Preferred Properties of Texas

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How To Check The Square Footage Of Your House

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how to measure the square footage of your house
how to measure the square footage of your house

First off, start by referring to your city’s building department records. Many city and county records are now available online, which makes getting this info much easier than it used to be. Some updates – like unpermitted remodeling – may not be reflected in the records, but it will still provide a good baseline.

Then, familiarize yourself with basic ANSI guidelines for calculating square footage for single-family homes. Practices can vary slightly from market to market, but these rules apply to most areas in the country:

  • Below grade spaces (basements, dens, etc.) do not usually count toward a home’s square footage. Even a finished basement can’t be counted toward a home’s Gross Living Area (GLA) but it can be noted separately in the listings total area.
  • The ANSI method specifies measuring from the exterior of the house, but the wall width is not usually subtracted to account for actual living space.
  • Stairways and closet areas are included in the square footage length.
  • Finished attic square footage is included if an area has at least seven minimum feet of clearance.
  • Covered, enclosed porches can only be included if they are heated using the same system as the rest of the house.
  • Garages, pool houses, guest houses or any rooms that require you to leave the finished area of the main house to gain access are not counted.
  • As a buyer, it can be helpful to know how to calculate square footage of a house yourself; just multiply the length and width of all applicable rooms in the home. All you’ll need to get started is a 100 sq ft tape measure, some graph paper, and a pencil.

    How to calculate the square footage of your house

    1. Assign a unit of measureAssign a unit of measure to each square on the paper (a foot, for example) and measure to the nearest tenth of a foot.Pick a wallPick a wall and begin making your way around the interior perimeter of the house in one direction, drawing lines accordingly on the graph paper (though ANSI guidelines specify measuring the exterior walls, measuring from the inside will give you a better idea of the actual livable area).Look at your floor plan

      Then, go back over your floor plan, multiply the rectangular areas, and add them all up to get your final number. If your calculation includes an area that is not permissible, don’t forget to subtract it out.

      Note: Be aware that condominiums have fewer established rules and no ANSI guidelines. To start, you can visit your city’s building department and ask them to pull the home’s plans and permits for the property; the builders are required to include square footage for each unit. If that info is hard for you to get, you may want to hire an appraiser. If you’re a seller, it’s best to pay an appraiser to provide a square footage assessment so your listing is as accurate as possible. Finally, consult an agent. Agents usually see dozens of homes a week and have a pretty good spatial sense; they can often give you a ballpark estimate of any home in question.

      Finally, remember that while square footage is important to your home value, don’t focus on it at the expense of style or your emotional response to it. Do you like the design and floorplan? How about the location? Are there rooms you absolutely love? Numbers are important, but they are no substitute for the intangibles that make a house feel like a home

Texas Ranch Land For Sale and Ready to Build Your Dreams

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Have a weekend drive to take a look at this ideal place to escape town and establish your dream ranch!

This accessible bit of property available in Texas is heavenly, boasting picture-perfect views and a great deal of water. It’s tricky to find ranchland using a rich mixture of forests and pasture, diverse terrain and altitude changes. The size of the property makes it an outstanding value from the purpose of cows grazing, outdoor recreation, searching. Obviously, you may even build your dream house, ranch or farm too.

The property includes new fencing on two sides, reworked electrical to the new 10 GPM well. Together with three creeks, two of which feed to the primary rock bottom creek that runs round the whole property. There are numerous deep pools for watering demands with this property or even a fishing pond.

The land has a few amazing building areas to present incredible views for your house, guesthouse, and outbuildings, the images barely do this ranchland justice. There are many choices to enjoy on this gorgeous bit of Texas ranch property near Stephenville, Texas, it will not be available for long.

Situated outside the city limits of Stephenville, this ranchland is 70 miles south of Fort Worth. Stephenville is called the “Cowboy Capitol of the World” with conservative values, challenging work, and family values, and giving hearts. There are loads of local activities with no big-city hassle, such as a neighborhood HEB & WalMart, and simple driving to other quaint small towns.

Start your journey to complete your Texas lifestyle on this 150-acre property. Come and enjoy the view of this Texas Ranch Land waiting for you. Contact Preferred Properties of Texas today!

Contact Preferred Properties of Texas today.

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How Much Does It Cost to Construct a Home?

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Perhaps You’ve been Searching for a house for awhile, and nothing about the market is fulfilling your requirements. You may also be at a place in which you do not wish to buy, and you need your dream forever home. In such scenarios, you might choose to build instead of buy a present house, but just how much can it really cost? The Expense of building a custom house is different upon on individual facets. For instance, it varies depending on your geographical area, the stuff you use, along with square footage. A custom-built house can be distinct from a retail build. At a production build, you are choosing specific customization choices inside a subdivision. While your house is in certain ways distinct, you are confined to picking from what the builder offers. The typical cost to Construct a house was $428,000 in 2017. That quote is based on a yearlong house of approximately 2800 square feet. According to this, the typical cost to construct a home is $153 per square foot. Price by Area According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s analysis of the Median Cost per Square Foot for brand new houses in 2017, at the Northeast, the average price was 161. From the West, the typical price per square foot was 139 and at the South it had been 100. For the Midwest, the typical price was $106. That means in the event that you would like a bargain, you are hopefully building in the South or maybe the Midwest. The Northeast is the most expensive place to construct a house. Also within a certain area, the prices can Vary based upon the city or county where you are building. The Way the Personal Prices Breaks Down. Therefore, as you are building a House, you’re very
Literally beginning from the bottom up. Once You Purchase property, you’ll start with what is Called site function. Site work includes plans and preparing property for building. This normally costs approximately $16,000, based on the degree of the job. Additionally, this can incorporate cash you are going to need to cover the local authorities such as the impact fee, which pays for streets and parks within your own community. The Expense of a base is generally $25,000. The base will consist of excavation to make certain your property is totally flat before construction is initiated. A home’s base costs will also incorporate lumber and concrete. If your house will have a basement, then rely on base costs being. From there, you cover for framing, that can be tens of thousands of dollars, then you’ll cover a comparable price for outdoor finishes. Exterior finishes incorporate both the walls and support constructions, in addition to items like doors and windows. Rely on spending about $35,000 to your Systems such as your HVAC and plumbing. Then, You Can Begin counting the prices for
Your house’s interior. This will likely be where the majority of your funding moves, and there is a great deal of variance based on the sort of endings you desire. Interior finishes contain everything out of the countertops and cabinets into your own trimming. Can it be more economical to Buy or Build? Whether it’s more economical to buy or construct is not something that can necessarily be certain everything is variable. For instance, the normal selling price of a house at 2017 was approximately $291,000, and it can be a bit lower compared to the ordinary building cost of $428,000. That does not mean you can not construct a more affordable home compared to $428,000 figure. It is up to where you reside and the kind of stuff you’re using. Should You decide to Construct a home, unless You are paying money as you proceed, you are going to require a loan. A loan is generally converted or faxed to a mortgage once the home is finished. Now you go through an identical program Procedure To get a building loan because you do a loan, however, instead of getting the cash In a lump sum amount, your builder receives a collection of payments. Your builder asks for a draw when they are moving on the next period of work. An inspector comes outside, Checks the advancement to the creditor, then disburses the draw on.

Learn more on if you should buy or build a home in Stephenville Texas and contact a Realtor at Preferred Properties

Making Improvements to Your Land Now

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Real estate agents will tell you–don’t wait until you market your house to remodel or make repairs. Fix it up today so that you can enjoy the home whenever it’s yours.

The same holds true for land.

Too frequently, landowners do not bother to clean brush, replace a faulty septic system or install a new entrance gate–not until they’re prepared to put their property in the marketplace.

Making improvements now can pay off in 2 manners. You will increase the future worth of their house. Plus, you’ll get to enjoy the updates yourself.

Key Considerations

Which enhancements should you handle first?

This depends how you plan on using the property and in which it is located–a homesite in the Piney Woods or a hunting ranch at the South Texas brush country, as an example.

“The most important things are water and power,” states Jeff Bedwell, Brady and San Saba branch manager with Central Texas Farm Credit in the western Hill Country. “That may sound like a no-brainer, but people just don’t know the lack of available water in some rural locations.”

In East Texas, including a water feature and”cleaning up” treed property will normally pay off at sale time, according to Garrett Cox, appraiser with Heritage Land Bank at Tyler.

Following are a Couple of improvements which may
Pay off to you, whether financially or in personal satisfaction.

Pretty small pond on a ranch in the Texas Hill Country.

Water

Water features are generally the top choice for improvements. Installing a lake or pond may add significant value to property. And should you own creeks, clean them up to increase water flow. Does water include aesthetic appeal, it will help attract wildlife to the property, according to Cox.

“At the middle shore place, water features continue to command a high with recreational land buyers,” says Wade Kubecka, appraiser with Capital Farm Credit at El Campo. “The vast majority of buyers need water features that are already in place.” Those attributes range from beachfront properties that offer access to this saltwater bay systems all of the way to waterfowl habitat ponds developed especially using the waterfowl hunter in mind.

Whether you plan to reside on the property, increase livestock or nurture a deer herd, a reliable water source is a requirement. But in most regions of Texas, water is not guaranteed.

“Simply because there’s a water line before your property doesn’t mean that you can tap into it,” says Bedwell. It may be necessary to drill a well. However, to ensure that is even possible, go online to look at the water depth and quality of test wells in your region, he guides.

A texas barn at a meadow of bluebonnets

Structures

Twenty years ago, barndominiums weren’t ordinary –at least not by that name. Now , a”barndo”–often a metal construction that is popular on recreational properties–will generally increase a home’s value, according to Cox. He reports that even a little cabin will make a property more attractive to someone searching for a place to hunt.

“A barndominium will at least retain its worth, and it costs about the same as a mobile home, which loses value,” Bedwell states.

Furthermore, a barndo can perform double duty as a home–if fulltime or on weekends–and a workshop or equipment shed. And if you build a bigger home later, the barndo can serve as a bunk house for extra visitors.

But don’t overlook other kinds of structures that are functional. A barn, shop or well-constructed shed is going to improve your premises too, says Cox.

Fencing

Quality fencing is an integral consideration if you’ve got a hunting ranchand it is a requirement if you raise livestock. For a cattle ranch, regular area fence will cost approximately $2.50 each foot–$3 a foot if bulldozer work is needed–and that could add up quickly, Bedwell points outside.

“But if you’re going to have a really cow-calf operation, then fencing is appropriate behind water and power as an important home advancement,” he states.

On a recreational land, determine if you truly need a high fencing to keep deer if a low fence is sufficient. Though high fencing will increase the value of the house, just a small percentage of buyers are ready to pay the extra price tag of a high fencing, based on Bedwell.

Brush Clearance

In East Texas, where the plant can be dense, Cox says property buyers are often searching for a view. Thinning trees out and clearing the undergrowth involving them can make the property more attractive.

On a woodlot which you plan on using for wood and diversion, he urges making cuts throughout the timber for hunting lanes and incorporating streets for movement throughout the house. It also makes sense to plant a food plot in the center, ” he says.

“For $85 an hour, you can rent a bulldozer and wash up pockets of their property so it is possible to go around,” says Cox.

Cox, who previously was an appraiser in Central Texas, notes that clearing brush and cedar may also add to property values from the Hill Country. But do not”over-clear” the land.

Rainwater Collection

“A rainwater collection system is the way of the future in our portion of the planet,” says Bedwell. He tells the story of a little rancher who collected enough rain off a 40-by-60-foot barn to meet with the ranch’s water demands for a year.

“A complex rainwater collection system will probably cost $30,000 to $40,000, versus $125,000 to drill a deep well. So it’s relatively cheap,” he states.

Anyway, he points out,”collecting rainwater isn’t only smart, but it is perceived as a fantastic thing”–and something that he considers rural property buyers at the Hill Country will be seeking in the future.

Like water, electricity is something many first-time landowners take for granted, according
to Bedwell.

Power

“It’s really important to have power set up, particularly for a rural homesite,” he states.
“A deficiency of electricity is likely to lessen your house’s resale value and give potential buyers second thought”

Your Plan

Confused about how to boost your distinct property? Not sure where to start?

“Think about it this way,” says Bedwell. “If it is 10 years in the future, and you’re putting your property in the market, ask yourself what
You might have done to make it more usable and enjoyable.”

And remember: Improvements often can be financed as part of their mortgage, if they’re planned when you obtain the property.

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