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Answers (8)
- Gwen Banta "Sherlock of Homes", "Gwen Banta"
- Contributions:107
Your frustration is certainly warranted. Typos aside, not all mistakes can be attributed to the Realtor. Other mistakes occur because agents get their statistics from Public Records, which are wrong more often than you can imagine. All that aside, my guess is that you have experienced overzealousness on the part of a few agents. I suppose it is human nature to hope that by contacting you regarding a property, you may fall in love with it and thus change your requirements pertaining to lot size. This is something that happens often, so it is not without precedent. It is, nonetheless, annoying to feel that you are not being heard. Go with a Realtor who HEARS you, and you will be well taken care of and satisfied.
- Dan, "the_country_hick"
- Contributions:4700
Do not blame this site. It is the agents who send out the misinformation that cause the problems. Here is a good example from another site 651 Elm St with 409 acres. Looking at google maps and on this site it is a postage stamp lot. (At least postage stamp compared to the 409 acres it is claiming to be. I consider anything under 5 acres to be postage stamp and 5 acres to be small.)
This is not an isolated incident. I once saw a house for sale with OVER 1 million acres for under $250k in a subdivision. I even sent an email saying I would pay that as long as it has the 1 million acres. I never got a reply back.
To many agents do not seem to care about lot size. I do.
This is not an isolated incident. I once saw a house for sale with OVER 1 million acres for under $250k in a subdivision. I even sent an email saying I would pay that as long as it has the 1 million acres. I never got a reply back.
To many agents do not seem to care about lot size. I do.
- Steve Matthews, "Vegas Short Sales"
- Contributions:218
I don't think anyone is over reacting, and while I wouldn't say 6700 square feet is "about 7000 square feet", or that 1543 square feet is "1600", I know there are some who feel that is simply "rounding the numbers". I have been in the Real Estate business for nearly 32 years, so I have seen just about everything you can see in from honest representation, to "Puffery" ("This 9x9 living room is spacious"), to misrepresentation, to fraud, and going beyond common "Puffery" where you walk into a home that has all of the cabinets taken out and graffiti on the walls, but the remarks in the MLS say, "gorgeous home , move-in ready".
I remember a law suit brought about by a Buyer against another agent in my company where the data in the MLS said that the square footage of the home was 4000 square feet, but when he moved in and got an appraisal on the home it was actually only 3700 square feet. Since he paid approximately $100 per square foot, he wanted his 300 square feet or $30,000, (plus attorney fees). As you might guess, this case settled quickly, and in the Buyer's favor. Which is why in Las Vegas, we allow certain things like square footage to auto-populate from the tax assessor's info.
The bottom line is that it is just plain dangerous for the agent to mess with the numbers as it not only reflects on their character, it could translate to a significant amount of money lost on the part of the Buyer as well as the Seller.
Having said all that, what is at issue here is what Zillow is showing for square footage of a home site. In the case brought up by terescott, the suggestion is that an agent is taking a lot that is "On a postage stamp" (which in Las Vegas I interpret as under 3500 square feet) and saying it is actually on a lot 15 times larger than actual size. No agent in his right mind messes with those numbers. Especially when were are talking about suggesting that an agent might say that a home is on over an acre of land, that is on a postage stamp of a lot, and also is visually clearly on a postage stamp of a lot.
To clarify my earlier post, there are nearly 12,000 homes on the market (11,716 to be exact), and I found only 10 properties on the market in Las Vegas that were under $200,000 that were on a lot larger than 43,560 square feet (one acre). And of those ten, three stated that they were, but actually were not over an acre. Of those three, all were auto-populated from the assessor's site. None had info that came from the agent with regard to lot size.
I might also add that is Clark County, the only thing that is legally allowed to be added to the total square footage of a home, are rooms that have both heating and air conditioning So unless a sun room was both heated and air conditioned, it would not show up in the total square footage, which means that garages are not included either.
To those who mis-represent facts of a home, I can only say, Karma will get you in the end.
Best of luck, and thanks for reading.
I remember a law suit brought about by a Buyer against another agent in my company where the data in the MLS said that the square footage of the home was 4000 square feet, but when he moved in and got an appraisal on the home it was actually only 3700 square feet. Since he paid approximately $100 per square foot, he wanted his 300 square feet or $30,000, (plus attorney fees). As you might guess, this case settled quickly, and in the Buyer's favor. Which is why in Las Vegas, we allow certain things like square footage to auto-populate from the tax assessor's info.
The bottom line is that it is just plain dangerous for the agent to mess with the numbers as it not only reflects on their character, it could translate to a significant amount of money lost on the part of the Buyer as well as the Seller.
Having said all that, what is at issue here is what Zillow is showing for square footage of a home site. In the case brought up by terescott, the suggestion is that an agent is taking a lot that is "On a postage stamp" (which in Las Vegas I interpret as under 3500 square feet) and saying it is actually on a lot 15 times larger than actual size. No agent in his right mind messes with those numbers. Especially when were are talking about suggesting that an agent might say that a home is on over an acre of land, that is on a postage stamp of a lot, and also is visually clearly on a postage stamp of a lot.
To clarify my earlier post, there are nearly 12,000 homes on the market (11,716 to be exact), and I found only 10 properties on the market in Las Vegas that were under $200,000 that were on a lot larger than 43,560 square feet (one acre). And of those ten, three stated that they were, but actually were not over an acre. Of those three, all were auto-populated from the assessor's site. None had info that came from the agent with regard to lot size.
I might also add that is Clark County, the only thing that is legally allowed to be added to the total square footage of a home, are rooms that have both heating and air conditioning So unless a sun room was both heated and air conditioned, it would not show up in the total square footage, which means that garages are not included either.
To those who mis-represent facts of a home, I can only say, Karma will get you in the end.
Best of luck, and thanks for reading.
- SteadyState
- Contributions:787
Terescott -
I like sunnyview have the same experience with listing agents especially when I ask them the size of the home or the lot:
1. A 6700 sq-ft lot is "about 7000 feet".
2. a 1543 sq-ft home is "1600 sq-ft".
On MLS listing I have also see other forms of misrepresentation - like a "sun-room" is included so that a 1700 sq-ft home becomes "2100 sq-ft". Mr. Matthews may suggest we are over reacting but when humans input data and/or give answers in a sales situation things are said that are not put on paper.
I like sunnyview have the same experience with listing agents especially when I ask them the size of the home or the lot:
1. A 6700 sq-ft lot is "about 7000 feet".
2. a 1543 sq-ft home is "1600 sq-ft".
On MLS listing I have also see other forms of misrepresentation - like a "sun-room" is included so that a 1700 sq-ft home becomes "2100 sq-ft". Mr. Matthews may suggest we are over reacting but when humans input data and/or give answers in a sales situation things are said that are not put on paper.
- Steve Matthews, "Vegas Short Sales"
- Contributions:218
Hello Terescott,
With all due respect to sunnyview who may be to most respected and most prolific poster on this site, in Las Vegas, the lot size is automatically generated from the data drawn from a site that aggregates data from the Tax assessor's office. Several items of public record get auto-populated into the listing when a Real Estate agent enters the parcel number, one of which is the lot square footage. because there is a significant amount of liability for misrepresenting things like size of the house and size of the lot, unless we have proof that the data is wrong in the assessor's database, we go with what is posted there.
Having said all that, I am going to guess that the reason you are getting false hits on properties is because of one of 2 reasons. When computers came out there was an acronym that went around that was "GIGO" which stands for "Garbage in - Garbage out". Meaning, if the information you put in is garbage, the information you get out is also going to be garbage.
So, reason number one: you are seeing condos that in fact are on large sites, giving the impression that they are indeed on land larger than a postage stamp. Reason number two: Once in awhile, the assessor (accidentally) fails to post each field, making it is possible that a blank field may also result in a "false positive" for your acre plus search on Zillow. I did my own search of properties listed in the MLS, in Las Vegas that are under $200,000, and sitting on more than a lot larger than 43560 square foot, and came up with a total of 10. Of those 10, 3 clearly had a typo in the assessor's parcel information.
Not exactly a scandalous amount, but I prefer not to assume what you are seeing, so if you will give me a single address, I will be more than happy to look it up on the assessor's aggregated site and tell you what and why I see the anomaly. Also, if you would like to see a list of homes under $200,000 on more than an acre, let me know and I will have my searchbot find all of them for you.
Best of luck and thanks for reading.
With all due respect to sunnyview who may be to most respected and most prolific poster on this site, in Las Vegas, the lot size is automatically generated from the data drawn from a site that aggregates data from the Tax assessor's office. Several items of public record get auto-populated into the listing when a Real Estate agent enters the parcel number, one of which is the lot square footage. because there is a significant amount of liability for misrepresenting things like size of the house and size of the lot, unless we have proof that the data is wrong in the assessor's database, we go with what is posted there.
Having said all that, I am going to guess that the reason you are getting false hits on properties is because of one of 2 reasons. When computers came out there was an acronym that went around that was "GIGO" which stands for "Garbage in - Garbage out". Meaning, if the information you put in is garbage, the information you get out is also going to be garbage.
So, reason number one: you are seeing condos that in fact are on large sites, giving the impression that they are indeed on land larger than a postage stamp. Reason number two: Once in awhile, the assessor (accidentally) fails to post each field, making it is possible that a blank field may also result in a "false positive" for your acre plus search on Zillow. I did my own search of properties listed in the MLS, in Las Vegas that are under $200,000, and sitting on more than a lot larger than 43560 square foot, and came up with a total of 10. Of those 10, 3 clearly had a typo in the assessor's parcel information.
Not exactly a scandalous amount, but I prefer not to assume what you are seeing, so if you will give me a single address, I will be more than happy to look it up on the assessor's aggregated site and tell you what and why I see the anomaly. Also, if you would like to see a list of homes under $200,000 on more than an acre, let me know and I will have my searchbot find all of them for you.
Best of luck and thanks for reading.
- Teresa Parker, "Teresa Parker1"
- Contributions:16
If you are in question regarding a lot size, you can always contact your local title company and ask for Customer Service. They should be able to provide you with a property profile.
- sunnyview
- Contributions:25139
Listing agents sometimes increase lot size on Zillow to try to manipulate the Zestimate. Generally, it is not effective, but it does prevent a pain in the behind for searches. The lot size from the public records is still available on Zillow if you click the more information link in the home facts box.
If you are seeing this often, I would make sure that if you do see a house you like that you note whether or not the listing agent inflated the lot size on Zillow and be even more careful in your negotiations with them. If you can't trust their advertisements, you should look twice at any other disclosures they provide.
If you are seeing this often, I would make sure that if you do see a house you like that you note whether or not the listing agent inflated the lot size on Zillow and be even more careful in your negotiations with them. If you can't trust their advertisements, you should look twice at any other disclosures they provide.
- Brian Teyssier, "Brian Teyssier GRI"
- Contributions:964
Thanks for your question. I recommend contacting a local Realtor, they will be sure to get you the correct info.
Good luck.
Good luck.
why is it that the listing agents can not seem to get the lot size correct? i will use another site
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