Appraisal on house

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My realtor seems think they sellers will want the appraised value.

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The appraiser gave the property a value. You can try to come in a little under that if you want to be difficult about it, but value per square foot means nothing at this point.

Either get a new appraisal, walk away...or the simplest answer - pay them what the property is worth.

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The appraiser gave the property a value.

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True

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pay them what the property is worth.

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zero to do with the appraisal, worth is what someone is willing to pay for it.

If the house is several hundred square feet smaller, I would definitely take the appraisal and reevaluate what I would pay for it. If they want more than my perceived value, then walk.

If I were buying said house, i would be in the same mindset as you, only because using the previous $ per sq/ft would benefit me. If I were selling said house, I would say typically less square feet has a higher $ per sq/ft.

Certain markets weight price per ft2 more than others. In my market it has marginal meaning to appraised value. If you agreed on 'X', contingent on appraised value being 'x', and it appraised for 'x', the square footage, while not completely irrelevant, holds much less water, assuming the house did not shrink between the period you contracted to buy and the appraisal.

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468 sq feet smaller

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Sounds like they included the open car porch.

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I'm not sure that you're giving us enough information. Where did the discrepancy come from?

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This. ^

There is obviously something being calculated differently between the appraiser and the listing agent/Owner.

I'm guessing a porch or garage was included in the total SF of the house. Maybe a bonus room that was built out or attic built out not permitted.

That is a lot of SF to not notice before putting in an offer. Its 22'x21' the typical size of a garage.

So many things you are leaving out here. How big of a house are we talking? I mean 500 sq ft is a ton of house to be "missing"? As said, the sellers are clearly including an area that is not legally part of the sq feet. So what is the tax assessor going on?

Most importantly, how does the price you offered fit with the other prices in the neighborhood? I really don't understand how you can not know what square feet is missing? Unless we are talking about a 6000 sq foot house which by your post seems doubtful, on a house under 3000 sq feet that's a ton of square footage to be "missing"?

You need to determine what you would be willing to pay, and more importantly what someone else would be willing to pay? If you walk away and they would likely have another offer quickly even with the sq footage issue then the house would likely be worth it. The last thing you want to do, is buy the house and the sq footage be a major issue with other buyers.

The appraisal is simply an estimation on what it is worth because of the recent comparable sold homes in your area. Some appraisals are worthless as the appraiser is not from your area and they take comparable homes from one or two streets or blocks over that are completely different good or bad from your street.

So, they (the sellers) set the price based on the price per sqft being at 3200, and you are thinking the price from the appraisal will come back based on the 2750?

Another FYI, if they are trying to include something like an enclosed garage then you need to check and see if it needed and then was properly permitted.

The last thing you want is to buy a house that isn't permitted, only to run into a costly mess in both your time and money down the line.

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There is obviously something being calculated differently between the appraiser and the listing agent/Owner.

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Or the appraiser was lazy

I had a 300sqft difference because the appraiser somehow measured a rectangular exterior wall 2ft smaller upstair than downstairs. A quick call fixed it,

When buying a home though, I'd probably try and push the seller to reduce price first though