This regularly-scheduled sponsored Q&A column is written by Adam Gallegos of Arlington-based real estate firm Arbour Realty, voted one of Arlington Magazine’s Best Realtors of 2013 & 2014. Please submit your questions via email.
Q. I’ve been in my house a few years and am about to start a home renovation. Prior to purchasing my home, a second full bathroom was added to my house sometime in the the 70s or 80s. My property assessment only lists one bathroom.
When the Arlington inspector comes to my house during the reno, is he required to make note of any discrepancy? If/when I do sell, and I want to maximize the value of the house, can the MLS listing include the second bath or is that information exclusively dependent on county assessment records?
A. If you have two full bathrooms, but the Arlington tax records only lists one… it makes me wonder if permits were ever approved for the installation of the second bathroom. That’s the first question I would try to answer if I were you. You can check for permits online: https://permits.arlingtonva.us/.
If your purpose is to have Arlington County account for the second bathroom then this can be arranged by contacting the department of real estate assessments: 703-228-3920.
If you are concerned about Arlington County discovering the existence of an unapproved second bathroom then this is a situation I recommend exploring with your contractor. A licensed contractor with experience in Arlington is going to have more insight into the possible pitfalls of this situation than I do.
The MLS is dependent on information manually entered by your Realtor. You are able to advertise all the bathrooms that exist in your home regardless of whether they are included in the tax record. You’ll probably still need to update some of the real estate websites that automatically generate information about your home (i.e. Zillow), just in case they are pulling from the tax record.
The views and opinions expressed in the column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ARLnow.com.
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