square footage (appraisal, condo, property, developer)

[*~Kim~*]

What is included in the square footage of a home? Are bathrooms, closets, stairwells and hallways included? Thanks.

ETA: Also, what about a screened in enclosure with a pool in it (is that called a Florida room?)?

[MikeJaquish]

Originally Posted by *~Kim~*

What is included in the square footage of a home? Are bathrooms, closets, stairwells and hallways included? Thanks.

That question is answered based on local standards.

Bathrooms, closets, hallways, basically, yes.
Stairwells need to be calculated so you only count the space one time when the space below the stairs is unusable.

All according to North Carolina standards.

[beachmouse]

Here it's the amount of space that's heated and cooled. Garage doesn't count and neither do pool enclosures or screened porches, though if a house has a huge screened porch, you might get a reference to square footage 'under roof'.

[akrobat]

I don't know the answer to this but I thought I would share my experience.
We are in the process of buying a house in Florida. We just had our appraisal done and the square footage listed in the appraisal was different than what is listed on the county property appraiser site. The appraisal number only included air conditioned space, which in this house is everything but the garage. The county site included the garage and covered porch (covered with an overhang, not a screen). So in my experience, the true square footage is air conditioned space only - nothing outside.

Again, this just based on my experience with buying a home. Hopefully someone with better knowledge can also respond.

[adolpho]

In a condo; your half of the walls will be counted by the Assessor, the developer counts livable space. 560 v. 532 sf for a stacked 1 br condo.