Bubble Wrap
Entry
Measuring square feet
Curbed has a great piece on the experience of a reader who checked the square footage of an apartment, as well as the offering plan, and found that the developer was including an allocation of common areas in the square footage for each unit.
In Measuring Square Feet at the Ariels Uptown you can see that this is meaningful when calculating the cost per square foot:
According to the Schedule A, the average price per sq ft is $1230. Sounds like a fair deal until you do the math and realize the pricing actually averages out to $1393 per sq ft!!!!
UrbanDigs covered this last month, and answered a readers question with a warning: Marketing Square Footage: Be Careful Not To Lie and recommends that properties be listed by rounding down:
If the apartment is listed between 400-450 square feet in the offering plan than list it at 400! If the apartment is between 450-500 square feet in the offering plan than list it at 450! Use this strategy all the way up to high end listings too for as long as the overall market is flat and make buyers happy when they show up.
For Example: An apartment listed at 738 sq. ft. in the offering plan should be listed at 700 on the website and print ads. An apartment listed at 986 sq. ft. on the floorplan should be listed at 950 on the website and print ads.
It’s good advice. Most potential buyers would likely be more interested if the unit felt bigger and not small than they expected based on the listing.
