Square footage

2 questions-
how do you get the sq. footage?
Is a basement included in that only if it's finished?
TIA

basement should never be considered in square footage (though realtors often do include it)

you can measure the outside of your house to determine sqft (thats how we do it for appraisals) or add up all the rooms in your house (plus hallways, etc).

ex: if your house is a rectangle thats 40 x 25 and 2 stories, its 2000 sqft

(you should also subtract any built in garages...)

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Posted by LisaT

basement should never be considered in square footage (though realtors often do include it)

you can measure the outside of your house to determine sqft (thats how we do it for appraisals) or add up all the rooms in your house (plus hallways, etc).

ex: if your house is a rectangle thats 40 x 25 and 2 stories, its 2000 sqft

(you should also subtract any built in garages...)

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i assumed square footage = living square footage (bedrooms, baths, lr, dr, ktichen etc). the total is based on adding the dimensions of all these rooms. i could be wrong as you seem to more familiar w/ this, but not sure if the house perimeter calulation would be an accurate measure.

skew - I mentioned adding all the rooms is one way to do it...

generally square footage is the total amount of ALL living space above grade (above ground so not including basements) - so a perimeter measure is an easy rough estimate.

you're adding a few inches of wall between the inside and outside measurements, but its sufficient for most needs.

(I'm a real estate appraiser)

i wasn't doubting you, just posting what i have heard. thanks for clarifying!

eta: let's say a house has a finished basement i.e. apartment. even though it is below grade would you add that into square footage?

nope, no basements

sometimes gets tricky when the basements aren't fully buried (and we handle those on a case by case basis) but generally, no basements in square footage

we add value to the house for having a basement and even more value for a finished basement, but its not considered living space.