Are ANSI Standards Changing?
American National Standard for Single-Family Residential Buildings, Square Footage – Method of Calculating, ANSI Z765-2020
VaCAP has just learned of a meeting on July 22 to discuss and vote on proposed changes to the square footage calculation under ANSI guidelines. The proposed changes were published for public comment which closed in March. The meeting, which is described as a virtual Consensus Committee Meeting is open to the public, however you must request the meeting credentials to attend.
Again, VaCAP has just learned of this proposed change and apologizes for the last minute notice.
See the press release below or on their website. Once on their site, there are lots of links to various information.
ANSI Z765 2020 Update Consensus Committee Meeting will meet on July 22, 2020
Home Innovation Research Labs, an ANSI Accredited Standards Development Organization, will host a virtual Consensus Committee meeting on July 22, 2020. The Committee will be discussing and taking final action on 44 public comments received on the Public Comment Draft of the American National Standard for Single-Family Residential Buildings, Square Footage – Method of Calculating, ANSI Z765-2020. The meeting will be open to the public and interested parties may request the meeting credentials by sending an email request to standards@homeinnovation.com. The Draft Standard and public comments are available for download by visiting the webpage. The latest Public Proposal Report (PPR) and draft minutes from the last meeting of the Consensus Committee are also available.
This standard, which has been in use since 1996, addresses the need for uniformity in calculating and reporting square footage (area) measurements of dwellings in the United States. For updates on the standard development process and links to all relevant forms and documents, visit www.HomeInnovation.com/Z765. To purchase a copy of the current standard, visit the bookstore. For more information, contact Home Innovation Research Labs.
Prior to February 12, 2013, Home Innovation Research Labs was known as the NAHB Research Center.
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Kindly, please be advised meeting credentials link does not work
Fixed. Thanks for letting us know Julio!
That’s a lot of commentary to dive into, oh boy. Until every assessor in this country updates their complete property records to comply with any given measurement standard, I do not feel that applying an across the board standard is a good approach. FNMA has guidance which says something to the regard of; measure in a way consistently reported in this market, or correct data to become consistent. So my goal is routinely just to identify if the assessor may have included stairs and garden levels or not, etc, see if realty agents follow that trend, and define a consistent reporting method for each individual assignment. Applying ansi across the board is a mess because now the CU system returns client notes the last appraiser had substantial measurement differences. Sure they did, if they counted stairs and returned a figure much higher than assessed and MLS reported figures. And then you get questions regarding application of adjustments against other units which surely did not have similar reporting methods, hence the substantive difference in size reporting. The goal should be to seek to match the local market reporting methods and remain flexible. Then you can truly define if there were measurement errors or substantial differences in assessed size reporting which should be corrected.
Look at this. Samuel Miller mentioned in zerohedge, and IW picked up on it too. Some new trends to consider. I think ‘urban flight’ is a fitting definition for this activity.
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/ny-landlords-slash-prices-third-rentals-newyorkers-flee
https://www.infowars.com/nyc-landlords-slash-prices-on-rentals-as-residents-flee/
Maybe they will consider finished bsmts, I doubt it but to the average person if the living area is finished similar to the dwelling and heated it makes no sense to typical buyers why it’s not considered GLA.
Because if it was, it would be misleading. Then a regular sized home with a finished basement could technically compare with a much larger sized home that did not have a similarly finished basement. Categorically, it is appropriate to separate the basement because not all homes have finished basements as a standard, and this helps clear up for better matching by type, AGLA comparisons. It would be acceptable to include finished basements, only if all other homes had finished basements as well, and all of them had equally sized basements in proportion. As that will never happen, AGLA vs GLA, important distinctions which allow the applicability of size bracketing review, better character matching and such.
Finished basements, anything can happen in basements. Long term, things in the basement usually don’t make it. The upstairs is usually far better protected, better taken care of.
I don’t see your point with “Then a regular sized home with a finished basement could technically compare with a much larger sized home that did not have a similarly finished basement.” Because you are still calculating the sqft, so it doesn’t matter that the larger house doesn’t have a similarly finished basement, also there is kind of a definition of “finished basement”.
I believe that a walkout basement that has windows and everything and uses the same materials as the “grade level(s)” use, should be counted in the GLA.
Plus, it doesn’t COST Less to finish a basement!!! In fact, sometimes it cost more, so why then should it not be included in the GLA? It is a living space.
Some people can not spread their house out wide to create GLA, so they should be given the opportunity to create GLA vertically to add value to their home.
I think they should create a standard of what a finished basement MUST have in order for it to be counted in the GLA, ie… it must be a walkout, it must have at least 2 standard-sized windows like a 2 X 2 and a 2 X 3 or larger, it must have forced heating and air HVAC system or mini-split HVAC, it must have waterproof flooring, it must have a flood prevention system, it must have a least 8 ft ceilings etc….. and remove the fact that it can not be below the grade, because, technically, it was the grade first right? Then the basement walls are covered up to create a new grade level.
I feel that if your basement can not be counted the same as the level or levels above it, then it should not cost as much as they do, or they should be free!!!
Now can anyone tell me where do we start to seek to have a finished basement, with standard guidelines to be set the ANSI be counted as part of the GLA?
I agree with you. Please see my post and comment. Thank you
Kindly, please be advised, DEAD END LINK….[See attached]