Gross Square Footage

I now know more than I ever wanted to know about this not very exciting topic. Why? Well, the buyers for our house were to sign the Purchase and Sale (P&S) Thursday morning. Instead of going to the lawyers office to do that, they instead almost made the whole sale come crashing down!

It seems the issue stemmed from the fact that our agent used the measured gross footage (done by the guy who did the floor plan we listed on MLS - 2154 sq ft) instead of what's on city records for the gross square footage (1966 sq ft). The 2 measurements differ by 188 square feet. The buyers' agent discussed this with our agent a couple of days after we accepted the offer (2 weeks ago now) and never mentioned the issue to us as she assumed it had been addressed and that was that. However, apparently the buyers' agent didn't discuss it with the buyers until early last week, right before the agent hopped over to Martha's Vineyard for the week, leaving the buyers' lawyer to represent them in all aspects of the deal.

So, come Thursday morning, they brought the issue up with their lawyer who questioned us about it. We explained that our renovations over the years included adding the mudroom and some square footage to the upstairs which obviously has not yet been changed on city records. (I've found out that actual square footage and what's on record rarely lines up.) Apparently, the answer was not acceptable. Because they could not back into our measured amounts by the floor plan we had provided, they decided they wanted to now base their offer on the city's records and drop their offer by $25,000. To say this shocked us and pissed us off is the understatement of the year!

By Thursday afternoon, I was in full research mode to see what I could do to salvage the deal with the price we had all agreed upon. I got the number of an appraiser from my mortgage broker to get in touch with and find more information out about how gross square footage is calculated. From him, I learned that gross square footage is a measurement of the home from the exterior and that cape style home measurements use a formula. Based on the dormers of the house, the formula is tweaked to try and come up with accurate measurements, but 3 different people will likely come up with 3 different totals. His information helped me understand why 1) there is no way an interior floor plan summation would work to back into gross square footage and 2) why sources will differ.

Next step, I contacted my architect that we had been working with on the addition that was never to come to fruition. After 4 emails and 3 phone calls, I was able to get her measurements for gross square footage on our house - 2176.5 sq ft. (It took this many contacts between us because she had 3 different types of measurements on the house and I wasn't clear what she had provided nor was she clear on what I wanted.)

I also searched for my appraisal from the refinance we did back in November when we had decided to stay in the house and do an addition. (Boy, that seems like a lifetime ago!) Of course, being thorough with packing up and preparing our house to be listed, that information is either in a box in my in-laws' basement or in our storage unit. Another few calls and emails later, I learned I could get a copy of that information to me by Friday morning. That square footage came in at 2177 sq ft.

Thursday night was a sleepless night. I was on email and the phone literally all day and into the night on these issues until about 10 pm. By the time I laid down, my mind was still swimming and I stared at the ceiling for at least an hour. That event repeated after I got up for a bathroom break in the middle of the night. Of course, I also woke early with the stress of getting this resolved. So, I was not anywhere near rested on Friday. The P&S was to be signed by 6pm that evening or our house sale deal was null and void. I was not going to extend the deadline because my opinion was that this was a stunt for the buyers to get out of the deal. If that was the case, I wanted to know ASAP so that we could start working with the folks on the other 5 offers we had received. However, if their issue truly was just the square footage, I was now armed with ample evidence to support our numbers. (Actually, I had evidence that the size of the house exceeds our advertised amount so I wanted to be snarky and ask for more money from them. Thinking that might not be the best move, I didn't push for it.)

Friday morning I spent a good amount of time composing an email that contained my research and findings. My lawyer was in a closing most of the morning so it wasn't until after 11am that I was able to get the email to her for proofing then forwarded along to the buyers' lawyer. I tapped my foot, paced and chewed my finger nails (well, not really that since I don't chew my finger nails but if I had any predisposition to do so, you'd better believe I would have) for the next hour and a half. By 12:30 I couldn't stand the waiting anymore and followed up with my lawyer. Still no news. I was sure some back and forth would still need to happen and that 6pm dead line didn't look likely to happen.

With an ultrasound appointment happening in the afternoon (the head to toe exam in which we would find out the baby's sex, among other things....talk about a roller coaster of emotions that day!), I wouldn't be available for about an hour in the afternoon. Luckily, at 2:15 (a few minutes before the boys were to pick me up), I got a call from my lawyer. She said she had the signed Purchase and Sale! I felt an immense amount of relief and elation. We had won the fight! Woohoo!!!

So, after all that drama, the deal goes on. The next hurdle will be the mortgage commitment. If that goes well, it will be smooth sailing to the closing on September 30th. I tell ya, I have been having a really hard time thinking of leaving our house. The up side to all this drama is that it helps me want to be done with the process and move on with our lives, both literally and figuratively. It helped to cut some of my emotional ties to the house. I think I'm ready to move on now.