What does gross living area include?

Gross living area includes every finished, above-grade space in a house that connects to the rest of the home through finished area, measured to the outside of the exterior walls. That covers bedrooms, bathrooms, kitchens, hallways, closets, and stairs.

It also includes the thickness of the exterior and interior walls, finished attic rooms that meet the ANSI ceiling height rules and are reached by a permanent stair, and finished rooms over a garage when a finished hall or stair connects them to the house.

It leaves out garages, unfinished spaces, porches, decks, the open space above a staircase or foyer, and anything below grade, even a nicely finished basement. Below-grade finished area still appears on the appraisal, just on its own line, so it is compared separately when the appraiser looks at similar homes.