Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Square footage of house?

My wife and I might buy a house that is not on the market. The lady wants to sell it but doesn't plan to list it with a realtor. She is unsure of the exact square footage. She says it is about 2000. I would like to know how big it is since many homes are listed with a price and size and thus a price per square foot. When a realtor lists a house and says it is a certain size, how is that size determined? If the seller doesn't have blueprints then how is it figured?

We plan on seeing it again on Sunday for the second time. We plan to take a tape measure and measure the outside walls and also take some measurements inside. The outside measurements are not equal to what is in a typical listing I would guess. Anyway I would appreciate some advice on how to get a close estimate of the actual size of the house. Thanks!

Almost all tax assessments have the square footage listed. Sites like Zillow use those numbers in their estimates and publish them.

Google the address. Even if it's not listed, likely info online.

Length times width will get you very close, for living space minus walls.

Local tax records. It is public information.

Just measure the outside dimensions and do the simple math. You can nail it within one square foot.

Assessors measured oitside.

For real estate selling/buying purposes the square footage is figured on the area that is air conditioned living area.

For survey and tax purposes, they figure the square footage on the footprint of the building... Measuring on the outside, all the way around. That's the way I calculated thousands of home improvement surveys for real estate sales and title policies and lender required purposes.

Is this actually a question?

As folks have said, exterior LXW.
However, what you're calculating, a $/sq ft is meaningless.

If the doors and windows are in the wrong place for your furniture, then sq footage means nothing. If you can't see yourself making food in the kitchen, or waking up in the middle of the night and hitting the head, then sq footage means nothing.

When considering a house for purchase, I go in each room and do a quick mind's eye view of what goes where and what walking through is going to be like. If I don't like the flow of the rooms, I walk.


Something else: Square Footage listings are very misleading in another way. It depends on how you're using it. If the attic is semi-finished and you're thinking of turning it into a loft bedroom or office, then that's more sq footage. If you're using the basement for a workshop that's more sq footage.

For tax purposes a house is taxed on the total living space that is heated and cooled so you can exclude a garage or carport. Otherwise it's just simple math. I would also consider when it was built and how well insulated it is. What does it cost to heat and cool. Structural defects, etc.

Not all bad points , but comparing finished $/SF is an easy way to compare apples to apples given other things equal like location.

Do what you describe with the tape measure, and measure all the finished space. If a room has finished walls, HVAC, and a finished ceiling include it in the total and if not don't. Get hold of the county recorder's office and get the property info from them to compare against your measurements.

Must be the schools these days...

The Property Appraiser's web site for every county has a listing, on line, for every property in the county, same for cities, by address, owner, size, all buildings, etc. It is public knowledge and accessible by compute. For property insurance purposes, my office used the sites daily.

It can’t be. This has to be a joke or a well played troll…

It was a properly asked question by someone who apparently has a need to know. Your insulting remarks aren't needed or appreciated. You're dragging this site into the mud.

Exactly...

Assuming the lot is average... and any out buildings are typical (do not add any real value)...

Zillow does a $$$ per SF of house.

I think the average per SF in Northern Virginia is $550+ per SF... around here it probably $300... in WV it might be $220.

My metal buildings ran me $10 SF... turn key they will hit $20 SF. The cabins will be under $40 SF probably.

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2,000 SF can run from $440,000 to $1.1m (depending)

Tape measure/calculator will get you close.

You can’t determine value by square footage but it will get you close. Appraisers adjust $45-50 per square foot, but try to keep comps within 200sq ft.

Good luck. See if a realtor will do a cma for you for a few hundred bucks.