All Forum Posts by: Aaron Lovett

Sites such as Zillow will allow you to "claim" your home.  From there you may be able to remove old photos.  You can do the same from the agent's side when publishing a home for sale.  That won't take care of the source MRIS problem, but it would at least eliminate some of the pictures out there on the Internet.

Zillow instructions here: How do I add or remove photos of my home?

Welcome, @Shawn Swisher, we're glad you're here!

That's a pretty significant difference.  It sounds to me like the seller estimated square footage based on 40 year old memories, and that just got passed along.  That's where having your own inspection - or measuring it yourself - would give you a better idea of what you were making an offer on, regardless of anything stated in the advertising of the property.

Another issue is that there isn't one universally accepted way to measure square footage.  Some measure the footprint - literally the outside dimensions of the property - while others measure just the interior dimensions of the living space.  Local practices differ, but there's usually more than one accepted way to measure square footage.  Unfortunately, you could get three professional measurements of the square footage, and get three different "accurate" measurements.

As for recouping the difference - if $56k is just an extrapolation of the average price per square foot - take that with a grain of salt.  3B/2B and the neighborhood probably do more to establish value than square footage alone.  You might compare comps with homes in the 2200-2500 sqft range to see if the sales prices are really that much different.  If so, it can't hurt to ask if you feel it was truly misrepresented, but keep in mind that the sellers are under no obligation to negotiate.  

@Samantha Magina is correct - their purchase price doesn't affect the current value of the property.  Find the best comps you can, and include them with the offer.  To whatever extent you have contact with them, keep things friendly and leave the door open to future conversations.  

The sellers may or may not have intentionally set an unrealistically high list price.  If they know it's overpriced but are just hoping to win the lottery, they might shelve your offer and contact you later if they don't get any bites.  If they won't take any less than they're asking, then your comps might not change their mind, but at least they'll see you had a reason for your offer price.  You can always contact them in a few months if things don't work out for them.

Welcome, @Narissa Bennett!

@Allison B., if you decide to do business in the Rutherford county area, feel free to reach out to me.

Good deal!  I'm glad it worked out.

"she indicated I was not able legally to use the name Realtor in my business name"
 

As for "Realtor", this is a copyrighted name for a member of the National Association of Realtors.  If you aren't a member of that association, then you have no rights to use that designation.

Tax records are often wrong.  Also, as @David Faulkner indicated, a 500 square foot difference might not be considered material at all.  There are different accepted ways of measuring square footage, from the exterior footprint of the habitable space to only the square footage of the interior living space.  Depending on the size of the property, a 500 sqft difference may be negligible or substantial. However, two inspectors can "accurately" measure the square footage of a property and get two different results.

Depending on your contracts and state laws, either the buyer or the seller is responsible for verifying material facts, such as exact square footage.  An inspector should measure the house and state how he comes to the numbers, but this has nothing to do with what the tax records state.

Square footage isn't the main determiner of value.  Two otherwise similar houses in the same neighborhood may sell for the same price, even if they aren't exactly the same size or weren't measured in the same way.  If your property has the same features (bedrooms, bathrooms, etc.) as the comps in the same neighborhood, a variation of square footage doesn't have to be a deal killer - depends on where the square footage is "missing".  Sure, if all of your bedrooms are much smaller than the neighbors' then you have an issue.  

Really knowing your comps will help here.  You may not need to adjust your price at all, or not nearly as much as a per square foot calculation would indicate.  

Hi April, 

That looks like a mess.  If it's flooded, you should probably tear it down to the studs at least 3 feet over the high water line.  If you just cover what you have and paint, you're leaving moisture inside the walls that will eventually rot or mold.  Any decent contractor should be able to handle that job, or search "tear out plaster walls" or something like that and do it yourself, since you seem to be a DIY kind of woman.  Once the plaster/drywall is down and you have the framing exposed, you can go back with drywall fairly inexpensively.