I would fire an agent who doesn't include it

No. Ours listed only the walk-out square footage, which is the only stuff that is taxable in DC. By walkout, that means with a door and windows a certain size. We have 4,000 finished sq ft but it's listed as 2865 by Redfin.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:An appraiser will not consider the below grade sq footage, but whether a real estate agent would isn't clear to me.

An appraise definetly DOES consider below square footage and asses it at a different amount.

I am looking at our appraisal and it states above grade sq footage @ x dollars and then basement sq footage @ x dollars (lower)

That sounds like an odd appraisal. Ours are usually done as comps with adjustments. However, I should have said an appraiser will not count below grade sq footage but will consider it (which is I think what FHA guidelines call for).

Our finished basement was part of the appraisal.

In my experience, the real estate listings do not include the lower level of a split level (which isn't even a basement as it is fully above ground). I'm in FFX County and I think they do not include them for tax purposes. My old house did not include it when it listed, nor did the house we bought after (both split levels).

I'm not sure about a finished basement in a colonial or a rambler or something else.

Mine did not include the sq footage of a finished basement

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:An appraiser will not consider the below grade sq footage, but whether a real estate agent would isn't clear to me.

An appraise definetly DOES consider below square footage and asses it at a different amount.

I am looking at our appraisal and it states above grade sq footage @ x dollars and then basement sq footage @ x dollars (lower)

That sounds like an odd appraisal. Ours are usually done as comps with adjustments. However, I should have said an appraiser will not count below grade sq footage but will consider it (which is I think what FHA guidelines call for).

Square footage in real estate listings is wildly inconsistent. Go by photos. If you key in a certain square footage in your search, you are going to miss some listings.

it all boils down to this. Imagine when you shop for meat etc you look at price per pound.

Do you pay attention to the price per sq ft?

when a realtor does include the basement, it reduces the price per sq ft a lot. Make sure you get this cleared up well beofre you get serious about the property, There are regualtions abou tthis and it comes up at closing often when people thought they were getting a 3000 sq ft house but it is only 2000 sq ft.

I always consider the square footage in online listings to be an estimate as there doesn't seem to be a uniform standard that everyone follows. You have to confirm with the agent (if they even know) or measure yourself.

I do know that if the listing has Mouse on House that they measure square footage so they can build their floorplans, so those are probably fairly accurate.