Prince George Real Estate

Prince George is a little bit isolated from the raging real estate markets of Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, and Calgary, but buyers and sellers can learn a lot from these markets, as they often guide policies for the rest of the country. Recently, an article came out from the Canadian Real Estate Magazine (REM) with regards to square footage; how does one measure it? Should agents include it? What measures should be taken to ensure due diligence?  I am only really interested in the first part – should measurements be a mandatory part of any MLS listing? This question has real estate forums ablaze with varied opinions, so I thought I would present some of the arguments to my readers.

First off, why would anyone really care about that data? I sure didn’t when I was looking at buying a house, but that’s just me.  I do find it hard to believe that buyers are so adept at visualizing the difference between a 10′x14′ room and a 12′x13′ room that is weighs on their decision to view the home, but I realize that total square footage is a much more important figure than room by room square footage, except perhaps where large appliances or fixtures are concerned.  Looking at the total square footage might be of importance to families to ensure there are no styles being cramped, but again, as a first time home buyer moving in with my fiance, I couldn’t care less about that either, so although I can see where total square footage would be important in certain scenarios, I fail to see the value in it’s necessity.

So let’s look at the reporting of total and room sq/ft from the perspective of a listing agent.  The phone rings and a buyer would like to view homes with a minimum of 3 bedrooms and two baths, among several other requisite features. In a world where area is not defined and recorded, the agent will have to determine to the best of his or her ability how much total area the buyer is looking for and then proceed to show the client said properties.  This may work out fine but the odds are that some of the properties will be too small and some unnecessarily large, thereby wasting both the buyer’s and agent’s time.  The inclusion of area in all listings ensures that both buyers and agents will be better informed during the search process, ultimately leading to a more efficient and productive relationship.

However, there are some dangers involved in reporting square footage; namely, it has to be reasonably accurate. A quick search on Google regarding ‘real estate square footage lawsuit’ will yield a mountain of results and forum posts from unhappy home owners who discovered a 52 sq/ft difference between the reported area and their own measurements.  These discrepancies are the reason why you see ‘all measurements approximate, buyer to verify if important’ on most MLS listings. Home measurements aren’t an exact science – do you include the pantry? what about walk in closets? is the total calculated from the exterior measurements or combined from the interior measurement data (an approximate 20% difference)?

In summary, the issue of area and whether or not it should me mandated into the MLS is a hot topic, and for good reason. When lawsuits start flying about willy-nilly the CREA will have a close look at it’s policies and make some adjustments. If it is going to be mandated, tighter regulations will need to be placed on the agent to ensure a standard measuring technique is used; however, the bigger question is, does the responsibility to accurately measure a home even lie with an agent and should they be libel for it, or should the CREA look at other options, like an accredited third party? Or should things stay exactly as they are?

Until next time,

Daniel Abraham

PG Listings.ca