The illuminating part comes in one of the comments. It seems the city records indicated Trump's apartment was 10,000 sq. ft, but Trump claims it as 33,000 sq. ft. So where does this discrepancy originate?
It seems that the standard way they calculate sq. footage in commercial real estate (at least in NY) is by estimating the EXTERIOR of the building, including the outer walls, and if you take a cross section of the building, then you do get approximately 11,000 sq. feet. Makes sense if you have 12" thick walls in a skyscraper. Then, since Trump owns 3 floors, the commercial value was estimated at 33,000 sq. ft.
That doesn't mean the INTERIOR was 33,000 sq. ft. Only the typically accepted commercial calculation of value. So the question is, where did this 10,000 sq. ft estimate on the city records really come from? Were they recording the usable sq. footage inside the apartment? Sounds like it.
The sad thing is, few people will actually try and understand this. They will just hear Trump is a liar, and never research any further. But it does raise some interesting points. First, this nonsense will almost certainly be overturned the instant a non corrupted judge takes a look at it. Second, could this ruling force everyone in New York to revalue their commercial real estate holdings? Could be an interesting dynamic to watch.
Some context on this:
The illuminating part comes in one of the comments. It seems the city records indicated Trump's apartment was 10,000 sq. ft, but Trump claims it as 33,000 sq. ft. So where does this discrepancy originate?
It seems that the standard way they calculate sq. footage in commercial real estate (at least in NY) is by estimating the EXTERIOR of the building, including the outer walls, and if you take a cross section of the building, then you do get approximately 11,000 sq. feet. Makes sense if you have 12" thick walls in a skyscraper. Then, since Trump owns 3 floors, the commercial value was estimated at 33,000 sq. ft.
That doesn't mean the INTERIOR was 33,000 sq. ft. Only the typically accepted commercial calculation of value. So the question is, where did this 10,000 sq. ft estimate on the city records really come from? Were they recording the usable sq. footage inside the apartment? Sounds like it.
The sad thing is, few people will actually try and understand this. They will just hear Trump is a liar, and never research any further. But it does raise some interesting points. First, this nonsense will almost certainly be overturned the instant a non corrupted judge takes a look at it. Second, could this ruling force everyone in New York to revalue their commercial real estate holdings? Could be an interesting dynamic to watch.