Park City home buyers and sellers often consider the home’s dollar per square foot price when setting the home or condominiums’ price or making an offer. How much should attention should a buyer be paying to the dollar per square foot price when considering a home?
Dollars per square foot is only a useful number if you are comparing two homes or condominiums that are identical. The problem here is that it doesn’t matter if it is a Park City Home or a New York City home, no two homes are identical. Even two side by side homes by the same builder will likely have differences. Views can be different, neighbors will be different, access may be different, the distance to an amenity (pool, hot tub, ski run, gym, front desk, elevator, etc.) will be different. Wear and tear on an older home as well as how the previous owner handled maintenance will make the homes different.
Things to consider when looking at a dollar per square foot price:
Is the calculation made using the total square feet or the finished square feet? An unfinished basement or room can add greatly to the total square feet thus lowering the dollar per square foot value, but how much value does it add to the home?
Are the finishes the same for the properties you are comparing? Are the base and case stain grade or paint grade? Are the doors solid or hollow? Are the countertops custom slab or something you can buy at Home Depot? Are the appliances “professional grade” or not? Is the flooring real wood or laminate, travertine or ceramic tile? All of these items while serving the same purpose come at dramatically different prices and thus impact the dollar per square foot value of the home. If two homes are different sizes, where does the difference lie? Does one have a theater room that the other doesn’t, or does it have an extra bedroom and bathroom? Is the size difference extra space in each room? And how does that change the way you feel about the home? Sometimes bigger makes rooms just too big while at other times it adds value. Sometimes the extra space you may buy with the lower price per square foot is unusable space or space you just don’t need to heat and maintain. The square foot of the home calculation does not take the lot size into account; nor does it consider views and open space.
When comparing two Park City homes, it is important that you are making true apple to apple comparatives. Our three ski areas are not equal, Old Town is not the same as Kimball Junction and Park Meadows is not the same as Silver Springs.
For assistance in determining the value of your home or condominium and to better understand the values of homes and condominiums in Park City, Utah contact a local realty professional with the YouInParkCity.com Group (888)968-4672.
Jenny Clark