To Floor Plan or Not?
Nov.14, 2007 in
Ask Us, Buying/Selling Techniques, Just plain fun, real estate, San Francisco, theFrontSteps
Sophie asks:
Should the listing [always] provide the floor plan drawings or not? In Paris (just to mention there), a listing actually ONLY includes the floor plan, square foot, and price… sometimes a photo of a view, if any, or inside if architecturally significant.
We’re not going to call this a Stump the Stammtisch question, since we’re not necessarily being put on the line here. But this is a good question nonetheless, and one we’d love to get your feedback on. If nothing else, send us your variations of the above floor plan.
-We’re going to Paris, but you need to buy first [theFrontSteps]
November 14th, 2007 at 10:17 am
Floor plans would be great; but with all the unapproved building in san francisco its probably a liability and you hardly ever see it. Every listing in NYC for the most part has a floorplan and its very helpful.
November 14th, 2007 at 10:55 am
I am always thrilled when an agent has a floor plan available. We would often come home from a day of open houses only to crudely reproduce them for ourselves when trying to do a more thorough evaluation of whether a place was right for us. More floor plans, please!!!
November 14th, 2007 at 11:52 am
I’d really like to see that super-gigantic toilet in person. Very impressive.
November 14th, 2007 at 3:44 pm
I agree with the last comment, and I have to say: is it just me, or does anyone else notice anything strange about this floor plan. I mean, there is no living room and this giant bathroom with almost nothing in it (except, of course, for the toilet that is fit for a giant!). I wonder if they do all of their entertaining in the bathroom? I’ld better stop here…
November 14th, 2007 at 6:30 pm
Eddy. I dont know if you noticed but I’ve NEVER seen any accurate floorplan in the US. Not in the SF listings, and certainly not in the home and garden magazines. Like the architect doesnt want it to be copied or something.
However, as the SF lots are so long a narrow, it helps to see if the stairs are at the front, or the back, or the middle, and it certainly most help to place those odd spaces that you acces from another space (is the closet backed by the kitchen or the powder room?)
I’ll add my own comment. Floor plan is close to a necessity. On the above example, you immediatly see how you can improve the kitchen by borrowing (or invading) the storage space AND gain a much needed window for the kitchen.
There is an example though that pops in my mind. One house that we happend to buy. Would we have had the floor plan, it would have spoiled the waoooooo factor of the maze-like floor plan (I really cant explain in words). Like we put our foot at the front door, and from door to door, it was going from good, to nice to great to “I want THAT one”. (and the photos online were doing the exact opposite).
True. With a floorplan and without the uggly photos, the place would have been packed with prospective buyers… and we would have been outbid (again). But shouldnt the agent do the best to attact MORE visitors? sometimes it’s about photos, sometimes it’s about floorplan… SPECIALLY in a city where most people need to stretch their budget to buy the sqft they need. So what about showing them how good it’s for the money?
regarding unwaranted space. It’s mentioned in the text, and most of the time, it’s pictured in the photos. Not sure the liability/legalese would be any different if the floor plan was added. ..even more. Only the legal stuff could be drawn with dotted starting (but not ending) lines for “expansion potential”.
If agents want so, they could even figure out a not legal, not up to scale way to make drawings. Like for the upstairs, we only want to know the master suite is facing the garden, and the front is split in two rather equal sized bedrooms.
-> they could even refer to “generic” floor plans. Such as a type A-left (the central patio found in the sunset with entrance at left side), type B-right (the noe queen ann sfh with entrance at right side) etc. That way it suggest the overall layout without having to draw if the stove is on the left or right wall.
What might be in the way though is the fear that the floorplan is not “good enough”.
* first, lying in the text or twisting the photos only leaves the potential buyers upset that they wasted time coming at the open house, and didnt find what they were expecting
* there is not, in my eclectic experience, a “good” or a “bad” floor plan. Floorplans are as varied as the owners, and just the same way a purple house will sell, a house with an extra tiny or extra large room will sell to the grand piano owner, or to the photograph who wants his own (tiny) lab.
Anyway, I’m all for adding floorplans – or even partial floorplans such as those in the magazines.