[collie1228]

I occasionally take a look at the new home listings in the TV website, and was surprised to see they now have a new format. I was thinking that this might be a good thing, as most changes are for the better, but when I looked at the square footage they are showing, something looks very wrong. For instance, a Laredo Ranch, which was listed at 1095 sq ft a month ago is now listed at 1627 sq feet - but the floorplan dimensions haven't changed. Same for the Austin model - last month it was listed at 1140 sq feet and now it's listed at 1802. Also, looking at the Marathon Courtyard Villa, they are showing square footage of 1627, but if you look at the floorplan and do a rough calculation, you only come out to around 1200 sq feet. I can't figure out what they are doing - has anyone else seen this and wondered what is going on? Or am I missing something?

[SteveFromNY]

Looks to me like they are now including the garage and lanai in the sq footage. I know for the Gardenia, the "old" sq ft was 1929, but that was "under air". They are now 2671 sq ft, and like you pointed out, it's the same house. That's the only thing that makes sense to me.

[Russ_Boston]

See my next response!

[Donna]

We should mention this to a Village Realtor, this way they don't think we are all falling prey to their games!

[Russ_Boston]

Originally Posted by collie1228

I occasionally take a look at the new home listings in the TV website, and was surprised to see they now have a new format. I was thinking that this might be a good thing, as most changes are for the better, but when I looked at the square footage they are showing, something looks very wrong. For instance, a Laredo Ranch, which was listed at 1095 sq ft a month ago is now listed at 1627 sq feet - but the floorplan dimensions haven't changed. Same for the Austin model - last month it was listed at 1140 sq feet and now it's listed at 1802. Also, looking at the Marathon Courtyard Villa, they are showing square footage of 1627, but if you look at the floorplan and do a rough calculation, you only come out to around 1200 sq feet. I can't figure out what they are doing - has anyone else seen this and wondered what is going on? Or am I missing something?

I just got home and I'm able to look at the Villages new home web site. Where are you looking? I see a Marathon Villa at the proper sq. ft of 1161. I don't see any deception there. Are you looking at a different site? They have always shown 'living' space not total. In fact they use the word 'living' on the page.

For example: http://www.thevillages.com/homes/new...&sid=799198763

[Boomer]

Hey, thanks for doing the math. I would like to understand what happened, too.

Many years ago I was having a house carpeted and had compared prices on the exact carpet. Two places. One guy came in significantly less on the price per square yard. I thought I had found such a deal, until I looked at what he said the total square yardage was. He assumed that I would not do the math.

It seems like the official square footage of a house is what's on the property tax bill, at least where I live that's how it is.

And speaking of property tax -- I still have not figured out how that works in Florida. I thought about starting a thread asking about it, but I never got around to it. I just know that property tax there is not figured like it is here in Cincinnati. At least in late 2007 when we had our first look at TV, property tax was determined so differently than what we had been used to.

Boomer

[Russ_Boston]

Boomer - see my previous post. Not sure where they are looking where they see the wrong living sq. ft. I got my link directly from the TV main site.

What am i missing?

[collie1228]

I can assure you that I never said anything about deception - you should re-read my post. Clearly my point is that I don't understand the difference in the listed square footage. I might think deception if TV were a fly-by-night outfit, but certainly nobody I know would ever call them that.

Here is the link I used.

http://www.thevillages.com/homes/new...yardVillas.asp

Or just go the thevillages.com and click on Homes. If you click on "New Villas", you can see that the Marathon is listed at 1690 square feet.

[KayakerNC]

Originally Posted by Russ_Boston

Boomer - see my previous post. Not sure where they are looking where they see the wrong living sq. ft. I got my link directly from the TV main site.
What am i missing?

Go to the Homes Index page
http://www.thevillages.com/homes/index.asp

Now follow the links at the left of the above page.

http://www.thevillages.com/homes/newHomes/ranch.asp

http://www.thevillages.com/homes/new...yardVillas.asp

[Russ_Boston]

Ok Thanks I see them now.Never paid it much attention since I look at the built homes not the models page.

Just go look at the actual available homes and they list them by living sq. ft.

Sorry, I thought you were implying deception since they were listing more sq. ft. than it holds for living space.

[Donna]

OH..I misread that too..Sorry!!

[Boomer]

Ohhhhh, I took a quick look at this thread a couple of hours ago and I thought the math had been done. Now I see that it is about the current advertised square footage being different from the previously advertised square footage.

And so I thought I would do the math. I did the A = LW routine on each room and then did the total. I also tried A = LW on the outside measurements which was kind of a pain because it is not a plain old rectangle so I lost interest pretty fast and gave up. (Hey, maybe I really am an English major.)

So how do they do those numbers? Maybe if it's got a roof on it, it counts. Does anybody else want to do math tonight?

Ironically, yesterday, I looked at the new home ads for the first time in a long time, and I remember having a rather fleeting thought that they sounded kind of big.

Boomer

[zcaveman]

I just checked the Amarillo. According to the website is says 2063 Sq Ft. My brochure shows 1392 sq ft climate controlled and 1932 sq ft total.

Don't know what the difference is unless they include a family room or lanai.

[Russ_Boston]

looks like they add the 15 X 9 lanai for an additional 135 sq. ft.

I don't think it would fool anyone. The Amarillo's on the for sale site list it as 1392.

http://www.thevillages.com/homes/new...&sid=799287619

[downeaster]

There are two ways of stating square footage of a house.
1: Under roof.
2: Climate controlled.
Before even looking at a house one should ask which measurement is being used. Once that is established then ask for the other measurement.
As you can see by referring to the Amarillo measurements mentioned in a prior post, the difference is significant. I believe you will find the larger measurement includes two car garage, lanai and front porch.