Square Footage

We are only allowed to use the "finished areas" of the home.. HVAC, electrical, etc.. So for us a garage wouldn't count. Neither would a deck. Sometimes the property tax record is different than the actual area. Best just to measure it yourself and find out which is correct. Or pay an appraiser to do so..

There can also be a discrepancy when you have a two story home as the county record may only show the footprint

In my market we see several ways of measuring square footage, "Total" or under roof (includes lanais and garages) and "under air"  or living area. Both numbers are included in the property appraisers report, but we agents usually advertise "under air" We have to be careful  when comparing listings...because some agents dont follow the convention. Whats really upsetting is when an agent includes all the area within a pool cage in their calculation of the homes square footage

      

We dont have basements here so thats not an issue for us. AlthoughI shouldnt comment because I really dont know; I will anyway.....I wouldnt want to count finished basement square footage unless the improvements were permitted by the localy authorities. And permitted or unpermitted I dont think I would give the same value per square foot in the basement as I would upstairs.

In our market, you do not include outside square footage.  Nor would you include square footage in a basement unless 50% of the basement is above grade - what we call an english basement.