[JayCT]

Originally Posted by lre2456

OP here, only one wall (N) is entirely below ground, everything else is above ground. In fact, if you look at the home from the sides or back, it looks like a full 2-story home. It has full ceiling height, no carpet, no mold/mildew or flooding issues and there is no-step walkout straight into the backyard. We’ve seen both ways of listing (don’t include/do include) in our area, but on all of those the basement was either 100% below grade of at best 75%. Our goal isn’t to scam buyers or play the “fake square footage” game - we are just genuinely curious about options..we would of course disclose what is on the lower level and that bank appraisals can throw a wrench in any plan, but it is a big difference in terms of marketing (1900 vs 3800 livable sq ft).

Go by what the town records indicate. Those are the official numbers and you can’t get in trouble using them. Jay

[SteveM85]

Originally Posted by lre2456

OP here, only one wall (N) is entirely below ground, everything else is above ground. In fact, if you look at the home from the sides or back, it looks like a full 2-story home. It has full ceiling height, no carpet, no mold/mildew or flooding issues and there is no-step walkout straight into the backyard. We’ve seen both ways of listing (don’t include/do include) in our area, but on all of those the basement was either 100% below grade of at best 75%. Our goal isn’t to scam buyers or play the “fake square footage” game - we are just genuinely curious about options..we would of course disclose what is on the lower level and that bank appraisals can throw a wrench in any plan, but it is a big difference in terms of marketing (1900 vs 3800 livable sq ft).

Pick up a phone, I know, it stinks, who picks up a phone anymore. Call the town building dept and tax assessor to get it squared away properly. Call them seperately, they can be notorius for not communicating with each other.

[mels]

Originally Posted by SteveM85

Pick up a phone, I know, it stinks, who picks up a phone anymore. Call the town building dept and tax assessor to get it squared away properly. Call them seperately, they can be notorius for not communicating with each other.

No need to even talk to anyone for the tax assessor's info! I think just about every CT municipality has that information available online.

[SteveM85]

Originally Posted by mels

No need to even talk to anyone for the tax assessor's info! I think just about every CT municipality has that information available online.

A call just to see if they are in sync with the building dept for records and permits.

[Joe42]

I used to own a condo with a finished basement. Agents listing in that complex would usually list the above-grade square footage, but then would also say "xxx sq ft of additional living space in finished basement".

Make sure you have all of the permitting / certificate of occupancy for the finished basement squared away. I almost lost my sale over that. Banks can refuse to underwrite the buyer's mortgage over that now.

In my case, I ended up having to "fire" my family attorney over this. When I bought the condo, he set up the closing with title insurance that didn't cover anything below-grade, and I was left holding the bag for thousands of dollars to have my basement ripped open and put back together to satisfy the town building inspector because some previous owner of the condo didn't do their paperwork 20+ years ago and banks only started caring about It after I bought the place.