My husband and I have been searching for a house in the midwest for a few months now and came across a house that checks all of our boxes-except the price. Based on the other houses in our area it seems to be overpriced by a solid 75k. We also couldn't figure out based on the pictures where a solid 1000ish square feet were coming from or an entire bedroom.
We finally figured out that they were counting the very large, (in my opinion) partially finished basement in the footage. The basement has walls with doors, but the floor is still unfinished concrete, there is no ceiling, and there are exposed floor joists, pipes and wires everywhere. The fifth "bedroom" they counted is a room in the back with walls and a door but an exposed breaker box, pipes, wires, no ceiling, and a single light bulb with a string for light.
The house has sat on the market for over 175+ days and our realtor said we're not the only ones who have thought it was incredibly overpriced for what it is.
We've just been left confused on what the actual "rules" are for counting a space in the square footage. Are we just being unreasonable by not considering that "finished?" Are there any actual "rules" or does the market pretty much determine it for sellers by the houses just not selling?
What are the restrictions for claiming a finished/unfinished basement as "liveable" space and part of the square footage?
byu/RevolutionaryCare869 inRealEstate
Posted by RevolutionaryCare869
2 Comments
Typically basements don’t get the same price per sq ft as the main above grade home. Comps are determined based on other homes with basements, which there should be plenty in the Midwest.
Is it typical to assume that the square footage number assumes it’s “finished?” Guess I just always assumed it was every level’s actual square footage, warts and all, totaled.