We have "uninhabitable space" in the middle of our house that we are now fixing up but minimally so we don't have to permit it and fix the prior reasons for it not being considered "habitable space." It doesn't count as legal square footage. Maybe that's why our square footage is different for different sources. Also zillow lists our land as 100s of times bigger than it is, so our estimates for how much they say our house is worth are useless.

Mine is smaller in reality and on tax records than it was represented on the listing when I bought it by 200 square feet. That probably doesn't seem like a lot, but it would be enough for a needed extra bedroom. :)

Only went to the taxing district and compared it to the sellers documents when I bought this place. Of course I did that in reverse when I originally purchased it. It was OK, nothing changed. Even when the appraiser did their calculations, the square footage was the same. Now that was interesting. Probable used the district numbers.

I have noticed that most folks have forgotten one critical item, to be taxable square footage, at least here in Texas, it has to be a heated area, livable. So, porches and garages aren't included in the square footage listings. I even had a friend that had a full basement but it wasn't heated so it wasn't calculated and taxed. Another friend had a underground shelter that was electrically heated and cooled and that little item (Not little, 12x16) was taxed. Hmmm- - - -Now that really was a "Man Cave!"

Generally, the property appraiser's office is obtaining it's building info from the building dept. although the appraiser may occasionally verify the dimensions themselves to come up with a different square footage. Usually, realtors check the property appraiser's website to verify square footage. If your realtor is advertising your house for sale and the dimensions differ with the property records, you might want to note the discrepancy in the listing with a brief explanation to mitigate against a buyer later discovering it. This can also be a red flag if the square footage is materially different as it may indicate a building addition that was not properly permitted.

The tax assessors listed my house with fewer square feet than it actually has. It turned out that they measure the outside perimeter and calculate square footage from that data. Our house has several cantilevered areas, including half the living room, which turned out to be tax free! I offered to pay taxes on the extra square footage, but the town said not to worry about it.

Over the years I have heard that basements (even finished) did not count as square footage. HERE is an article from 2014 that talks about how different entities view the basement. Currently, however, the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) does count finished basement area as square footage. Nonetheless, there are no laws mandating ANSI across the country, so that alone could create some confusion. HERE is the current ANSI method for calculating square footage. Scroll down to page 10 where floor plans show exactly what is and is not included as square footage.

We have a second house we haven't been able to get rid of over the years. (not necessarily a bad thing, since daughter's family lives in it now) When we bought it, each time we put it up for sale, refinanced it, or taxes were being reassessed, the appraisers or the county have come up with different figures and we have to fight to get it right again. It's the same simple L shaped ranch.

Where would I find these records?? Since we have renovated twice typically the records are up to date since they affect tax revenue

Where I live in Connecticut, any finished areas below ground level cannot be considered in the square footage of the house for tax/town records. However, many Realtors will include that as living space in the square footage on listings even though they are not supposed to.

We had a house where we had problems with our assessment for years. Our house was a two story but we had vaulted ceilings in the kitchen and family room. The town just measured the exterior of the house and multiplied it by two. Thus, we were being charged property taxes on air space. We did finally get it straightened out but no refund for the years of overcharge. Oh well...

Some localities do not include upper floors with knee walls (like converted attic spaces) unless the average ceiling height is above a certain level--even if it was originally designed as living space and not converted later. Also, in some localities basements are never counted, not even walk-out basements that were designed to be finished spaces. These strike me as really silly rules. To check the square footage, get a measuring tape and graph paper and roughly plot the dimensions of the house. One house we owned had different square footage at the county courthouse, at the tax assessor's and, bizarrely, at realtor.com. Our realtor simply did not list square footage in the ads--nearly none in that area did as the official sources were wildly unreliable.

Our original square footage records were all correct, but in 1983-4 we did a major add'n that almost doubled our s.f.-age. That does not seem to have been picked up everywhere. We have done a couple re-fi's over the years and the appraisals have the correct numbers.

I have been a real estate appraiser for 25 years. Keep in mind that different entities measure different things for different purposes and especially with property tax records there is no consistent method in used in all counties in the same state, let alone different states. Tax assessors in my part of the country generally include finished basement if they have information that indicates it is finished (often they have no idea) but they usually separate finished above grade and finished below grade square feet. Keep in mind that the older the home, often the poorer the tax records are and most tax assessors have not actually measured the home in question. We do have one county where I have seen the assessor out measuring new construction (and had a conversation with him about it) but most counties here do not. It does not seem most of my local assessors do a very good job of coordination with building and codes to see new permits. Who knows what they do elsewhere in the country.

Many realtors toss all finished sq footage together and simply say the home has, for example, 2000 sf. The better realtors mention both but indicate 1000 sf above grade and 1000 sf in finished basement. Appraisers generally separate the two but give some value to the finished basement, just not as much as the main level in most cases. For example a 1000 sf home with a finished basement is usually not worth as much as a 2000 sf ranch. ANSI standard is the closest to a consistent way to measure homes but while most appraisers use it here, most realtors do not. Which is ironic considering National Association of Realtors was one of the entities originally pushing its use. ANSI implies you can physically measure inside and out so most tax assessor offices do not use it.

I once considered buying a house with a full-sized finished basement, but it had no external egress, which meant that the appraiser was NOT to consider it in the square footage, according to the rules. Unfortunately, the appraiser did consider it - the reason being that "realtors often include basements in their square footage for listings." Of course they do - the bigger the house, the more attractive it is and the more money it's worth, both increasing the chances of sale and the final commission. My problem was that I didn't want to pay for double the house when, at any time, the State could have cracked down on the appraisers and I would have found myself in a house worth considerably less than I paid for it.

Buyers count on appraisers to be unbiased and to accurately value a house, even if it means the loan amount will be decreased from the agreed-upon purchase price. After buying and selling several properties, I've come to expect appraisers to come close to matching the purchase price, even if it means calling a free-standing wood stove a "fireplace" and saying that the house has double-pane windows when only three out of 17 are double-pane.

Having a good relationship with your lender is paramount. Even though the buyer pays for the appraisal, the appraiser considers the lender to be their client and you will have to have the lender onboard if you want to pressure for a better appraisal.

Mine is way off. When I bought it, the realtor had it listed as one thing, the appraiser gave another, and I measured myself and they are all different. The realtor was counting the garage but I have always heard that if it isn't living space it shouldn't be counted. She also had 3 bedrooms listed when it's really only two. If it doesn't have a closet it shouldn't be counted as a bedroom. (Another subject I know, but it was all just so off it was frustrating) It has 2 true bedrooms and 2 "office" spaces (small rooms with a window but no closet) and was listed as 3 bedrooms. Maybe it's different in different parts of the world/country.

I like to look at this subject this way. If you have an unfinished basement it is identified as such, or at least should be. The square footage is given by simply measuring between the inside of the walls that should be of some concrete material. Stacked logs or rocks only make it a crawl space regardless of height.

So if you wanted to finish this basement or do anything to it requiring a permit, you would have to meet current codes to have it defined and in compliance with a habitable living space. So how do you count a basement or sub-floor that doesn't meet code but has what we call finished walls, floors and or ceilings with no expectation of doing anything to require meeting current codes.

For example a clean "finished" basement with one stairway in and out may just not meet what would be considered a code compliant below ground habitable space. So why would an assessor or even an appraiser call it finished. There is an answer to this. It falls between stupidity and being on the take. If you bought all the stuff and stacked it up on the floor it would be unfinished. Put it upright on the wall does not equal finished no matter how it is being used. Some new paints and finishes applied to concrete are far superior than sheet rock standing against a wall with a few cement nails. Yet these bozos call that unfinished!

These spaces should not be called finished unless they were properly permitted and signed off in there construction as such in compliance with the codes at the time. Grandfathering in a cave as countable habitable space is the thinking of, well neanderthals. Not counting a code compliant, finished walk out "basement" as a floor equal to any other is flat out stupidity. If you were in a wheelchair those with a brain would not have to stand there scratching their head.

Real estate brokers do not want to know anything about codes, insurance, assessments, code compliance even if there were designed in advantages to a design regarding these many issues. It is these issues that determine value if value is the cost of building, including "unbuilding" what you are buying or own. If value is emotional, well then code compliance visits you later and very often current codes are the bare minimum.

If your basement is not code compliant, tell your assessor not to assess it as habitable floor space and don't try to sell off or finance your house as having that number of square footage. Otherwise pay your taxes on the money given to you to borrow that includes that space. But don"t bitch if a buyer thinks otherwise.

We're prepping for sale & looked at the listing papers when we bought ~13 years ago. Just under 2900'. We had our realtor send an appraiser out to re-measure since we didn't have plans, and he came up with ~2450. Realtor suggested checking the tax office. Their plat says ~2200. We did see where the garage w/bonus room was added on, then later the screen porch w/ walk-out attic above. Never knew those weren't original construction. But as the tax office shows them, I know they were by permit. But no idea why the math is so far off. I want to go room by room & measure again just to see who's closest. Like guessing how many gum-balls in a jar but at $125 per square foot, we want to get that number up.

While your at it , make sure you hire a Surveyor for Property lines and have them recorded ASAP..

Kim Allman, laser tape measures have come way down in price & are incredibly precise. Easy to get accurate number w/ one.

If the tax records, etc. doesn't match the real square footage of a house it could be a problem. If work or additions were done on the house without permits or was not in compliance with city code the house insurance company usually won't give you insurance for the additions. And if someone wants to buy your house and needs to get a loan to buy the house (a loan requires house insurance on the house) the buyer may not be able to get the loan. If a space didn't have a permit and it wasn't built in compliance with city code a real estate appraiser cannot count it as something that could add value to your home. You would have to get a city inspector to come out and check to see if it meets city code. If it doesn't meet city code then you would have to do the work to bring it into compliance with city code or tear it down. The one exception to that is if the city code inspector can "granny it in" which means that because of circumstances and how long the building has been there (often before it was within city limits or other housing was built around it) the city can make an exception and allow it to remain "as is" as long as it is not a safety hazard. This exception is called "granny it in."

Belahn....add closets to the rooms that don't have closits. It will instantly increase the value of the home since you can then advertise and sell it as having more bedrooms. If someone wants to use the "bedroom" as a home office the extra storage space from a closit can be used to store office supplies by installing shelves in the closet. You can't lose either way.

phoebe3...what you are describing is unethical and a real estate appraiser can lose their license if they alter the facts to get a better price or get a loan approved, etc. Ethical real estate appraisers do NOT accomodate real estate agents in order to get a house sold. Appraisers are supposed to be a level of protection for the lenders that provide loans to the buyers of the house. It also protects YOU from paying an unfairly high price for the property/house and it also protects the sellers of the property/house from selling for less than the property/house is worth. Appraisers are legally and ethicly required to give the "current value" of the house determined during the appraisal inspection and investigation in order to protect the companies who provide the loans. If I saw an appraiser doing what you describe I would report it to the state board for investigation and that appraiser might have their license suspended temporarily or permanently. An appraiser must make an INDEPENDENT determination of the value of the property/home based on recent comparable property sales and must not make a biased opinion of value based on what the buyer, seller, or loan company wants it to be. You need to find more ethical real estate people to work with. Also, if the basement was done up to code, with permits, etc. except for the egress it could be mentioned as existing but it would be unethical to imply that further work (egress) was not necessary to bring it up to code since insurance companies, etc. consider that when writing insurance policies and lenders require insurance on the property. If all the basement needs is an egress according to city code then some buyer may be willing to pay a little more but take into consideration the cost they would have to pay in order to install an egress and pay for city inspections and permits.

Tony Montana....your realtor is unethical and should have his/her license revoked or be penalized for how he/she is doing business. That is why a real estate appraiser is neccessary when getting a loan. An ethical real estate appraiser will check out the facts with the city permit/code enforcement and the results will determine the true value of the home. If the finishing of the basement is not permitted by the city and is not up to code then the electrical, etc. may not be up to code and may not meet safety inspections. If it is not up to code and the house insurance company finds out before or after damage...the basement will not be insured and your damaged basement will not be fixed by the insurance company. And if the electrical is not up to code you may end up with a fire in the house in the middle of the night and it could cost you your life or the life or health of someone you love as well as the house. These codes and inspections are there for a reason. One way for an appraiser to deal with some situations where city permits and codes have not been done (such as when a house is under construction and is not finished) is to deduct the cost of bringing the part of the house that is not up to code and the permit from what the value of the house would be if it were finished. That can happen in cases where a home is being remodeled but the remodeling project is not yet completed.

In my county, the tax assessor's office has a colored coded footprint with the dimensions and the square footage calculations so you can see what is considered living area and what are accessory areas (garage, patio etc). The color coding is a nice touch. Believe me, they aren't always right, but it is easy to see where the errors are when double checking the measurements used by the tax assessor. Appraisers come out with the footprint, but always measure to make sure it is right. Our MLS allows for separate figures for living area and the total area which is also helpful. However, the older the records the less reliable the square footage is relative to the actual house/structure.

Having additions that don't have a building permit are a real issue. The square footage can't be included in the value and in fact, is a liability that "rides" with the house. If a buyer purchases a home with a non-permitted addition, then the buyer is responsible for getting it permitted retroactively or removing it entirely. We have code enforcement that enforces this provision. Some areas have extreme code enforcement and others not so much. If the seller didn't disclose the non-permitted addition, then the buyer can sue the seller and have the deal unwound or get compensated for the additional expense. The code violations fines are huge here - $1000/day is common once the violation is discovered. It just isn't worth the risk IMO.

Let me ask the appraisers about closets - I have been reading an appraisal forum and according to this national appraiser forum a closet isn't necessary to designate the room as a bedroom. It does have to have an ingress and egress window and naturally a door, but a closet isn't required at all. What do you say?

Our house is recorded as 2100 but when we bought it our inspector wouldn't include a sunroom because it wasn't properly heated or insulated so we got a price reduction. Technically the home is now 1950 or so. We removed the old, foggy Windows and put in screens to create a bug free outdoor environment but are now wondering if we shouldn't invest a few thousand to turn it back into a proper room ( would make a great master bedroom) and increase homes worth when we sell in a few years.

Laws/codes vary by locality--also by who is considering the home. Many localities will not consider a room a bedroom unless it has a closet. In some areas where we have lived there are realtors who will not count a room as a bedroom even if it was intended as a bedroom and the local codes will count it. Many older farmhouses did not include closets in the East where we lived for many years, but the realtors would only call those rooms "+". One house we looked at actually was considered as having no bedrooms, just 3 "bonus spaces." It gets really silly, in my opinion.

Well, here's my story. A YEAR after living in my home, it turned out the City and County had my home as 3380+ SF and 75% complete. So I called them and explained I had been living there for a year and I can attest that it is complete and that the permitted plans were for 2595 SF. They had someone come out and measure to "fix the issue". Fast forward 6 months and it turns out the person measured but not correctly and perhaps forgot the 2nd floor entirely, so now they had the house as 2315 SF and 100% complete. A call to the Building Depart, a trip there to get the form, happened to run into the Department Manager, and 3 weeks later, all is well enough. My house is now 2596 SF and 100% complete. It doesn't hurt to get it checked out and fixed sooner, rather than later. This way, when it is sold, there is no issue. Oh, and in all the years and all the cities I have sold homes, you always needed a closet, ingress and egress to call a room a bedroom.

The listing said 1380 sq. ft. The tax record says 1390 sq. ft. (heated). I don't reckon I'll worry about that difference. XD

Our house has a variance of over 600sf. We have a very large sunroom that is meant to be a passive solar feature. It has large openings to the upper floor of the house. The sunroom itself has no heat source, and actually adds to our heating costs. In this case, since the house is really too big already, we'd be glad to "give up" the extra space and bring our house down to 7100sf. We didn't design this thing, and it was a bargain!

Even our county disagrees about our house. Their records only recorded the square footage of the main level, but when stating number of beds/baths includes a bedroom in the basement but not the bathroom in the basement. Everything was done at original build and is permitted. When planning an addition, the county includes all areas, even my unconditioned 10x12 Tuff shed on blocks in the back yard as square footage. Right now the recorded square footage doesn't really matter at sale because most houses in our area don't even get to market before they are sold and the house only needs to appraise for the loan amount, not the total sale amount. Just be sure that your insurance is for your actual house specs.

We finished the basement when we built our home in 2000, with the plans for the complete house being submitted to the city. So their records are correct, except maybe the extra foot that was accidentally added when they poured the foundation. But if you were to look at Zillow, you might wonder why our smallish 2 bedroom 3 bath home is priced like a much larger one. That would be because, for some reason, they don't include our full finished basement with 4 more bedrooms, 2 more baths, a second laundry room, and alarge family room with a small kitchen.

House measurements, to be correct are done by using the ANSI Standards. I was a residential appraiser for over 30 years and learned that ANSI is a standard that can not be argued with. Also, basement living areas no matter how fancy, are NOT included in square footage of living area but are considered in extra features (even bathrooms). All real estate professionals should make them selves familiar with ANSI. Then there would be no questions as to how to handle the enclosed porch, finished garage or basement rooms.

In my county, any level below grade is not counted as square footage and therefore not taxed. We live in a split level with a full finished basement and an 'English style' family room. Neither of these lower levels (half the usable square footage in our home) are taxed; that's why some call a split level home the most economical layout. We also have what we use as a bedroom in the basement, but since there is no bathroom on that level, we will not be able to count it as a bedroom if we ever sell our home. I have no idea what a realtor would list our home's square footage as, but I believe our home equity loan lender used the county tax figures.

My official records match reality. (Baxter County, Arkansas.)

My gripe; you buy a very run-down property on which the taxes are $650 yearly. You pour blood, sweat, tears, and money into it. After fifteen years the property taxes have risen to $5,000 and you have to sell because you can't afford the taxes. (Will County, Illinois.)

In most Countries in South America the property tax is fixed at the point of sale. If you buy one acre (empty lot) for X and you then build a one million dollar home the yearly tax remains fixed on the price paid for the empty lot -forever. It does not change when the house is subsequently sold. The new buyer pays a "transfer tax", it is a one-time fee on the one million dollars. Transfer tax is usually equal to 5% of the sales price. IMO this is a much better system.

@Chiflipper, You can't afford taxes in will county? Man, I wish my taxes were that cheap. I'm in cook county. Everything here is expensive. Worst part is I'm right on the boarder. Just a few blocks south is dupage, west is is Kane. Just a few blocks makes a few thousand difference. I look at real-estate in those areas and their paying almost half of what my neighborhood is paying.

I was curious about the history of the colonial that I lived in two houses ago. It had been seized by the DEA due to a previous owner selling drugs out of his furniture store. It was purchased by a family who stayed there for 3 months then we bought it from them after it sat vacant again. The realtor listed it as 2300 sq. ft. The Records department listed it as 1600. It's a 4 bedroom colonial with 3 bathrooms and a partial basement. The 1600 included only the space that can be lived in which didn't include the large foyer, laundry room, bathrooms, or the basement. The basement was finished with a 4th bathroom, but, since it wasn't a walk-out, it was not included in the square footage.

When my husband and I built our log home that we're in now, we were told by our township that if we made our basement a walk-out then the square footage of livable space would increase as would our taxable square footage. Our egress window is just slightly smaller than a doorwall and could be expanded into the size of a doorwall with some work.

Our township did send out a contracting company to remeasure all homes that were built between 2000-20010 claiming that the previous building measuring person had many errors in their records. When they showed up here it was kinda funny and they told me that they had to ask the silly questions. Our house looks like a Lincoln Log house. If there was an addition since original construction it would really be obvious. When they asked me if we added on he gave me a "look" as if saying don't make fun of me for asking. Then they asked if I have ever had a fireplace and chimney. Again, the "look". ;-)

Our tricky square footage challenge comes with the upstairs and the fact that the room ceilings narrow down to a wedge where it's only 12" at the outside walls on two sides. So, we have a 2000 sq. ft. home if you're less than 12" tall.

Are there no public records of this house? Seems like they said that the previous public records weren't done right. I'm not sure what year the house was built nor how many real estate appraisers have measured it and put the info into public records. Normally the foyer, laundry room, bathrooms would be considered included in the square footage unless they were not up to code, permitted, and/or unsafe. If necessary you can bump out the upstairs ceiling if you can afford it...thus adding usable space.

The best part is that it actually corresponds to the dimensions of the house!

In some situations it is short sighted to keep your square footage lower just to save a hundred $ on taxes. Your home is your biggest asset. The higher your home is valued, the better. A long history of tax assessment/value due to a larger sq. footage provides a more objective rationale to offer it at a certain price. Also, will help you on a home equity line, refi, etc.

if you're planning on selling in the next 2 years it is worth your time to go to your county's assessor and ask for a review prior to the next assessment/tax cycle. Yes, it may raise your taxes, but once that new, corrected value is in the record, homebuyers will think that your asking price is fair if it closely reflects the county's assessment.

I'm pretty sure basements are included in the square footage in my state, at least for property tax purposes. Mine does have its own entrance from the garage so that might be why mine is included. But with the number of basements in our area, it wouldn't surprise me if they're all included, if the taxing entity knows they've been finished. I live in Utah and we tend to have large families. And many will start out on one level and finish the basement as they need more bedrooms. There have been more two story homes going up lately but that hasn't always been the case. Still, I think building down rather than up is pretty common around here.

I have one next door livable space he added but knows the City Inspector , Like I was Told if you know someone things get Not recorded a few Bills in envelope all done. Didnt even need permits either huhm,,special Treatment

What bothers me is all the air that exists between realtors' opinions and the building code. Square footage of habitable living space and non habitable living space are two different animals. If a basement has a second egress you can squeeze it into a habitable space rather than a mere foundation. There are also issues like ceiling height too that address a potential vs a mere use factor. I mean really digging out the ground doesn't make a habitable space but I have known people that have done so for some really warm (above freezing) root cellars. Make sure your realtor isn't pumping your property for a commission.