Square Footage Does Not Match Tax Records

[Stinson Bland]

Hello BP,

I recently put a house under contract and I'm looking to rehab the home. I used the square footage from the tax records to build my offer and rehab estimates. My seller accepted my offer and I was excited about the deal. This house is in a prime neighborhood and I got the house at what I thought was a deep price.

After getting the contract recorded with the city, I took my contractor out to the house and we realized the house is 500 sq. ft. larger than the tax records. We have measured several times and I am positive that the house is larger. This neighborhood sales at an average of $90 a square foot for similar properties... I just found roughly $45K of additional spread on this deal. JACKPOT BABY!!! :D :rock: :wowo: :woohoo:

I literally did a touchdown dance in the front yard after the third measurement. Youtube T.D. Celebrations

Here's my question: How do I get the square footage adjusted with my tax office? I've called the office and I've gotten the run around so far. I plan to go to the office in attempt to get a better response. Would it be best if I got an appraiser to verify the square footage and take that info to the tax office? I'm sure I can figure this out by spending some time at the office but I was hoping someone has had the experience and can give me some insight into a quick solution. In order to help my sale I want the tax records to represent the correct sq. footage. I have roughly 8 weeks to get it corrected before I list the house.

Thanks for any and all help!

[Jon Holdman]

First, even if properties average $90 per square foot, your house being bigger than another by 500 foot WILL NOT add $45K to the value. Appraisers will apply an adjustment factor that will be significantly less than the per square foot average. The extra size will add value, but it will be closer to $20K than $45K. Houses that are larger than average will sell for lower $/sf than average. Vice versa for smaller than average houses.

The problem may well be the work that created this extra footage was unpermitted. If someone slapped an addition on without permits, it may not add much value at all. Some locations will make you jump through hoops to get it properly permitted.