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How important is house accurate house SF to the typical purchaser?

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David Villanueva, "dlvappraiser2"

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As real estate agents will attest, the single most significant factor in determing home value for the typical house is its square footage.  Every MLS listing that notes the house's SF, also known as the GLA (gross living area), will show the price per square foot. 

Yet, in some cases, the public records sources are not accurate with this square footage.

My question is, "If a typical buyer of a house listed at 1,500 SF found out later, before the close of escrow, that it was 200 SF smaller, would that buyer typically still be happy with that contract price?  If not, about how much less would they have offered?  Or, if the buyer walked through the house and liked it at the negotiated price the first time, why should they change their mind later if the entire house was walked through?

Just curious about the answers from folks in different markets. 

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November 02 - Morgan Farm Area
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sunnyview

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200 sf less would make a difference to me since I tend to use price per square foot as a base number to value property. 20 sf no problem. Aftyer all, what is the real difference of one stair landing of space between friends. 200 sf is a good sized room. I would not buy less sq ft for the same price even if I liked the house mainly because as some point I have to resell/refi and that may hurt my resale/refi value.
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1 Yes

November 02
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wetdawgs

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If the square footage is off by <5%, I probably would not quibble - but I would prefer it to be <2%.   200 square feet (15% in your example) would not be acceptable.  

I, like Sunnyview, do include calculations of price per square foot in my mind and do competitive $$$ evaluations based on the square footage (among other things).   Yes, we may have liked the house but when we come up with an offer price the offer price is derived from more than "we like the house". 

Therefore, if the seller has a number that is 15% higher than reality, I'm sure they won't mind a last minute price drop of 15% - or 20% as a concession to goofing in the original data.



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2 Yes

November 02
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White Picture

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Assume 2 houses are comparable and same year built.
If these houses are newly built (2000), then deducts $100 per sqft (depends on the labor and material market), and reduce $1 from $100 per sqft per older year.
For example: deducts $80 per sqft if the house built at 1980.

If the houses are different year built, the A house built at 2000 with 1500 sqft, the B house built at 1980 with 1300 sqft, then the B's value is:

The A's value - (1500sqft x $20 + 200sqft x $80) = the B's value.
As makes equal from the A's year built to the B's year built, then deduct amount the different value of the different sqft.

However it was depended on how the house look like and its structure.
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November 02
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jkonstant

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Even so, square footage cannot make up for how the square footage is utilized or lacking. A 1500 sq foot home with 4 bedrooms and another with 3 are vastly different. Bathrooms are important too in square footage discussions. Two nice bathrooms vs two poor bathrooms affect dollar amount. It is important to recognize that square footage is unreliable when you consider that you are buying land with an improvement. The land/lot can certainly play a role in the square footage valuation method.

The biggest reason people are upset when they find out the actual footage is less than advertised, is they feel cheated and nobody like that.
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2 Yes

November 03
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Pasadenan

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I NEVER trust any REALTOR's estimate of square footage.  They are almost always wrong, very deceitful, and usually WORSE that the county record numbers.  Half the time, they don't know the difference between "enclosed porches", "basements", "garages" and "conditioned space.  They also don't know if you measure outside walls, inside walls, stairwells..., and whether space should be counted twice.  Nor do they know code minimum ceiling heights, and how it is to be calculated when the ceiling slopes.  Besides, they always put in a disclaimer that they have no idea what the square footage or any other details are, but they believe their "sources" were "reliable", whatever that means.  Then they throw around meaningless words like "beautiful", "charming", "quiet"....

Obviously most "REALTORs"' have NO idea how to describe ANYTHING!

Thus, I always measure it and draw the floor plan myself.

Why would I want to put in an offer based on a bogus number?

Besides, everyone knows it is NOT just "square footage".  It is also materials, casework, details, ceiling height, insulation, noise level, land, accessibility, taxes, local services, weather, # bedrooms, # bathrooms, # stories, house style, trees, landscaping, maintenance/upkeep,...

Now if it was just "sq footage", then Zillow's estimates would always be within 1% of actual sale value, wouldn't it???

Sure, square footage makes a difference, but people DON'T buy based on "square footage".  If they did, they would be buying empty warehouse buildings with an "open floor plan" and just putting stuff anywhere.
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2 Yes

November 03
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sunnyview

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Very true. How the space is used does make a huge difference. I have been in houses that walk like 1500 that have been only 1250. Things like floor plan, efficient use of space, built ins for storage, ceiling height, window size and views can all affect the feel of the space. I don't mind smaller homes, but I really appreciate efficient use of space and nicer finishes in smaller homes.
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November 03
 

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