How do realtors comp a home in Georgia?

[applejuice]

Originally Posted by George Chong

MiriL stated - thank you litigious America for taking the square footage thing away from Atlanta. Honestly, real estate agents are not going to test the waters on what might release agents or owners from liability in terms of stating square footage. We are not attorneys and nor do we practice law. We are granted special permission to utilize contracts that are legally binding within our profession.

You would be amazed at what people will threaten to sue you over. The sale of a home is a very emotional process and if you anger one person in the process, whether it makes sense/cents or not, they will sue you. Heck, I was threatened with a lawsuit over a posting of my personal opinion on this website!

If someone asks me the square footage of a property, I will pull the tax records for them and let them know what the records state and give my disclaimer too.

In terms of the questions asked about the appraisal contingency:

1. An appraisal is generally ordered by the financial institution that will be funding the new loan. They want to know that the property is indeed worth what the sales/contract price stated in the contract. Not only for protecting their own stake in the transaction but in terms of reducing mortgage fraud too. The new Georgia Association of Realtors sales contract treats all sales as cash deals. In other words, obviously the Seller will receive all cash at closing whether it is from the Buyer via funds from a bank and/or personal funds. So, now all residential transactions are like commercial deals where the Buyer states how long of a time period to complete ALL their due diligence. That period may include inspections, securing financing and or calling in an expert like a structural engineer.

2. If the property does not appraise for the contracted price, the Buyer does have the option to purchase the property. If the Buyer's agent does not put in the appraisal contingency that the Buyer does not have to purchase the property if it does not appraise for the contracted price - guess what? The special stipulation/clause was kind of worthless. But not in all cases does a Buyer want to back out of a deal that does not appraise for the contracted sales price. And yes - the Buyer can also go back to the Seller and see if the Seller will sell it for the lower appraised price.
3. So let's say that the Buyer's Agent did put in that the property must appraise for the contracted price and the Buyer has the option to back out of the deal if the appraisal price is not met - then yes the Buyer should be entitled to the earnest money in full because a provision was not met in the contract and thus makes the contract null and void.

As you can see in this thread - depending on square footage as comps is both a negative and a positive. There are obviously so many more nuances in comparing square footage of one house to another. It is very unfortunate that the square footage "tool" is not applicable in Atlanta.

What is considered a typical time period for the due diligence? Would two weeks be enough?

Thanks for responding!

[George Chong]

Originally Posted by applejuice

What is considered a typical time period for the due diligence? Would two weeks be enough?

Thanks for responding!

I would do 17 days just in case. If the Seller balks - then go down to 14 days. Make sure that you are already pre-approved so that the process can go even faster. If necessary - your real estate agent can always extend the period before the deadline.

Good luck!

[neil0311]

Originally Posted by cool_mommy

I don't get that. When we moved here I was perplexed by this as well. Up north you always had the square footage listed. One of the ways you review the comps is by looking at the price per square foot (especially newer homes). Our realtor here in GA told us the same story about the law suit. Couldn't you just post the square footage info as "quoted by the owner"? This was done quite frequently up north. Wouldn't that release the agent from liability?

Exactly, or "quoted by the County Assessor". In Cobb, the Assessor provides square footage and all the particulars on their website.

I wrestled with this when I started looking for my house, and no one has ever been able to point to a specific legal decision that made quoting square footage illegal. It seems that realtors have become "gun shy" (no flames please...just a figure of speech ) and have stopped quoting footage here in Atlanta out of fear. That's ridiculous.

In 49 other states this isn't a problem, so I would walk out on a limb and guess that some reasonable way must exist in GA to quote sqaure footage to buyers while also protecting realtors from morons who want to pick nits and then sue about it.

Am I just being simplistic? Did I miss something? Atlanta is one of the largest real estate markets in the nation and that market plays a large part in the economic engine here, so even if it takes the State Legislature passing a law to protect realtors from liability, why not do it? This seems like no brainer territory.

[cool_mommy]

Originally Posted by IntownHomes247

FMLS reports (when properly input by the listing agent) link automatically to the tax record for that property so an agent pulling up the report can quickly get details on what the tax assessor's records show for the square footage. Unfortunately, the tax assessor's records are very, very, frequently wrong. Also, this report doesn't pull up on a "buyer's report" which is the public report that consumers can see. However, you can go to the tax assessor's web site and find the information for yourself. Just don't rely on it. It will very likely be incorrect.

Well that is interesting. How much are they usually off by? If it is a substantial amount then doesn't that mean that we may be taxed on more than we should be? Of course, it also could mean we are paying less too.

[BobKovacs]

Originally Posted by neil0311

In 49 other states this isn't a problem, so I would walk out on a limb and guess that some reasonable way must exist in GA to quote sqaure footage to buyers while also protecting realtors from morons who want to pick nits and then sue about it.

Nope- not 49 other states- you won't find it listed in NJ either.

[neil0311]

Originally Posted by BobKovacs

Nope- not 49 other states- you won't find it listed in NJ either.

That's interesting. You're correct on realtor.com they don't list sq ft for NJ, but some other sites do, so it must be a perference thing, not quite as pervasive as GA where no one does.

If you search here...they do list sq ft. New Jersey Homes For Sale | ABetterWay.com

EDIT: Actually, that site lists sq ft for GA too...hmmmm???

[BobKovacs]

Originally Posted by neil0311

That's interesting. You're correct on realtor.com they don't list sq ft for NJ, but some other sites do, so it must be a perference thing, not quite as pervasive as GA where no one does.

If you search here...they do list sq ft. New Jersey Homes For Sale | ABetterWay.com

EDIT: Actually, that site lists sq ft for GA too...hmmmm???

I don't know where they're getting the SF info from, since it doesn't appear on any MLS data sheets. I'm thinking that's one of those jenky "low cost sales" sites, so they're not necessarily following MLS listing rules. I say that because the site returned a whopping 3 listings in a search I did on an area that has over 5,000 homes available.