measuring house sq footage

[Hollis]

Looking at a big house, the listing on Zillow and other sites say 4300 and others say 3488. How does one include areas? For instance they have a glassed in porch, isn't that included? (one pane not heated)


Do cellars count? not finished but not rough either. 3rd floor attic area has been finished with a 3/4 bath and a small bedroom and big open area.
I'm guessing all this counts,...

Or do you measure outside foot print and multiply this by the 3 floors? add or not the cellar?

[Walleye507]

The answer to your question will be different from one part of the US to another. Link below does a good job of explaining it.

http://home.howstuffworks.com/home-i...re-footage.htm

[bfish]

I believe Zillow is realtor driven, so what ever stats that the realtor wants to load.... more than likely 4300 is max sq ft. Live-able sq footage (minus unfinished basement, porch, attached garage etc) will be less.

Can you search tax records based on address online? Usually sq footage and lot size, zoning, etc is listed on the tax card.

Would you consider a glassed in porch (3 season) part of the sq footage? I have found that the tax records are very often wrong. Also as I understand it the thrid floor with considerable sloping walls count as 1/2 sq footage.

[tv4fish]

I have found that the tax records are very often wrong

Don't know where you live ---- but here in Minnesota, most counties have pretty good records. You can typically go on a county's website and review a lot of good (and public) information about a house or piece of property. A lot have actual building photos and even sketches with dimensions.

Getting information that even comes close to reality on Zillow is like the blind squirrel finding a nut once in a while. Zillow info is useless, absolutely useless. If a site is wrong over 50% of the time, like Zillow, you can't possibly rely on anything you find there.

The county assessor will be a more reliable source; call them. They're frequently wrong but not nearly as often as Zillow.

I know this because I've measured thousands of homes over the years doing appraisals and compared the true size that I've measured vs. assessors and Zillow. Assessors are about 80% accurate, Zillow, maybe 25%.

In urban areas, Zillow is better than suburban or rural, but not much.

From an appraisers view, basements, porches (screened or glassed), garages, and any upper level with sloping ceilings where the floor-ceiling height is less than 5' is not counted in the GLA, gross living area.

An upper 1/2 story room that measures 10 x 20 where the sidewalls are only 3' high might count only for 120 s.f. instead of the full 200 s.f. Basements, even if finished, are not counted as living space. Its given value as finished basement but not at the same price/s.f. as the above grade levels.

Assessors will often call an upper 1/2 story (think Cape Cod design with 1,000 s.f. on the main level) 1,000 s.f. in 1/2 story and they will report the s.f. as 2,000 s.f. They then assess the upper level as 1,000 s.f. but at a lower rate than the lower 1,000 s.f. In reality, the usable size is about 1,600 s.f.

Sometimes I'll report the dwelling size as 2,500 and Zillow will call it 4,000 and the assessor will call it 3,200.

Good Luck.

[Chad]

Usually you would consider finished sq footage.

I own a two story. The main floor and the basement have the same foot print. However, there is an unfinished mechanical room in the basement. Therefore the main floor has more finished sq footage than the basement.

Some city/county web sites have the sq footage listed on their tax sites. However, these would not take into account any additions unless there was a permit pulled.

[CKM]

alot of listings list the total sq. footage but then list the total finished sq. feet. So you may see a listing that says 4,000 sq. feet of which 3200 is finished.

[eriksat1]

A unfinished basement can add a lot of square footage. When they want to sell the house the more sq footage the better, when you go to insure the house and pay property tax the less sq footage the better.

[vteye]

I insure homes for a living and a truly loaded question.
Typically, I count only above grade finished living area and then add in the extras porch (enclosed, open), decks, basements, garages. I have
sellers/realtors include finished basements and even heated attached
garages. Sq FT gets tricky when clients have rooms with cathedral
ceilings above the first floor. Walleye507 is right on
what is standard in my state might be different in terms of evaluation
of sq footage in othe parts of the country. Northeast has mostly homes
with full basements (not necessarily finished) but that might be the
exception in other areas.