Incredible deal! ......BUT WAIT...

[Anonymous]

Why is house two over the property line. Isn't that the real story?

[Anonymous]

Honestly, people should fixate less on square feet. I don't support sellers or realtors lying about it, but people over-emphasize it and online house browsing makes the problem worse.

Layout is much more important than exact (or inexact) square footage estimates.

Go tour the house. See what it feels like inside. Actually walk around in the spaces and think about how you would use them. If the house is unfurnished, bring a measuring tape and masking or painters tape so you can mark out a couch or bed or desk.

Most larger houses (3000+ sq ft) have too much unused or unusable space. This is often due to poor architectural design or, often, alterations to standard plans in order to add certain amenities (walk in closets, breakfast nooks, mud rooms, etc.). The result is weird dead spaces and bad flow. You get some detail that seems really important (a huge master bath with a tub and walk in shower) but the consequence is that the house 800 sq ft bigger but *feels* cramped or uncomfortable. It is much, much more important from a livability perspective to have a home with good flow, good natural light, a smart layout with appropriate zones for activities like watching TV, socializing, sleeping, and relaxing.

And thus ends my treatise on square footage versus layouts. Unlike OP, I don't have visual aids, but I hope you will consider my arguments nonetheless.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Agents do this all the time. Buyers should always verify with county data because that's what property taxes will be based on.

My county data is wrong after a renovation and I’m not fixing it till I sell - I’m not volunteering to jack up my taxes. I’m sure others are in a similar boat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, people should fixate less on square feet. I don't support sellers or realtors lying about it, but people over-emphasize it and online house browsing makes the problem worse.

Layout is much more important than exact (or inexact) square footage estimates.

Go tour the house. See what it feels like inside. Actually walk around in the spaces and think about how you would use them. If the house is unfurnished, bring a measuring tape and masking or painters tape so you can mark out a couch or bed or desk.

Most larger houses (3000+ sq ft) have too much unused or unusable space. This is often due to poor architectural design or, often, alterations to standard plans in order to add certain amenities (walk in closets, breakfast nooks, mud rooms, etc.). The result is weird dead spaces and bad flow. You get some detail that seems really important (a huge master bath with a tub and walk in shower) but the consequence is that the house 800 sq ft bigger but *feels* cramped or uncomfortable. It is much, much more important from a livability perspective to have a home with good flow, good natural light, a smart layout with appropriate zones for activities like watching TV, socializing, sleeping, and relaxing.

And thus ends my treatise on square footage versus layouts. Unlike OP, I don't have visual aids, but I hope you will consider my arguments nonetheless.

We’re just number oriented people I guess. Need x amount of bathrooms, bedrooms, square feet, etc. It’s just the kind of stuff you can mention in conversation without getting too deep into specifics.

What I find interesting is how so many older homes have much less square footage and people raised larger families decades ago, but now it’s like we need more square feet and are having fewer kids.

I will say though having a newborn and living in a 2k sq ft house (which includes the mostly finished basement) that any more than 2 kids would be a bit much for us. Not planning on it though.

Caveat that I lived in a literal shoebox of a rented room in college and lived in 685-750 sq ft apartments the past decade so even this space feels like a lot, at first.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why is house two over the property line. Isn't that the real story?

Those lines aren't exact in Zillow, and they are naturally distorted by the angle of the satellite view, which you need to get some profile in the picture.

Looks like the house is right up against a property line to a nature preserve or similar.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s Herndon

This part of Herndon is a great area btw

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Please find a hobby

OP here. Some ppl look at stocks, I look at Zillow

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, people should fixate less on square feet. I don't support sellers or realtors lying about it, but people over-emphasize it and online house browsing makes the problem worse.

Layout is much more important than exact (or inexact) square footage estimates.

Go tour the house. See what it feels like inside. Actually walk around in the spaces and think about how you would use them. If the house is unfurnished, bring a measuring tape and masking or painters tape so you can mark out a couch or bed or desk.

Most larger houses (3000+ sq ft) have too much unused or unusable space. This is often due to poor architectural design or, often, alterations to standard plans in order to add certain amenities (walk in closets, breakfast nooks, mud rooms, etc.). The result is weird dead spaces and bad flow. You get some detail that seems really important (a huge master bath with a tub and walk in shower) but the consequence is that the house 800 sq ft bigger but *feels* cramped or uncomfortable. It is much, much more important from a livability perspective to have a home with good flow, good natural light, a smart layout with appropriate zones for activities like watching TV, socializing, sleeping, and relaxing.

And thus ends my treatise on square footage versus layouts. Unlike OP, I don't have visual aids, but I hope you will consider my arguments nonetheless.

Do you have an example of a house in the area over 3000+ sqft that does have good flow? I have noticed big master bathrooms with a ton a space but like a tiny shower, a toilet and 1 sink. It does seem to be more cookie cutter/older style than a new custom built

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I love you PP

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:tl;dr County data had wrong square footage for the house, but the agent provided the correct square footage in the listing.

The county did not have the wrong SF for the house. What is different between the sketch is the method of measurement and calculation.

The county data measured the house from exterior walls and includes the open to below space. The floor plan sketch uses a scanning app on the phone and measures the space based on interior walls and does not include the open to below space.

[Anonymous]

House 2 is a smaller house but it is finished a lot better than house 1.

House 2 looks bigger from the satellite because the roof line includes the screened porch. House 2 is only 2 floors in that middle section and 1.floor on the two side sections.

[Anonymous]

This is worse than my dcum addiction.