"David W." wrote in message ...

In many areas, storage and utility spaces are not counted in the total
either. I've seen some areas that include the garage (!?) but not finished
basement space. Most of the time, the calculations are based on rouded off
or esitmated measurements, some of which can be wildly off. Basically, the
numbers are useless. If square footage is important to you as a buyer,
you're better off making your own measurements and calcualtions, so
comparing numbers at least makes sense.

If square footage is useless, what do people use to decide on which property
is better valued?