We are not permit police, FHA appraisal or not. The key is quality of construction and whether it is heated in a similar manner as the rest of the house. IN MY MARKET, we also have the benefit of "what is of public record". If it shows up on the assessor's record as GLA then we also include it.
Putting the square footage on the basement line could be mis-leading. If you choose to separate it, why not use the blank lines at the bottom of the grid?
Give you HOC a call. If it's Denver, ask for Ron Collins.
MIke, you are a very stubborn man. I provided a HUD ruling on this issue. It may be dated, but you can't provide me/us with any ruling that changes or rescinds the way HUD wants this handled. I will gladly accept anything you can provide in print that changes how HUD wants garage conversions handled. Those two lines on the URAR are the same as they were on the old URAR. Misleading? Not if you are comparing apples to apples.
What is of public record? So, if you discover public records are incorrect on something, you use what they say instead? The key is not the quality of construction and heating only. Most garage conversions I see suffer from functional problems such as access through laundry rooms, bedrooms with no direct bath access, sloping flooring and no second exit for safety.
Once again, if you are not comparing apples to apples you may not be properly valuing the property. Prospective buyers around here are less interested in homes with garage conversions than those without. They would prefer a home of that size to be just like other homes in the area with the attached garage, too.
Don't put too much in public records. Put more stock in comparing garage conversion sales to garage conversion sales. Incidentially, our public records might combine the two, but they usually have them separated in the detailed SF section as living area and enclosed garage. So, in effect our tax offices do it the same way HUD does it. One total line with total living area and a breakout below. Does yours?
If you can't provide a HUD directive stating how to handle garage conversions differently, why in the world are you telling people to do it differently? Surely not to justify the way you do it. How about changing the way you do it to the correct way? If you actually take the time to think rationally, it makes the most sense to do it their way. If you don't have three apples to compare, then you have a basis for your adjustments if you only have one or two apples. I would expect more from a licensed USPAP instructor.
Aren't you the same guy that once said, "In my market, there is no difference between manufactured homes and modular homes?" Didn't you soon discover there was a big difference and that very few of these "modular homes" were actually "modular homes," but were in fact "manufactured homes."
Stating "in my market," needs to be changed to "the way I interpret my market."
I am only offering you this constructive criticism because I don't think it serves this forum well for you to be credited with giving improper advice.
