Square Footage Discrepancy

[Armando DeGuzman]

I have a fix and flip property under contract and am still in my inspection period.  During my due diligence I discovered that the assessors office has the square footage of the house at 2342 sqft.  This felt a bit off seeing as how another house with a similar floor plan was approximately 100 square feet less while having additions (extra bedroom) that our house didn't.  I did some poking around on the assessors website and found that the assessed 2342 sqft is including an enclosed patio and a workshop.  What would be the best way to proceed given this scenario?  Should I be concerned that when I go to resell the property the inspector will measure the property and it will not line up with the assessed square footage?

[Armando DeGuzman]

Hi Clementina, it appears the assessor square footage was incorrect since permits were acquired but the updates were never done. So the assessor is showing 300 square feet more than what is there.

We ended up bringing this up to the seller and were able to use it as negotiation leverage. The purchase price was dropped by $12k. We had our GC review the property and he indicated we could recapture that 300 square foot by turning a workshop into a 4th bedroom that overlooks the mountains and pool. All in all it was a good learning experience and a reminder to always verify square footage with what is recorded in the county.

Overall, this raises our ARV and lowers our purchase price which allows us to make this deal more profitable.