Real Estate and the Importance of Square Footage

In real estate, there is no number more important to the built environment than the square footage.

Real estate square footage is the basis for any number in the build space. It's the basis for the budget that you use when you're creating or building a space. The square footage is used in determining the value of a piece of real estate – during and after construction.

So as a real estate professional, when you're advising a client on how to set that selling price or what you should go in as an offer, you're really using square footage as some of that determination because you're comparing it to another piece of real estate, maybe down the street. "Well, the square footage is about the same," or "It's a little bit less, so let's go under."

The square footage is really important to you when you're determining value and comparing options. You and your buyers. And this is very much about the buyers, too.

Real estate square footage is about comparing one space to another. It is a basis for comparison, a number that people can use as a starting point for comparing one thing to another. And thirdly, it's a space planning tool.

So when you get a square footage number, somebody wants to rip up the flooring, maybe rip up carpet and put in hardwood or put in ceramic, that area number becomes very important because it helps determine the cost of materials, potentially the cost of labor and anything. When it comes to construction, everything really is time and materials and, again, square footage. That number becomes extremely important when you look at planning a space.

When we talk and discuss real estate square footage, it really is about its importance for you during that whole selling process and trying to relay that back to you.

To view the original article, visit the iGuide blog.