Converted garages below the level of the main raised foundation floor could be included as gross living area, but not a sloping home with one wall even half way up to the windows. I had one luxury ocean view property that had half build into the hillside. It was a multi-million dollar property, I suppose only the entryway and the garage were actually above grade. This also leads to the question of guest houses and whether they are included in the gross living area. Maybe they are above grade, but I will usually adjust for these on the lines below for a Pool house or "Casita." Agents tend to include these areas. Assessors in Santa Barbara will typically include these as gross living area, but sometimes not. I suppose how ever the mood strikes at the moment is how it goes. Tennessee is even worse as their assessors are not even appraisers! So they have no standards or guidelines to follow, what's worse is if they put it in as GLA they get taxed at a higher rate, NO Prop 13 here. They have a formula and they just enter the data. If this market crashes it's going to be tax appeals all day long. I even doubt they could keep up with it since the government is used to a smaller population. The infrastructure is like a levee ready to break with this surging population influx. When these people on a fixed income get their doubled tax bill; it's going to get rough. The state assessor said that it's a red state, so they wouldn't want Prop 13. I was thinking why would a red state want to pay more taxes? I thought red states were all about lower taxes. I suppose they think that they would pay less if it is assessed every two years. Nope, not happening. Prices doubled in two years.
