When you're searching for the perfect home, whether it's a condo here in Calgary, Alberta or UWO off campus housing in London, Ontario, chances are you're going to have a lot of options when you're just starting out. Every home on the realtor's listings is a possibility until you think of some reason to eliminate it. Many people find that making a list of their priorities helps them to pare down the list to a manageable number. When you're making your list, make sure to include an estimate of the square footage you will need when you give the list to the realtor. That's a key factor in home comparison.

So how do you figure out how much square footage you're going to need? Most people aren't mathematically inclined, so when they're estimating how large they want their townhomes in Toronto to be, they usually use the square footage of their current residence as a jumping off point. For instance, if you are currently living in a 750 square foot condo and you're moving because you need more space, it's perfectly acceptable to tell your realtor that you're looking for something bigger than 750 square feet.

If you don't know the size of your current residence (it would be mentioned on the real estate listing from when you bought it if you saved that, or your landlord/building manager would know if you live in a condo or apartment) then you'll have to calculate it yourself. You'll also need to know if you're putting up your Markham homes for sale so get out your pencils, measuring tapes, and calculators.

To measure your current square footage, measure around the house from the OUTSIDE and multiply the length in feet by the width in feet. Multiply by two if there's a second storey. Subtract the area of any part of the house that isn't heated, or meant to live in, like a garage, unfinished attic, or crawl space. For those who are living in Scarborough condos and can't measure outside, measure inside and add six inches. Round to the nearest foot.

If you're not living anywhere or you can't compare its dimensions to a new place, you can watch TV real estate shows to get an idea of what properties of a certain size look like. For statistical purposes, two bedroom condos like the Toronto condo buidlings are considered to be between 900 to 1,400 square feet depending on whether they're luxury or not, townhouses are listed as around 1,000 square feet, and single storey three bedroom homes at 1,200 square feet. Four bedroom two storey houses ballpark at 2,000 square feet and a mansion is anything over 3,000 square feet.