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County records are wrong, a lot. The house I grew up in was listed as a 9 bedroom. Sure, it was a big house, but by any measure, it only had 6 bedrooms, not 9.
I've seen many county records show the wrong square footage on houses we built, so I know the official square footage "as built", but the county shows a different number, sometimes substantially different.
The bigger the house, the more the discrepancies will be. 10% isn't unusual, which is in the ballpark of what you are looking at.
There is a reason none of our Contracts have anything about footage in them.
But do your listings have anything about footage in them?
Pretending that the metric doesn't matter...
or worse that there is no ulterior motives in the mis/mal representation of the numbers...
is foolishness of the highest order.
Wait until the appraisers sq. ft. comes in to know exactly what you are dealing with. A 500 sq. ft. discrepancy should show up. Once you know which number is correct, the advertising or the county, you have to figure out why the discrepancy exists. If the 500 sq. ft. is there, then it could indicate unpermitted work, which is a problem. Or it could indicate there was a recording error at the county. If the 500 sq. ft. isn't there then, yes you should renegotiated with this new information.
^^ This ^^. Unpermitted work is a problem, if it is the case.
But it very well could be a clerical error at the county, by the seller, the seller's agent, etc. Or basement mods (even those under permit) not included. But if they seller did make updates that were not under permit, that could bit you later (insurance claims, reselling, etc.).
I found a home which I like and has put an offer on to it. The offer was partially based on the square footage of the home which was listed at 4243 sq ft. I am in my due diligence period right now. I found out that the county records show the area of the home as 3700 sq ft so there is a difference on 500 sq ft, which is huge to me. Yesterday I got an appraiser to measure the home and although I am yet to get back his report, I am thinking about what are my options if the actual square footage is off by a good margin to the footage advertised. The property is in Utah. Are there any commissions or state bodies where I can lodge a complaint about the mis-representation of the fact as being 500 square foot off in any estimation is just not acceptable. Any advice would be appreciated from me. Thank you for your time.
You haven't gone into contract yet have you?
Sometimes it is an addition that never got the proper permits and that can be a problem.
It could also just be the seller doesn't really know
The seller could be counting something as living space that wasn't originally included (like a garage).
I wouldn't complain about misrepresentation to any organization unless you were sure it was to defraud.
There is a reason that people do not get the county involved and get the square footage measured and exact in county records. When they do, they get the county inspecting the property and updating their records and nearly always raise the taxes on the property. Measurements at the county records are notoriously wrong.
Back in the real estate business, a friend thought the county was charging too much tax, and asked for an appraisal when they raised his taxes. They did, found they were missing things on their records that were part of the home since it was built, and raised his taxes another 50% over the disputed amount. At that point he kept his mouth shut, because they were still missing some things and if they rechecked they would have raised his taxes again.
Lots of home owners bootleg additions without building permits. Unless there was a physical reappraisal, the county would have no way of knowing about it. If that's the case, be sure to ask your home inspector to note any sections of the house that have substandard construction or do not meet current codes. Bootleg additions are done without inspections and often with inferior design and workmanship.
If you are buying a car that is advertised as having 666 wheel horsepower and it has only 580 wheel horsepower I suppose an argument could be made that this vehicle is not making "demonic levels of power" merely "prodigious power".
Of course the fact is even professional engine builders that hard tune motors rarely if ever advertise vehicles with wheel horsepower as measured on full chases dynamometer. Instead they might calculate gross horsepower or provide data from an engine stand type measurement...
You could keep shopping until you find a "certified" measured house that meets your needs or maybe you could even lodge some complaint with some voluntary real estate regulatory body or what ever state office handles real estate licenses but there is almost no way to prove there was any intent to defraud anyone and if you are otherwise happy with the home...
Apologies in advance for straying totally off topic. I just thought I would point out that tractor manufacturers list engine hp, drawbar hp and PTO hp separately.
I suppose to link it back to the question, a similar real estate listing would list a 3700 sf living area and a 500 sf heated garage/shop. There's always a temptation for the seller to pick the biggest number, but there's a lot to be said for an accurate description.
I bought a house advertised as 2900 sq ft. During the inspection period I went to the county's online parcel viewer, found a sketch of the home including dimensions and added up the square footage. I realized the listing agent or homeowner had apparently double-counted a room. The real square footage was 2600 sq ft. I didn't bring this discrepancy up to anyone because I still thought the house was a good value at 2600 sq ft. I had already negotiated based in part on how large the house felt to me; the actual square footage wasn't that important. Because the county's sketch matched the house, I was confident that the square footage discrepancy wasn't due to an unpermitted addition.
^^ This ^^. Unpermitted work is a problem, if it is the case.
But it very well could be a clerical error at the county, by the seller, the seller's agent, etc. Or basement mods (even those under permit) not included. But if they seller did make updates that were not under permit, that could bit you later (insurance claims, reselling, etc.).
Exactly. Make sure it wasn't unpermitted work because Broward County FL had a field day with inspections during the crash and TONS OF homeowners were, by law, required to "bring it up to code" or do all the nonsense to prove when the work was done or not done or whatever they could do to satisfy the inspectors.
I'm not talking small potatoes here, I'm talking people who had purchased a house with an entire former 25 ft screen porch renovated to be an enclosed heated/AC "family room" and the county wanted them to RIP IT OUT because they didn't like the grade between the room and the patio door into the rest of the house.
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