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(Raymond Yeung) wrote in
om:

"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?

Use a different definition of "value." Cost per square foot might be a
consideration if you're choosing between two nearly-identical houses, but
doesn't mean much in most cases.

Cost/foot sq. is only one of many measures of home value, and to me, it's
probably one of the worst. What about location, schools, lot size and
landscaping, construction quality, state of repair, appliances, cabinets,
school district, etc? The only time anything approaching square footage
enters into my decision making process, is in answer to questions like, "Is
the house large enough? Enough bedrooms? Storage space?"