It's your choice to either get new furniture, or not close on the deal - such measurements are often out by a little bit, but that seems excessive and you'd have a right (I think, but check) to back out, though if the RE agent measured wrong, and not the sellers, that would need looking into also. Have you had an inspection done BTW? Have you asked about water issues in the area (whether you're in 'lowland' in terms of constantly high water) and whether or not the house has ever flooded? A dehumidifier alone may mean nothing, but do start asking more detailed Q's.

How did you verify the measurements? I bet they included the back measurement of a closet and rounded up for that 14'.

Also with respect to the total square footage, that still might be accurate too depending on how the measurements were taken. You might not have lost the footage, it just might be in closets or other utility/storage type of space.

I think you need to sit down with your realtor and go over your concerns and back through the comps. Unfortunately, your a bit late to the process and may end up eating your deposit if you walk.

To me, 4ft per bedroom is a lot.
If closets were used in the measurement, it's pretty deceptive. Both of my kids have an extra 2 ft by the door, I didn't include that when I measured, nor were the closets used.

You need to speak up & do it now to try to figure out a solution. Are there any walk in closets? If so, dressers can get put in there.

I just measured my daughters room to get an idea of size.. it's about 13x9, so a 12x10 is actually pretty big, depending on the layout.

Lots of people include closets when measuring bedrooms, so I don't think you can charge 'deceit' -- just 'miscommunication'. And there are LOTS of different ways to measure a house. Here, our appraisal district measures just the outside foundation.

That said, if you haven't closed, you have all sorts of ways to kill the deal: Inspection resulting in a lengthy list of REQUIRED repairs (and being unreasonable about etting them done), making sure you don't qualify for the loan, etc.

the closet per bedroom is 3 feet wide by 1 foot-but I made sure when we sold, our agent only measured the bedrooms and did not include the closet (ours is a walk in and adding 6 feet would have made the room look enormous!)-I think that it was/is unwise to piss off potential buyers! The bank sends out their appraiser who measures inside walls and only heated areas...that extra 1000 square feet in the basement is only about 40% finished with drywall and insulation-so when they appraise it we may not get the loan...What a mess. Why can't agents measure a room properly? It's whatever by whatever and don't include bump outs or bay windows or closets...or non-heated areas, or garages or ....

Why isn't a closet part of the square footage of the bedroom?

"Why isn't a closet part of the square footage of the bedroom?"
Living space.
However, some people do come out of a closet.

Our floor plans from the builder do not include the closets in the room measurement.
However, there are two other homes in our developmentÂÂ.same exact modelÂ..one a bit smaller than oursÂÂanother smaller than that one. They received the same floor plan with the same measurements from the builder.... Â.and their homes on file as having the same SF. Neither appraiser caught itÂ..and, appraiserÂs measure using ASTM standardsÂÂso go figure.

This is why many REA's steer clear of stating SFÂÂas it can be measured in too many ways.

That said...address the issue nowÂÂand with regard to the dehumidifier, if you did not have a home inspection you should. If you did was the dehumidifier there at the timeÂ..and is there any evidence of water intrusion?

thank you so much berniek for your comment-i needed the laugh! No the dehumidifier was not there, nor was/are there any signs of water damage, however we are in a deep freeze and if the dh is out now...what the heck can i look forward to in the spring? yikes. It's not that i care too much about the entire square footage it's simply the size of the rooms/living space that is so important. Theoretical question here...
If I was buying online for a house without being able to see it and i can't rely on the mls to give proper info-what's the point of measuring the rooms at all? What good are comps? The house down the street from us said parking for 6 cars...and it didn't even have a driveway! Sure i guess you could park on your front lawn...but crikey. gimme a break-that's why some of us non-professionals get mighty ticked at some of the "professionals"!

On the listings in our area, there is always a disclaimer at the bottom which states something to the effect that information is deemed reliable but not guaranteed. That lets the agent/seller off the hook.

Please measure the other rooms. What is the point of not knowing?

Also, since the kids' furniture doesn't fit now, does that mean you are moving to a smaller house? Logic is right about measuring. Sometimes total square footage is determined by the exterior measurement of the house, which means the inside is smaller.

In my area houses aren't sold by the price per square foot, since there are so many other things that increase or decrease a house's value. (Quality of windows, age of HVAC, flooring, roof, fireplace, architectural details, etc.) So there could be two houses, identical floor plan and square footage but because of a difference in the appointments of each house, the listing prices could be considerably different.

Please heed logic's advice and look for water intrusion. Was the sale contingent on a home inspection? Did you have one, and what did the inspector say? Did the dehumidifier appear after you signed the contract? If so, and there are issues, then I think you would have a good case to back out since the seller didn't disclose the problem. If it is a new problem, then that should be fixed before closing.

I got a laugh out of Berniek's response as well. I believe my agent measured the closet space the unit I am selling. I know I questioned her about it, because I didn't. There isn't much space lost to closets, however and they were put into offsets so it wasn't too much of an issue.

As for the humidifier, when the weather was cooling and after a particularly rainy fall, when I shut my unit up I put in an humidifier for about a week in the basement. I did it openly and when the house was showing and never thought until after the fact people would be suspicious. I did it because there was a lot of relative humidity in the air and warm air holds a lot more water than cold air. When I cranked the heating unit down to conserve energy in an empty house, it started to feel clammy right away. That's not a pleasant feeling for prospective buyers to confront. I had a newer modern humidifying unit and it reads out digitally. A week of running it and taking it down to dry/dry/dry around the interior foundations, and I've never had to use it since. It may be a harmless situation, like mine, but bears checking out.

As for the room dimensions, I carry a steel tape in my purse. Have for years and I would no more dream of purchasing a house without taking room dimensions (and noting them on a pad to transfer to graph paper later when considering if furniture would fit) than flying to the moon. All the contracts I've seen have the room dimension disclaimers on them for a reason.

JMO I think if the closet doesn't run the whole length of the wall it shouldn't be included. A room dimension doesn't include little jogs here or there (does that make sense?)
A house I looked at was listed as 1205 and that was the same as the county. I believe most realtors get house sq footage from the county website and then may do some interior measurements on there own.
This house could not have been 1205 unless my little ranch I used to own was much bigger than the 1130 the realtor sold it as. The 1205 house was basically a little bungalow most of which are around 900 sq ft. and they finished out the side porch which was probably an additional 80 sq ft. I don't know where the county got 1205.

"I don't know where the county got 1205."

Tax measurements are typically based on the exterior footrpint of the house.
If the walls are even 6 inches thick, that adds one foot to each dimension.
A 29 x 39 foot interior (1131 sq. ft.) moves up to 30 x 40 (1200 sq. ft.), let alone deductions for interior walls.

Square feet is NOT a typical appraisal method for residential RE.

I've never had an agent measure the interior rooms of my house, my area only the lists the total sq ft, but I always see the note on MLS, of "Buyer to Verify".
I've never measured rooms when house shopping, I just view a room, it is either the visually right size or wrong size.
I also carry a tape measure with me, but use for furniture shopping. Now maybe if I used it for room shopping...

The reason I mentioned closets, was that we looked at (and measured) enough houses (30+) in the DC/MD area before we bought to know that most often (almost always) the closet measurements were included (most especially if the would bump up the lowest measurement). We even bought a house marketed as such but knew what we were getting and it was still the best of the bunch.

Oh, and space for parking just meant the lot was large enough if you wanted to pave the whole thing there was room to park cars, lol.

"Space for 6 cars," yep.

We had one place we looked at years ago that advertised a 'circular driveway.' When we got there, there wasn't a driveway at all. We commented to our BA and she said, "Oh yes, there's the driveway--look." There were 2 ruts in the grass around the edge of the lawn (it was a corner lot, and the 'driveway' went from street to street).

That's when I decided that the BA wasn't worth any more than getting us access to the MLS (jealously guarded at the time in printed books).

update...if an agent out there lists the room sizes on mls and fudges the numbers a bit to look better when compared to other houses...here's two words for you...litigation and family lawyer...
the agent in question didn't apologize when this was first brought to her attention and sent an email... Measurements are approx, they are done according to the college guidelines."
Hmmm. What a crappy college-didn't even teach their students to use a tape measure to measure a room...wow.
All those in favour of taking the agents to task for not doing their job properly...for which they are paid 5 to 6% of the deal (in our case 24850K plus tax) then say AYE!!!

"All those in favour of taking the agents to task for not doing their job properly...for which they are paid 5 to 6% of the deal (in our case 24850K plus tax) then say AYE!!!"

If room dimensions are important to the buyer, because of furniture, a baby grand piano or or any object which is important to a buyer, that needs to be placed in a room, I'd suggest the buyer perform the measurements themselves, because after closing, that baby grand might not fit, and any percentage of a commission will have nothing to do with it or change the rooms dimension.

yes, but 4 feet is a pretty darned big difference.

In fact, it's so big that I'm wondering why the buyers didn't think the rooms might be small.

"12 X 14 respectively-were now 12 x 10 per bedroom...that's just under 100 square feet "

that's a big difference.

There was a case in Texas, if I remember right, in which a guy sued and got the deal reversed because he had been lied to about a room size for a library or piano; he wasn't able to measure it himself, he asked specifically for assurances as to its dimensions, reminding them that if the dimensions were not what he needed, he would not buy the house, and the agent or someone promised him they were acccurate. And it was off. The judge ruled that he had been lied to materially, and reversed the deal. But it was pretty clear that he'd ben flat-out lied to on something he had clearly identified as material to the deal.