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Only above grade square footage is included in GLA (gross living area). However, just below that section of the appraisal is the "Basement & Finished" and "Rooms below grade" section where it address the entire square footage of the basement, how much of it is finished living area and what the room make up is. Every split entry home in MN is appraised this way, so you will get 'credit' for this square footage and it will be apples to apples with other home that have sold and are for sale.
Floor plan attached.
Upper level top plan
Lower level bottom plan
Entry room in Red
(Sorry the ruler has nothing to do with scale,
just the program I used to color the room red)
The floor plan is not exactly the correct measurements but pretty close. The question is, why is the red room excluded from living space? It’s fully completed, heated and nice.
Are you saying they included 4th BR, the lower level bath and the lower level family as finished sq footage, but not the lower level entry?
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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I would say that this was considered a laundry room, not an entry. The foyer is the entry. The laundry room just happens to be the entrance to the garage. Laundry rooms are not considered "rooms" by appraisers because it's not habitable space.
So it looks like this in the floor plan? Just the square room that looks like it's for storage? And the room behind it with what looks like the washer and dryer and bathroom is really separate?
If so, what did you have in the room when the appraiser came out? Was he misled by having only clothing on hangers all around the red room so it looked like a closet?
Yes all rooms are separate with doors from the hallway. None of the rooms are connected to each other.
No the room was cleaned up and ready for measuring.
Are you saying they included 4th BR, the lower level bath and the lower level family as finished sq footage, but not the lower level entry?
Exactly. They included the bedroom, the bathroom, the family room but not the entry room. And the entry room door is ground level to the garage. The entire wall of the entry room and bedroom is ground level.
The ground then slopes up away from the garage.
I would say that this was considered a laundry room, not an entry. The foyer is the entry. The laundry room just happens to be the entrance to the garage. Laundry rooms are not considered "rooms" by appraisers because it's not habitable space.
Ok that is interesting. Laundry rooms are not considered living space? I’ve read that they are if they are finished. I will find that link.
So what if I moved the washer dryer to another wall and closeted it off? Would it still be a laundry room? I just need to get the sf up to the 2,000 mark.
I am still a bit confused by many things in this thread ...
- Many of you have said that below-grade space counts "differently." That SEEMS to make sense except why would SOME finished, heated, below-grade space "count" and other finished, heated, below-grade space NOT count -- which appears to be the OP's situation? Can someone answer that, please?
- A recent poster said that a laundry room might not be "counted" because it's not "habitable." That makes no sense to me at all because at least where I live (southwestern NH), unless the "laundry room" is simply a washer and dryer hooked up in a basement that is otherwise UN-usable (i.e., it's all unfinished, unheated space), then it would count. It counted at my last house once I added a heating vent to the space (THAT seemed to be what made it "count"), and it counted at my current house from the day it was built (it was a finished, heated laundry closet from the late '70s until a few months ago, when I moved the washer and dryer upstairs to the 5th bedroom, which I call a "project room"). Both spaces -- my last house and my current house -- were finished, heated spaces, so they certainly counted in my square footage. So what exactly does "habitable" mean? For example, I don't LIVE in my bathrooms, but they all "count" as living space; similarly, I never LIVED in my laundry rooms, but they too have "counted" as living space in my last 2 houses (including current house). They are heated, they are finished.
- Someone suggested that maybe a "mud room" wouldn't count? Again, here in New England it certainly would, if it were finished and heated (as most would be). So again -- confusing.
OP, was it definitely the ENTRY ROOM (with the laundry etc.) that wasn't counted -- but the "furnace room" next to it WAS -- in your appraisal? THAT furnace room would seem to be most likely NOT to be counted, but according to the OP it WAS. So, if that is correct (OP? definitely correct?), then what would account for this -- i.e. that the laundry room wouldn't count but the furnace room WOULD? (And OP, did you ever ASK the appraiser about this? What was his/her response?)
And again, I wish people would clarify: if it's "below grade" space that doesn't "count" the same, why in the OP's situation is it just one finished, heated space "below grade" that doesn't count, but all the rest of the finished, heated below-grade space DID count? No one has addressed that. Many have said that "below grade" space will be counted differently, BUT again, in the OP's case it was ONE ROOM in the "below grade" space that was counted differently -- if the OP was correct and it was the entry/laundry room that didn't count (while the furnace room somehow DID!).
Are split-level houses simply particularly difficult in this way?
Last edited by karen_in_nh_2012; 01-07-2019 at 01:37 PM..
Reason: fix typo
I am still a bit confused by many things in this thread ...
- Many of you have said that below-grade space counts "differently." That SEEMS to make sense except why would SOME finished, heated, below-grade space "count" and other finished, heated, below-grade space NOT count -- which appears to be the OP's situation? Can someone answer that, please?
- A recent poster said that a laundry room might not be "counted" because it's not "habitable." That makes no sense to me at all because at least where I live (southwestern NH), unless the "laundry room" is simply a washer and dryer hooked up in a basement that is otherwise UN-usable (i.e., it's all unfinished, unheated space), then it would count. It counted at my last house once I added a heating vent to the space (THAT seemed to be what made it "count"), and it counted at my current house from the day it was built (it was a finished, heated laundry closet from the late '70s until a few months ago, when I moved the washer and dryer upstairs to the 5th bedroom, which I call a "project room"). Both spaces -- my last house and my current house -- were finished, heated spaces, so they certainly counted in my square footage. So what exactly does "habitable" mean? For example, I don't LIVE in my bathrooms, but they all "count" as living space; similarly, I never LIVED in my laundry rooms, but they too have "counted" as living space in my last 2 houses (including current house). They are heated, they are finished.
- Someone suggested that maybe a "mud room" wouldn't count? Again, here in New England it certainly would, if it were finished and heated (as most would be). So again -- confusing.
OP, was it definitely the ENTRY ROOM (with the laundry etc.) that wasn't counted -- but the "furnace room" next to it WAS -- in your appraisal? THAT furnace room would seem to be most likely NOT to be counted, but according to the OP it WAS. So, if that is correct (OP? definitely correct?), then what would account for this -- i.e. that the laundry room wouldn't count but the furnace room WOULD? (And OP, did you ever ASK the appraiser about this? What was his/her response?)
And again, I wish people would clarify: if it's "below grade" space that doesn't "count" the same, why in the OP's situation is it just one finished, heated space "below grade" that doesn't count, but all the rest of the finished, heated below-grade space DID count? No one has addressed that. Many have said that "below grade" space will be counted differently, BUT again, in the OP's case it was ONE ROOM in the "below grade" space that was counted differently -- if the OP was correct and it was the entry/laundry room that didn't count (while the furnace room somehow DID!).
Are split-level houses simply particularly difficult in this way?
As one agent mentioned, real estate listings will typically list a home with the total finished sq. feet (above grade and below grade lumped together). An appraisal, however, will split the sq. footage into above grade and below grade. Adjustments are typically made at a much lower rate for the below grade (i.e. footage adjust at $40/sq. ft. above grade and only $15/sq ft. below grade).
It sounds like this entry/laundry room should likely be included as finished square feet assuming it is finished like the rest of the home (fully trimmed out, fully floored, finished Sheetrock, painted, etc.).
Adjustments are typically made at a much lower rate for the below grade
(i.e. footage adjust at $40/sq. ft. above grade and only $15/sq ft. below grade).
It sounds like this entry/laundry room should likely be included as finished square feet assuming it is finished like the rest of the home .
I suspect the conflict is rooted in changes to these spaces over the years between original construction
and later adapting by successive owners. eg: "It was like this when I bought" and "the listing said..."
just aren't the same as a permitted and inspected remodel.
And however convenient or comfortable a heated garage (and it's related utility space) might be ...
I am VERY leery that any approved HVAC plan has EITHER included in the conditioned space.
I asked google for some detail on the topic: https://tinyurl.com/yc8ssa83
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many inconsistencies ...
