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Prim, they're trying to rip you off, man. Garages are NOT part of the sqft, and they knew that when they lied about the size of the house.
Your agent wants to close the deal, which is why he's 'mum.'
If you're in CA, you should know what the housing market is like there. Don't let anybody pressure you into paying more than you should. Walk away if you have to. In another month, they'll have dropped the price anyway.
Edit: call around to some attorneys in your state. Many attorneys (where I live) offer a free initial consultation. If not, pay for it. It'll be worth it. You need unbiased, accurate advice, to make sure you protect your escrow.
Prim, they're trying to rip you off, man. Garages are NOT part of the sqft, and they knew that when they lied about the size of the house.
Your agent wants to close the deal, which is why he's 'mum.'
If you're in CA, you should know what the housing market is like there. Don't let anybody pressure you into paying more than you should. Walk away if you have to. In another month, they'll have dropped the price anyway.
Depends on whether he gave them a deposit or not and how much it was. Not everyone can afford to lose say $20,000
(1) Typically, blueprints specify square footage as "total under roof", 2576 SqFt in this case. Listings, appraisals, COs, etc typically specify "living area", 2176 SqFt.
(2) Re time allowed to deliver seller's disclosure to buyer: Check the contract's language to determine whether the # of days for performance is based on business days or calendar days. If business days, weekends and holidays are excluded from the time calculation.
(3) The seller's agent may or may not have a duty of disclosure to you regarding his/her business relationship with the seller. If it was your agent in such a relationship with the seller, there is a duty to disclose that fact to you. A CA real estate atty would be able to advise you re whether the seller's agent owes buyers such a duty.
(4) If you like the house, and if you have it under contract for a price acceptable to you considering the current market and location, what difference does cost/SqFt make? It's still the same house you saw & liked enough to write an offer on, correct? OTOH, if you're having buyer's remorse or want to blow the transaction out of the water for other reasons, you might be able to do so based on delayed and/or faulty disclosure.
Who would one call to get square footage? Right now it's all I need for our listing. We have a large L shaped rancher that appears small from the street. I need someone to document room sizes & square footage.
Unless the garage has been converted to living space, it should not be included in the living space calculation. In my area, we use the disclaimer: information should not be relied upon without further verification. We have to do that because seller's will sometimes fudge the truth, and tax records depend on humans to input the information. I've seen tax records that showed a property was 1000 sq ft smaller than what was in the records.
I think the bigger problem is that you didn't get the disclosure before the deadline.
Who would one call to get square footage? Right now it's all I need for our listing. We have a large L shaped rancher that appears small from the street. I need someone to document room sizes & square footage.
Rose, first check the tax records. Although they may not be 100% accurate in some localities, you can list the tax records as your source(i.e., always be the source of the source). Another option is to hire an appraiser to do the measurements. I would shy away from an owner doing the measurements themselves as there is to much room for misinterpretation and misunderstanding.
Who would one call to get square footage? Right now it's all I need for our listing. We have a large L shaped rancher that appears small from the street. I need someone to document room sizes & square footage.
Roselvr - did you purchase your home new or was it a resale? Was there an appraisal done at the time you purchased the home? If so, that's probably one of the best sources for sq ft, since the appraiser should have measured the home when he appraised it. Also gbone mentioned county tax records. That's a good source, but those records are typically taken from some other source, such as permits for a new home. So if the original source is off, then the county records will be off. Also, sometimes the counties are slow updating additions, etc. Look for the appraisal when you purchased your home - that would be the easiest and most accurate. You could also hire an appraiser to measure your home, but if you spend that much you may as well have him go ahead and have him do a full appraisal that will help you price your home.
Rose, first check the tax records. Although they may not be 100% accurate in some localities, you can list the tax records as your source(i.e., always be the source of the source). Another option is to hire an appraiser to do the measurements. I would shy away from an owner doing the measurements themselves as there is to much room for misinterpretation and misunderstanding.
What ever I got printed out from the tax office had the year. I don't recall seeing square footage.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gretchen B
Roselvr - did you purchase your home new or was it a resale? Was there an appraisal done at the time you purchased the home? If so, that's probably one of the best sources for sq ft, since the appraiser should have measured the home when he appraised it. Also gbone mentioned county tax records. That's a good source, but those records are typically taken from some other source, such as permits for a new home. So if the original source is off, then the county records will be off. Also, sometimes the counties are slow updating additions, etc. Look for the appraisal when you purchased your home - that would be the easiest and most accurate. You could also hire an appraiser to measure your home, but if you spend that much you may as well have him go ahead and have him do a full appraisal that will help you price your home.
Hubby has some kind of survey, he said it only deals with land. He also purchased 25 years ago.
I'll talk to my agent to see if he can recommend someone. I follow the market pretty close, what is selling for $9,000 less then ours is more of a handy mans house, they have paneling / interior faux brick. I think we're priced good, but we're over the magic number (of what typically sells) by $4,000, which means we have a higher DOM.
Everyone, including the OP, seems to be assuming that the garage was included in the square footage, just because its square footage equals the discrepancy of 400 square feet. I don't think I've ever heard of anyone including garage square footage in a house's total, unless it was more like a professionally furnished heated workshop.
As others have noted on here, 400 square feet could have come from including dead space, or entire space from inside the exterior walls (under roof), staircases, etc..
But assigning a blanket "cost per square foot" across many different homes is very dangerous. It's like pricing a car per pound or per cubic foot. It can't be done. A Honda Accord weighs similar to BMW 3 Series, yet their costs are astronomically different. There are so many factors that can affect cost/sf of a home that don't even include interior finishes, including vaulted space, multiple roof dormers or complicated rooflines, roof pitch, large overhangs, "natural" exterior materials, cedar trim, 2x6 exterior walls instead of 2x4, insulation levels, increased energy efficiency ratings, plywood instead of green board, basements instead of slab-on-grade or crawlspaces, number of windows, etc etc. So even if your home turns out to be 2100 sf instead of 2500 sf, that doesn't automatically make it worth less.
I personally don't see the 400 sf discrepancy being a big enough issue to renegotiate terms. The disclosure delay (if it was delayed) might be.
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