ANSI issue with new home

[Jerry Bone Jr]

I will not be using any comparables with basements.

Is it slab or crawl?

 

[J Grant]

I am working on an appraisal of a new upper end custom home. A small portion of the rear wall (about 10 linear feet) is below grade along the stairway and one bedroom. The grade runs from 3" to 1.7' above the finish floor. I understand that ANSI requires if any portion is below grade the entire area has to be considered (or at least shown) as below grade (basement). This would mean that this is a 765 GLA home with one bedroom and one bath having a basement area of 1,542 s.f. with living room, kitchen, 2 baths, and 2 bedrooms. I am thinking of using the GXX001 exception for ANSI. Not sure if this fits this exception. My reasoning is that the market sees this entirely as a two story home (I almost did not see the small portion below grade myself). Additionally, because the market sees this as two story home with no basement, I will not be using any comparables with basements. I could follow ANSI and have very large adjustments in the sales comparison approach that cancel each other out while creating a very confusing report. Trying to decide if I follow ANSI showing basement or use the more logical approach and develop a report that can be easily understood. Almost wish I had not seen this very small below grade area. This is for FNMA.

Imo, the GXX1001 exception is very narrow - for berm homes and other highly nonconforming properties. That does not describe the subject.

Without seeing it, of course ---- my advice would be to explain that only a very small section of a wall is part below grade, and since 98% of the area is above grade, then the GLA is reported above grade.
Or deduct that small rear section as below grade, explain why, and retain the majority of it as the abo e grade GLA taht it indeed is.

 

[sailorboy]

Is it slab or crawl?

Its all crawl space.

 

[TerryRohrer]

Imo, the GXX1001 exception is very narrow - for berm homes and other highly nonconforming properties. That does not describe the subject.

Without seeing it, of course ---- my advice would be to explain that only a very small section of a wall is part below grade, and since 98% of the area is above grade, then the GLA is reported above grade.
Or deduct that small rear section as below grade, explain why, and retain the majority of it as the abo e grade GLA taht it indeed is.

In other words, ignore the ANSI standard and FNMA requirements and make something up.

ANSI: "The below-grade finished square footage of a house is the sum of finished areas on levels that are wholly or partly below grade."


FNMA: "Only finished above-grade areas can be used in calculating and reporting of above-grade room count and square footage for the gross living area. Fannie Mae considers a level to be below-grade if any portion of it is below-grade, regardless of the quality of its finish or the window area of any room."

 

[sailorboy]

Imo, the GXX1001 exception is very narrow - for berm homes and other highly nonconforming properties. That does not describe the subject.

Without seeing it, of course ---- my advice would be to explain that only a very small section of a wall is part below grade, and since 98% of the area is above grade, then the GLA is reported above grade.
Or deduct that small rear section as below grade, explain why, and retain the majority of it as the abo e grade GLA taht it indeed is.

Thanks, like I said, I almost missed this very small section. Saw it while measuring the rear and could tell by looking in the bedroom window there was a few inches difference between finish floor and grade looking in one bedroom. No differences on the interior as most of this area is along the stairs to the "2nd story". We have a lot of basements in the PNW but this is a first for me using this out. Have explained in detail in several sections of the report. Originally I was going to show as basement but use the true comparables (above grade) with adjustments made that would cancel each other out. I took an ANSI class just before implementation several years ago and that was exactly what they said to do. Because the market in no way would consider this basement, this would be a very confusing report and as someone else said possibly misleading. All this just to satisfy ANSI while pissing off everyone else using this report.

 

[J Grant]

Thanks, like I said, I almost missed this very small section. Saw it while measuring the rear and could tell by looking in the bedroom window there was a few inches difference between finish floor and grade looking in one bedroom. No differences on the interior as most of this area is along the stairs to the "2nd story". We have a lot of basements in the PNW but this is a first for me using this out. Have explained in detail in several sections of the report. Originally I was going to show as basement but use the true comparables (above grade) with adjustments made that would cancel each other out. I took an ANSI class just before implementation several years ago and that was exactly what they said to do. Because the market in no way would consider this basement, this would be a very confusing report and as someone else said possibly misleading. All this just to satisfy ANSI while pissing off everyone else using this report.

Just say it was a few inches below grade in one second and let them deal with it. If following the letter of ANSI creates a misleading report up and down the line, it is a better choice.

 

[Terrel L. Shields]

All I'm going to say is that I sure am glad I didn't have to deal with this ANSI nuance

I am glad I am not even required to call anything "GLA" - I can call it finished basement. I can call it "heated sq. footage", GLA is not a USPAP requirement. It's more Fanniespeak intended to supplant USPAP with Fanniestandard.

 

[residentialguy]

Definitely a GXX001 exception.

 

[sputnam]

How the h^ll do we know ansi wise what the comps are. This exemption is less painful than the stips you would get for non similar comps.

We don't always know.... but it is part of the job.

 

[Tom D]

Thanks, like I said, I almost missed this very small section.

My attention & eyes would not be as good as yours on this one. Are you sure that's what you saw. So ansi tech, if 30 sq ft of that floor is below the back grade, then you have a 30 fq foot fin basement or a 400 sq ft fin basement, or no basement. Which situation would be accepted by most civilians in the area. But then, i do not like ansi. New had an issue thinking not basement. Did you take a picture of the back side, gotta love the underwriter who asks you why is that basement above ground, and not GLA. Please verify.