u/ApprehensiveMeal6200

We were looking at houses and my partner happened to mention to our agent after looking at a few that didn't really fit our needs that she regretted not buying a house that was on the market a few years ago. The agent inquired which one it was so she told him. The agent then said he would inquire about the property because he knew the buying agent. I thought it was a long shot and it made me uncomfortable, but my partner was excited about this prospect.

A few days later we hear back from our agent, that the owner of the house was considering selling the home for personal reasons and that the house was too much for him. After a lot of back and forth and talk with our agent about what the seller would be asking for it, the agent vaguely said that the seller would need to get out of it what he put into it, which wasn't much because 90% of the renovation was done before he bought it. We know that for a fact based on previous listing photos and dates of repairs. I had two sets of listing going back to 2018 for comparison. The seller put *maybe* 20k​​ into the property.

We know the apx sold price and so we buffered in the possible renovation costs and a little more on top and came up with (upon talking to our agent) what we thought the seller would most likely be asking for it. That all sounded like we were on the same page so we set up a viewing.

After viewing the house it was clear the house needed more work than was disclosed and whatever renovations this person did were pretty much nil except one single 10k upgrade. The layout is a bit funky and the state of the house requires work but it would work for our family of 3 if we were on the same page with pricing. Work: rotten siding, electrical issues in two rooms at least, moisture intrusion in garage with musty smell, some window upgrades to make them operational, definitely some sort of heater issue and who knows what would be discovered on an inspection

Not ever doing a private sale before, we talked to our agent about whether we make the first offer or if we wait for the seller to state a price. The real estate agent said we would wait to hear what the seller needed to sell then house for. After research this seemed backwards, because I thought the potential buyers make the first move here, but whatever we waited. If anyone has input on this btw, please let me know.

We hear back from our agent that the seller wanted 100k more than what they bought it for. About 70kish over what we were willing to offer for this house. Our agent acted as if he was also shocked that they were asking that price given the story we were fed, the state of the house and previous sale price. We decided not to even counter and walked away. The numbers were so far apart that negotiations seemed pointless and also the whole narrative of the seller wanting to sell and get out of it rhat he put into it just seemed like a deceptive lie. The seller also has an emotional attachment to this property to make things even more complicated.

Would there have been a point on countering to that inflated number? This whole experience really soured me on ever pursuing a private sale again. I felt from the beginning that this situation made us fish in a barrel and was worried that the seller might assume we were some high rollers or some crap. It was an irritating experience all the way around.

My partner is still mourning this house even though we can't afford it at the fantasy price the seller wanted. It's been about 7 months since the seller stated the inflated price and we didn't respond. Our realtor supposedly told them that we felt the price was not reasonable based on comps or something. We didn't tell him to say that but that's what he said. We are still looking in the area ​and are in no rush to move at all, but this summer would be ideal if we can make it happen. Is there any point in reaching back out to the seller and agent this summer while looking at other houses in the area, to open up a conversation again? Is there a point to offering what we think is a generous offer considering the reality of the situation or is messing with this complicated situation pointless?

TLDR

Private sale soured because no one was on the same page. We walked away. I am wondering if opening the conversation again to get on the same page would be worth it.

I'm looking in a non disclosure state that has a real issue with false reporting of square footage among other deceptive practices. Between not ever really knowing what a house sold for becuase even sale prices aren't required for public records and the deceptive square footage recording, the price per square footage in this area is grossly distorted. Comps are basically pointless and more misleading than they are revealing about value in this area.

I've seen detached open air carports, open porches and non temperature controlled garages included in the square footage, even a patio and detached pool house. When I look at previously sold reports it shows at 400 - 1200 sq ft less than reported. If I add up square footage on a provided blue print it's the same problem, they are including garages, patios, porches etc. This is clearly material misrepresentation. The real estate agents in this area aren't legally responsible for false reporting and as long as a third party told them the number they can just go with it and outright lie.

Besides this being unethical, it's falsely inflating the market in this area. I just looked at a house that was listed as 2200 sq feet and in reality is 1400. ​They are charging per square foot comparable to other properties in the area that are correctly charging that per GLA not per concrete slab on the property. I've seen this deception over and over again in the last two years and it seems to be more prevalent now than it was 5 years ago. I would say 60-70% of properties I've looked at have false square footage and usually in worse condition than described.

How would anyone go about dealing with the square footage discrepancy? Can this be reported as fraud? No bank is going to lend to someone ​based on these lies.

Are there any laser sq ft readers out there that work with apps to determine square footage quickly. We have one and use it on site and I'm wondering if anyone uses any that automatically compile rooms and add them into a total via an app or if I just have to manually keep doing this every time. I don't trust anyone else to measure these properties. Even if my agent pays a guy to measure it, I'm not sure if he came back with a false number anyone would be legally on the hook, for falsely representing the sizd. I'm measuring myself everytime and I recommend others do the same.

Lastly, when discovering this discrepancy in square footage, if I still want to make an offer on a property, how should one go about doing this without outright calling the sellers liars, which they are. I'm a homeowner that will be selling soon and I would never falsely report the square footage. Wtf. For one that's a sleezsball move and two it's easily verifiable if it's not correct. It really blows my mind how prolific misrepresented properties are in this place.

How often do sellers get sued over this kind of bs?

I'm curious if anyone can weigh in on how this provides more transparency in the market and protection for buyers of disguised investment residential properties. Specifically buyers of properties that were previously bought in cash in a non disclosure state by current owners. Would that official sale number and if there was 25%+ additional investor in the property be discovered during closing, example for a house that sold in 2022 with an upcoming sale that will be in June 2026.