If you are planning to sell a home, in Tulsa it is acceptable to use the courthouse records as the basis for your home square footage or an appraisal. So you may not have to change the courthouse records. It is quite common for the courthouse records to be off by several hundred feet, the home in question may have had qualified additions or the measurement may have been wrong to start with.
Consider a home selling for 100$/square foot being off by 200 square feet = $20,000. Yes, that's right, it may be worth the effort to verify square footage. Most appraisors offer a measure only service for +- $100. If you want to update the square footage on your home, you may want to have the appraisal that shows the discrepancy, call the Tulsa County Assessor's office (Real Estate Dept.) 918-596-5166 and schedule an appraisor to come out and remeasure. Good luck!
Square footage is a hot potato right now, it is the primary determinant for home value but the reality is, if you hire six appraisors to measure your home, you may get six different numbers.
Here is very interesting verbiage from the Oklahoma contract:
Square Footage-Buyer shall not rely on any quoted square footage and shall have the right to measure the Property.
Yet, later: After expiration of the time periods in INVESTIGATIONS, INSPECTIONS and REVIEWS Provision, any square footage calculation of the dwelling, including but not limited to appraisal or survey, indicating more or less than quoted, shall not relieve the Buyer of the obligation to close this transaction.
One problem is that the appraisal ordered by the lender will have a square footage measurement, but usually the appraisal is ordered and completed after the ten day period for investigations, inspections and reviews. The other issue is how do you know which measurement is more accurate? The first one, or the second one? Would you like to get a third measurement?
A good precaution to take is if an appraisal square footage is provided, ask to see the copy of the appraisal from the seller. If you have any doubt as to the accuracy of the square footage, get it measured yourself during the ten day period, or time period specified by your realtor of the time periods in Investigations, inspections and reviews.
Understand that the new square footage may increase the basis for your property tax, as the saying goes, be careful what you wish for...
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