This week, Erik & Randal try to put a box around the word LIVING AREA!

TRANSCRIPT:

Randal:             Welcome back to Stay Focused, Focus Real Estate weekly video blog. This week's topic is our word of the month, which is living area.

Erik:               Which is phrase of the month. Living area.

Randal:             Words of the month. There we have it.

Erik:               We thought we'd do living area because sometimes there's confusion among consumers, out there, what constitutes living area.

Randal:             And also, in an urban market, there seems to be a big variable in what living area feels like when you're touring different properties. Where do living area numbers come from, Mr. Gould?

Erik:               Well, here in Massachusetts, condos, when a condo is developed or established, an architect actually measures all of the living space and determines which unit has what space, and actually comes up with the measured living area. That is put into all of the condo documents, rules and regulations, and all of their documents. That's what the city assessors' office uses and things, so it's actually measured by an architect.

Randal:             One thing to point out is living area in a condominium is measured from inside wall to inside wall. Okay? There is where your difference is with multi- and single-family houses. So then if we move over to multis and singles, how those are measured, it's very different. Most of the time most real estate agents and most professionals will just take the number that is on public record. The number that's on public record, for your information, really comes from the assessors. What the assessors do is they drive by the property, they stop, they lay out a measuring tape, they measure front to back, side to side, and they calculate living area based on the measurements of the exterior of the building.

Randal:             Very, very different than-

Erik:               Than an architect who measures the interior for a condo space.

Randal:             Indeed. Indeed.

Randal:             There's also regulations regarding what could be counted as a living area. You know? One of the most common things that most people know is that living area, for it to be counted as part of the living area of the house, has to be heated.

Erik:               Yeah.

Randal:             It also has to be the proper height. So I guess John Malkovich's 13th and a half floor wouldn't of worked so well.

Erik:               There's building codes for habitability. Seven feet, I believe, is the standard for a living area.

Randal:             Yep.

Erik:               Yeah. So if you have any questions on living area, let us know.

Erik:               Oh, one other thing, too. Here in Massachusetts, when we market a property in our MLS, room count, which is similar to living area, we do not count the bathrooms in the room count.

Randal:             Seems like a room to me. Why don't they count them?

Erik:               It's a bathroom.

Randal:             I know. It's got room in the name.

Erik:               I don't know. But in our MLS and our systems, when we say number of rooms, it's including bedrooms, kitchens, dining, living rooms, but not bathrooms. These are things that it's important to work with a good real estate agent, as Randal and I can help you out, or anyone on our team, in understanding what really constitutes a living area, what they're reporting, how they came up with that number.

Randal:             And if there's any other terms that elude you, put them in the comments below. We'll answer those on our next month word of the month or phrase of the month or words of the month. Stay tuned.

Randal:             Thanks for watching, everybody. Don't forget to like us on Facebook.

Erik:               And subscribe to our YouTube channel.

Randal:             Until next time ...

Erik:               Stay Tuned and Stay Focused.

Randal:             And Stay Focused.