The house is a huge 5 bedroomed Edwardian house in a smart area of North West London. My father bought it in 1966 for just under £10,000.
The 3 estate agents valued it at between £600,000 and £650,000 but we sold it for £750,000. One person actually offered £800,000 but they wanted to turn it into a care home and we did not want to wait for planning permission etc.
My father died 10 years ago, my mother this year, and the estate is probably about £900,000. We can claim the full inheritance tax threshold of £650,000 and pay tax of 40% on any amount above that.
Considering my father left school at 14 he did quite well for himself, though i dont think he ever thought of himself as rich. The bulk of the extra money of the estate is shares he bought during the Thatcher years (BT, Rolls Royce etc).