The price per square foot measurement can be a useful tool when analyzing real estate data, but I often see homeowners and real estate agents rely too heavily on this measurement when determining home values. There is a time and a place to use price per square foot, but using it to determine the listing price of your home is typically not a good
idea. A poor understanding of the price per square foot measurement can significantly hinder your ability to successfully sell your house fast and for top dollar. Typically, people calculate price per square foot by dividing the cost of the home by the total cooled and heated square footage of the house. It’s a relatively simple calculation, which is why you can find so many home valuation tools on the internet. With access to recent home sale prices and square footage data of recently sold
homes, it is easy to determine the average price per square foot for homes selling in a specific neighborhood. Websites, like Zillow, use this information to estimate what your home is worth by multiplying the average price per square foot for homes in your area by the number of square feet in your house. For example, if your neighborhood has an average home value of $130 per square foot and your house is 2,100 square feet, then many real estate agents and online home valuation tools will value your home at approximately $273,000. I like to use the average price per square foot calculations to establish a solid macro view of neighborhood values.
Generally speaking, we can say that if the average is rising, home values are rising. Measuring price per square foot over time is a great way to estimate appreciation in the market. But you must have a large sample size or you risk corrupting your
conclusions. If every house and lot were the same, price per square foot would be a great way to determine home values. However, when was the last time that you found two homes that were exactly the same? Even in new construction communities, homes vary depending on upgrades or modifications. The simplicity of this
measurement makes it an easy crutch for those that wish to determine values. Unfortunately, it presumes that the size of the home is the only element of value. Think about this: If you and your neighbor have homes that are the same size, but you recently remodeled your kitchen and bathrooms while your neighbor’s house is still in original condition, don’t you think that buyers will be willing to pay more for your home? In this case, using price per square foot would likely value your
home at too low of a price. Also, what if you recently added a pool in your yard? Recent data has shown that swimming pools can add nearly $40,000 to the value of an average home in Tallahassee, yet pools have no impact on the size of the home. Frontage and acreage are similarly ignored in a price per square foot valuation. If one home is on a lake, and a similar sized home is not, do you believe they will be equally valued by homebuyers in the market? History suggests
NO! Numerous factors impact a home’s market value besides the size of the house. That’s why it is essential to work with an experienced real estate agent who is knowledgeable about market data and trends to determine the real value of a home that you would like to sell or buy. Joe Manausa Real Estate is a brokerage company headquartered in Tallahassee.
For more information, visit www.manausa.com. Facebook Twitter Email Calculate a Rectangle AreaCalculator UseUse this calculator to find the square footage, square inches, square yardage, square meters or acres for a building, home, garden or construction project. Calculate square footage, inches, yardage, meters and acres for landscape, flooring, carpet, or tiling projects to estimate area and the amount of material you will need. Also calculate the cost of materials when you enter the price per square foot, price per square inch, price per square yard or price per square meter. Price is entered in the fields, for example, as If you want to calculate volume of bulk materials such as mulch or gravel you should use our calculator for cubic yards and cubic meters. Enter measurements in US units or metric units. Calculate area from your measurements in inches (in), feet (ft), yards (yd), millimeters (mm), centimeters (cm), or meters (m). You can also enter decimal values. For example, if you have one measurement that is 7'3" you can enter that as 7.25 feet (3"/12" = 0.25 ft). If you have a measurement of 245 cm you can also enter that as 2.45 m. How to Calculate Square FootageSquare footage is area expressed in square feet. Likewise, square yardage is area expressed in square yards. Square meters is also a common measure of area. Assume you have a rectangular area such as a room and, for example, you want to calculate the square footage area for flooring or carpet. The way to calculate a rectangular area is by measuring the length and width of your area then multiplying those two numbers together to get the area in feet squared (ft2). If you have on oddly shaped area, such as an L-shape, split it into square or rectanglualar sections and treat them as two separate areas. Calculate the area of each section then add them together for your total. If your measurements are in different units, say feet and inches, you can first convert those values to feet, then multiply them together to get the square footage of the area. Measure
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Convert among square inch, square foot, square yard and square meterYou could, for example, perform all of your measurements in inches or centimeters, calculate area in square inches or square centimeters then convert your final answer to the unit you need such as square feet or square meters. To convert among square feet, yards and meters use the following conversion factors. For other units use our calculator for area conversions.
Square Footage Formulas and Images for Different AreasSquare AreaCalculate square footage for a square areaUsing measurements in feet: Area (ft2) = Side Length x Side Length Rectangle AreaCalculate square footage for a rectangle areaUsing measurements in feet: Area (ft2) = Length x Width Rectangle Border AreaCalculate square footage for a rectangle border areaUsing measurements in feet: Inner Area (ft2) = Length x Width Total Area (ft2) = (Length + (2 x Border Width)) x (Width + (2 x Border Width)) Area (ft2) = Total Area - Inner Area Circle AreaCalculate square footage for a circle areaUsing measurements in feet: Area (ft2) = Pi x (Diameter/2)^2 Pi = 3.14 Circle Border AreaCalculate square footage for a circle border areaUsing measurements in feet: Outer Diameter = Inner Diameter + (2 x Border Width) Outer Area (ft2) Inner Area (ft2) Area (ft2) = Outer Area - Inner Area Pi = 3.14 Obviously, the Circle Border and Annulus are the same, just measured differently. Annulus AreaCalculate square footage for a annulus areaUsing measurements in feet: Outer Area (ft2) Inner Area (ft2) Area (ft2) = Outer Area - Inner Area Pi = 3.14 Obviously, the Circle Border and Annulus are the same, just measured differently. Triangle AreaCalculate square footage for a triangle areaUsing measurements in feet: Area (ft2) = (1/4) x square root[ (a+b+c) x (b+c-a) x (c+a-b) x (a+b-c) ] Trapezoid AreaCalculate square footage for a trapezoid areaUsing measurements in feet: Area (ft2) = ((a + b) / 2 )h |