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"househunter" <kekoontz@comcast.net> writes:
> I put an offer on a house for $200/sq ft and I based it on the
> listing of 2034 square feet. I looked at the tax records and they
> came in at 1980 square feet (the house is 10 years old and no
> additions have been done). I had my realtor put in the counter
> offer that if the house came in under 2000 square feet after the
> appraisal we would re-negotiate the price. The appraisal came in at
> 1995 square feet. The sellers agreed to the adendum but according
> to my realtor they would not budge if we came back with a
> negotiation.
>
> Yes, 39 square feet does sound a lot to quibble over but when you
> multiply it by $200 it is not something to laugh at.
True 39*200 is a fair amount of money (7800 to be exact). What's
laughable, though (sorry cannot help but give you my opinion as a 3
time home buyer), is the "Who the hell purchases an existing home
based on a per square foot basis?" Both agents are proboably rolling
their eyes on this one. I mean, we're talking about a $400,000+ home
here.
This per square foot thinking is how I as an engineer and first time
home buyer might have been lulled into thinking, had I listened to my
then-20-something coworkers at the time (none of whom had ever sold a
home). 2 homesales and 2 home purchases later, I find that
residential real estate is a lot more emotional and less analytical
than this. You see a house, you see the room dimensions, if it's
gonna work for you, it's gonna work for you, if it's not it's not,
it's market value has more to do with comparable home sales in the
area in the last X days than anyone's mental notion of what the place
should cost per square foot ever will. And do not forget at the end of
the day, a house is worth exactly what someone is willing to pay for
it.
However, the buyer is always right (even if being a PITA), and your
contract reads as it reads. You have an out here, and are free to
kill this contract, and at this point counter with a lower price.
Your Realtor's advise can be one of two things: a) trying to either
protect a higher commission trying to keep you to your original price
and make his life easier vs trying to tell a seller 'the deal we
though we had really is not because of 5 square feet in your $400k
home' or b) is telling you what hte listing agent has told him about
where the sellers' heads are (selling agent could be posturing too,
who knows).
The sellers may tell you to go fly with the new offer or they may not.
So much of residential negotiation is emotional, and maintaining
goodwill is important. However you are in a buyer's market, and
unless these sellers have other beating down their door, you'll
probably get what you want... unless the sellers are thinking "if this
guy is this much of an anal retentive pain over 5 square feet under
our contract, do I really want to deal with his post-inspection
demands? Tell him to go fly and lets get this listing reactivated."
It all really boils down to goodwill though. How much do you want
this house at/near the negotiated price? Will you regret not getting
it $7800 worth? How much do the sellers want to sell it? Do they
want the bird in hand (even if it's a high maintenance one?) or do
they want to sit on the market longer. It takes two to tango as it
were.
> Plus, if we list it in the future it will be under the 2000 square feet
> mark which may eliminate some buyers who are looking for a 2000+ square
> foot home.
>
> Thoughts?
This nebulous notion of square footage, and the quibbling that will
invariably occur over it, I suspect is why nearly all MLS listings I
see in Chicagoland have 0 in the square footage field, and no buyers
agents perform searches based on it. Even in Texas where it was used
some of the time, not all listings would put one because no one knows
precisely how to measure it and no one wants to be sued when the
number doesn't match up to the way a given individual measures it.
So, I guess my advice is to relax a bit, step back from this per
square foot number someone put in your head, and instead ask your
agent to provide you comps of comparable homes in the area sold in the
past 90 days or more and see if your current offer appears to be in
the ballpark. Then gut check to see how much you would or wouldn't
regret potentially losing the deal if the sellers tell "Mr. 5 square
feet under 2000" that they do not want to play ball with you anymore.
If the market where you are is anything like what's going on here in
Chicagoland, though, you'll probably be able to achieve a lower price,
but asking them to drop 7800 off the price might be a bit much to ask,
depening on how big a joint we're talking about.
Best Regards,
--
Todd H.
http://www.toddh.net/
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Re: Square footage discrepancy- do I give in?
