Quote:
Originally Posted by STT Resident
There were way too many other important things to consider. Structural solidity, plumbing and
electrical stability, roof stability and age; general area depending on my particular wants and
needs and to be taken into consideration where future resale was concerned.
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All of which can only come into play AFTER you have taken the time to look at the house.
--which for most buyers is usually limited to properties that meet their other basic criteria
--which in turn depends on accuracy and consistency with listing descriptions.
Quote:
Square footage and whether it had been accurately measured? No. I have eyes.
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No; it's not about how it's measured. It's about what is included in the measurements
and how those measurements are presented. On the listing.
For example... if you saw the following phrases on a listing:
"2000SF 4BR 3BA rancher" and "large master bedroom with walk in closet and full bath"
what sort of home would think was involved? Would your first thought be "mid century modern"
or would you think "1200SF 3BR 1.5BA tract rancher with a remodeled basement"?
As an out of area buyer looking at a listing online and not knowing the peculiarities of every local
market would you expect a heads up from the informed parties that something other than the
commonly understood standards of HUD GLA is being used there?
Or would you expect an active bias by agents and brokers to support the obfuscation?
The used car salesman thinking knows that uninformed buyers are using a simplistic $/SF as their
first search filter which makes the $200,000 they want to ask for that house look more attractive to
them when divided down to $100 per sq foot. The only thing less appealing for them to start a conversation around than "remodeled" or "basement" (even after they get the buyer inside looking at the house) is trying to explain pricing by anything other than the simplistic $/SF that the buyer thinks they understand.