When it comes to real estate, there's no avoiding square footage as a measure of any home's value. Realtors use it- it's in every MLS listing, and every home portal known to man. It's also used by tax assessors, appraisers, and insurance companies.
But how much is square footage worth to you as a homebuyer? Knowing the square footage can be helpful, but it shouldn't be the main tool to determine your offer price.
Square footage measurements aren't exact, nor are they taken the same way by every person. For example, many municipalities do NOT have a standard method of calculation- especially on capes, split level style homes and raised ranches. A real estate professional, on the other hand, may add a finished lower level, or finished attic space which would not be in the town records to estimate square footage.
Real estate listings for single-family homes shouldn't include square footage for covered "outdoor" spaces, including porches, verandas, balconies and porte-cocheres. Yet, in high-rise buildings, square footage quotes often include balconies.
Further, some elements such as stairways and closet spaces are also open to interpretation. If you're buying a home with a two-story foyer, is that foyer space also counted on the second floor?
Another measure that's subjective is the price per square foot, which is determined by the number of square feet divided into the price of the home. High-end homes with expensive materials such as granite countertops and finishes such as hardwood floors tend to have a much higher price per square foot than homes for sale in the average price ranges. But what if those high-end features are 20 years old, and you're comparing them to other similar homes in the area that are brand new?
In my opinion, and at least in our area of Fairfield County, the cost per square foot analysis is pretty much useless, unless you are buying/building brand new, and are comparing one new home to another. It just does not work for resales in our area.
Hallways, landings and stairs can add hundreds of square feet to any home, but is that space really livable? An open floor plan may have smaller square footage, but be much more pleasant to live than a larger home with too much space allocated to getting from one room to another.
All this means that valuations based on square footage are and should really be subjective.
The square footage is certainly helpful in determining what size home you want, but you should always be open to looking in a "range" that is 10 percent below and 10 percent above your recommended size. The layout of homes vary greatly from one to the next, and depending on the floor plan, a smaller home for less money may be just as desirable.
Courtesy of Blanche Evans
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