Anonymous wrote:I don’t know what to do with ours. It’s got two below grade windows, a finished floor and ceiling and the walls that are not foundation are finished. But the walls that are foundation are parted and can’t be finished /drywalled or have anything hung on them bc the walls need to breathe. But the space is included in the HVAC.

Can you frame out those walls with 8" or a foot gap for foundation venting?

I don’t know what to do with ours. It’s got two below grade windows, a finished floor and ceiling and the walls that are not foundation are finished. But the walls that are foundation are parted and can’t be finished /drywalled or have anything hung on them bc the walls need to breathe. But the space is included in the HVAC.

Appraisers give lower values to basement square footage. We had a rambler with a basement that is more open than our main level but when we refinanced the appraiser gave it half the value of our main level. When we sold it, our agent had a floorplan done that showed the same square footage on both levels. The appraiser valued the lower level about 10% less than our main level. He said Arlington County, at least, uses a representative house and exterior dimensions to show square footage. He gave the basement a higher value because it was nicely finished and had large windows. These are things Arlington did not recognize as valuable but he did and do did the buyers.

Make sure the correct total is included in finished square feet and total square feet in MLS. If not, you’re doing yourself a disservice and potentially getting excluded in buyer searches.

It used to be that basements were never counted in sqft but now pretty much all realtors include them. That's why you get this discrepancy between a high sqft count and the physical appearance of a house. I think it's cheating.

The weird thing I have seen is related to the townhome that are three to four stories, that have no basement. From what I have seen the first floor (which is the entrance) does not seem to be counted in the square footage calculation by the county (considered below grade I guess) even I'd the whole first floor is finished (minus the attached garage). I have seen this quite a bit (granted it's still a relatively limited sample size of maybe like 10-15 so can't make definitive conclusion on this).

That being said, the annoying thing is how they are listed by various realtors (again looking at example of 3-4 TH without basement). Some listing include the first floor in the square footage figure in the listing (ie they don't follow how Arlington County calculated it or has in records), while others do not include the finished area of the first floor (even though it's above the ground). Makes easy comparison quite difficult without digging more (and looking at county records).

Anonymous wrote:Does my rental unit count? It has 9 foot ceilings has a separate COO and is only 3 steps below grade.

Flat lot? Probably. You can check your info at the state sites.

Maryland's is http://sdat.dat.maryland.gov/RealProperty/Pages/default.aspx

Does my rental unit count? It has 9 foot ceilings has a separate COO and is only 3 steps below grade.

Ours was counted when we bought our house because it’s a walkout and the back is at grade. It is also counted for tax assessments but I’m not sure exactly how.

Generally its not counted because main sqft is called "above grade sqft". Basements are below grade. I've seen it listed often as "2000 above grade with 300 total living space" or something, to indicate the extra sqft.

In real estate listings, it's counted when sellers want to count it. There are no rules.

For assessments (in MoCo, anyway), it's counted when it's more than 50% above the natural grade on average, measured based on the outside walls.

IMO basement square footage should never be counted, but I’m curious about the rules too.

Our house was listed with sqft area that includes the main level and upper level. The basement was not included in the area. Our basement is underground, has a full bath and an egress window of 3x2 ft. Basement has a tiled floor and most of the ceiling is in the form of suspended type of tiles seen in offices. I have seen similar houses listed for rent or sale in the neighborhood and they had included their basement area toward their overall sqft. Under what circumstances can basement be included and called as livable area?