOR THE IRS, IOWA COURTS, LENDERS, INSURERS, AND MORE.
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Owner & CEO
Joe founded AppraiseItNow to make a certified, USPAP-compliant appraisal as simple to order as anything else online. A former Bain & Company strategy consultant, Joe leads the entire team and specializes in strategy, growth, and the firm's tech capabilities.
Vehicle Appraiser
CAGA Certified Appraiser since 2014, covering vehicles, boats, equipment, fine art, and collectibles. A classic-car restoration background informs her vehicle work, with reports prepared for insurance, divorce, and charitable contributions.
Client Success Manager
Manages each engagement from the first enquiry to the delivered report, and keeps you posted at every step along the way.
Certified Appraisers Guild of AmericaCertified Appraiser
The Appraisal FoundationAuthorized by Congress as the source of appraisal standardsAppraiseItNow provides professional boat appraisals in Iowa for a wide range of purposes, including charitable donations, insurance coverage, estate tax reporting, and divorce proceedings. Whether you own a fishing boat on the Iowa River, a pontoon on Rathbun Lake, or a personal watercraft on Coralville Reservoir, our credentialed appraisers deliver accurate, well-documented valuations that satisfy IRS requirements, insurance carriers, probate courts, and legal counsel.
AppraiseItNow serves clients throughout Iowa with both remote and onsite appraisal options, making it easy to get a certified valuation regardless of where your vessel is located or stored. Our appraisers assess condition, market comparables, registration history, and equipment to produce thorough reports suited to your specific intended use. We offer Fair Market Value (FMV), Replacement Value, Orderly Liquidation Value (OLV), Forced Liquidation Value (FLV), and Actual Cash Value (ACV) appraisals for various intended uses.
Our appraisers evaluate a broad range of watercraft commonly found on Iowa's lakes, rivers, and reservoirs, including:
Iowa's inland waterways, including Saylorville Lake, Lake Red Rock, and Spirit Lake, attract a wide variety of recreational vessels, and our appraisers are familiar with the regional market conditions that affect value. Whether your boat is a simple aluminum fishing vessel or a fully equipped pontoon with upgraded electronics, we provide a thorough, documented appraisal that reflects current market realities.
AppraiseItNow serves individual boat owners, estate attorneys, insurance adjusters, divorce attorneys, financial advisors, and nonprofit organizations throughout Iowa who need credentialed, court-ready appraisals for legal, financial, or tax-related purposes.
What clients say we are known for
Across 80+ published AppraiseItNow reviews the picture is consistent: every one is from a client who paid us for an appraisal, and the three things they raise most often are that they would hire us again, how quickly we answer, and how much research is visible in the report.
I love the online appraisal format to give me a good idea of what my boat is worth without showing the boat. The appraisal fee is more than reasonable, and I love your professional service!
Boat Appraisal for Charitable Donation
We recently used AppraiseItNow for one of our clients and couldn’t be happier with the experience. The customer service was excellent, and Joe was quick to respond to all of our questions. He provided everything we needed promptly and made the process smooth from start to finish. Thank you!
Boat Appraisal for Insurance Coverage
AppraiseItNow delivered a fair, well-supported appraisal that met all required standards. Their team was professional, responsive, and fast throughout the process. I would gladly use them again.
Boat Appraisal for Charitable Donation
AppraiseItNow helped us appraise a very unique set of propulsion boats. Service was top notch and provided incredible value for the cost!
Boat Appraisal for Loan Collateral
AppraiseItNow was excellent to work with. They delivered exactly what I needed and were incredibly responsive throughout the process. I’d definitely recommend them!
Boat Appraisal for Insurance Claim
Very straightforward and efficient way to gain a quality certified boat appraisal. I will suggest AppraiseItNow to all my boating friends!
Boat Appraisal for Loan Collateral
Given the USPAP-compliant nature of AppraiseItNow’s appraisal reports, we prepare our deliverables for major legal, tax, and financial reporting purposes for individual and commercial clients.
Popular uses of our appraisal reports include:
Documented transactions of comparable vessels from broker databases, auction records, and BoatWizard's SoldBoats data, cross-referenced against J.D. Power and ABOS Marine Blue Book figures. Adjustments for age, propulsion, engine hours, equipment, and condition convert those comps into a supportable value for the subject boat.
For unusual or heavily modified craft where market comparables are scarce. The cost approach compares the vessel to the cost of a new equivalent, then deducts physical deterioration and functional obsolescence, and it depends on documentation such as original invoices, build sheets, and equipment inventories.
Fair market value can be set by agreement among the estate, beneficiaries, and the Department of Revenue, or through the formal appraisal and appeal procedures in Iowa Code sections 450.27 through 450.37. A documented appraisal usually resolves the question before the formal process is ever needed.
No. Recreational watercraft sit outside Iowa's personal property tax base, so no assessor issues an annual value for your boat. Iowa boat valuations are driven instead by estates, insurance placement, lending, and sales, which means the conclusion has to stand on market evidence rather than on a tax roll figure.
Use them carefully. Iowa Code section 364.7 prescribes a formal process for selling city real property, but no comparable provision governs the sale of city owned personal property, so surplus boats move through local policy, sealed bids, or ad hoc auctions with thin bidder pools. Those results often land below open market value, so we weight them as distressed evidence rather than as primary comparables.
