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For those of you planning to buy a house in the Treasure Coast area, be aware of the way a house's square footage is mentioned in the ads. For example, there is "square footage under roof" which includes the garage and covered (but not enclosed) lanai, and there is "square footage under air" - which is the air conditioned part of the house you actually LIVE in. Obviously, it's the latter which is the true indicator of the size of a house. For example, there's a house down the street from us that is advertised as having 3,500 square feet - and is priced accordingly, about $50k higher than any other house for sale in the neighborhood. Well, it has to be an "under roof" total because it is about the same size as our house, which has 2,450 sf under AIR. The ad does NOT indicate the sf is "under roof" as opposed to under air, but the house has been on the market a while, and this could be a factor. Frankly at the size they are listing, I am wondering if they are also including the attic in that sf. I don't know why some Realtors try to dupe potential customers like this. When we were looking at houses, it was only the sf that we could live in that mattered to us, as far as determining the houses we looked at.
I don't know why some Realtors try to dupe potential customers like this.
I agree Sea Lark. Let's face it, most just want a sale because it is their career. All I ever wanted in a Real Estate agent or broker is honesty and that is rare. Just like the other thread being debated about advertised 30 minutes to the beach from Tradition. It's almost impossible, sometimes it takes 10-15 minutes to just get out of tradition. This also applies to waterfront listings when they say how far to open water or ocean by boat. As being a boater in the area and checking on waterfront homes I can tell you that over 90% of the listings are downright lies(misinformation,wrong). Old rule of thumb add 15 minutes to whatever is told to you or in the listing as it pertains to distance.
My house is 1850 sq ft "under air." I have a 300 sq ft sunroom that is not counted because there is no air vent/duct work in that room. Even though it IS air conditioned by the 15 foot wide door opening that goes into the room.
ok...the new mls system is a bit strange for us to imput information and still has flaws that are being fixed. Used to be that the square footage was automatically generated once the address and legal info was put it. Now, for some reason, it doesn't do that. The listing person has to go and FIND the square footage --both under air and total. Some people still don't know the difference and others don't know where to find it. I see it too -- either the total in the under air section or just the total or nothing at all. Makes me crazy. That mean I have to go look it up myself...and I do.
btw the air conditioned space is per the building dept-- we have no control over what it posts.
I agree Sea Lark. Let's face it, most just want a sale because it is their career. All I ever wanted in a Real Estate agent or broker is honesty and that is rare. Just like the other thread being debated about advertised 30 minutes to the beach from Tradition. It's almost impossible, sometimes it takes 10-15 minutes to just get out of tradition. This also applies to waterfront listings when they say how far to open water or ocean by boat. As being a boater in the area and checking on waterfront homes I can tell you that over 90% of the listings are downright lies(misinformation,wrong). Old rule of thumb add 15 minutes to whatever is told to you or in the listing as it pertains to distance.
why do you constantly think Realtors are always trying to "dupe" anybody out of anything. There are plenty of us that are honest and tell it like it is.
How about buyers...such as one person in this forum....that get shown houses for days and weeks at a time, then decide a house they were shown is what they like, and instead of going thru the Realtor they are working with, go back to the homeowner and try to "make a deal" without them? I guess that doesnt count.....
Overall I have had positive experiences with Realtors, and certainly with the one we used to buy a house here. I do think the person handling the sale for the house I mentioned down the street is trying to draw people in with a misleading square footage; he or she should know enough to at least say "under roof" if the garage and lanai are part of the total. Frankly the next time there's an open house, I may just have to be a "looky-loo" and check out the interior, then ask the Realtor about the square footage.
We had one "unusual" experience with a real estate agent when he refused to show us a house that we were interested in unless we signed an "exclusive" agreement with him. We of course refused, found another real estate agent (a great one, I might add), saw the house we were interested in and then several other houses until we located the right one for us and purchased it. There is good and bad in any profession.
Also, we've only seen square footage described as "under air" - never "under roof".
"Under air" is more common -and more accurate for what people are really looking for - but I have seen ads with "under roof" as well. The ad for the house up the street from us claims 3,800 sf; when you look at an aerial view of our street, our house is the same size as this one, and we have 2,450 sf "under air". Both are ranch houses. The ad does not state either under air OR roof. I just wonder how many people showed up expecting a much larger house !
Among the more important features in determining a homes value is the "under air" or "living area" number of the home. Things like a garage, a front porch, a patio, a balcony are not living area. What you do see is that an agent will include an enclosed area usually a patio, a sunroom or a Florida Room that may or may not have central a/c as living area. This is what the issue could be with the original post. Just about everytime it is not living area. The enclosure will add value to your home just not as living area. What is amazing is that there appears to be no requirement that the living area number be right in a listing. Anyone can get access to the correct number through the local county Property Appraisers website and it is amazing that it is not. I would highly recommend that you go to the county property appraisers website and enter the address yourself to get the true number.
Verobound your sunroom would not be considered living area for the reasons you note. If there is no a/c vent, if it is a step or two down from the rest of your home, if the construction is not the same quality as the rest of the home then it would not be considered living area. With that being said the room has added value which would be given for being what it is an enclosed patio/Fla. room.
Tradition to the beach in 30 minutes. Like most else that comes out of out of a community that continues to struggles to build more than 10 years after breaking ground I respectfully disagree.
why do you constantly think Realtors are always trying to "dupe" anybody out of anything. There are plenty of us that are honest and tell it like it is.
How about buyers...such as one person in this forum....that get shown houses for days and weeks at a time, then decide a house they were shown is what they like, and instead of going thru the Realtor they are working with, go back to the homeowner and try to "make a deal" without them? I guess that doesnt count.....
Why? because it happens all the time. If it didn't happen this post would be non existent. Just because you or other realtors show a home or other homes doesn't mean they have to buy it from you or them. Many times realtors get pushy after showing a few homes and it turns people off as you just posted. They left because "THEY CAN and will pursue another realtor or the sale by themselves".
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I don't know why some Realtors try to dupe potential customers like this.
