Definition of a basement?

[Jeff Horton]

Is there an accepted definition of a basement, Fannie Mae perhaps?

I have a high end home on a slopping lot. They have poured a slab in the high end of the crawl space and put in a garage door. This is the golf cart garage. Then under the rear porch they built a storm room. All this is only accessible from outside the house.

To me it is still crawl space with a storm room. You have to go thourgh the crawl space to get to the Storm Room. I might include the storm room in the cost approach as basement, that would be a good way to get a price, but I don't see this as basement.

 

[Jeff Horton]

I must be asking hard questions. I haven't gotten a good answer to anything I have asked in a while now.

 

[Couch Potato]

What does the exterior accessibility have to do with it being a basement or not?

 

[VegasWayne]

Basement. The lowest story of a building, which may be partially or wholly below ground level; as distinguished from a cellar.
The Dictionary of Real Estate Appraisal - Copyright 1984

 

[RSW]

What does ANSI say about a basement? If one wall is below ground level it is a basement.

 

[Mike Kennedy]

XI, 405.05: Gross Living Area (11/01/05)
The most common comparison for one-family properties (including units in PUD, condominium, or cooperative projects) is above-grade gross living area. The appraiser must be consistent when he or she calculates and reports the finished above-grade room count and the square feet of gross living area that is above-grade. For units in condominium or cooperative projects, the appraiser should use interior perimeter unit dimensions to calculate the gross living area. In all other instances, the appraiser should use the exterior building dimensions per floor to calculate the above-grade gross living area of a property.

Only finished above-grade areas should be used—garages and basements (including those that are partially above-grade) should not be included.

We consider 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. Therefore, a walk-out basement with finished rooms would not be included in the above-grade room count.

Rooms that are not included in the above-grade room count may add substantially to the value of a property—particularly when the quality of the “finish” is high. For that reason, the appraiser should report the basement or other partially below-grade areas separately and make appropriate adjustments for them on the “basement and finished areas below-grade” line in the “sales comparison analysis” grid.

To ensure consistency in the sales comparison analysis, the appraiser generally should compare above-grade areas to above-grade areas and below-grade areas to below-grade areas.

The appraiser may deviate from this approach if the style of the subject property or any of the comparables does not lend itself to such comparisons. However, in such instances, he or she must explain the reason for the deviation and clearly describe the comparisons that were made.

 

[J L H]

Some of these generic descriptions of area below ground level could also describe a basement garage, but we don't call that area basement. If you have to get dressed, put on your shoes, walk out the front/side/back door and around to another exterior door to enter this area, does that FEEL like living area, basement or otherwise?

Nothing will answer this question as well as actually being there and seeing the set-up for yourself, but if these areas are unfinished, and don't appear to even have the ability to be finished due to lack of stubbed utilities, lack of insulation, no HVAC provisions, perhaps being on the "wrong" side of load bearing walls... I don't think I could call it unfinished basement. It should be picked up and acknowledged somehow, but whether as crawl space, garage or something else, I don't know. As an amenity on a high end home, what does the local market call bonus storage space and what do they market pay for it?