Author Topic: Listing Square Footage Measurements?  (Read 1851 times)

irastache

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Listing Square Footage Measurements?
« on: January 12, 2014, 12:22:01 PM »
I am trying to understand how to deal with square footage measurements and the sale of a home.

We bought the house with X listed sq. ft. and an unfinished basement. Some years later, we finished the basement with flooring, walls, lights, etc. It is now a pleasant living space.

We are planning to sell in the nearish future. Public records (ex. Zillow) show our address listed with the original space as when we bought. We'd want a real sale listing to show the best state of the property and maximize the square footage to support the highest price.

Are there any special things we need to do to before we sell to update? Is it enough to get a tape measure and paper or do I need to hire someone to measure and certify the result? If it helps, we are considering going with a flat fee MLS service.

Spork

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Re: Listing Square Footage Measurements?
« Reply #1 on: January 12, 2014, 12:34:18 PM »
I'm not a real estate person or a landlord or anything even remotely authoritative.... but my experience is that what's listed in the MLS is sort of all over the place as to square footage.  Everyone seems to count it up slightly differently.  I'm pretty sure you can just plop down "the truth as you know it" and be fine.


honobob

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Re: Listing Square Footage Measurements?
« Reply #2 on: January 12, 2014, 01:15:54 PM »
Generally it is the taxing authority that is the final word on square footage.   Did you get permits for the conversion?   Possibly your file was not updated.  Contact your assessor.  It may even be that Zillow, etc. have not updated their files.

_JT

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Re: Listing Square Footage Measurements?
« Reply #3 on: January 12, 2014, 01:18:35 PM »
My understanding for where I live is that if you do improvements that are unpermitted (such as finishing an unfinished space), it would not be allowable to count that as part of your finished square footage. What you'd do is have your listing say, for instance, 1300sq-ft with a 200sq-ft basement rec room. Then, if you get an offer, you'd be required by law to disclose that the space was unpermitted.

 

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