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My county has square footage incorrect in my development too. The house on the next block is identical, but listed at 150 square foot less than mine. I guess they will get a bit of a tax break.
The builder was still in here, so I asked about it and he clarified they are all the same size. I was in the middle of a tax assessment dispute at the time with the county, this was right before covid began. Things had been selling slowly by me, so the builder lowered prices and the county was using old data to over assess me.
Doesn’t really matter anymore since the prices on homes have skyrocketed since then.
Perhaps you should call the agent and owner and offer to pay for an appraiser to come out and measure for them since it's so important to you? Then they'll have something official to work off of. It's very common for agents here, and in many other markets I'm sure, to rely on tax records when there aren't other options available. Why should an agent take the word of a neighbor over tax records? But now when you pay for the appraiser to come measure, you've got something reliable.
Perhaps you should call the agent and owner and offer to pay for an appraiser to come out and measure for them since it's so important to you? Then they'll have something official to work off of. It's very common for agents here, and in many other markets I'm sure, to rely on tax records when there aren't other options available. Why should an agent take the word of a neighbor over tax records? But now when you pay for the appraiser to come measure, you've got something reliable.
and from the OP:
Quote:
I call the local MLS and I did. The guy told me the only person who would be able to change data on a sold listing would be the listing agent. ...He also said the selling agent can list the house at 4220 if that's what the assessor says it is, even if incorrect. And they will not look into any situations unless requested by an MLS member.
the MLS rules allow the agent to use the assessor figure.
So, OP's problem is not with the agent, or the brokerage, or the MLS. It is with the county assessor, that she believes has inflated the square footage of her own home. Indeed, it might be easiest to ask the assessor "does garage space count?"
the MLS rules allow the agent to use the assessor figure.
So, OP's problem is not with the agent, or the brokerage, or the MLS. It is with the county assessor, that she believes has inflated the square footage of her own home. Indeed, it might be easiest to ask the assessor "does garage space count?"
I just wanted the OP to go down and tell the agent and neighbor they are paying to have the house measured.
First, square footage is not an exact science. Our builder has one square footage listed, the tax assessor has another, and a recent appraisal came up with yet another.
Generally speaking, as long as a Realtor has a source to back up their information, there is nothing deceitful about it. And, yes, most of them use the tax assessor's number, which is completely reasonable.
That said, why in the heck have you not submitted documentation from the builder to the tax assessor to get the square footage lowered / corrected? They value your home at least partially on a price per square foot. The higher the value, the more you pay in taxes. Do you enjoy paying higher taxes?
I'm waiting to hear back from the county on how they want to remedy this. They may say hire any licensed appraiser or they may send someone out. I don't want to waste my time until I hear what they will be satisfied with.
No, it can't be the garage. I've checked the county database for all the houses in the development and they all seem correct except for these 4 houses with this particular floorplan. I think someone, probably a developer rep, goofed when handing over the numbers for the entire development. That's fine, although we've been overpaying taxes for 5 years now and will only get refunded for 3, if there's a refund coming. I'm confident our house will get corrected. It does bug me that I know these 4 houses are all twins yet ours is the only one getting corrected and there's some buyer paying for more square footage than they're getting. Also feels like the listing agent did something super shady changing the data on a house that sold a long time ago. She literally changed the record of what the price per square foot was for that house 5 years ago, yet didn't change her current listing. Why/how can she do that??
Do the home owners of the other "3875sqft" homes know they're being taken advantage of, via the County tax assessor? You may want to bring that to their attention at your next HOA meeting.
No, they do not. I'm actually starting a new email group for us so we can talk about things like this. It's going to take some time to get everyone. I'm not sure if they'll be thankful, to possibly be getting a refund on taxes, or pissed that now they have a decision to make that could decrease the value of their home.
There is now a sold sign in front of that house with another realtor's name who I'm assuming is the buyer's realtor - her website she lists other parts of the city as her areas of experience. I texted her last night but have not heard back.
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