Column sparks more questions about how square footage is measured
A reader, David, replied to the March 18 MarketWise column in the Mercury News and East Bay Times.
Q: Pat, I enjoyed your column about square footage. But I think you missed an opportunity. How are homes measured for square footage? Is a home measured from the outside or inside? Does one take into account the staircase as livable square footage? What about the exterior and interior walls, which can be 4 to 6 inches wide. I’ve been asking these questions for years, and no one seems to know the answers. Couldn’t the discrepancy of differing square footage in last week’s article be found in the thickness of the exterior walls?
A: Hi David: Your comments came in on Sunday. On Monday, I was standing with an appraiser and was able to brainstorm your remarks with her. She agreed that in the greater Bay Area, appraisers measure the outside of the building for the square footage of the living area. Nationwide, Gross Living Area (GLA), is calculated by measuring the outside perimeter of the townhouse or single-family home. GLA typically will exclude finished attics and basements. Conversely, condo ownership is the airspace between the walls and often referred to as “paint-to-paint.” That’s why an appraiser will learn the condominium’s square footage measuring the interior.
One of the themes of last week’s column was the sources of square footage. I currently have four sources with five square footages for a lot on the listing. The same problem often exists for the living area of the home. The riskmanagement issue is when the seller’s agent overrides the auto-population of his or her Multiple Listing Service (MLS). In the Bay Area, the MLS will note how the square footage is sourced from the home and lot. “S” indicates the seller provided the information. “O” points to the ominous “other” source for square footage. “A” is when an agent typed into the MLS “their” square footage for the home and lot, which also forms a legal target on his or her back. Misleading agents and sellers also add square footage to their marketing by adding socalled finished garages or porches. This widespread hoodwinking under the umbrella GLA will be noticed by savvy buyers and their agents. When it is not, expect legal claims to rain down on bamboozling sellers and their agents.