| Real Estate
in Brazil - Size Does Matter: Adding It All Up |
| By Boris
Goldshmit |
| One of
the first things a real estate buyer wants to know about a property is
the exact square footage or yardage. Generally speaking, this bit of
information is a major factor in calculating a fair market price. Under
most circumstances, the owners, real estate brokers and property listings
readily provide accurate dimensions of a property. This is the system most
folks are accustomed to. But in Brazil, none of the old rules apply….
An unsuspecting
buyer, one who is new to the Brazilian real estate market, is likely to
be baffled by at least three conflicting measurements that are listed for
the same property. |
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| First, there
are the legal measurements listed in Matrícula (Property Title).
Any old Brazilian hand knows that the official property size stated on
the Title and listed in the IPTU Carnê (Municipal Tax Payment Coupon
Book) is wrong 99 times out of 100.
It is part
of the age-old game that Brazilians play with their tax authorities: More
than likely, the stated dimensions are smaller than the actual property
size. Chances are that the service area and the balcony(s) of a house or
an apartment are not taken into consideration.
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| It is also
very likely that structural extensions and changes that occurred after
the original measurements were officially recorded have been conveniently
forgotten.
It is important
to note that the properties we are referring to are not located in the
mushrooming urban favelas or lightly controlled remote villages situated
in far-away Amazonian Jungles. In 199_, Prefeitura (City Hall) of Rio de
Janeiro conducted a study of the legal property documents in the affluent
neighborhoods in the municipality of Rio de Janeiro.
It found that
as many as 70% of the official dimensions recorded in the property deed
and the Real Estate records of apartments and houses do not correlate with
their real size.
The second
measurement you will come across is the one your friendly local Real Estate
Broker provides. |
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| Again, be
wary. Considering that in many cases, the brokers do not review the actual
property documents or even visit the space before starting to sell it,
this information is not to be taken seriously.
Additionally,
when a broker does check the legal documents and/or talk to the owners,
significant modifications are likely to occur. Areas originally not included
in the official records, such as the elevator shaft, common hall, staircase,
and even the trash chute, suddenly become part of the burgeoning apartment.
Similarly, in the case of a house, chunks of neighbors´ lots, public
streets, and nearby rivers somehow become incorporated into the total size.
The third
property measurement will come from the owners. They would never rely
on what is stated in the IPTU Carnê and will very often inflate the
size of the space by anywhere from 10% to 50%, depending on how badly they
needed the extra money. There is no empirical method of measurement
involved in producing these numbers. The dimensions offered by these
three interested parties are speculative and are usually well above the
real size. |
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| So neither
broker nor the owner bothers to personally measure the property and cross-check
the measurements with the official (yet still questionable) data. All things
considered, this mostly overlooked technique of measuring the dimensions
by hand is the only truly reliable method.
So, when viewing
a property, bring your own tape measure, unless you wish to pay for the
imaginary square footage. |
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Article
Index ~ Brazil
Index ~ |
