Howdy reah12-ga,
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for informed professional medical, psychiatric, psychological, tax, legal,
investment, accounting, or other professional advice."
From the PropEx web site article titled "Square Footage - What do you mean
it doesn't count?" by John Williams.
http://www.propex.com/C_SC_calcsf2.htm
"Competent Appraisers and Real Estate agents will look for comparables with
similar areas above and below grade. And, ideally both used the same comps.
They just add the space up differently. An appraiser will look closely at the
2000 square feet that the real estate agent advertised, see that it is 1000
square feet with one story above grade, 1000 square feet below grade, and
will look for one story comps that have above and below grade finished space
(and will not use a two story comp with only above grade finished space)."
From the Wall Street Journal "Guide to Property," the RealEstateJournal, web
site article "Step Outside to Measure Square Footage" by Valerie Patterson.
http://www.realestatejournal.com/columnists/qa/20010126-patterson.html
"According to the National Association of Home Builders and the American
National Standards Institute, square footage should include above- and
below-grade space ..."
From the StarTribune article titled "Appraisals give lower value to
lower-level rooms" by Neal Gendler and dated July 19, 2003.
http://www.startribune.com/stories/745/3990041.html
"The appraisal report showed 1,324 square feet of living space valued at
$110 per square foot, he said. That's the part of the house that's above
the ground when viewed from the front. Reading from the report, he said the
lower level was in fact counted, but not as part of the 'gross living area.'
The report showed an additional 1,300 square feet valued at $45 per square
foot, he said. That included the space below grade, finished and unfinished."
As pointed out in some of articles above, appraisals are usually based on
"Fannie Mae" guidelines, and that means that finished below grade living
space is appraised, just at a lower rate than above grade finished space.
Even though the above articles speak mostly to houses, and not condominiums,
the "Fannie Mae" "Individual Condominium Unit Appraisal Report" has the
following area in the "comparable sales" section.
http://www.northernbayappraisal.com/PDF/condo.pdf
"Basement & Finished Rooms Below Grade"
The above would appear to be "prima facie" proof that as "Fannie Mae" uses
condominium below grade finished space in their appraisals, at least in
comparables, then this should be the case in your situation. Granted, the
below grade space will not be appraised as much per square foot as the above
grade space, but it should none the less be considered in the appraisal.
The below grade space might not be included in the "total" square footage
per se, but appear instead as "x square feet above grade" and "y square feet
below grade" but should be counted.
I could find nothing that would indicate that Missouri would use any
different guidelines than the federally based "Fannie Mae" reports. There
is additional information in the articles referenced above, so you might want
to reference them in detail.
If you need any clarification, please feel free to ask.
Search strategy:
Google search on: "below grade" "square footage"
://www.google.com/search?q=%22below+grade%22+%22square+footage%22
Looking Forward, denco-ga - Google Answers Researcher |
