Misrepresented Square Footage on Purchase

[Michael Begnaud]

Hello All,

Im looking for a little help. Myself and my partner have successfully flipped a handful of properites in Louisiana. We typically pay cash and don't do inspections. We recently acquired a property that was listed as a 3B/2B 3000 sq. ft. We made an offer and it was accepted. We know the family as they are very well respected in the community and had originally built the house some 40 years ago. Upon nearing completion of out renovation work, I called in an appraiser to measure the house just to make sure when we list it, we are accurate with our square footage. She came back with bad news saying it was 2276 sq ft of living. I had her remeasure and she was right at 2276 again. So at this point I reached out to all parties involved including the seller. His response was to speak to his agent. Her response was the seller gave her the square footage. I also spoke to our buying agent, she's at a loss as well. Im fairly sure the law is against me on this but I'm sure some of you have experienced this before. Im looking for alternate ways to recoup the the difference which is roughly $56,000 based on difference between wrong and right square footage. We are planning on meeting early next week and I would like to have some sort of amicable option. your help is greatly appreciated !!

[Thomas S.]

This boiled down to lessons learned. When you closed without doing full due diligence the burden of responsibility falls on the buyer.

Best option is to simply bite the bullet and move forward with flip. You can not win this battle.