The Lawyer's Letter says I "cheated" the Buyers out of Square Feet !

Good morning Sally and David. Square footage is always subject to interpretation. And, it is always a battle! Enjoy your day! 

Good morning Sally K. & David L. Hanson ,

Ah the square footage dilemma!! Years ago there were lawsuits in Texas and as an agent we don't measure! The tax record square footage are automatically filled into our MLS but we can change it if we can quote the source if the measurement varies : appraisal measurements, builder measurements or the seller (wouldn't ever go there). But always a disclaimer that the buyer should ALWAYS complete their due diligence in verifying measurements usually through their appraiser completing an appraisal.

Good morning, Sally K. & David L. Hanson that's always a slippery slope!!!  new construction is easy.... the architect states the sq. footage and that's what's quoted along with a plan....

It can be a real crap shoot sometimes. Thanks for putting an entertaining spin on it!

Thank you for sharing the story. I will look for your post with the lawyer's response.

I feel like just about everything in life needs to have a disclaimer these days.  Lawsuits leading to easy money prevail.  I fully expect to walk into a funeral home one day and see a disclaimer that "We believe this person is truly dead but are not guaranteeing it."

Hi Sally and David -- even citing the source of the information doesn't seem to be enough...interesting, huh?

Sally and David people often get confused between total square footage and living area square footage.  Sounds like this maybe the case here.

Good morning Sally.

We have some agents who actually measures the home, does an algorithm, and come up with the footage.  Others use the court house record.  I encourage our agents to use the court house record.

The problem is too many different people measure SF too many different ways Sally K. & David L. Hanson  . Gross, net, living space above ground.... so many ways.  The worst part of it all is when an appraiser messes it up as they should know better. I use the disclosures too but we are in a sue happy world

Here in NC we have very specific guidelines on how to measure square footage, and it's always based on the outside perimeter.  After that it gets complicated.  I pay an appraiser to do it for me.

Good morning Larry and Sheila.  Our MLS has an input for the source of the square footage.  I typically always use the tax rolls.  This way, they can sue the county if they don't like it.

As Dorie Dillard also said, my Matrix MLSs automatically fill in the square footage from tax records and I leave it at that. But those still get attacked as I am facing now with one of my listings where the architect of the (hopeful) buyer is trying to drive down the square footage for "negotiating" (his words) possibilities. One example, that staircases to a different level are not included TWICE. New one on me.

And what did the appraiser say? The buyers do not have to buy if the appraiser's report varies by a certain percentage from the sqft stated on the MLS.