square footage dispute

[trbl7205]

What is the name of your state? NC

We have a contract to sell our home. The appraisal came back equal to the selling price. However, the appraised square footage is approx 350 less than what we believe to be the accurate sq footage of the home based on tax records and builders' notes. The sellers are now wanting to renegotiate the purchase price of the home based on the revised square footage, even though we have an appraisal for the selling price. Their position is that they made an offer on what they believed to be the square footage of the home, and had they known the exact sq footage, their offer would have been less. What are our options. Do they have a legal reason to get out of the contract? Incidentally, their mortage company will approve them for a loan that is less than the appraised value, but more than what they are willing to pay. What are our options?

[HomeGuru]

Originally Posted by trbl7205

What is the name of your state? NC

We have a contract to sell our home. The appraisal came back equal to the selling price. However, the appraised square footage is approx 350 less than what we believe to be the accurate sq footage of the home based on tax records and builders' notes. The sellers are now wanting to renegotiate the purchase price of the home based on the revised square footage, even though we have an appraisal for the selling price.


**A: the sellers? Are you not the sellers?

********
Their position is that they made an offer on what they believed to be the square footage of the home, and had they known the exact sq footage, their offer would have been less. What are our options. Do they have a legal reason to get out of the contract? Incidentally, their mortage company will approve them for a loan that is less than the appraised value, but more than what they are willing to pay. What are our options?

**A: is the contract to purchase based on a price per SF of the home or just a flat purchase price amount?

[trbl7205]

Purchase price was flat price. There is no mention of square footage in the contract or the purchase price. Seller also had access to blueprints prior to appraisal, but neglected to confirm the measurements.

[HomeGuru]

Originally Posted by trbl7205

Purchase price was flat price. There is no mention of square footage in the contract or the purchase price. Seller also had access to blueprints prior to appraisal, but neglected to confirm the measurements.

**A: seller has the upper hand.

[trbl7205]

Do we as the sellers have enough of an upper hand to hold the contract binding? Or enough to keep the earnest money. We have told them we are not releasing them from the contract, but may be willing to negotiate the purchase price.

[HomeGuru]

Originally Posted by trbl7205

Do we as the sellers have enough of an upper hand to hold the contract binding? Or enough to keep the earnest money. We have told them we are not releasing them from the contract, but may be willing to negotiate the purchase price.

**A: I am not sure without reading the contract in its entirety.

[onthelakeinnc]

Here is a link to the square ft guidelines in nc.

[url]http://www.ncrec.state.nc.us/consumers/sqft.asp[/url]

I would have the house remeasured by my agent first. If you have a discrepancy of less than 5% I would stick to my guns. The only problem with not returning there earnest money is that you cannot sell your house as long as you have an active contract with these buyers. You can, of course, take back up offers to purchase but depending on which market you live in it may not be worth holding them to it.

Did your agent measure the house when they listed the property?

[trbl7205]

We did not list with an agent. In fact, we never actually listed the house. The buyers are neighbors who found out we were wanting to sell and approached us with interest to buy before we ever put it on the market. We drew up a contract with forms approved by state of NC and they put down 1% earnest money. They never requested verification of the square footage. They DID have the blueprints to review but apparently never calculated the measurements before they made the offer. I believe that contitutes negligence on their part. Not ours. We never gave them anything in writing stating square footage on the house. We told them what we believed to be true. It should have been up to them to verify if they were concerned. Am I correct?