A new agent came into our manager’s office upset about a deal that was falling apart.  It seems the owner had given the agent the square footage figure from a recent appraisal.  The purchaser had their interior decorator/architect measure the space and it came up 150 square feet short of the number quoted by the agent.  The purchasers, naturally, wanted a price reduction.

Square footage is a funny thing in Manhattan, especially when dealing with coops.  It is my experience that two apartments each quoted as 1,000 square feet will be dramatically different in size.  Well how can that be, I mean a number is a number?  New York courts have ruled that it is perfectly acceptable for residential space to be quoted in "Gross Square Footage", a standard practice borrowed from commercial real estate in the city.   Gross Square Footage can be defined for practical purposes as the entire square footage of the relevant space including the bricks outside the walls and the space’s portion of common element on that floor.  For example, if the floor has four apartments of equal size, then 1/4th of the common hallways, 1/4th of the elevator shafts, and 1/4th of the stair wells would be included in the gross square footage figure.  Thus the loss factor (that which is outside of the apartment itself) can very from building to building.  Hence, two apartments which are quoted as the same size may actually be quite different.  Loss factors vary from 5% to 30% with the majority averaging 20%.

Many brokerage firms do not quote square footage due to potential law suits, or they try to get around the problem by saying the square footage is approximate (which by court standards is within 3%).  When push comes to shove, the square footage quoted in the offering plan is held to be sacrosanct by the courts.  So always check that figure.  It is my suggestion that you use the square footage number as a general benchmark to compare different apartments, but ultimately realize the numbers may be off.

I would like to see our industry begin to quote both Gross and Net Square Footage figures.  I would personally find that helpful and it would make it easier comparing apples to apples.

The new agent, you might wish to know saved her deal.  The owners finally found the square footage figure in the original offering plan and it was just off 19 square feet from their original quote, well within the approximate range. 

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