Home Measurements & Real Estate Conventions

Real estate marketing is all about “putting your best foot forward”: accentuating (but not lying) about a home’s strengths, while defusing any negatives (one of the best ways: tackle them head on, to get them out of the way).

That applies to a home’s measurements, too.

So, Realtors will typically list a room as 15′ x 12′ ” not 12′ x 15.’

It’s the same room, either way, but leading with the bigger number has a subtle, psychological effect.

Measuring Lots

What’s the exception to that?

Lot sizes.

Convention (or at least mine) is to list a lot’s width first ” so it’s 40′ by 120′, not 120′ by 40′.

That’s because you can see the width ” but not the depth ” from the street.

If the lot’s especially deep, I emphasize that in the MLS “remarks” fields (“Agent” and “Public”), marketing supplement, etc.

See also, ““Double Lot,” Defined“; “Measuring Irregular Rooms“; “The House That Shrank“; “Too Good to Be True“; “Misstating a Home’s Square Feet”; “Exaggerated Square Footage“; “Home on a Diet“; and “17 Reasons (at least) Why It’s Never a Good Idea to Exaggerate a Home’s Square Feet.”

About the author

Ross Kaplan has 19+ years experience selling real estate all over the Twin Cities. He is also a 12-time consecutive "Super Real Estate Agent," as determined by Mpls. - St. Paul Magazine and Twin Cities Business Magazine. Prior to becoming a Realtor, Ross was an attorney (corporate law), CPA, and entrepreneur. He holds an economics degree from Stanford.

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