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There are several different methods to measuring square footage. I would hardly rely on the HVAC guy's assessment as square footage as calculated by an appraiser. So, if she thinks she is wronged then she needs to hire an appraiser to come and measure the property for her.
I don't see any wrong doing by the agent as you are stating here that the county assessor has it measured at the 2250 sq footage. We agents get our measurements from county appraisers, home owner appraisals, or builder blueprints.
Home inspectors don't measure property and is outside the scope of their expertise.
edit: oh also, read the contract. I know ours have a clause that states that if the square footage is important to the buyer that they agree to have verification as a contingency in the contract. If there is no contingency for measurement, the buyer is then stating that they are satisfied with the representation of the square footage.
Last edited by Silverfall; 07-16-2011 at 11:34 AM..
Reason: addition
I'm betting the HVAC guy did NOT include the closets or space taken up by kitchen cabinets in the assessor/building sq footage. They are all calculated in overall square footage although not in heating/cooling sq footage.
So the house was appraised - by whom and for whom? What about an inspection? I'll bet the footprint of the house totals the larger number. And THAT number does include closet space, cabinet space, etc.
If there is some objective evidence ( not the HVAC guy) that the square footage is indeed less than reported on the county records, use it to seek a potential reduction in property taxes.
There are several different methods to measuring square footage. I would hardly rely on the HVAC guy's assessment as square footage as calculated by an appraiser. So, if she thinks she is wronged then she needs to hire an appraiser to come and measure the property for her.
Yep. First hire someone who actually knows how to measure square footage for listing purposes. Who knows how the HVAC guy did it. She could be getting upset for nothing.
Thank you for all the replies. Here's a bit more info after investigation. The reason it was measured is she put in a geo-thermal heat system and to design it they needed to (obviously) know how much space they were heating. Since I'm visiting her we went down to her agents office and looked at the county property book and found that the county has her house listed as 1914 sqft. After some rooting around by chance in the attic of the house she found the original house plans that state the house is 1850 sqft. The only "addition" to living space was a non-permitted garage conversion that was not heated and a bathroom down in the unfinished basement.
The house listing was higher than even the county tax record which is higher than the actual blue prints.
What we (her agent and us) figured out was the selling agent counted the garage conversion and the basement bathroom even though below ground footage is not counted here and the garage due to no permit/no heat should not have been counted either.
I read the whole contract and there was no mention of any kind of clause about square footage which shocked me because I expected the "deemed accurate" at least but nothing was stated.
Sqft does matter, people search properties by sqft/bedrooms/price/land size. When we look for a house we need at least 1700 sqft so we don't include 1200 sqft houses in our searches nor do we include 1600. Yes we can tell the difference for the most part just from experience.
Just to give this missing footage some kind of mental image, it is equal to 2 bedrooms or a decent size dining room or a large laundry or a really good master bedroom.
I assume the count property records are public. If it was that important she should have verified it for herself. If she was so concerned about what she was paying sh should have had an appraisal done. She was lazy for not checking the public records and cheap for not having an appraisal done and it has come back to bite her.
I'm going to be a bit of a dissenter in that yes, the buyer should have verified the information, but it is my personal belief that is what we agents are for. I know with one click I am in the county database and can verify what they have recorded there AND I always do for my buyers. The fact that the agent doesn't appear to have an "authoritative" source for the square footage is bad, in my opinion.
But now she has a garage she didn't have. That adds value.
I would suggest when she re-lists it she tells anyone that asks that the previous sq ft included the garage conversion, and that they are welcome to reconvert it if they need the space.
If your friend is so vulnerable and reliant on others to look out for her best interests she probably shouldn't have been buying property right now.
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