Resale home - Advertised square footage. (real estate, 2013, house)

[gcretro]

Hello,

For a 2013 built resale home, how to one ensure the accuracy of the square footage advertised? For the

Both wake county real estate record (online) and the listing says 3,744 sqft (heated area).

Is there anything more to probe on before getting into contract? The listing agent didn't provide a floor plan...

Thanks.

[MikeJaquish]

Measure it or have your agent measure it.
Any agent should be able to measure the house. Legally, it is a core skill expected of a real estate licensee in North Carolina.
Margin of error is +/-5%.

No house in Wake County has the same SF as the Wakegov site tax records, unless the sellers proactively had the County revise their records.

[VickiR]

Wake County usually takes the square footage of a house from the permitting dept. So, if any changes were made while the home was being built, Wake County most likely won't have those figures correct.

For example, my square footage on Wake County's website is about 2900 sq. ft. but we enlarged the home while building. Our true square footage is more like 3050 sq. ft.

I find Wake County's website is wrong more than right!

If you or your agent don't want to measure the house, ask the sellers if they have their old appraisal. The square footage should be correct on the appraisal or within 5%.

If you and your agent don't want to measure the home, there are appraisers/companies that will measure the home and provide the details to you. They can chanrge anywhere from $85 to $100 on an average home. Of course, larger homes will cost more.