How is home square footage determined

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He will look for homes similar in size in the immediate area. When evaluating a home for sale, he also adjusts the value up or down for factors like building materials and condition. Likewise, if your county or municipality assesses higher taxes than what you think you should owe, confirming the square footage can be a point in your favor to getting the property taxes reduced. In real estate deals that involve a mortgage , the lender will need to verify that the property is worth what the buyer has agreed to pay.

It will all be revealed during the appraisal. When making plans for how to measure square footage of a house or a condo or townhouse , start with a few simple supplies:.

The device will then display the square footage on the screen. While less common, there are certain circumstances where buyers or renters are unable to tour the property in person and may buy or rent a home without visiting it first. Even if you have physically visited the home and completed measurements on your own, it is always a good idea to double-check square footage measurements to ensure your numbers are correct.

Some cities and counties have property records available online. If you are preparing to buy a property and are working with a real estate agent, your agent may be able to pull additional information on the property depending on the programs the agent has access to. For example, some agents pay for a tax record search service that provides information regarding the roof type, room count, square footage, and additional details.

The downside is: if you or your real estate agent obtain that information and the square footage is different than what you have, the tax assessor may have been wrong when the measurements were put in the record, or you may have missed or added some square footage without realizing it.

The property may have also had improvements completed without a permit. If that is a possibility, permit information can be accessed by contacting the city planning department. Hiring an appraiser is typically only helpful if you are selling your home on your own. If you are working with a real estate agent, your agent will most likely be skilled at taking accurate measurements — as they have likely measured countless homes throughout their career.

They should also provide an accurate list price based on their knowledge of the real estate market. When an appraiser calculates the square footage of a home, it will only measure interior spaces that are heated and cooled. This includes bedrooms and closets , bathrooms, hallways, kitchen, and living areas, as well as enclosed patios, and finished attics.

The garage does not count towards the square footage of a house, as that is considered an unfinished space. A garage will only count towards the square footage of a home is if it has been legally converted into a living space.

To calculate the square footage of a roof, measure the length and width of each plane on the roof including dormers. The plane of the roof is one side of the roof that has four separate edges. A dormer is a structure that sticks out of the roof and typically contains windows.

Multiply the length times the width on that side of the roof. To calculate the square footage of a 2-story house, simply measure every room in the house. Exclude any unfinished areas, such as the garage or an unfinished basement. After measuring each room individually — including the closets in each room — combine the measurements from all rooms.

The total number is the square footage of the 2-story home. While the thought of measuring a 2-story home may seem daunting, it is best to think of the house as a collection of individual boxes.

To the find square footage of a room measuring 10 feet by 10 feet, simply multiply 10 by 10, which is This process should be used for a room any size; simply measure the length times width to find the square footage of the room.

In addition to helping determine the size of your house, the square footage calculators provided below are also great for measuring an area to determine how much flooring, carpet, or tiling you may need when beginning renovations. The Calculator Soup. This calculator finds square footage, square meters, square yardage, or acres for a home or building.

This calculator also has a feature where you can enter the price per square foot, the price per square meter, or price per square yard to calculate the approximate cost of materials. The Square Footage Calculator.

If you are a buyer comparing homes and prices, you may want to pay attention to that breakout. In our market, as long as the basement bedroom meets the square footage requirements walls, flooring, ceiling and heat it will contribute toward the total square footage of the home.

For a basement bedroom, that would typically require an egress window, in addition to the square footage requirements.

Some people wonder if an attic can be included in the finished square footage of a home if there is a pull-down ladder or existing stairway to the space. To be included in the square footage, an attic would first need to meet the same criteria as any other space — heating, flooring, ceiling and wall covering.

It would also need to be accessible by a conventional stairway. But what about non-traditional floor plans, like a 1. Or a four-level split floor plan? The second level of a 1. For example, in some MLSs the ceiling must be at least seven feet at the highest point. Spaces where the ceiling is less than five feet tall must be excluded entirely from square footage.

To be counted as finished square footage, a porch must be four-season. A four-season porch is much like any other room in the house, except that it provides clear views of the outdoors all year through a variety of windows.

Any space that has walls, flooring, ceiling and heat would count as finished square footage. Using that foundation size, the agent can calculate the total square footage. In other words, for a symmetrical two-story home, they could double that square footage number to get the total finished square footage for both levels deducting any space that is left unfinished. In some cases, a listing agent may go from room to room, calculating the exact square footage of each space that meets the criteria.

And sometimes, agents might rely on government records or past MLS listings for information. This can lead to inaccuracies in the reported square footage, as the homeowner may have finished a basement, attic or enclosed and heated a three-season porch to enjoy year-round in the time since the records were last updated.

Plus, remember that buyers are welcome to bring their own measuring devices along if they want to be sure they agree with what has been calculated and published. Potential buyers should be aware that in both Minnesota and Wisconsin, the purchase agreement on a home notes that square footage measurements are approximate. When creating an insurance quote for a client, Edina Realty Insurance typically pulls from the MLS listing to ensure they are assessing the same square footage as indicated in the property records.

But while homebuyers care mostly about finished and unfinished square footage, insurance agents take special notice of a different breakout — above ground square footage and below ground square footage. In other words, a 2,square foot house without a basement would likely have a higher replacement cost than a home with 1, square feet of above-ground living space and a basement sized at 1, finished square feet.