Actual Bdrm count different from records

[Fernando]

Yesterday I went to a house and it was 3 bedrooms instead of 2 bedrooms as indicated in public records.
I looked at the rooms twice and it's 3 bedrooms.
I asked the owner and she said she doesn't know the discrepancy.
This is second time this week in different cities where bedroom count is wrong.
I hate it especially when I had my comps prepared.

 

[Terrel L. Shields]

Why do you believe the public record? Our assessor's are not allowed inside. They might ask if someone is home but mostly they count vents to say 1, 2, 3 bathrooms and leave the bedroom count vacant.

 

[Fernando]

Why do you believe the public record? Our assessor's are not allowed inside. They might ask if someone is home but mostly they count vents to say 1, 2, 3 bathrooms and leave the bedroom count vacant.

Because there's a reason why it was 2 bedrm listed in public records. Did assessor make a mistake back then? Was a closet added later on?
The house doesn't appear to have an addition. Usually I can explain such discrepancies but I can't.
Some cities have wrong public info especially if house is over 100 years old. I understand this in certain locals but this subject is in an older tract subdivision.

 

[Mike Ault]

Did you check to see if the floor plan modification was permitted by the local building authority? If so you have your answer, if not tell us why you didn't please.

 

[ZZGAMAZZ]

"The appraiser observed a discrepancy in the bedroom count, between Public Records (2) and the appraisal inspection (3). The Dwelling Unit appears to be original construction under a contiguous roof line. The appraiser was unable to determine the source of the discrepancy during the normal course of business. Although bedroom count typically is incorporated into the GLA factor, market reaction to 3- rather than 2-bedroom count is tangible, as demonstrated in the Sales Comparison grid where 3- and 4-bedroom counts are reported without a distinction in market reaction between the two types."

 

[Ariba]

I believe this calls for an audit of all appraisals that used this property as a comparable with only 2-bedrooms.

 

[Mike Ault]

It appears that "Fernando the Great" doesn't check building permits, where is Mike Kennedy when you need him?

 

[Tom D]

you can check all this big city city's records, they just went on line. no floor plans and if you tell the city what is wrong it will never get changed, never. i don't think even ben franklin went out to measure homes for l&i. just did one where the row home was probable 30% bigger than public records. those i hate too fernando, because most of the comps i picked were lower GLA.
in your case i would use (2) 3 bedroom comps if the GLA was similar. never had an issue doing that. we have lots of l&i permitted rehabed homes where the new bedroom/bathroom count never is changed on city records. well, it was only the last couple of years that l&i got to be computer accessed.

 

[Mejappz]

This happens all the time here but with baths. Public records do not even record half baths the majority of the time. MLS usually has better bed and bath count information than tax records, at least in my markets.

 

[George Hatch]

At least 2 of the recent "racist appraiser" allegations that we've dissected before have involved properties that were actually larger and/or had more rooms than were reported in public records, and wherein the appraisers would have had to go back to pull different comps and make a separate trip to drive their comps in order to get to the "most similar".

That's how "lazy" can get spun into "racist".