How Much Does Square Footage Matter in Real Estate?
How Much Does Square Footage Matter in Real Estate?
Understand the importance of square footage.
Square footage is one of the most important factors in real estate. It impacts both the price of a property and its attractiveness to potential buyers. Generally speaking, the more square footage a property has, the higher its price will be. This is because people are willing to pay more for more space.
It's a good starting point to get an idea of the size of the property but square footage numbers don't tell the whole story when it comes to your actual living space.
Consider other things that could affect your home's value
Location
There's a reason why the motto of real estate is "location, location, location." Real estate professionals know that most square footage numbers don't mean much with the context surrounding the home. The same apartment in Toronto or Vancouver will cost significantly more than very similar properties, in terms of total square footage in Nunavut.
The total living space may be the same but home buying is about more than the square footage measurements.
Proximity to schools, parks, and businesses centres can give you the true market value of a home rather than just the square footage listed.
Make sure you're not overpaying for a property because it has more square footage than what you need.
When buying a property, how much square footage do you need?
Knowing how much square footage you need is essential. Ask yourself some questions to find out what size home will best fit your needs.
Do I have children? If yes, are they teenagers who need their own rooms, or toddlers who will share a room for a few more years?
How much storage do I need? Do I have a lot of possessions that I need to store, or am I downsizing and don't need as much space?
Do I entertain often and need open-concept living space, or am I more of a homebody who prefers smaller spaces?
These are all things to consider when thinking about the amount of square footage you need.
Remember, just because a property has more square footage than what you need, doesn't mean it's automatically the better option.
Does the total square footage truly reflect the amount of space in a property?
Square footage data helps if you're dealing with purely rectangular homes but, thankfully, most homes are built with quirks that make up their personality. When looking at real estate boards or talking to real estate agents, make sure to ask about things like the ceiling height.
You can move around much more comfortably and have more usable space if the sloped ceilings can make crouching mandatory.
Bay windows in the right places and contextually appropriate wall thicknesses can serve to make a house feel a lot bigger than what its overall square footage might indicate. Square footage information is crucially important but it's only a part of the equation. Think of circular rooms or other special features that add challenging measurements to something already so abstract.
Research comparable properties in your area before making an offer on any property.
This will help you determine whether or not it's worth paying more for a larger house with more features (e.g., a bigger yard). You may find that a property with 2000 square feet is actually much better for your needs than one with 2500 square feet.
Be sure to also look at the age of the property and its amenities, as these can be important factors in your decision-making process. Home-buyers can often feel rushed but taking a floor at the house's building materials and the average price of surrounding homes can let you know if you're overpaying. In addition to the price per square foot, comparing homes means looking at how one house's floor plan matches what you want more than the other.
Architects create precise drawings but in the end, the responsibility is on the buyer to verify square footage. If you've fallen in love with a property but are unsure of a few things specific to the house, it's worth trying to get in touch with a real estate lawyer who can pour over the sales contract, the house's previous listing, and even the county tax records to prevent inaccurate square footage measurements to artificially inflate your home's price. Misrepresenting those facts can be a huge liability.
Keep in mind that buying a new home can be significantly more expensive than adding square footage to your existing home.
If you need extra space, instead of dealing with the real estate industry and potentially going over century-old records to make sure a sale agreement is accurate, you can consider building up your own home.
When planning to increase your home's square footage, it's important to correctly calculate square footage both before and after to have accurate records. You can rely on an architect's drawing but keep in mind things like staircase openings, low ceilings, and other considerations when you measure spaces. Correct square footage is honest square footage, and vice-versa. No one wants legal professionals with a measuring tape involved.
Eventually, if you decide to sell you should have the original floor plan available so that the new owners can compare it with updated floor plans.
Keep in mind things like the thickness of outside walls and how they differ from interior walls. Keeping other factors in the home building process in mind will help you keep the listed square footage accurate.
Optimize the space you have so it's as efficient as possible.
Even if you have total square footage that would make most of your neighbours blush, not using that space properly can make your home feel cramped. With the right use of the space, two properties of the same size can feel radically different. This is especially important if you have things like unconventional or circular floor plans.
Think carefully about changing the footprint of your current property.
If it is time for you to expand your home, then consider the footprint that you want to use. Once you have determined how much space you need, think about how it will fit onto your property. If possible, try to use the same footprint as your current home. If you need to, go for a smaller footprint and plan to expand later on.
If this isn't possible, then carefully consider what areas will be affected by the expansion. Make sure that they aren't areas that cannot be easily or cheaply altered. For example, if you are expanding your garage to fit an additional car, then you need to pour over your square footage calculations to make sure that you have an accurate measure of interior and exterior measurements. A renovation like the expansion of a garage can easily make measuring square footage a nightmare.
Get an idea of the zoning regulations in your area before you make any decisions about building out or up
Even if you have the money for it, you may not be legally allowed to add yet another upper floor. Your municipality may have regulations that control how much square footage can be added to their community.
If you are considering building up, it's worth hiring an architect who will go over the potential limits of your project with you beforehand. It's better to communicate these limits before finalizing your architectural blueprints instead of after changes are already made or worse, building illegally.
If you have an architect, it's important that they sign off on all drawings
It may seem like overkill to get an architect to approve your plans for a small expansion, but in order to ensure accuracy and avoid any potential legal problems, it is always best to have them review everything before any construction begins.
Finally, always consult with a real estate agent when trying to determine the value of a property - they will have more experience and knowledge in this area than you do.
To conclude:
Square footage is important, it's one of the first things real estate agents will mention but it's important to consider all the factors that make a house a home. Looking at floor plans, the building materials, and making sure that data entry errors are not spiking the price per square foot - these are all critical parts of the process but the location and other details are just as, if not more, important.
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