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As a prior post mentioned, many counties will have actual floor plans in deed details at county recorder's office. Many counties online auditor / fiscal officer property search site section will have at least the baseline footprint exterior dimensions in a composite format showing which areas have basement beneath, second floor above, balcony, patio etc...
A Google Earth search with aerial view (Google Streetview is usually what listings show i.e. curbside) combined with the data one gets from the local county can give potential buyers a good idea. Floor plans are a great tool (for the spatially inclined) to readily tell if certain 'must haves' are accommodated by the physical basics of the house and can be used to readily corroborate data.
Also, within Google Earth in aerial view one can simply select 'tools' , then 'ruler' and set to 'feet' and get external dimensions without going to county, or if local county website does not provide easily. The other big plus with Google Earth is seeing the physical built context of a property. (see post 12 by UnityJax)
I would advise everyone (Buyer / Seller) to use GE to discover things like proximity to potential noise nuisances (RR tracks, Airport flight pathways, heavy industry, water and sewer filtration plants et al. and desired amenities (parks, schools, shopping, public transportation, roadways for commute routes, et al).
Depending on the complexity of the floor plan, they are pretty easy to do when one is measuring the house.
For large, cut up homes, I like to have an appraiser measure anyway, and that gets me a floor plan.
Lately, I have used a couple of different on line sites to create simple line drawing floor plans of more modest properties.
These are some good comments, Mike.
Appraisers normally measure a couple of hundred homes per year and most have reasonable rates to provide both the basic floor plan and an accurate calculation of gross living area per one of the industry standards, normally ANSI.
BTW, don't expect a lot of architectural detail on the floor plan. Most provide general room location, not individual room dimensions and such.
I find them very helpful - makes it easier to remember details about a house (especially when you're on a marathon house hunting trip!) and it also tends to make me start mentally arranging furniture and thinking about where to hang the artwork.
I've been using Planomatic lately for some of our higher-end listings. Nice photography, with an interactive floor plan - click on the camera icon, see a photo of the room from that perspective. They include the measurements of each room, with an appropriate "approximate" disclaimer.
Floor plans is standard in listings for British houses, regardless of the age of the house. I've seen floor plans for 400 year old cottages, 200 year old mansions, 100 year old town houses and modern apartments. It must be a legal requirement of sorts.
Floor plans are also included for most property listings in New York, both townhouses and apartments.
But outside NYC it's admittedly rare to see floor plans included with listings. Not sure why this would be the case.
As a buyer, a floor plan is one of my favorite things to find in a listing, though I would say I only see it rarely. I can often figure out a lot about the basic floorplan from looking at the photos and the room dimensions, but I wish I could just see a basic plan on all listings. But I have a pretty specific idea of what I am looking for in the floorplan for my next house - maybe not all buyers have such specific requirements.
My selling agent agrees though, and told me that he gets a floorplan for all of his listings. He said he hires an appraiser to make it for him. In my case, I already have the floorplan from the builder from when we got our house, so that makes it even easier.
> Sounds like a nice idea and perk to help buyer visualize but I would stamp all sorts of disclaimers on it regarding accuracy, scale and placement.
That would be no problem- no one ever complains if the square footage is off a little bit, do they?
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