Misrepresentation of sqft (Frisco: house, price, appraiser)

[Rakin]

Originally Posted by faceoff007

The original appraisal shows 2036. I think they used builder's floor plan and didn't actually measured the house after it was built. The CAD shows 1969.

Any where in your original contract from the builder does it reflect the square footage of the house ?

Builders don't usually pass out their measured floor plans. Where are you getting the 2036 from the builder ?

[HockDad]

These cases are litigated, but they are not easy. In short, you have to prove up both liability and damages. In regards to liability, you have to be able to prove either: 1) breach of contract, or 2) fraud (DTPA). If breach of contract, you have to show that the contract provided for a house of 2,036 square feet and you got one smaller. You have to also hope that nothing in the contract controls in regards to the square feet. In fraud, you have to show that they knew they were building a house that was too small. There is also a statute of limitation issue, but you would allege discovery rule.

The biggest problem you will have is damages. If the average square foot of your house is $100.00 per foot, your damages are $16,000.00. In a breach of contract case you would get your damages plus atty fees. In a fraud case, you would get your damages, plus treble damages (assuming DTPA), plus atty fees. You will have a hard time finding a reputable attorney to take a $16,000.00 case (either hourly or contigency).

[Rakin]

Originally Posted by Rakin

Any where in your original contract from the builder does it reflect the square footage of the house ?

Originally Posted by HockDad

These cases are litigated, but they are not easy. In short, you have to prove up both liability and damages. In regards to liability, you have to be able to prove either: 1) breach of contract, or 2) fraud (DTPA). If breach of contract, you have to show that the contract provided for a house of 2,036 square feet and you got one smaller. You have to also hope that nothing in the contract controls in regards to the square feet. In fraud, you have to show that they knew they were building a house that was too small. There is also a statute of limitation issue, but you would allege discovery rule.

I've seen a lot of builder contracts and never ever seen any of them address square footage since it's a very inaccurate thing when you build. They seldom if ever even pass out plans / blue prints.

That way if a room is suppose to be 20 ft long and it's only 19ft 11in, they don't get sued.

How do we don't know the current appraiser didn't mismeasure ?

[HockDad]

Originally Posted by Rakin

I've seen a lot of builder contracts and never ever seen any of them address square footage since it's a very inaccurate thing when you build. They seldom if ever even pass out plans / blue prints.

That way if a room is suppose to be 20 ft long and it's only 19ft 11in, they don't get sued.

How do we don't know the current appraiser didn't mismeasure ?

One was litigated in Dallas five years ago. In that case, the appraiser called seller's agent and told the agent that the square footage was off. The seller's agent and buyer's agent decided not to tell the buyer. The flyers on the house did not have the usual caveat per dcad. The homeowner popped everyone but the appraiser. It took almost perfect facts to win that case.

[nsumner]

Originally Posted by Rakin

I've seen a lot of builder contracts and never ever seen any of them address square footage since it's a very inaccurate thing when you build. They seldom if ever even pass out plans / blue prints.

That way if a room is suppose to be 20 ft long and it's only 19ft 11in, they don't get sued.

How do we don't know the current appraiser didn't mismeasure ?

Pulte/Centex cover it in their 63 page contract. It's buried in there. True builders don't pass out blueprints but they have the square footage on their floorplan of the home.

Naima

[Pete53FR]

Go to the appraisal district and get a refund of taxes based on sq ft discrepancy. They will go back 3 years.

[FM2006orFrisco2014]

what is the best way to get home measurements? Should we get another appraisal done or is there professional service available just to measure the home sq footage? We have put up an offer for the house and the measurements came off by 200sq ft during the appraisal. The appraiser is standing by his measurements and is absolutely sure of that. How do we make it double sure of the measurements before going back to seller?
We are out of the option period? What options do we have to cancel the contract?

[Rakin]

Originally Posted by FM2006orFrisco2014

We are out of the option period? What options do we have to cancel the contract?

Nowhere in the contract does it say the house must be the footage advertised.
If the House appraised for the Contract price you don't have an out.

Many times when I list a home I have an appraiser measure the house. That's much better than using the tax records.

But even Appraisers measurements can vary.

[FalconheadWest]

Originally Posted by FM2006orFrisco2014

what is the best way to get home measurements? Should we get another appraisal done or is there professional service available just to measure the home sq footage? We have put up an offer for the house and the measurements came off by 200sq ft during the appraisal. The appraiser is standing by his measurements and is absolutely sure of that. How do we make it double sure of the measurements before going back to seller?
We are out of the option period? What options do we have to cancel the contract?

Does your agent not have a referral for you for someone who just measures houses?

There might be 200 sqft "missing", but did the house change? Is it the same house you love and made an offer on? Did a room disappear? Why are you buying a house based on a number and not based on the floorplan that fits what you're looking for?

[FM2006orFrisco2014]

We liked the house and made an offer. The offer was primarily based on the comps or sq footage prices in that area provided by our agent. The offer was accepted. The appraisal came lower than offer price. Our agent told us that it is ongoing trend. We agreed to put decent cash on top of the appraisal to make the offer work and seller was not willing to come down. Continued to work with appraiser for revision and provided additional comps. Now in additional analysis, it came out that appraisal is low due to difference in sq footage which means that we are overpaying by a decent amount. This was not caught either by our agent or seller's agent when they reviewed the appraisal. Copy of the report was sent to both.
What course of action do we have? We like the house but not willing to overpay as our offer was based on sq footage price in that area for similar homes.