Excerpted from the San Jose Mercury News

Q: Our appraisal of the property we are purchasing states the home is
300 sq ft smaller than stated in all of the marketing. We feel the price
should reflex a smaller home, but the sellers, their agent and even our
own agent feels otherwise. What are our options?

A: Conflicting square footage is the biggest complaint within residential
real estate. Many buyers are faced with multiple numbers from different
sources-for example, the builder, assessor’s office, seller disclosures, agent
promotion, and their own appraiser. If the discrepancy is discovered in
the middle of a sale, most agencies agree this is new information,
triggering a new seller’s disclosure and a new buyer three-day right of
rescission. However, Real estate attorneys defend and prosecute the
“square foot cases” all the time. One school of thought is that since the
house appraised at full value – how have you been harmed? Conversely,
if the home was marketed as a smaller home, when it’s time you become
a seller, it probably would command a smaller price. You would remiss
in not consulting a real estate attorney.


by Pat Kapowich, SiliconValleyBroker.com,
owns KAPOWICH REAL ESTATE in Sunnyvale.
Send questions to pat@SiliconValleyBroker.com

Excerpted from San Jose Mercury News
Market Wise column Saturday April 4, 2008

Do you have a question for the new real estate Q&A Market Wise column in the SJMN? If so, please email them to: info@SiliconValleyBroker.com