[Noah930]

David, your example (I think) is fairly rare. Does anyone actually confirm square footage? Certainly not either of the real estate agents involved. They just list whatever the previous sale or city has listed. And even if the square footage gets amended, what difference does that make? So you pay $400 per sq ft instead of $450. What's the house worth to the pool of buyers? The house is listed at $800K. Do you want it or not?

As I mentioned, I ask these questions cynically. The house we purchased last year was listed at 2100 sq ft. That's what was on the listing. That's what was on Zillow. That's what was on the previous sale from 2 years earlier. As my wife walked through, she commented that the house felt smaller than 2100 sq ft. We had looked at close to 100 homes by then, so we certainly had a feel for size. So I took out a measuring tape, sized up a few of the main rooms (i.e. left out closets and small nooks)...and came up with an estimate closer to 1800 sq ft.

Interestingly, after more digging I finally found that confirmed on propertyshark.com. Eventually when we received our city tax assessment, that's what they had listed, as well. But at the end of the day, do you want the house at this price, or not?