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What can a home buyer do if the actual square footage is smaller than that which was reported? The realtor put 2150 finished sqft in MLS listing. But the appraisal came out that the house is 1994 sqft and the square footage in a public record of county is actually 1910sqft.
We are so disappointed about the fact that we want to cancel the contract. We live in VA. Can we cancel the contract and get our honest money back? Thank you for your advice.
What can a home buyer do if the actual square footage is smaller than that which was reported? The realtor put 2150 finished sqft in MLS listing. But the appraisal came out that the house is 1994 sqft and the square footage in a public record of county is actually 1910sqft.
We are so disappointed about the fact that we want to cancel the contract. We live in VA. Can we cancel the contract and get our honest money back? Thank you for your advice.
Does your contract say you can? I.e., does it cite square footage as one of the conditions of purchase?
In my experience, the court house records usually show a smaller GLA than the appraised GLA. Reason being that CHR GLA comes from the plans and architects measure differently than appraisers do.
Without having more information, it appears that the listing agent may have used a GLA from a previous appraisal and the appraiser used the CHR.
The agent added unfinished square footage, 220sgft, to finished square footage, 1910sqft. And she put 220sqft of unfinished sqft in the MLS listing too.
So we thought the house is 2150 finished square footage with 220 square footage to be finished.
My realtor and I sent a amendment last week to lower the price from 249,500 to 239,500. But the seller's agent is not responding.
The agent is even telling us that they would sue us.
For what? I don't know.
The seller may sue for specific performance in cases where the terms of the contract are not being lived up to -- if your offer said something (very unusual) like "sellers agrees to purchase property as described at an aggregate cost per square foot of $116.05 gross subject to ANSI measurement" and such a measurement returned the 1910 sq ft number you would be obligated to pay $221648.84 and the seller would be obligated to accept it.
Instead your contract probably specified nothing so specific and your seller expects that you will pay $249500 for the property as you have undoubtedly explored and inspected it in other relevant ways.
If this goes to court you might be liable for damages, after all the seller may have lost out on other selling opportunities but do you really want to go that way?
I mean you like the place, right? It serves your needs? You based your price on the comparable sold properties that were similar in age, size, condition? Did you get a certified measurement of any other property? Was your offer, like a bid for a shipment of coffee or wheat, based on specific price per unit?
The agent added unfinished square footage, 220sgft, to finished square footage, 1910sqft. And she put 220sqft of unfinished sqft in the MLS listing too.
So we thought the house is 2150 finished square footage with 220 square footage to be finished.
My realtor and I sent a amendment last week to lower the price from 249,500 to 239,500. But the seller's agent is not responding.
The agent is even telling us that they would sue us.
For what? I don't know.
I think you have a problem. That problem is that the agent noted in the MLS that 220 sq feet of the reported sq footage was unfinished. It appears that disclosure was made. It sounds like you made an assumption about what that wording meant.
It sounds like the seller would have grounds to sue you for specific performance. The house appraised, right?
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