Of the many pieces that together make up your home’s marketing effort, none is more likely to play a leading role than your Mesa and Delta County listing. Since at least half of today’s buyers wind up purchasing a home they first see on the internet, the factor that used to be called ‘curb appeal’ could equally well be renamed ‘screen appeal.’

Your Mesa and Delta County listing is a lot more than just a pretty face, though: it establishes the underlying details that convince buyers of the validity of your asking price. Particulars include the number of bedrooms, bathrooms, size of the lot, etc.—with none more important than the “square footage” number. Yet arriving at that measurement is less cut-and-dried than most people assume.

A Realtor Magazine took up that topic under the title, “Simple Measurements Don’t Always Nail Square Footage.” Rather than attempting to lay down hard-and-fast rules, it spells out some of the “nuances to what is included” (and what is not). Among them: “even a finished basement is not counted usually” as are “any rooms that require a person to leave the finished area of the main house to gain access.”  Often included are “covered, enclosed porches” (if they use the same heating system as the rest of the house) and, sometimes, “finished attic square footage” (if it has at least seven feet of overhead clearance).

The article must frequently resort to qualifying words like “usually,” “often,” and “sometimes” because definitions differ from locality to locality. But getting it right is vital—because those square footage measurements establish a good deal of a property’s market value.

Making sure that every square foot is counted under our Mesa and Delta County rules is another reason why it’s so important that your interests are protected by an experienced local professional. When your own home is headed for the Mesa and Delta County listings, do give us a call!