Expert: Bruce E. Johnson - 4/1/2009

Question
Bruce,
We live in a house built in 1951, and just put our house on the market. Today a realtor came and said that we could not count our upstairs room in our total square footage because the ceiling is too low (6 ft, 9 in). It is a finished room that is actually counted as a bedroom on the tax appraisal. In looking back at the last 2 contracts (we bought it from my parents, so I have their contract also) both count the upstairs area in the total square footage. Any thoughts on what we should do? Thank you very much.
Ellen

Answer
HI Ellen, if the tax assessor counts it as a room then I don't see why you can't call it a room.  Code wise, I believe 7' is minimum height for new living space but that might not have been the case when the house was built and I am sure that such things are "grandfathered" in as new codes are put on the books.  Maybe you can call the room a loft to get past the realtor's semantics game..or get a new realtor. I hope this information helps feel free to write again regarding this or other matters, sincerely bruce e johnson..bejohnsonconsulting.com