Finished Attic Or 2nd Floor GLA?

[Chelsea Clark]

What determines whether or not you can count a finished attic as GLA? The house is basically a cape, or a ranch with a finished attic. The town doesn't count the attic space as GLA, but it is finished, heated, full stairs up, windows, everything. So is there a reason why this wouldn't be GLA?

 

[Otis Key]

Chelsea - I'm not sure where your town is or the town of the subject, but you answered your own question.

The town doesn't count the attic space as GLA

Are you also saying that the public, market, MLS and all don't count it? If so - what's the question? :question:

I next question to you is: If the town doesn't recognize, are you that much better or more knowing that "the town" that you can change the customs?

I'm not trying to be sarcastic. I don't feel you clarified the question when you said "the town". So I can only base it upon what you provided and ASSuME that you mean the market.

Hope it helps and good luck

 

[DB]

It's not often that Otis and I disagree and I am not sure that we are disagreeing now ..... but ... the way I see it .... you are the appraiser and it is up to you to decide what is what. At least in my area, the assessors are not that accurate and I go against their descriptions and assessments on a daily basis. If, according to ANSI and your own judgement and experience, it appears to be GLA, then I would call it so.

But that's just me .......

 

[Otis Key]

Doug - I'm not sure we're disagreeing here Buddy. Like I said - the question isn't exactly clear.

The town doesn't count the attic space as GLA

I asked and repeat, is that the town government, assessor, buyers, market, MLS, code?

Until that is clear - I still stratle the fence. I interpret it to mean the market doesn't recognize it. So, don't. If it's the assessor - well, that's their lose.

 

[Robert Dunkle]

It may not be so much a question of the town (assessor) not recognizing it as it is a matter of them not knowing about it! Many, many attics (second floor, etc) remodelings are done on the sly so that the tax collector won't get a share. I even find additions on the backside of the house that were not permitted. Then, in the MLS remarks they say " owner feels that CH records are below actual sq. footage", and, hey, they are!

If it meets ANSI guidelines, and that includes the stairway, I think the owner might have a lawsuit against you if you, arbitrarily, omit square footage. BTW, is this 100 sq. ft. or 1000 sq. ft. If it is more than 10% of the total of the house, you want to be darned sure that you are on the correct side of this thing.

 

[Ross (CO)]

Chelsea, ..... Your mentor probably has that quickest and best reply to your inquiry as they will know the way your "town" does things. You have brought up discussion again about the proverbial ...attic dilemna... and you ought to go down to the Ask an Appraiser category and scroll down about 4 or 5 postings for some very recent similar comments. There are other such "attic" postings in the records. I see that this is your #1 posting here, and have a member # perhaps telling us that you have only just found the Forum. Hang around for a while. It might amaze you, though, how knowing the location of a poster allows others right there or near where one lives to offer specific insight or the help that answers another's problem or question pertinent to that market.

If this attic situation you are dealing with is something which has been done and created recently, and where such remodeling (enlargement or adding of living area) was performed withOUT a permit from the town that may explain why your town is not aware. Permits and final inspections of a homeowners craftwork have a good reason and purpose. Hopefully you can find other properties which have sold with these similar attic conversions and therefore describe the marketability and acceptance of your subject's amenity.....by looking at those sales. Importantly, has your subject ever re-sold in its current (attic) status ? If this property has work done with NO permit, that ought to be pointed out in the report, describe the quality you notice, and proceed. A future effort to re-sell the property may introduce the permit (or lack thereof) issue again....but that will not be your concern.

 

[Otis Key]

Robert - Assessor point - agreed.

As far as the HO & ANSI - most HO's don't know ANSI - I go back to my statement - how is the market reflecting it? What do the prospective purchasers consider it? What is the local custom?

I had an HO screaming at me because I marked the appraisal form YES in the manufactured section. He demanded to know why. I told him "once a duck - always a duck" effectively. He threatened to sue because the assessor called it real property. Fine - see you in court. BTW, was that a mobile home that was transfered there by a truck on wheels that were attached to an "I" beam frame? It was - then it's still a mobile (pre 1976). I told the truth. The HO wanted different. The market still refelcted it as a mobile with a site built addition.

It's not up to the HO - it's up to the market indicated acceptance factors and the appraiser. As I see it, analyze the market data and let the market tell you. Not some agreed upon standard.

 

[tommcsherry]

It's not up to the HO - it's up to the market indicated acceptance factors and the appraiser. As I see it, analyze the market data and let the market tell you. Not some agreed upon standard.

Market value is going to be reflected in market opinion, in turn reflected by what is customary in your market. What IS customary in your market? How do the agents list these types of properties? If they customarily include finished attic, "go thou and do likewise".

 

[Chelsea Clark]

Thanks for the tips. This is not a recently finished attic, it was already finished when the owner bought it 5 years ago. The realtor at the time counted the sq.ft. and bedroom in the listing, and I believe the market would recognize it as livable space. I've very often seen errors in this assessor's information, so it wouldn't be crazy to think they made a mistake - I just wanted to make sure there were no rules to speak of about finished attic space vs. GLA. All I could come up with was heated, windows, stairs, insulated. . .

My mentor for this job is not accessible right now, so I thought I'd ask here. Thanks for all opinions!

 

[DB]

Chelsea .... click on this link http://www.ansi.org/ and hit CTRL-D to save this to your favorites list in Explorer ..... this will be a very valuable link to you in future situations of this type. Hope any of this has helped you.