Hi,

I recently bought, as my first property, a 3-family building that I am converting to condos in Cambridge, MA. Everything was going well until I got the floor plans done by an architect. The measured total area of the building per the architect is 2560 sq. ft., whereas the MLS sheet listed 2952 sq ft! I could understand a discrepancy of 2-3%, but not 12%!

Obviously this seriously impacts my bottom line. The MLS sheet listed the sq ft. source as "per public record", so on Monday I'm going to go to town hall and look at that public record. Any other suggestions? Do I have a legal leg to stand on here?

Andy

If the MLS stated the the square feet listed is "AS PER PUBLIC RECORD", you probably should have performed your due diligence and found out what it was.

Usually during a purchase transaction, an appraisal is performed that will have more accurate sq ft numbers.

Hello

An appraisal would show a more accurate square footage. Also the tax assessors office should be pretty accurate as well with their sq footage.

The MLS is filled with errors, and as an appraiser, I constantly have to check and recheck all of my data sources, especially the local MLS.

If you did not have an appraisal done, I don't know of any recourse you may have, as that should have given you accurate information pertaining to the property.

Good Luck!

Our tax accessors listings on homes are completely off. I never trust what I find out the property tax information. As others have said, the appraiser should have it listed correctly.

Well, one positive that you might get out of it is the assessment. If the tax assessor thinks it's 2900 square feet and it's only 2500, then they likely have valued your property wrong and they should lower the assessment on it. It may lower your taxes a bit. Just a thought.

Lee Warren

I know many real estate agents have been sued for misrepresenting square footage. Contact a real estate attorney. Look up the property in the public record.