Re-Sale Square Footage Vs Builder Square Footage

H

House_Hunting

New member
Hi guys,

I've been eyeing some resale homes and I've noticed a lot of advertised square footage is greater than what the builder originally stated. It appears many have no add-ons. With that said the difference in sq ft can be anywhere from 25-75. Granted price per sq ft is around $450-$475/sf this can be a huge amount.

Obviously sqft will be verified via appraiser during underwriting, but lets say new appraisal sides with greater sq ft. Can buyer argue the difference given what we know from the builder and perhaps prior appraisal supporting lower square footage?

 
 
A buyer has (generally) 17 days from acceptance to complete their investigations and can bail out of a deal for pretty much any reason and get their earnest money deposit back. That said, if I were a seller...I wouldn't renegotiate if buyer investigation yielded a different square footage (+/-).
 
best_potsticker_in_town said:
A buyer has (generally) 17 days from acceptance to complete their investigations and can bail out of a deal for pretty much any reason and get their earnest money deposit back. That said, if I were a seller...I wouldn't renegotiate if buyer investigation yielded a different square footage (+/-).
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Agreed about 17 day period.

But this doesn't makes sense. How can square footage change from builder square footage without add-ons? So a seller and broker can arbitrarily increase sq ft and pad their numbers by $40-$50K?

 
Why doesn't the California Bureau of Real Estate crack down on fake listings? (Such as property listed as 2 bedroom, but in reality it's a 1 bedroom and loft or den)


House_Hunting said:
Hi guys,

I've been eyeing some resale homes and I've noticed a lot of advertised square footage is greater than what the builder originally stated. It appears many have no add-ons. With that said the difference in sq ft can be anywhere from 25-75. Granted price per sq ft is around $450-$475/sf this can be a huge amount.

Obviously sqft will be verified via appraiser during underwriting, but lets say new appraisal sides with greater sq ft. Can buyer argue the difference given what we know from the builder and perhaps prior appraisal supporting lower square footage?
Click to expand...
 
Well, a buyer has the right to do investigations exactly for this reason. If the results are not to your liking, you can re-negotiate and/or back out. Most sellers and agents aren't intentionally inflating square footage. Usually it's based off tax records or some other report.
 
House_Hunting said:
Hi guys,

I've been eyeing some resale homes and I've noticed a lot of advertised square footage is greater than what the builder originally stated. It appears many have no add-ons. With that said the difference in sq ft can be anywhere from 25-75. Granted price per sq ft is around $450-$475/sf this can be a huge amount.

Obviously sqft will be verified via appraiser during underwriting, but lets say new appraisal sides with greater sq ft. Can buyer argue the difference given what we know from the builder and perhaps prior appraisal supporting lower square footage?

 
Click to expand...

The square footage that the builder provides in their sales office are estimates and not the exact SF that the homes end up being.  For homes that are older than a few years, you can check what the square footage is on the County tax assessor website.
 
What happens in new communities is (as part of the loan process) an appraiser comes and measures the square footage of the home.  I've seen a few of these and it's (ironically) about 20-40 sq ft more than  the sales office quoted every time.  The owner receives the appraisal in the mail and is pleasantly surprised.  Of course they use the higher square footage when they go to sell.

Also try googling the address, the appraisal figures should be public record and a lot of websites use that in the details of the home.
 
best_potsticker_in_town said:
Well, a buyer has the right to do investigations exactly for this reason. If the results are not to your liking, you can re-negotiate and/or back out. Most sellers and agents aren't intentionally inflating square footage. Usually it's based off tax records or some other report.
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To me that's false advertisement. Is it hard to ask to get the property description right?

Here's the thing, if there is no consequences for their action people will do anything.

Adding square footage that is not permitted is not correct. One my friend was in the process buying a house and he found out that the extra room was not permitted. Someone notified the city and the seller had to fix the unpermitted extra room. Then the seller blamed my friend for snitching. (I won't name the city)

At the end my friend lost TIME and money for the appraisal.
*this is for a re-sale

 
If you're going off tax records for square footage or a previous appraisal, I would think that's a reasonable effort to get it right.

Also, regarding a bedroom - contrary to popular belief, it does not require a closet to be called a "bedroom." There are other standards such as room size, ingress/egress, windows, etc but closet is not one of them.

If a seller is aware of unpermitted changes they are liable to disclose that as part of the seller disclosure package.
 
best_potsticker_in_town said:
If you're going off tax records for square footage or a previous appraisal, I would think that's a reasonable effort to get it right.

Also, regarding a bedroom - contrary to popular belief, it does not require a closet to be called a "bedroom." There are other standards such as room size, ingress/egress, windows, etc but closet is not one of them.

If a seller is aware of unpermitted changes they are liable to disclose that as part of the seller disclosure package.
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Yeah, what's a bedroom can be a little gray.  The 2 main requirements are that it has at least one window and a door to the room. 
 
House_Hunting said:
Obviously sqft will be verified via appraiser during underwriting, but lets say new appraisal sides with greater sq ft. Can buyer argue the difference given what we know from the builder and perhaps prior appraisal supporting lower square footage?
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LOL. Don't expect anyone to show up with a tape measure.
 
My new philosophy in buying real estate:

I don't like to play dirty, but if they are going to list a property that is not accurate with extra square ft. (like a bonus room) I might just have to snitch to the city.  ;)

It's just business
 
eyephone said:
My new philosophy in buying real estate:

I don't like to play dirty, but if they are going to list a property that is not accurate with extra square ft. (like a bonus room) I might just have to snitch to the city.  ;)

It's just business
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City benefits from padded area estimates. It would probably be an uphill battle to get them to lower the number.
 
eyephone said:
My new philosophy in buying real estate:

I don't like to play dirty, but if they are going to list a property that is not accurate with extra square ft. (like a bonus room) I might just have to snitch to the city.  ;)

It's just business
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Why would the square footage of a bonus room not be included in the overall square footage in the house?  California room I can understand, but by bonus room I'm assuming you mean  a loft?
 
I've seen this phenomenon happen a few times.  Seems the builder is always conservative in the sq footage of the properties they sell.  When it's time to sell, of course a seller should base the sq footage from the highest number out of the county records or any appraisals they have received over the years.  I know for my property, the size varied 70-90 sq ft between all the appraisals and county records.
 
aquabliss said:
eyephone said:
My new philosophy in buying real estate:

I don't like to play dirty, but if they are going to list a property that is not accurate with extra square ft. (like a bonus room) I might just have to snitch to the city.  ;)

It's just business
Click to expand...

Why would the square footage of a bonus room not be included in the overall square footage in the house?  California room I can understand, but by bonus room I'm assuming you mean  a loft?
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I was referring to houses that add square footage that were not permitted. (For example, adding a room and bathroom to a house without getting permits. My friend's situation it turned out the concrete slab underneath the extra room was not up to code, and the extra bathroom was added and not permitted.) Then the question comes up with the valuation of the house.

 
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