Dealing With Square Footage Problems at Sacramento County Assessor

Unpermitted additions can cause square footage problems when selling

We didn’t have to worry too much years ago about the square footage problems of a home in Sacramento not matching the property records on file at the Sacramento County Assessor’s office because appraisals were less restrictive. Nowadays, though, it’s a different story. The first thing I do when analyzing a potential listing is to look for variances between the stats I can find in MLS with the tax records. They’ve gotta jibe, and if they don’t, that can spell trouble for my sellers.

I address this situation upfront. Sometimes, there is a permit on file that the assessor hasn’t picked up. There are many reasons why a variance may exist, but the most common issue is a square footage problem for an unpermitted addition. In that event, the appraiser might not consider the additional square footage. You might think to yourself, oh, who gives a crap about a 12 x 12 room until you stop to consider that at $300 a square foot, that equates to a $43,200 loss.

Immediately, my sellers of a home in Carmichael appeared in person at the County. They believed they had a permit for a master bedroom and master bath addition. They also believed the appraisal they had received from The Golden1 when they refinanced. That appraisal referenced a permit number for the addition that, when we looked it up, was a permit for an HVAC and not a room addition. That appraisal also showed the home had an additional 500 square feet, which it did not; turns out it was only 300 more square feet over the tax records.

We lost the first buyers for the home, who had offered more than list price during a multiple-offer situation. Their appraiser discovered the home was 200 square feet less, and the buyer freaked out. He canceled and did not want to buy a home with square footage problems. At this point, I called the agent for the second buyer in line and we offered the home to that buyer at a price reflective of the lower square footage, including a promise the sellers would obtain an AS BUILT permit. Because the difference still between the tax records and the actual square footage was another 300 square feet.

This meant in retrospect The Golden1 appraiser messed up and had prepared a lazy and inaccurate appraisal. The contractor who completed the addition had misled the sellers to believe they had a permit. You can bet the sellers were disappointed to have to deal with the square footage problems but not nearly as disappointed as they would have been had I not brought this up at the inception of the listing.

Bottom line, we got the AS BUILT permit and closed. The sellers were still financially ahead of the game, and they paid an extra $3000 to expedite the permit. From start to finish, the entire process took about 3 weeks. It could have been much worse had we not started the process when we did. They were able to close on schedule and move out of state as planned. Another crisis averted.

Hiring a Sacramento Realtor with experience matters.