Square Foot Method - Real Estate Definitions (2024)

FAQs

What is a square foot method in real estate? ›

Square Foot Method – In appraisal, a method of estimating the replacement cost of a structure; it involves multiplying the cost per square foot of a recently built comparable structure by the number of square feet in the subject structure.

Length (in feet) x width (in feet) = area in sq. ft. Tip: If you can't picture what a square foot is, try drawing a square that is 1 foot tall by 1 foot wide—you've got one square foot!

What is a Square Foot Estimate? In simple terms, square foot estimates use an historical cost per unit, which is one square foot, and multiply that cost by the total number of square feet a building is expected to be.

The next step in how to calculate square footage is to plug your measurements into the square footage formula: L x W = A (in square feet). How to find square feet: multiply the length measurement in feet by the width measurement (in feet).

Square footage is important in determining a home's value, both on the market and for tax purposes. In general, it's on the buyer to verify the square footage of a home that they're interested in purchasing.

Calculating Rentable Square Footage

Your rentable square footage is equal to your usable square footage plus your pro-rata share of the common areas of the building. To arrive at the rentable square feet, refer to The Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) standard.

Only interior "living spaces" in a home are used to calculate square footage area. This would exclude balconies, terraces and patios.

Simply take a foot-long measurement of both the length and breadth. After that, to calculate the size of the area, multiply the length by the breadth in feet. 144 square inches equals one square foot. To prevent time-consuming hand calculations and obtain precise answers, you can also use a digital land calculator.

A square feet is also known as a square foot or a square ft. The abbreviation for square feet is sq. ft or ft2. The area of a square with sides of one foot in length is one square foot.

To calculate the square footage of an irregular shape, divide the irregular shape into smaller shapes, find the area of each, and then add up all the results.

Is square footage calculated inside or outside? ›

The correct way to calculate sq ft is from inside of outside walls, excluding unfinished space, since that's livable sq ft.

Main living spaces make up the bulk of your home's square footage, including the kitchen, the living room, the dining room, bedrooms, and bathrooms. Stairways and hallways are also included, although these spaces are not as easy to measure as square rooms.

According to Fannie Mae, only the above-grade areas of your home can be included in square footage calculations. So, in this case, even a finished basem*nt with a bedroom downstairs wouldn't be counted. If an appraiser uses GLA to measure square footage, nothing below-grade will count toward the final figure.