Finished Basement Inc in Sq footage?

[Sabrina]

A house down the street from us just went on the market. I was checking out their MLS listing and they have included the finished basement in the square footage of the house. Is that common? All the houses we looked at had finished basements listed as "additional 400 sq ft in finished basement".

I know the basement is included in their listed sq footage because their house is exactly the same blueprint as ours.

Just so you know, I am only curious as to what the standard is, I don't have any interest in making them change their listing! :p As someone who was recently a buyer, I would feel duped if I walked into a house listed as 2500 sq ft and then found out that 400 sq ft of that was actually the finished basement.

[BTB]

When we were househunting, any finished area seemed to be included in the sq ft listed - one house even included their (very nicely finished, 4-season) sunroom.

[amorey]

Around here, listing include finished basements in the square footage, but they also list foundation size and above ground square footage. I always look at the above ground square footage first.

As a side note, my aunt, who appraises real estate, told me that finished basements don’t count for as much of the price as above ground square footage does. That’s why finished your basement doesn’t give you a good ROI when you go to sell.

[Hello Kitty]

I thought the rule was in order for a basement to 'count' as part of finished square footage (or count as a BR if there are BRs down there), it needs to have a legitimate way besides the stairs to escape in case of emergency, IE, walkout, accessible window wells.

I was advised of this when house hunting, and if we had found a house with a finished, but not escapeable basement listed as SF, it would have been a bargaining point as they shouldn't really be counting that for purposes of adjusting their price. So, IMO, what they are doing is misleading, but buyer beware ;)

[LittleFredPunkinHead]

I thought the rule was in order for a basement to 'count' as part of finished square footage (or count as a BR if there are BRs down there), it needs to have a legitimate way besides the stairs to escape in case of emergency, IE, walkout, accessible window wells.
That was always my understanding as well.

[fuzzy]

I don't know about any rules. I just know that our finished basement was *not* considered part of the sq footage of the household. We have a ranch, so the basement is a pretty sizable space. We have a recreation/lounge area, an open area that we will be converting into a bar, and two full bedrooms down there. The unfinsihed portion of the basement is my husband's workshop.

Our house was listed as a 3 bedroom, 1,700 sq foot home...but if you consider the finished portion of the basement, one could argue we have a 5 bedroom, ~3,200 home.

FWIW, there are two windows that would provide an easy escape, ah, "route" and there are a set of bilco doors/stairs that provide access to the outside, but it was still not listed in the sq footage.

[mindy75]

Around here it's included in the square footage if it's finished. My sister has a one-bedroom apartment with a separate entrance in her basement. I don't know how the math breaks down officially. So I'll just say she has a ranch style house with a full walk-out basement. Upstairs is roughly 1300sqft. The basement in full is also 1300, but there is a one-car garage that wasn't included in the square footage. My house the basement wasn't/isn't finished, but it was listed as a 1618sqft on the mainlevel with a 2-car rearentry basement garage and 1000sqft (or so) expansion space in basement. We will be finishing the basement with what amounts to 2 bedrooms, a full bath and laundry area, and a rec/game room space. We'll include that in the square footage. We also have a walk-out with french doors going out to the patio.

[SaraSchlick]

I know that a house we are looking at has the square footage of the main floor listed separately from the square footage of the finished basement. So the information sheet says First Floor, 1200 sq. ft., then lists the details of just the first floor. Then the second page says 1121 sq. ft., then lists the details of the finished basement.

[eli1126]

I'm in NY and I was told that basements do not count toward square footage. My sister had a raised ranch out toward Rochester and when she bought it she said the square footage was actually bigger, but they didnt count the downstairs because it was underground. Maybe it just depends on where you are.

[LeslieR]

It is only walk out basements that are included in the sq ft here, regardless of whether it is finished or not.

[eponymous]

It is only walk out basements that are included in the sq ft here, regardless of whether it is finished or not.

Here too, although I'm not sure if it has to be finished; it definitely has to be "walk-out" though.

[Chelsea524]

All basements here are included in the sq footage, finished or not. On the website it will have a breakdown of sq footage per level and what % is not finished, but on the little flyers and stuff it has it all lumped together as total sq footage.

[Asha]

they are not included here. i suspect that's one of the reasons many homes around here don't include sq footage in the ads bc the home would appear to have a lot less living space if they don't include the sq footage in the ad. my mom didn't believe me when i told her our house is only 1300 sq feet bc she thought it was bigger than that, but i told her that doesn't include the basement.

[jajacobsen]

Here the ads say heated square footage. So, if your basement is heated, it's included.

[Tanya]

Around here, the only space allowed to be included in the square footage is space that's cooled and heated by the same source/sources. We don't have basements, but if you've converted an attic or (attached) garage, it can't have a window box A/C to count (assuming you have central air). The attic has to have the same heat/ac venting as the rest of the house.