Does the sq ft of houses for sale include the basement? (Denver: brokers, buyers)

[megca]

We don't have basements here in CA. All the houses I'm finding in Denver on realtor.com seem so large, I was wondering if CO sq ft includes the basement sq ft?

Thanks.

[2bindenver]

There are six fields for square footage in our MLS. total, basement, total finished, and three floors above ground (upper, main, lower.)

[LisaCACO]

lol, yep, the houses are large, esp for the money. one of the reasons, CA folks have moved here.

you will be shocked at how nice and how big they are .

btw, the only place that seemed to have smaller, CA sized homes was in the city of denver, in the older houses.

[bhcompy]

as a CA resident who house hunted in CO, this came up for me as well.

Typically, the two you'll see the most is Total Square Footage, which will include the basement, and Total Finished, which will include any legally finished areas possibly including the basement. Some of the listings will also list the basement square footage as well. Basically, you'll want to look at the Total Finished for your effective square footage, or if you're lucky and the realtor was thorough, take the Total and subtract the basement size for the above ground portion.

[megca]

I'll look for the Total Square Footage - thanks!

[formercalifornian]

The Colorado system of reporting square footage makes me totally nuts. I wish that all brokers and home sellers were forthright and honest, but during my year of house-hunting, I found lots of discrepancies, and sometimes downright lies, in the records. It was refreshing to find a listing that not only listed square footage accurately, but also had the proper permits for finished basements.

This is a little beyond the scope of the original post, but please make sure that any house with a finished basement you plan to purchase meets building code. Here's a story about a metro area homeowner who got a nasty surprise when attempting to sell her property. Forewarned is forearmed.

Arvada Homes Haunted by Past Due Code Violations

Good luck in your home search.

[the3Ds]

Also be careful when looking at homes with basements. We were on the housing market just a year ago and what some people called basements would likely not pass inspection. Throwing up drywall and installing a few lights and electrical outlets will not make a basement. My neighbor bought a house with a finished basement and has had nothing but trouble. After months of trying to fix things, he finally called in the professionals. The first one that came out declared it a "shame that it passed a housing inspection." Ours is unfinished and a walkout which allows us to use it as storage (and a workout area) and actually use our garage for our cars. We found a house that had all the living space we needed ABOVE ground so the fact we have a basement is just a bonus.

[LisaCACO]

I agree. what we finally did was just finished our own basement. frankly, people here like to "do it themselves."

right.

well some folks don't know their own limitations. they watch a show and figure "hey, I can do that!" well, no, they can't . too many beautiful houses had absolutely crappy "finished" basements. we decided that we'd go with the perfect house upstairs and unfinished basement, hire a basement contractor to finish it (folks here gave me great recommendations) and enjoy. much easier than going in and pulling out the stuff that someone thought was attractive or okay. sometimes that cost more. And if you're moving from CA and own a home there, you'll have money left over when you sell so you can spend that on the basement refinish here .

I also agree about the mixed up numbers for basements. I soon realized they were gibberish in many cases.

[80skeys]

square footage is the heated part of the house. if the basement is not on central heat then it's not included.

[MantaRay]

Do home inspectors out there not tell potential buyers if a basement meets code as part of their services? Or is it just that people tend to skip the important step of getting a home inspector prior to closing?