The previous two Realtors have both given excellent answers to your question! The small difference in the two sources stated is what you are likely to find. With six separate sources for that data, you are likely to get six different answers. And when square footage is an important factor to you when buying a home, you can rely on the source you most trust. Best wishes to you in your home search!

In the Fayetteville market you will see square footage quoted in the MLS system from multiple different sources including tax records, independent appraisers, builder's specs, or even owner's measurements. When you identify a property to purchase you have the opportunity to inspect the property and can elect to have it measured by an independent appraiser. Now, 10 people will get 10 different measurements so it would be really unfortunate to see a transaction fall based on a difference of 31 square feet. However, in the event that the difference is substantial the Buyer does have options. Trulia is most likely reporting the tax record information, but I wouldn't necessarily say one source is any better than the other as it is all susceptible to human error.

The square foot given on Trulia is most probably picked up from the public records which is usually the county assesor's office. An appraiser is actually going to go out and measure but I have known the square foot to change from appraiser to appraser on the same house. Where is the seller getting their info from for the measurement? Why are they so absolutely positive that's the correct number? Seems a little odd.

Everything based on the square foot such as taxes, $/ square foot is always based off the assesor's numbers. I would go by that no matter what the seller says becuase everyone else is going by that number. In this case, the discrepancy is only 30 square feet. That seems well within the error limitations for measurements in a home. If it were my house, I wouldn't worry about the difference.