Change in square footage

[Amran Musaid]

I have a deal on the table right now and I’m not sure if I should close or walk away from the deal. It’s a duplex and the listing says that the property is 2100 sqft the purchase price is 165k. The appraisal came in a few days ago and it came back at 171k. The problem is the appraiser said that the property is only 1590 sqft. When I did my math I was basing it on the 2100 sqft so I thought I was getting a great deal when in fact it turns out that I’m getting a mediocre deal. Should I just walk away from this one?

[Amran Musaid]

Quote from @Russell Brazil:

Quote from @Amran Musaid:

@Russell Brazil, there is an unfinished attic and I was looking to force the appreciation by converting into either a 1 bedroom or studio apartment. My understanding is because it’s unfinished it can’t be counted towards the sqft and it sounds like the listing agent did just that. Another thing that I forgot to mention earlier is the listing says that each unit is 3/1 when in reality they are each 2/1 with dining rooms that former tenants turned into bedrooms but would need closets to be added to become legal. I kindly of feel like I’m being played here in the listing agent says that the units are 3/1 when they are 2/1 and creates sqft out of thin air 

There is no standard on how to measure square footage. Nothing about the property has changed, and youve just been explained very easily why the 2 different sq footage numbers. Closets are not required by IBC to be a bedroom, though your local jurisdiction may possibly require that.

Sounds more like cold feet to be honest.

I know that it’s still the same property but my point is when I did my math I was basing it on the 2100?sqft size. So essentially I thought that I was getting 55k of equity using the following numbers

108 per square foot x 2100 = 226,800

when in fact the numbers are

108 per square foot x 1590 = 171,720

It’s not about having cold feet it’s the fact that when the size changed the reality of the deal changed. It’s true that I’m still buying it for 7k less than it’s worth but that’s not as good of a deal as I thought I had on the table. I wanted a larger equity cushion just in case the market starts to weak. If I buy at retail or close to retail it wouldn’t take much of a downturn for me to be underwater on this property