Homes For Sale & Buying: American Standards Help in Home Appraisals
In Today’s and tomorrow’s housing market, both buyers and sellers face many tough decisions. Many times a seller or buyer has to choose either when to put their home up for sale or to buy due to the market conditions present at that time. However, the homeowner or buyer needs to know some important information prior to making this decision. One of the most important indicators of a home’s worth is its square footage. An American National Standard from the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) Research Center helps homeowners and real estate professionals make accurate appraisals of a property’s size. ANSI Z765-2021, Single-Family Residential Buildings – Square Footage – Method for Calculating, suggests measuring and multiplying the home’s exterior dimensions, then subtracting unfinished space, rooms that are not usable year-round, and rooms with a sloping ceiling. An additional differentiation is made between above-grade and below-grade square footage. These factors are also considered by appraisers when appraising a property for a home loan or many other purposes. Our ANSI Z765-2021 link will take you directly to the pages of a document to view.
With an accurate appraisal of the property, sellers, buyers and property flippers can decide if renovations and other improvement projects will add to the worth of their property. For example, a simple appliance upgrade can have a large impact in a buyer’s eyes. A revised American National Standard from the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers (AHAM) provides a performance evaluation procedure for household refrigerators, freezers, and wine chillers, helping homeowners to make smart decisions about their new appliances. In addition to total volume, durability, and safety concerns, ANSI/AHAM HRF-1-2007,Energy, Performance and Capacity of Household Refrigerators, Refrigerator-Freezers and Freezers, provides a method for accurate calculation of energy consumption – an important feature for homeowners looking to decrease their monthly electric bill.
There are also additional standards available such as the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America, an ANSI-accredited standards developer, has developed an American National Standard for residential lighting. ANSI/IESNA RP-11-95, Design Criteria for Lighting Interior Living Spaces, provides guidance on typical lighting challenges, offers a discussion of commercially-available lighting equipment and controls, and lists the physical and performance characteristics of both incandescent and fluorescent light sources.
As real estate appraisers, we adhere to these standards as does the Banking and Lending industries which include FannieMae, FreddieMac and all GSE’s (Government Sponsored Entities). It is just a shame that not all County assessment offices adhere to these standards which create a lack of uniformity within the taxing bodies which unfairly over-inflate the actual size of certain dwellings which either intentional or unintentional increases the taxes due to overestimated square feet of the property. So, these standards help buyers when purchasing and homeowners with whatever improvements they decide to make. These standards are in place to help them choose the most efficient appliances and systems and to protect their health and safety and to ascertain the accurate size or square feet of any particular property.
Read ANSI Z765-2021 before making a decisions to
improve your property to avoid any pitfalls.
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