when lisitng house don't count bathrooms in total rooms

[Jeannie in NJ]

okay I am looking at a house to buy. I want a seperate family and living room, dining room, office or school room so when I see a listing for 11 or 12 rooms I get all excited to see the house. Apparently the owner counted the bathrooms, laundry, mud room and I don't know maybe the attic as rooms. The house really had 6 rooms unless I want us to do school in the attic or maybe the mud room . This has happened a couple of other times when I go to look at the house. It is a waste of time for both me and the realtor. Sellers, just lisit actual livable rooms in total. In my listing I did not count my bathrooms, laundry room, pantry, attic etc in total rooms. okay vent over

[Mimm]

Don't listing usually spell out what rooms there are? For instance, kitchen, separate dining, two living areas, four bedrooms, two and a half bathrooms, garage. I don't think I've ever seen a listing that just said the total number of rooms.

[GailV]

I had the impression things like this vary with region. Standard practice for listings in the midwest is different than, say, standards in Colorado. For example, around here we don't count the basement in the square feet of living area even if it's finished; other places do.

[IlluminatedAttic]

If something like this happened more than a couple of times I would be having a conversation with my realtor about why s/he is not doing a better job of prescreening.

[Sebastian (a lady)]

I had the impression things like this vary with region. Standard practice for listings in the midwest is different than, say, standards in Colorado. For example, around here we don't count the basement in the square feet of living area even if it's finished; other places do.

 

There is an odd (for me) thing here in No Virginia where the taxable living space is listed as square footage instead of the larger square footage of usable space. This was leaving off things like finished basements. We were looking at houses that were around 2000 sq ft, but that were listed as only about 1300 sq ft. Took me a while to get the hang of that.

 

On the other hand, I would have other houses be far smaller than expected because they would double list the bottom floor as both the lower level of a split level and as a finished basement. When I see both listed, I expect there will be two different spaces, not one listed twice..

 

I think you have to get used to the quirks of listings in a particular area.

[Tammyla]

That stinks.

 

Insist your real estate agent get the information before you set out to view a property.

[Jeannie in NJ]

Mimm, yes the listings will say for ex. 4 bedrooms 2.5 bathrooms , 12 rooms total and some listings might have a space for "additional rooms" where they will say for ex. formal dining room or den or office but never a list of ALL of the rooms. Also I have looked at some houses that no way is their listed sq. footage correct unless they are counting attic and garage in the total . I just don't understand why some sellers feel the need to "trick" buyers to come see their house. For ex. last week I went to a house that said in the listing granite countertops. Well, when we got there, my realtor said that it was a laminate cover that looked like granite but was really particle board. The owner argued with my realtor that she had the right to call it granite. Also there was a carpet over the deck. The owner who was conducting the tour of the house said that the carpet was over the deck so the deck would not be "too hot" for bare feet. My realtor lifted up the carpet, the deck had been painted bright red which was flaking off and some boards were buckling. Well, we left then because this seller could not be trusted, what else was she maybe trying to hide.

[TravelingChris]

I really hope we won't be having this problem. I am only going to look at houses that supposedly have over 3000 Sq. ft. They are all supposed to have four bedrooms and three bathrooms as a minimum and all have a basement. I am going to ask my realtor to get room sizes for the houses we will look at. Our issue is that we only have three days to find a house and it is over Memorial Day Weekend.I hope it goes as easily as did my house hunting in 1999 where I found the house the first morning we went out.

[Jeannie in NJ]

are full, finished, heated basements usually included in sq.footage? I am asking because I will be looking at a house later this week that has one and the sq. footage is 2200 and 9 rooms. Is the basement counted as a room. My current house is 9 rooms which includes family room, living room, 2 heated sun rooms (all the rooms ar huge) and my sq. ft is 2200 so unless the house I will be looking at also has huge rooms I will assume that the basement is included in sq. footage? The house is on a lake so I am really hoping that we like it.

[Tammyla]

It may vary by state, but here basements are not calculated into the square footage.

 

 

are full, finished, heated basements usually included in sq.footage? I am asking because I will be looking at a house later this week that has one and the sq. footage is 2200 and 9 rooms. Is the basement counted as a room. My current house is 9 rooms which includes family room, living room, 2 heated sun rooms (all the rooms ar huge) and my sq. ft is 2200 so unless the house I will be looking at also has huge rooms I will assume that the basement is included in sq. footage? The house is on a lake so I am really hoping that we like it.

[QueenCat]

are full, finished, heated basements usually included in sq.footage? I am asking because I will be looking at a house later this week that has one and the sq. footage is 2200 and 9 rooms. Is the basement counted as a room. My current house is 9 rooms which includes family room, living room, 2 heated sun rooms (all the rooms ar huge) and my sq. ft is 2200 so unless the house I will be looking at also has huge rooms I will assume that the basement is included in sq. footage? The house is on a lake so I am really hoping that we like it.

 

Where we are, the basement is counted if it is "finished", which would include heat, air conditioning, flooring, paint on the walls. It was the same when we lived in Georgia.