MLS Listing vs County Records

[Jorge Rodriguez]

Hey guys,

I'm a noobie investor looking to get started here in South Florida with house hacking and after looking at numerous SFH properties in areas that I want to buy, I am noticing that there are discrepancies between the MLS listing and the information I find on the County records. These discrepancies that I'm seeing is in regards to the number of beds/baths. For example, the MLS will show the SFH with 3/2 or a 4/3 and the County will have it listed as a 2/1 and 3/2, respectively. I've noticed this consistently on a lot of properties that I've seen.

Now, being my first purchase, this has me a bit worried because I'm unsure of what can/could happen if I buy, let's say, a 3/2 but the County has it recorded as a 2/1. It's safe to assume that these properties have additions to them but if it's unpermitted work then I could be in a surprise I'm assuming? Or maybe I'm just overthinking this and looking too much into it....

Any thoughts?

[Karen A.]

One thing that I look at closely is the liability related to any of these non-permitted additions.  For example, I bought a home that was listed as a 4 bedroom.  They had turned the garage into a "bedroom" (non-permitted), but the window they installed was not large enough to meet current egress code.  Windows need to be a certain size/type so that someone can get out of it easily in case of a fire.  If the house were ever to catch fire and someone couldn't get out of that window, that liability is on ME (and the litigation involved wouldn't be pretty to say the least.)  Long story short, I bought the house and we turned that "bedroom" back into a garage.  Now it matches the county records and I don't have that liability burden.  Just giving you another angle to think about.